On Sunday 7th November members of climate action groups from across Cumbria came together with local residents for a day of discussion and celebration at the National Trust’s Footprint building in Windemere.

The event, entitled ‘Seeds of Resilience’, was organised by CAfS and the National Trust as part of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership to mark COP26 Nature Day and to reinforce the message that everyone can take positive action locally to contribute towards global efforts to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Said Cumbria Sustainability Network Coordinator Helen Attewell, ‘The event brought together members of community groups from across Cumbria to plan actions arising from the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

‘The event included the opportunity to explore Cumbria’s beautiful woodland with local environmentalists, and find out more about practical projects to protect biodiversity and cultivate sustainably.’

The afternoon session included practical workshops with Gareth Thomas, from Woodmatters, taking attendees out into the woods; Lucy Axton; a trainee on The Plot, talked about transforming pastureland and an old council polytunnel near Lancaster into a productive organic garden; Isobel and Fran from SENS (Sustainable Staveley) spoke about their work on building biodiversity into local community plans and Kate Jackson from the Seeds of Resilience’ project at Brockhole described how planting and preserving seeds gives an important message of hope for the future.

Debbie Riviere, Manager of The Footprint, said, “We are excited to be working with Cumbria Action for Sustainability to highlight the Cop26 summit, through our Seeds of Resilience Day on 7  November.  We had a fantastic turn out and were inspired to discover how interested the local community have been in this event.”