Rushworth's first "Climate Conversations"

Rushworth's first 'Climate conversations' meeting brought with it a sense of enthusiasm, curiosity and relief as community members expressed a keen desire to not only learn about how climate change is affecting our region but also how they can be pro-active in addressing the change that's taking place.

Lou Costa has ignited a conversation in Rushworth about the climate crisis.

Louise Costa facilitated the meeting and said "it was good to meet community members who are keen to learn and share information in an open and constructive environment; knowing that the group will continue to collaborate on a project that will benefit the Rushworth area."

Louise has commenced a climate leadership course which has been designed by the Dept of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and LEAD Loddon Murray. Objectives of the course are to educate participants about how climate change is affecting our region and how to address these changes through area-specific projects. These projects will have particular emphasis on adaptation for the most vulnerable members of regional society. The course culminates in a climate summit where project ideas will be presented.

Louise said her first intensive learning seminar was challenging and confronting with a presentation from CSIRO climate scientist John Clarke explaining the daunting climate projections for our region.

Despite this, Louise says "I met a fantastic bunch of people with similar goals and spent two days learning not only about climate change but also about how to stay positive, progressive and constructive."

The next scheduled 'climate conversation' for Rushworth will be 

Tuesday 3 March, 5.45pm at the Rushworth Community House.

The meeting will run for an hour and be broken into three main parts:

• Introduction / information
• Identifying our problem (on a local level)
• Brainstorming project ideas (crazy, radical, innovative - all ideas will be considered!)