Background: Ritchie’s First Climate Conversation (November 2019)

Consistent with one stated purpose of the Ritchie Community League, being conscious and responsive to environmental initiatives, an open session was held Nov. 17, 2019, at the Ritchie Community Hall to follow up on the City of Edmonton’s March 2019 declaration of a “climate emergency” and to talk about our changing climate.

The session had multiple goals:

• to provide some Information on Edmonton’s weather extremes 

• to engage Ritchie residents in conversation about what a climate crisis means to them and the community

• to give residents a chance to voice their concerns and present ideas for reducing our carbon footprint

• to generate community and individual level actions for adapting to a changing climate

• to develop ideas to support sustainability within Ritchie’s community.

In total, 20 people attended. Participants were enthusiastic and expressed many concerns about the climate crisis/emergency and expressed fears about the future. Key concerns/fears included:

• lack of action and attention to climate change, mitigation and adaptation

• difficulty of making changes to current lifestyle and society

• impact of extreme weather events including on security, infrastructure and other damage

• impact on health, mental health and lifespan .

Participants reported that they have already taken some steps to both mitigate and adjust to climate change in the following areas:

• home energy and other household changes (within and outside)

• recreation choices

• food/eating choices

• nature interests

• activism

• use of consumables

• transportation.

They recognized the need to do more in the following areas:

• more political support, recognizing the issue and options for renewables and energy independence

• the importance of education, awareness and continued conversation to develop action plans

• being prepared to “do things differently” for survival and viable lives

• emergency preparedness: Developing back-up plans for individuals and the community and the designation of community hub(s) to support community members in the event of extreme weather and for long-term sustainability.

Finally, there was consensus that dialogue and action at the community level is critical to support the work of the city and, more importantly, to support community members. Key thoughts about how the Ritchie community can move forward on climate emergency included:

• continue civic community conversations and engagement

• define strengths and weaknesses of the community (working with Abundant Communities Edmonton as key facilitators)

• do some community disaster planning

• define and develop community hubs.

As a follow-up, quarterly sessions will be held to further the discussion about the climate emergency, emergency preparedness and energy independence. The first of these is

Sunday, Feb. 23 starting at 1 p.m. at Ritchie Hall.