Climate Conversations 

A project of the Global Shapers Community – Manchester Hub

About Climate Conversations

The Climate Conversations project is gathering the views of Greater Manchester residents on what they know about climate change, and what action they want to see taken against the climate crisis. The project will first gather insights from residents through a survey, before creating a project based on what the community wants to see implemented locally.

The Problem 

Cities play an important role in tackling the climate crisis, both as community hubs and localised forms of governance. Yet there is a lack of city-level data on citizen awareness of the climate crisis, and how they want it tackled. 

The Climate Conversations project is capturing an understanding of Manchester community’s feelings towards the climate crisis, and the climate action they want to see in their city. It’s a two phase project, starting with a survey that will lead to a community-driven initiative. We will soon be receiving funding from the Climate Reality Project.

This project ensures a just transition: we cannot address climate change without addressing the conditions that make communities more vulnerable to its impacts. We are documenting our methods so other Global Shaper Hubs and communities can replicate this in their own context.

Our Solution 

Our survey will gather data which will be developed into a report & a project that addresses the main finding(s) of the survey. Our methods will be made publicly available for other cities to replicate.

The deliverables of this project are:

  1. A survey to engage with our community
  2. A report analysing the survey findings
  3. An event to launch the report with the community
  4. A project plan to implement a climate action project that the community wants
  5. A knowledge base or playbook that allows replication or scaling of this project.

The Impact

We will be receiving $3,000 of funding from the Climate Reality Project and are currently finding local organisations to partner with to distribute the survey. Our goal is to reach a diverse range of 1,000 Greater Manchester residents from every borough.

How you can help

  1. Once the survey is live, you can complete it yourself and share it with friends and family
  2. If you know a community group or venue (such as a library, an arts space, a food bank… anywhere people gather) that would be happy to host our volunteers, please get in touch.
  3. If you have some spare time, or your company offers volunteering hours, we would love to support you in delivering the survey and holding conversations yourself!