If you’re worried about floods in your street or power outages on your block, there’s a good chance that your next-door neighbor is, too.
And if disaster strikes, people who live close by can often help each other out.
So the city of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, is working to get neighbors talking about climate change and preparing together.
Danahy: “It could be as simple as planting some native plants, or getting an emergency preparedness kit together, collecting contact information. … It might be knowing who doesn’t have air conditioning and going to check in on them. … It might be about sharing different resources, making sure people have water that they need.”
That’s Sarah Danahy of O2 Planning and Design. Her firm worked with Edmonton to create the Neighbouring for Climate tool kit. It’s a deck of cards that anyone can download for free.
Each card describes an action that neighbors can work on together to reduce global warming or prepare for its impacts, like planting trees or making an emergency plan.
So the deck can be used as a conversation starter to help neighbors identify common concerns and interests.
Danahy: “The tool kit is really meant to inspire and spark that first action between neighbors to do things together.”
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
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