What is a Climate Café®?
A Climate Café® is a pop up space for people to get together to talk and act on climate change.
Climate Cafés® are informal, inclusive spaces where everyone is welcome to join the conversation and get involved. Often they are local in their focus, connecting with wider climate action nationally and globally. Climate Cafés® are apolitical and non judgemental. In communities, work places or on campuses, a pop up Climate Café® may be a place that offers an opportunity to get together for a regular chat and update on climate ideas and action.
Most of our Cafés choose to meet monthly for a couple of hours. Many Climate Cafés® like to bring in speakers to inform the conversation and action. Some Climate Cafés® choose to do this for every gathering, while others choose to have more time to chat. The chat in Climate Cafés® often leads to exciting ideas, projects and action. They are a great place to feature and connect with local projects and initiatives, support new businesses and hear from others taking action.
Each Climate Café® is unique to the people and place it is in. Some Climate Cafés® meet online, often using zoom. This allows connections to be made more widely too!
Why start a Climate Café®?
Climate Cafés® are a great way to get a climate conversation started in your community or work place. Many Climate Cafés® have started with a presentation from a Climate Reality Leader that updates on the latest science, impacts and solutions.
For many, a Climate Cafe® is a great way to start a conversation in a community or workplace.
For those who have an established project or programme of climate action then a Climate Café® can just be a space where everyone can come together for a cup of tea and an informal chat about the wider connections to their work and new ideas.
What do I need to start a Climate Café®?
A Climate Café® is simple to get started.
We recommend that you work with 2-3 others in your community, who may be connected to different networks – that’s a great way to ensure that your Climate Café® gets going with a diverse range of voices and different perspectives.
Some Climate Cafés® meet in a local Café, if there is a good space and the host Café are happy to host a gathering. Others meet in a community space, a community centre, town or church hall where you may need your own kettle, tea, coffee and biscuits.
When choosing your space, consider whether it will be accessible to everyone – check access arrangements; what acoustics are like; will everyone be able to hear each other; can you provide tea and biscuits for free, or a small donation and who will tidy up?!
When safe to do so, it’s great to support local Cafés and businesses, especially as we recover from the pandemic. Do consider whether drinks will be affordable for everyone and if your host venue are happy for you to sit chatting for a while.
Many are happy to host a Climate Café®, and some may even provide a quieter space or a group discount, but always worth checking out the venue in advance and being thoughtful guests!
Register with the Climate Café® Hub
If you do want to start a Climate Café® and use the name, get in touch with info@climate.café to register your new Climate Café® , get support and connection to the wider network.
There are lots of benefits of registering and becoming part of the wider network, including access to a bespoke Climate Café® logo and toolkit, guidance and resources, a webpage on the Climate Cafe® Hub, and opportunities to connect with other Climate Café® Coordinators.
What is it like to go along to a Climate Café®?
A Climate Café® is relaxed and informal, so you should be able to just drop in, have a cup of tea, and a chat – just like any Café. Every Climate Café® should feel really welcoming, open and inclusive to all. It is a space where you should feel informed, inspired and able to get involved.
A Climate Café® is not really a meeting space for lots of papers and minutes or actions! The role of the Co-ordinator(s) at a Climate Cafe® is to ensure that everyone gets to contribute and the conversation moves through the topics people are interested in. Expect the chat to be wide ranging and solutions focused, with a positive focus on what we can do!
A project or event idea may come out of Café chats. If so there might be updates at a Climate Café®, with separate sessions to progress a project. Those who choose to be involved in a project can be, while the Climate Café® continues to be a place for chat.
Co-ordinators may take notes on what everyone would like to chat about at a future Climate Café®, gather ideas for speakers, information to share and send or a need for more tea and biscuits, but that’s about it!
Wherever you see the Climate Café® logo, you will know that Climate Café® is signed up to a shared ethos of being open, welcoming and inclusive to everyone.
Every Climate Café® is responsible for providing a safe space to meet, and following current government guidance in relation to COVID 19. A Climate Café® can also meet online.
Where can I find a Climate Reality Presentation?
If you would like to set up a Climate Café® in your community, we will be able to provide you with a starter pack and put you in touch with a Climate Reality Leader who can share a presentation on the latest science, impacts and solutions to the climate emergency we face.
Click here if you would like to find a Climate Reality Leader to do a presentation to help you get started or contact us directly on info@climate.cafe and we can arrange that for you.
Top tips
Here we share some helpful tips about setting up a Climate Café®, learned from our experience over several years, with different Climate Cafés, in different locations and settings.
Climate Cafés® can play a valuable role in being a positive space to celebrate and connect people to local climate action. Instead of competing with amazing climate action happening already, they should create spaces to connect with, learn more about and join others. Invite inspiring individuals, local businesses, young leaders or projects along to share their story!
Climate Cafés® can be a great way to keep climate chat and action going. Tackling the Climate Emergency is going to take us all, and together we can think bigger and smarter! Sharing news, ideas, resources, actions can generate new ideas and energy.
Get Creative! Whether it is decorating new mugs for your Climate Café®, painting a banner for a march, sharing stories or making bunting to share individual voices – getting creative gets everyone talking and brings new people into the conversation.
Be inclusive! If there are people missing from the conversation in your community, find out where others may feel more comfortable, what topics may be of interest and go to them. In terms of discussion topics, think of fresh prompts, talks and insights to interest everyone.
Additional resources
When you are registered as a Climate Café®, you will be able to access additional resources which you may find useful – these have been developed through years of learning, shared across communities.
The Climate Reality Project: – Request a free presentation from a Climate Reality Leader.
New connections and links to trusted climate resources are coming soon too!
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