Please welcome our newest member!
Welcome @Adam Nealis, who is based in Thailand. As Adam joins us I have been preparing focus groups within our local Green Party to work on key areas of the Climate Crisis at a local level. The idea is to translate global and national issues into local narratives. How are these huge events playing out, or going to play out, in our local communities? What actions can we take now as a political party, but also in collaboration with our fellow citizens, to start mitigating the worst effects and preparing for or adapting to effects that we cannot avoid? The energy in our local group is growing. The seemingly thankless task of political campaigning is made bearable by becoming more active and making these connections. The food in our town is 95% imported from elsewhere - we think. Now we start the work of determining the real number. The next step is working with local growers to increase the amount of food we produce for local consumption. To do that, we need to know who is already working on this and what help they need to make it happen. One example might be to get around 100 families to commit to buying produce from a local grower; this guarantees the grower's income and allows them to change how they farm. Making the variety of crops wider. The risk diminishes for the farmer, and clients/supporters know exactly how many "food miles" their food has travelled. Through this work, we learn more about the fragility of our food supplies and make changes to reduce the risk of food shortages. Our party members feel that at last they are doing more than making donations and voting once every few years - they can see the results. Now, when they vote, they have a better idea of who they are voting for. Even if we are not elected to office, we will have changed the outcome for our community.