Climate change is upon us. We are the first responders. How will we keep each other safe? How will we meet our needs? Who gets to have a say?

These questions, and many others, are being tackled by everyday people in the movement for climate adaptation. In their stories is a wealth of inspiration, as well as crucial knowledge for an increasingly pressing project.

If you, along with me, and three quarters of the population, live in an urban area, stories of bushfires and flooding may feel far away. This show will hit closer to home: we’ll hear from urban champions of the movement about why and how we need to prepare ourselves.

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins is the Climate Justice Coordinator at Darebin Neighbourhood House Network, which consists of seven neighbourhood houses in Narrm’s (melbourne’s) inner north. In 2022, the Network developed a Climate Action & Resilience Plan.

Shweta Kawatra Dakin is the Manager of Resilient Communities at GenWest, a family violence support service in Narrm’s (melbourne’s) west. Since 2022, her team has been running Our Community, Our Voice, a flood resilience and recovery program that supports refugee and migrant women and their families affected by the 2022 floods in Maribyrnong.

Rebecca Abernethy is the coordinator of enliven’s Multicultural Heat Heroes project, collaborating with multicultural community ambassadors to build climate resilience among priority language groups in Narrm’s (melbourne’s) southeast.

Elena Pereyra is a councillor for Maribyrnong City Council and co-chair of Cohousing Australia, a grassroots group that works with communities, government agencies, and industry to promote collective models of housing, housing diversity, and housing choice.

The Climate Adaptation Fair took place at Borderlands Cooperative in Narrm (melbourne), as part of the National Sustainability Festival. It was organised by Friends of the Earth’s Act on Climate collective.

Earth Matters #1510 was produced by Mia Audrey on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.