Learning in university sometimes starts to become its own bubble, especially when it comes to climate change. When you’re sitting in a lecture theatre, considering vague ideas of 2⁰C thresholds, tipping
points, and the potential of global catastrophe, your outlook can start to get pretty bleak. It can get overwhelming, facing that knowledge every day – of how bad it is, of how much worse it can get.

 

Hope is a hard thing to come by in the climate change science.

 

I wasn’t really expecting that to change when I started on my placement with Kendal Town Council. I also wasn’t expecting my perspective to change quite the way it has.

 

Working with the Town Council, and the people behind this project has been a serious reality check for me. Not only are the people incredibly passionate about climate change and carbon reductions, they pair this concern with sincere fondness for their hometown and their community, sharing this sense of responsibility and commitment.

 

A lot of the jurors expressed an initial sense of powerlessness in the face of such a mammoth challenge, and I admit I shared that sentiment.

 

But that was before I realized the true solution to climate change lies with the people – and that is a truly humbling idea for a science student. It isn’t just about the science, it’s about communication between the people, and policymakers, and scientists. It’s about working together towards a common cause, unifying in the hope of a better tomorrow.

 

And that’s the greatest lesson I got out of all of this – hope. Although, a bit of science can’t hurt either!