Community-focused climate and social change initiatives already aligned with my values before I undertook this internship. However, my role at CSC introduced me to two new concepts which I believed I could combine. The first was the concept of co-design, where communities collaborate with professionals to design interventions, events, and spaces that reflect communities’ needs. The study I worked on was co-designed with the Huon Valley community in Tasmania to create a contemplative practice workshop to facilitate connection to nature. The other was the concept of the climate cafe, which I came across in performing literature review for the Huon Valley project. I felt that to combine the two would be a match made in heaven, and that’s how Carlton Climate Cafe was born.
In my personal life, I attempt to read books, listen to too many podcasts, and go to as many live music events as I can! I sporadically get really into different forms of exercise and take my cat for walks. I do my best to take care of myself despite existential dread of societal collapse through meditation and journalling, but ultimately, I crave community connection and believe in its vitality to human flourishing. This is why I decided to host Carlton Climate Cafe.
Carlton Climate Cafe would like to acknowledge that this event is being collaboratively designed and held upon the land of the Wurundjeri people.
We recognise the many Indigenous knowledges and traditions of collective care that long predate the notion of the climate cafe.
We recognise the many Indigenous knowledges and traditions of collective care that long predate the notion of the climate cafe.