HEART Community Group Newsletter #3
June 2022
It’s been a really busy Spring and Summer for our Community Group. Right now, we’re focusing on our upcoming event on 25th June – now just over a week away!
We’d love you to come along if you haven’t already registered – and please tell all your friends too!
Creating a Climate-Resilient Future – Now
On Saturday 25th June HEART Community Group will be hosting a special afternoon event at the St Albans Museum and Gallery.
Our keynote speaker is Professor Rupert Read, author, campaigner and strategist, as well as other expert guest panellists.
This is your chance to join the conversation and explore themes that matter most to you.
Come away energised and inspired about how you can help shape our future as part of resilient local communities.
Is this you?
- You recognise our world is on the brink of huge change and you want to be part of a local resilient community
- You want to make a difference, but you sometimes feel overwhelmed or not really sure where to start
- You don’t want to block a refinery or glue yourself to a bank – but you realise that simply giving a few quid to a green charity is no longer enough
- You care deeply about the devastation of the natural world, and you worry that your children and grandchildren will inherit a dying world. You want to help shape something better than this
Watch this short clip with Rupert and listen to this short interview with Kimberley Hare to find out more about the event.
Register here for your FREE ticket
Out and About in Hertfordshire
Since our last newsletter, we have ‘taken a stand’ at various festivals and events around the county, including
- The kick-off event for SustFest – the Sustainability Festival market in Harpenden
- Climate and Faith Evenings at St Mary’s Church in Baldock
- The 2-day festival in Rickmansworth
- The “Renewables Roadshow” hosted by Abbots in Transition
Climate Emergency Centres and Local Resilience Hubs
There are now over 40 Climate Emergency Centre teams across the UK. In this inspiring conversation, we explore what CEC’s are, and the benefits they bring for local resilient communities.
We interviewed Ruth Allen, the co-founder of CEC UK. We were also joined by Ben McCallan, who started Zero Carbon Guildford, and gave us a tour!
“Once You Know” – Screenings in the UK
The documentary “Once you Know” explores the themes of climate change and systemic collapse, as well as the collective resilience needed to face it.
The film-makers would like to launch the film in the UK and are looking for organizations/activists/enterprises/students/teachers/etc. who are interested in these themes and could organize screenings or at least share the information to their network.
Here are different posts you can share to encourage people to organize screenings in their community :
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZhDx_DqPma/
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/onceyouknowfilm/status/1489219469595619332
Here is the website: https://pulp-films.fr/project/once-you-know/
An Evening of Climate Comedy
Join East Herts Green Party for a fantastic evening of comedy with climate comedian Matt Winning!
Matt has a PhD in Climate Change Policy, and is an active researcher at UCL.
He is also a brilliant comedian who has performed several sell-out comedy shows to critical acclaim.
He has appeared on BBC2’s ‘Inside Culture’, on BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Now Show’ and ‘The News Quiz’, and he hosts the podcast ‘Operation Earth’.
Matt is currently touring the UK with his latest show ‘Hot Mess’.
Wednesday July 13th, 7.30pm (doors at 7pm), Green Comedy Night, Saracen’s Head basement, Ware
Buy tickets here.
The Edge Retreat – May 2022
In May, we hosted another 4-day free Retreat – an extraordinary experience for all.
The retreat is designed to support people to stand tall and look at our predicaments from a place of resilience, courage and clarity. Participants also reflect deeply on their own individual ‘thread’ – what might be theirs to do.
Contact Kim to find out more, and put your name down for the next one.
“The Edge retreat was like nothing I’ve ever done before. Do you remember that Channel 4 logo of different, coloured shapes randomly whirling around? Then they snapped together and made the figure 4. Metaphorically, I feel I’ve got that going on. It feels full of potential, timely and fulfilling.
I enjoyed it enormously and was very impressed with the scope, pace, variety and content. At a deeper level it has set something in motion for me that I’m still working on. I feel lighter somehow. Kim is a very skilled facilitator, clearly very experienced; helping us grow and explore with loving kindness, good humour and expertise. I came away feeling I have found my tribe.” Gilly Chegwyn
“It was a great privilege to be able to attend this event and feel so connected …I experienced moments of genuine joy and peace. Kim is awesome. Kept us really engaged throughout, took us to edge – and gave us the confidence to look over.” Trudi Warner
“For me this course was an important stepping stone toward emotional acceptance of the inevitable. The four days of workshops moved me into deep connection with myself and with the group. I am hugely grateful to Kim for her natural leadership, and for this opportunity to explore a creative new direction in my work as an activist.” Joseph Mishan
Collapse Club Conversation with David Baum and Katie Carr
Katie Carr was a founding member of the core team for Deep Adaptation. She was responsible for developing the meditative and relational practices that give Deep Adaptation its special flavour and its power to forge connections among people around the world.
Katie believes that “it is essential to build awareness and bring into consciousness all of the ways that stories of separation, scarcity and addiction to progress can be manifest in our ways of relating with self and others, and create new ways of being that are characterised by love, respect, inclusivity and connection.”
She talks about how those methods apply in these days of increasing chaos and disaster.
You can find our more about Katie’s one-to-one ‘Deep Relating’ work here.
Watch the conversation here.
Upcoming Session: Emotional Freedom & Resilience
30th July 10.30am – 1.30pm
This in-person short session for Hertfordshire residents is free to attend and is facilitated by Chantal Burns of HEART Community Group. If you relate to any of the following, then these sessions are for you:
- You’ve been feeling frazzled, overwhelmed or close to burn out and need to reset and return to peace and stillness
- You’ve been struggling with thoughts and feelings about the climate emergency, the war or other issues. You want to be able to think about these issues without it compromising your own mental health
- You have children (or other people) in your life who are struggling with their own emotions – perhaps about their ‘future’. You want to be able to support others without it adversely affecting your own mental wellbeing
- You’re balancing the responsibility of work, children or elderly parents and it all feels a bit chaotic or overwhelming. You want some mental quiet and clarity
You will learn how to uncover the deep peace, emotional wellbeing and innate resilience you were born with. If you would like to book your free place, contact us at heartcommunitygroup@gmail.com using subject line: Emotional Resilience.
“It’s an opportunity to delve into yourself, spend a few hours with like-minded people and to unload some of the self-inflicted rubbish that weighs you down/”
“I have learned that I do have an inner strength and resilience and I can now get in touch with it. I can feel it. It means that I know I will be able to deal with any difficult times that befall me.”
We look forward to welcoming you!
See all our other upcoming events here.
We really hope we’ll see you on the 25th. If you have questions or comments, please do let us know.
Warm wishes
Kim, Chantal, and Kate
