Communities take action to tackle climate change

In recent conversations, Co-op Members asked us to help them reduce their impact on the environment.

So, throughout June, our Member Activators brought their communities together to help them protect nature and take action on climate change.

Here Stefan Klueter, Member Activator for Greater Manchester Central and West, tells us about all the activities he organised and supported that members could get involved in.

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been a Member Activator for almost 12 months now; that time has flown by.

It has certainly been a year of learning and action, trying to make new connections in new areas and developing partnership across a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

I am now at a stage, where I feel comfortable in my role, understand my area better and have developed a (still expanding) network of fantastic colleagues from across Co-op, community partners and member-owners that would like to get involved more in our Co-op.

This helps me to have a strong partnership approach when delivering and attending events for and with our member-owners.

Tackling climate change

I know from speaking to member-owners in my community that the environment and climate are issues that they are worried about and take very seriously.

So, my aim throughout my June activities was to target a lot of my efforts into Great Big Green Week, which provided a perfect backdrop to what we as Co-op campaign on and would like to achieve in the communities in which we work – be it as a responsible retailer or an organisation that takes action on behalf of and with its members.

I managed to engage with hundreds of people over several events, using our Join in Live Local activities and the connections I made over the last year. The activities were a culmination of lots of work and were certainly action packed!

I kicked off the summer season by attending a Big Lunch launch by the Eden Project in Manchester city centre, which I used to find out more about our partnership but also to gather some ideas.

Then came the Sustainability Festival at Manchester University, which was run by the Staff & Student Sustainability Action Group.

As this year’s theme was ‘Food Sustainability’, I invited our Nature Neighbourhood partners from Easy Come Easy Grow to come along, who offered a seed growing activity to the 400 attendees (the vast majority of which were Co-op Members!)

The motto for this year’s Whalley Range ‘Celebrate’ Festival – a community festival close to one of our stores – was ‘Co-operate’, so how could we not get involved?

One of my National Members Council buddies, Rachel Kenyon, as well Regional Member Activator Manager Madhusudhan Roy joined me talking to members and customers. We used the Big Lunch kit for engagement and lovely recipe cards to talk to people about the swap pledges we were promoting.

The Friends of Alexandra Park together with a local Clean Air Campaign held a picnic in the park, including a puppet parade, a hip-hop storyteller, the Open Voices Choir, and some dancing. On a sweltering hot and humid afternoon, the iced water and fruit that I brought along went down a treat!

Over the course of these (and some smaller events like a Co-op Fortnight Quiz at one of my Members’ Huddles) I strengthened connections and had some brilliant feedback from local MPs, councillors, member-owners, members of the public and opened many more doors for some partnership work.

All the different areas we cover as Member Activators come with their own challenges, and I think working in an urban setting can feel more insular than working with close-nit rural communities.

Luckily in Greater Manchester there are also many different starting points to make contacts, from our fantastic food store and funeral colleagues to partners such as the Nature Neighbourhood projects, our friends from Barnardo’s, Local Community Fund recipients, Co-op Academies, Fairtrade Action Groups and the countless other groups and initiatives that are always open for my ideas – and also very forthcoming with their own!

What’s next?

Now it’s time to move on to the next round of activities.

Fairtrade Fortnight is just around the corner and the first events are already taking shape! I am also in the lucky position to now have four National Members’ Council buddies since the Co-op AGM and elections, so I will make sure that we have a strong representation in my patch! Find out more about our Member Activators or contact the Member Activator in your region by using our online directory