With a global population of just under 8 billion people, it’s hard to believe that our individual actions can have any great impact on the climate. I can hear you all thinking we can’t single handily stop the temperature from rising, remove all the plastic from the ocean, or stop the mining of fossil fuels. But 8 billion people making small purposeful actions, might just leave the world a better place.

Climate Expert Graeme Anderson painted a picture on the state of climate change in both a global and local context. Discussing the three P’s of climate impact, Physical, Policy and People he highlighted how our weather system, our political system and our corporate and commercial systems all impact climate, allowing us all to delve deeper into our own world to understand how the decisions we make as leaders influence climate.

We discussed Practice Change, the theory that individuals will only change behaviours when it’s proven to work, when we want to change and when we can.

As leaders this gives us the tools to enable our communities to make behaviour changes necessary for climate mitigation and adaptation. By providing evidence, mitigating risks, showing tangible benefits and building capacity, our community will be set up for success when it comes to climate action.

We considered risks and opportunities that climate mitigation and adaptation provides us as leaders. Climate change can be a contentious and somewhat scary dark box of a place, however it is through exploring these opportunities that it becomes a hopeful place.

Graeme mentioned “In a stable atmosphere it would never rain, you need disturbance for it to rain”. Perhaps the same thing could be said for climate action, keeping stable and to the status quo, things will never change. There needs to be disturbance for meaningful climate action to occur. As leaders it’s time for us to create that disturbance.

A big thank you to Damon Gameau Director of the 2040 Documentary, Graeme Anderson Climate Expert, Mark Wootton & Eve Kantor Principal Managers of Jigsaw Farms, Steve Morris Founder of Close the Loop and Kylie McIntyre Sustainability Coordinator at Southern Grampians Shire Council for enlightening us on the state of climate mitigation and adaptation and the opportunity for hope.

Ashleigh Glennon, 2021 Program Participant