On Tuesday, February 27th, 2024, Alison Cooke, Frankston local and passionate community advocate, hosted a ‘Heat-safe Frankston’ event at Frankston library. Over 30 people came along to hear from local council, doctors and community advocates about how rising temperatures are impacting our communities, and how we can collectively mobilise and build climate resilience. The event was supported by Sweltering Cities and sponsored by CoPower.
Left: Participants taking part in the heat mapping exercise. Right: Alison Cooke, Frankston local and event organiser.
In this blog post, Alison recaps the event and reflects on how we can use community power to protect both people and the environment from the impacts of extreme heat.
“It’s crucial that communities can come together and discuss how we can start building resilience to the impacts of climate change such as heatwaves. The event included approximately 35 locals, community advocates, Councillors, and business CEOs in the room. There was a clear focus on how increasing temperatures, and heatwaves particularly, have a big impact on our community. They listened to Sophie Emder of Sweltering Cities speak about the breadth and visibility of their campaigns in the intersection of public health, justice and heat. Dr Genevieve Cowan spoke about her advocacy and outlined the effects of heatwaves on people and pets. Claire Harvey, CoPower Board member and Frankston City Councillor spoke about her climate advocacy and the current action in the council’s climate change strategy. She said the following:
“Local governments have, in many cases, taken the queue from concerned residents to act on climate change, with state and federal governments only stepping up to make stronger emission reduction commitments much more recently. More attention is now being turned to the equally urgent task of climate adaptation, and of working to protect people and places from various climate harms. Councils know that they cannot do this work on their own: partnership with engaged, motivated and well-networked community groups form a vital piece of the puzzle and certainly adds momentum. Good on Alison for reaching out, stepping up and making things happen in Frankston!”
Claire Harvey CoPower Board Member and Frankston City Councillor
The night also included a community heat sensitivity mapping exercise, to map out the vulnerabilities, assets and gaps in the local level response to extreme heat.
The participants were fully engaged in brainstorming and feedback mapping to identify potential areas for action in climate adaptation, particularly efforts to identify and better support more vulnerable members of our communities (e.g. renters, the elderly, those facing barriers related to disability or living with chronic health conditions and the environment and habitat).
By the end, participants had identified a number of key actions for follow-up, in the jam-packed session. This piece was run by Friends of the Earth’s Aleesha Hanczakowski and Vicky Rae.
Friends of the Earth members who ran the heat sensitivity mapping exercise
The feedback on the activity was overwhelmingly to both hold it again and extend the time allowed, and to proceed to solving the concerns and issues raised.
I’ve written a report for Frankston Council ‘s attention. It contains the findings and observations based on community member’s feedback, and on the identified actions and areas of concern arising from the community sensitivity mapping exercise.” You can read the report here.
How you can get involved:
