In a world of accelerating change to our environment and social wellbeing, the work of community organisations is growing in importance. They are helping younger generations engage deeply with issues including climate change by providing invaluable support and resources.
One of these is The Kind Foundation, a Christchurch-based charitable trust that’s driven to make a positive difference to the lives of people and communities every day.
Josie Ogden Schroeder, CEO of The Kind Foundation, has been seeing young people seeking a new way of living and pursuing enterprise in the Foundation’s 4C Centre. The technology-based Centre is designed to develop an individual’s competencies in ‘Curiosity, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity’.
“These young people are very concerned about climate change and are using entrepreneurial thinking to create things to help address these challenges,” Josie says. “Ultimately they don’t want to progress an idea if it’s going to harm other people or the planet.”
Josie in The Kind Foundations’ 4C Centre, designed to develop an individual’s competencies in ‘Curiosity, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity’.
This future-focused outlook is echoed in the wider values that underpin The Kind Foundation.
“With kindness as one of our core values, we believe that being kind to ourselves, to our fellow human beings, to our community, and to the planet will create an environment conducive to greater success.”
To help strengthen and support the Foundation’s vision in a climate of change, Josie participated in Terra Nova Foundation’s Earth+ Resilience and Emissions Reduction workshop, which provides tools, resources and connections to help successfully navigate change.
“How to operate in an environment of climate change and other unpredictable challenges can feel overwhelming, so I was keen to learn where to start,” Josie says. By the end of the workshop, she already had a list of ideas and meaningful tools that could be implemented straight away.
“The practical carbon emissions tool was an excellent framework and starting point to help measure our emissions. Importantly, it’s also helped us to strategically focus our efforts and make better decisions about our ongoing actions.”
Reflecting on other key takeaways, Josie says the material was presented in an accessible format and language that could easily be taken back to The Kind Foundation for discussion and implementation.
“I’m full of admiration for Terra Nova,” Josie says. “I think what they’re doing with leaning into wider systems change and behavioural shifts is awesome.”
“And their support for organisations like ours that are working out how to tackle these challenges is really appreciated. It was the best workshop I’ve completed in years!”
The Earth+ Resilience and Emissions Programme is funded by the Rāta Foundation with support from the Christchurch City Council. For more information, follow this link.