I’m just back from spending two days observing and truly participating in the CL4RPs Train the Trainer course, led by Nicola Smalley and Morwenna Lewis (of Be Carbon Literate), on 19th and 20th of January.
CL4RPs is the consortium of 20 housing associations across Greater Manchester that is rolling out Carbon Literacy, initially to a target group of 6000 staff but then to further staff, residents, suppliers and partners. This training was taking place as part of a four-day train the trainer initiative with 40 housing association and community trainers skilling-up ready to roll out their own Carbon Literacy courses in each of their own organisations.
These two days consisted of a series of activities and presentations, giving the learners the opportunity to test a range of activities that they can select for use in their future courses. Everyone also received feedback from the course leaders and other learners to help them to develop their techniques and improve the way they deliver the content.
The course was based on the Carbon Literacy Standard and not only focussed on the learning and delivery process, but also on our personal behavior contributing towards a sustainable future.
Pre-course, attendees had calculated their our own personal carbon footprint and a comparison of the results was followed by a lively discussion focused on how to reduce our own emissions with some particularly inspiring examples from participants.
Climate change impacts were discussed throughout the two days, along with adaptation, mitigation and a long list of resources where learners can find help and ideas for their courses. Climate change can be a difficult and uncomfortable topic but we left this course with a sense of hope and enthusiasm, and a sense of inspiration from our two lovely trainers.
The next session of this course will be held in March, when the participants will return to share their ideas and experiences as real trainers, and also reflect, and receive coaching and feedback from the course leaders.
This course is significant because it opened up the discussion about climate change, its impacts and what has to be done in order to minimize its consequences. But far beyond that, each learner is becoming a trainer who will deliver that content to many groups of learners, creating an exponential growth in the number of people aware of climate issues and the actions that they can take in their daily lives, and becoming, therefore; Carbon Literate.