Community climate projects take focus at Climate Catch Up event

A free community climate event at Husk Farm Distillery later this month aims to turn local ideas into action, bringing together residents, council and grassroots groups to build momentum on sustainability projects across the Tweed.

The Climate Catch Up: Building Momentum will feature a guided sustainability tour of Husk Farm Distillery led by CEO Quentin Brival, highlighting the venue’s approach to environmentally conscious production.

Tweed Shire Council education officer – sustainability Jane Moad, said the event was intentionally set at the distillery, which earned a highly commended in the council’s 2023 Sustainability Awards, to showcase what is possible for local businesses.

“We decided we’d like to hold the event there so that we can have a tour and a talk from their CEO about their own sustainability journey,” Moad said.

“That is an education tool and also an inspiration for the people attending to show what is possible.”

Moad said this kind of “peer-to-peer learning” can have lasting impacts.

“We find that peer-to-peer learning is a really valuable way of encouraging other people,” she said.

But she emphasised the afternoon is also designed to spark collaboration, with attendees taking part in project planning sessions focused on current and emerging climate action initiatives across the region.

“The other reason for running the event is that we’ve got a bunch of grassroots, community-led climate action projects being run by different people,” she said.

“Council’s commitment is to support those groups by having these regular quarterly catchups, where we do some element of capacity-building to help them make progress.”

She said the collaborative format allows council and participants to explore projects at different stages while drawing on shared knowledge to strengthen them.

“It’s a chance to dive into the projects that are currently live and use the collective wisdom in the room from people who’ve got different backgrounds and experiences to help get a little more momentum happening,” she said.

Projects span a wide range of sustainability efforts, including mindful food choices, energy and electrification initiatives such as solar use and electric vehicle use, and native conservation practices like tree planting and backyard rewilding.

“There’s a whole range of different ideas that the community have come up with,” Moad said.

She said the session would help groups assess their progress and plan their next steps.

“Some of the groups have made a fair bit of progress and it’s about taking them to the next level,” she said.

“Some are really in the early seed of an idea, and they need momentum or a bit more planning behind them, so we’re hoping to connect people who are a bit further along with some people who are in the early stages to be able to have a cross pollination of ideas.”

“We can spend some time sitting down and mapping out pilot projects and we’re advocating for doing little test runs of some of the ideas so that we can see what works.”

The event will be held at Husk Farm Distillery on 29 April from 4-7pm.

To register, visit events.humanitix.com/climate-catch-up-building-momentum