Dudley People’s School for Climate Justice

The People's School will be like soil. It will nurture a culture of shared learning in which everyone is welcome.

Mother tree projects (Getting into Hot Water, Growing Land Connections, Stories of Place) will bring climate issues into focus at the local layer through nature connection. They will reach marginalised communities so that they are better able to contribute to climate action.

Community-led peer learning pods will emerge from local interests around climate and nature. They will reveal the curiosity and imagination of local people and grow the creative confidence needed for community-led action.

Dudley People’s School for Climate Justice will be co-created social infrastructure supporting collective, connected and cumulative climate action in ways that nurture nature connectedness. Peer learning and action will demonstrate that communities can cultivate their own capabilities for adaptation, repair and renewal.

This idea was catalysed through the participation of hundreds of local people in 51 co-designed experiments undertaken on Dudley High Street since 2018 including:

• local shoppers informing the design of a parklet

• an artist-led exploration of the more-than-human High Street

• students exploring reactions to ideas for closed loop uses of materials through models on market stalls

• local people exploring and mapping the High Street

• Black business owners contributing to a celebratory exhibition of journeys of people and food from Africa and the Caribbean to Dudley

• Doughnut Economics peer learners experimenting with waste and growing in their neighbourhoods