The Manchester Climate Change Action Plan, agreed by the City Council over 5 years ago, calls for the creation of a “low carbon culture”. Oddly, the Council has never defined this, or asked anyone else to. So, a group of citizens, under the banner of the “People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team” has produced a short report on the subject, suggesting things that the Council, its minimally active “Stakeholder Steering Group” and civil society could do to both “talk about” and DO towards the creation of that culture. The full report (12 pages) can be downloaded here. Below is the Executive Summary.
Executive Summary
What is a low carbon culture? We don’t know. This paper of the People’s
Environmental Scrutiny Team is not about giving a final answer. It’s about starting a
process that the Council and its hangers-on have been unwilling or unable to do.
The report;
• Outlines the background to the creation of the term and then justifies its own
existence,
• Suggests some reasons why the term has never been defined
• Digresses into “how to explain climate change to anyone.”
• Wrestles (and loses) with the meaning of culture
• Has a top interview with a real live anthropologist (no pith helmet though)
• Reprints some of the answers we got when we asked the question on
facebook and email.
• Reprints a portion of an “implementation plan” sent to Manchester City
Council in February 2014. Which was ignored, of course. Stands up alright
though.
• Closes out with a series of actions that the Council, Civil Society and the Ivory
Tower could take in the short and medium term to start doing AND defining a
“low carbon culture”.
manchester climate monthly 