Climate champions in Totnes are creating a Climate Change Response Centre in the town in a bid to inspire, educate and enable the community to tackle the climate emergency at a local level.

After Totnes Town Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2018, Transition Town Totnes held a ’what next?’ event alongside a host of other local groups.

From that meeting several people signed up to become local climate champions, and they have now launched a Crowdfunder to raise £16,000 towards setting up a dedicated climate change centre in the heart of town.

Leading the champions is Jem Friar who helped set up the climate change response group in Ashburton.

He is joined by Johara Bellali who has been working on the implementation of the UN climate convention across the world since 2002, Jess Spencer-Keyse who works in inclusive education, Jo Reay who has experience with charities and housing associations, and Totnes Extinction Rebellion activist Emma Hopkins.

Jem explained: "Facing the challenges of climate change and ecological breakdown can be scary and incredibly overwhelming.

"Knowing what we can actually do ourselves can seem confusing and difficult. Understanding that even as individuals we can make a difference, and then learning the tools and the knowledge to make new and sustainable choices much more easily is both empowering and an effective way to support both individuals and the whole community to make the shifts that are required of all of us right now.  

"We intend to do this in a fun and accessible way that raises people’s quality of life and leads to the creation of a much stronger and more connected and caring community."

As well as informing, inspiring and enabling residents to live in a more sustainable and resilient way, the hub will be home to other projects, businesses, groups and projects that are involved with responding to the climate and ecological crisis.

Once suitable premises has been found for the new centre, it is hoped it will have many climate-related uses such as a place to hold workshops on all things sustainable and regenerative, a meeting space for groups and people’s assemblies, an eco-business work hub, and a place to provide counselling and emotional support, school outreach programs, speaking events, film evenings, repair cafe sessions.

Jem and his team also plan to provide information at the centre about how to live more sustainable and resilient lives.

Jem said: "Taking action and making changes is important because we are facing an unprecedented threat to our human world and the biosphere.

"Climate and ecological breakdown will severely affect our community’s ability to continue to live comfortably or perhaps even to survive, if we do not make every effort that we can to change the way we are living.

"It will have a massive impact on our nature, our food accessibility, our energy security, the air that we breathe, the weather that we can tolerate, our society, our families and our need to accept climate refugees.

"There are many things that we can all do to reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment. 

"If we all start making these changes on an individual and local level, around the world then we can have a bigger impact and reduce the likelihood of the worst potential outcomes of climate and ecological breakdown.

"We don’t need to, and cannot afford to, wait for Governments to make the changes - we can start now."

The crowdfunder, launched this week, aims to raise as much money as possible for the new centre.

"We really need as much support with this as soon as possible, because the first few days of funding will be matched by Devon County Council, effectively doubling any money that we raise at that point up to £5000," Jem said.

To donate visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/climate-change-response-centre