Submitted by Jessica Haskell on Wed, 2020-06-24 16:03
At the beginning of the year, we decided the theme for this year’s CCSF would be ‘Towards a Sustainable Future: Local Actions, Global Betterment’. It’s curious how certain statements, like this title, take on a whole new meaning in times of change.
The world now seems to be continually looking to the future, to recovery from this global pandemic, and it is important that we keep sustainability in mind when envisioning this future. In this time of great shift, it’s also been clear to see significant response to the pandemic within communities, with strengthened resilience and community networks at the grassroots level. It seems more important than ever to think about sustainability from the bottom up, and how our strength to work constructively in the face of adversity comes from our collective endeavours. These were themes that were discussed extensively at the forum, and that we wanted to resonate with participants. We’ve given you a taste of the day below but if you’d like to hear more you can access a recording of the event here.
Professor Jane Heal opened the 2020 CCSF, emphasising the importance of, and philosophy behind, individual actions in combating climate change. Next, Mariasole Bianco discussed the ocean, and her inspiring individual journey to create a business which reduces plastic pollution in Italy. This was followed by a series of talks from academics and ‘flash talks’ from Fleur Nash and Valeria Zambianchi, current students of the University. A highlight was Dr Theo Hacking’s discussion on how sustainability could be better embedded into engineering planning which prompted lively conversations among speakers and the audience.
The afternoon session began with a fantastic talk by Dr Alina Averchenkova from LSE, who discussed her extensive experience mediating cross-stakeholder dialogues in both government and NGO settings, and how individuals can have a significant influence on the creation of legislation. This was followed up by Duncan Catchpole, who presented his business, the Cambridge Food Hub, and spoke about how food supply can be designed to be more sustainable. The event was rounded off in style by Dr Natasha Grist who presented a project providing Biogas to local communities in Kenya.
The committee is grateful to all our fantastic speakers and for the inspiring talks they gave. We’d also like to direct anyone that may have missed the talks to our Facebook page where you’ll find not only the recorded talks, but also links to resources discussed by our speakers. We hope that the range of talks on offer leaves everyone empowered with the knowledge that every small action we take as individuals is additive, and that viewed through the lens of the local community, they combine to make significant positive changes to our planet.
Written by the CCSF2020 Team