Looking to the future
The Core Group who’ve kept SECA’s wheels turning since 2019 are stepping back to make way for a new team with exciting ideas for how to grow the network and take it in new directions. This article by Nicola Peel, Pat Smith and Karen Park sets out their priorities and plans
The Past
They say there is a seven-year cycle.
SECA, the South East Climate Alliance, was formed in 2019, when Nicola Peel and Carrie Cort called for a meeting of local environmental groups. What could happen if we collaborated throughout the South East? So we created an alliance of groups from Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire.
We started by getting councils to declare a climate emergency, pushing councils to divest, putting climate on the local election agenda and coming together for an in-person annual gathering. A regular newsletter shared what member and national groups were doing. During Covid we set up knowledge sharing Zoom meetings.
SECA started up with a steering group and from that a core group was formed, which is now stepping down. We are immensely grateful for everything they have all done, much of it behind the scenes, and for all they have achieved over the past seven years.
The Future
SECA aims to:
- Grow the network, welcoming more groups and widening awareness of regional activity.
- Share information and resources, seed ideas, learn from and support each other.
- Work collaboratively, building connections to support local and bioregional action.
Some of the original founding members including Nicola Peel, Pat Smith and Karen Park have decided SECA is too good to lose, so what next?
SECA is officially affiliated to Friends of the Earth, the world’s largest grassroots network of environmental groups, and the South Downs National Park is also keen to support us. They both see the value in the network we have created, a network of around 120 member groups and almost 800 individuals signed up for our newsletter.
We now need new blood, new ideas and new energy to embrace the future.
So how can we work most effectively together? What can we do that we are not already doing? For starters:
- How could we work more with the Rivers Trust and local conservation groups, encouraging people to get out and get their hands dirty, by physically helping with conservation whilst benefiting their own mental health?
- How could we advance community energy, which is so desperately needed at this time?
- How could we work more with faith groups?
- How could we improve our support and encouragement for campaigning and issue-based groups in the South East and be more responsive to their needs?
- What does it mean to be a bioregional network, seeing the beautiful land that we are lucky to live in connected by soil type, landscapes, riverscapes and climate, and how do we become more resilient in this environment?
Also,
- How can we nourish ourselves and help each other to not ‘burn out’, by having more physical social gatherings of like-hearted people? We are already talking about our annual gathering in spring, the time of new beginnings.
- How about a summer gathering and a camp out? What about harvest feasts and in the mid of winter a night walk together?
Please spare a few minutes to think about the future direction of our invaluable and beloved organisation.
If you have ideas or would like to support and have some time to give to SECA, then please let us know. You can contact us by email: southeastclimatealliance@gmail.com