Karen and I are based on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We use images and ideas of the National Park quite often in our work so I was pleased to be invited to talk to the policy committee of Friends of the Dales about climate breakdown.
Friends of the Dales is a membership charity campaigning for the protection and enjoyment of the Dales. Like many organisations, they are coming to terms with the realities of climate breakdown and developing policies in response. While aware of the issue, the committee felt that an external view of the scale and severity of climate breakdown, its impact on the wider world and some actions we could take would help to focus their thinking.
Three minutes of individual visualisation of what the committee members would like the Dales to be like in 2030 produced some unexpected and thought-provoking ideas. These were beyond the anticipated improvements in landscape and biodiversity, extending to significant social change and building an international reputation for the area’s excellence in regenerative agriculture.
Unlike many organisations that have recently declared a climate emergency but failed to follow it up with meaningful action, I am confident Friends of the Dales will develop an effective policy response. Beyond this, I think this will have a more profound impact because of the relationship Friends of the Dales has with the National Park Authority here in the Dales.
One outcome from the talk is that I am putting together an article for the group’s newsletter to seek the input of the wider membership and to find out what they want the Dales to be like in 2030.