Climate Camp Gathering in UK This Weekend

This is a little bit of a last-minute announcement, but if you don’t know what to do this weekend and are in the UK, or if you are just a super-enthusiastic climate change activist, there is a big climate camp gathering in the UK this weekend, November 6th and 7th.

It will be in the beautiful city of Manchester in the same room where the very 1st Camp for Climate Action gathering was held nearly five years ago.

Here are all the details, as emailed to me earlier this week:

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HOW THE AGENDA WAS SET

Apologies that the agenda is only out now. There have been capacity issues in finding people to take on agenda work this time around causing delays and people stepping in last minute. No doubt because there’s been lots of amazing stuff going on so let’s not get worried!

However, following callouts on this newsletter in the past few weeks, a group of eight people from across the UK came together to work on a draft agenda. We took as our steer discussions from the How We Organise e-list, where everyone was invited to join (and is still very welcome).

We have prioritized flexibility, meaning there will be lots of opportunities for everyone to input at the gathering itself.  We hope it will prove to be a very creative space, with lots of ideas and plans for action generated.

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AGENDA

SATURDAY

10am: Introduction

10.30am: Evaluation of where we are
-This will be a chance to identify the key issues which have kept emerging over recent years, as well as an opportunity to debrief on recent projects. We intend the session to accessible to all, experienced and new. This will  include the proposal put forward from a workshop at the Edinburgh Camp about International Solidarity.

12noon: Open Space
-An exciting new method of facilitating where we all set the agenda collectively. It will involve multiple parallel sessions all loosely themed around three key questions: What shall we (i.e. this process) do in the next year? What shall we do in the longer term? How should we relate to people not directly involved in this process, both the wider climate justice movement and other struggles? The sessions will be suggested by participants on the day, so get generating ideas.

1pm: Lunch

2pm: Open Space (continued)

5.45pm: Get Involved
-A session to hear about ongoing climate justice campaigns and projects across the UK, and discuss how individuals, groups, and Climate Camp can get involved. For this session, we are hoping to hear from those involved in Huntington Lake, Scottish Coal action, the Ratcliffe Trial, Vodaphone, and anything else. Get in touch in advance by emailing [email protected] to let us know you’re coming.

6.30pm: Dinner

SUNDAY

Sunday remains flexible, as we want it to be based on whatever comes out of the open space sessions. As with previous gatherings, there will be an agenda setting meeting on the Saturday night everyone is welcome to contribute to.

We have, however, conceived some possibilities for Sunday that may or may not prove useful:
-Feedback from the Open Space session groups
-Learning lessons of the past (hearing from participants in past struggles and discussing what we can learn from their successes/mistakes)
-Key debates (addressing the critical issues facing Climate Camp by hearing from the differing viewpoints)
-Who’s going to organise the next gathering?

Any thoughts and suggestions very welcome. Email [email protected]

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PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Venue

The venue is the Bridge 5 Mill run by MERCi (the Manchester Environmental Resource Centre Iniative):

Bridge 5 Mill
22A Beswick Street
Ancoats
Manchester
M4 7HR

Map and Directions
http://www.merci.org.uk/visiting

Timings
The gathering will run from 10am to 6pm on Saturday and 10pm to 5pm on Sunday.

Accomodation
There will be crashpad accomodation available on the Friday and Saturday nights – email gathering[at]climatecamp.org.uk to let us know you need it.

Donation and travel pool
A donation of around £15 is requested from participants in order to cover costs of the venue and food. However, if you can’t afford this you are still more than welcome.

There will be a travel pool, whereby those who have not travelled far and can afford it pool money together for those who have spent more on travel.

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Photo Credit: Climate Camp UK, Blackheath, London, August 2009, by fotdmike via flickr (CC license)

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