The decisions reached at COP26 – and how they can be moved forward by local individuals and communities – will be discussed at a public meeting on Saturday November 13 at Lansdown Hall, Stroud.
The meeting – from 7pm-9pm – will hear from a panel of expert local speakers and there will be opportunities to ask questions. The event is free and anyone can attend, either in person or via Zoom. Register here to attend online.
This will be the latest in Stroud District Green Party’s regular Cloud Café discussion forums, which address a wide variety of topics related to the environment and social justice. This will be the first ‘real-life’ Cloud Café to be held for over a year; previous events have taken place only on Zoom.
Elizabeth Lee, event coordinator, said: “The Glasgow COP 26 summit will conclude a day before our event. Previous COPs have led us to the conclusion that although hefty targets are set to deal with the climate emergency, there is no will and no strategic plan to follow them through.
“We would like to set a different tone at the Stroud event, by discussing how we can take some of the salient decisions made at COP26 and move them forward to effect change in the Stroud District and beyond. If governments don’t act, we must take the power into our own hands, and see Stroud District set an example to other towns and cities through working together for the benefit of our planet.”
The speakers
Carla Denyer is the co-leader of the Green Party with Adrian Ramsay and a councillor for Clifton Down in Bristol, a part of the largest Green councillor group in the UK. In 2018 she proposed the first Climate Emergency declaration in Europe, committing Bristol to go carbon neutral by 2030 and inspiring hundreds of other organisations to follow her lead.
She is the Green Party’s Housing and Communities spokesperson, with a track record of standing up for renters and working to prevent homelessness.
Before entering politics, Carla worked as a renewable energy engineer, specialising in offshore and onshore wind.
Juliet Davenport OBE is founder and former chief executive of renewable energy company Good Energy.
Juliet, who has degrees in atmospheric physics and economics, is a climate scientist, renewable pioneer, businesswoman and environmental activist.
She founded Good Energy in 1999 and remains a director of the company, one of the UK’s first 100% renewable electricity suppliers. It has won several awards for environmental and ethical achievement.
Juliet is a host of the podcast Great Green Questions, in which she speaks to celebrities, experts and comedians about the issues of sustainable living.
Dr Simon Pickering is environment advisor to Ecotricity, co-chair of the business energy group at the GFirst local enterprise partnership, and advisor to Business Declares, a group of business leaders who take real action to reach carbon neutrality.
A professional ecologist, he has helped design and create internationally important wetlands, introduced beavers to Gloucestershire and advised Government on wildlife protection issues.
Simon projected managed one of the first commercial water source heat pump systems powered by solar power in Gloucestershire. He has also retrofitted his own 200-year-old Grade II listed house, leading to a large saving in energy bills.
He recently stood down (after 21 years) as a Green councillor on Stroud District Council where, as chair of the environment committee, he oversaw the council cutting its waste to landfill by 50%, the development of a nationally acclaimed natural flood management scheme and the council becoming the first carbon neutral council in Europe.
Dan Green, a 17-year-old sixth-form student at Archway School, was one of the founding members of Stroud Youth Strike 4 Climate in 2019. The monthly actions that Dan helped to organise had up to 1500 protesters.
Dan has a keen interest in environmental issues and wants to provide an opportunity for young people around Stroud to have a voice and have their concerns taken seriously.