tomhitchman |
I have been struggling recently with issues around how to better support new CRAGS, what is the essence of a CRAG, how to foster development of confidence of individuals within groups, build a group from individuals, increase trust, reciprocation etc. Also how to represent us in more formal documents and submissions like the BGC bid and communications with other agencies; something that defines what and how we do as being more unique, valuable and worth supporting! So what I have come up with is the topic/idea of either ‘Energy Literacy’ or ‘Emissions literacy’.
On a quick google Energy Literacy is used in a couple of us/canadian sites but not used in a personal way in that it is the skills and knowledge that can be acquired and used to take action to limit our own impact on the environment.
So looking at what I have learned over the last year and a half with ICRAG and which is not in everybodies knowledge base could this be drawn together in such a way to support new groups to deliver this knowledge and ability quickly to get people up to speed?
I am imagining that there are some core elements that we each need to acquire such as:
- Getting to know your bills and converting into emissions – UK electricity, fuel mix, renewables and demystifying govt policy with electricity (ROCs) – The future of renewable, gas, electricity, oil, biomass. – comparatives of private / public / human powered transportation – etc I am sure there are a host of ideas out there.
Could these/others be honed and shaped into modules available on the website/wiki for use with groups?
There could be a host of other topics that warrant research that could be done by members of a group outside of meetings and presented to the group and uploaded to the wiki, increasing our resources, giving an opportunity to give back to the group as a whole and giving practice to those reporting back as training/confidence for going out to do outreach later. Building up the knowledge and skills to move on from the group to do more as educators/ambassadors in the community over the longer time. Thinking that a CRAG is just a stepping stone and training ground for our growing awareness and action but ultimately of greater value to a wider audience?
What are your thoughts?
Energy and carbon literacy
Peckham Anna
This is a really excellent idea Tom – yes we all need to improve our energy and carbon literacy.
Learning theory and research repeatedly demonstrates that if you really want to learn something, you need to do “depth processing” i.e. not learn to chant by rote “I must change my lightbulbs” but work out what your footprint is, understand where it needs to be and why, and understand what you need to prioritise and have a plan of action to do it…
So would some sort of energy and carbon literacy workbook[s] be a good idea, including space for people to reflect on what they’ve learnt and recognising different types of core values?
I’m thinking of parallel work done by credit unions who see a vital part of their role being to improve financial literacy. I don’t know of any financial literacy workbooks however! [But Geroge Marshall’s “Carbon Detox” has some excellent exercises that Peckham CRAG have used – he’d be happy for these to be used more widely, so long as we cite our source.] Maybe others have come across useful exercises we could use?
As a rough initial suggestion – an intro workbook, several themed topics [domestic heating, transport, electricity] and a “next steps” workbook?
Best wishes
Anna