5th June 2015

I'm involved in setting up a new social network for climate change action. It's called Climates, with the emphasis firmly on ‘mates'. We're working from the premise that we're more likely to take action if we have mates who can motivate and inspire us, people who can share what they know and celebrate our achievements with us. Our vision is that Climates will become a vibrant online community of people sharing ideas and spurring each other on to reduce their carbon emissions or to adapt to living in a warmer world. To paraphrase the old Irish saying, there will be no strangers on Climates, just mates you haven't met yet.

Before we launch Climates later this year, we need your help to make the network as useful as possible. We want to understand what works best in motivating people to act on this issue - and how people might use a social network to speed their own transition and the wider pace of change.

So can I ask you to please watch our video and take our quick survey: www.bit.ly/climates_survey ?

If you feel moved, please also respond to this post and share it with others - we want to get the views of as many people as possible.

What has worked to motivate you to change your own behaviour for a better climate. What have your mates done or said that has pushed you into a new direction? And what has worked for you if you’ve tried to influence petrol-heads or profligate friends to change their ways? What have been the benefits for you of the changes you’ve made?

Climate change is the biggest issue of our times and we believe we can’t just leave it to Governments and big business: it’s up to all of us to do what we can to reduce carbon emissions and adapt so we can all live comfortably in a changing climate. We think Climates can provide a meeting place for everybody who wants to work for a better climate, whether they’re new to the issue, already campaigning or reducing their carbon but want to do more or have wisdom to share from their own experience.
If you like the idea of Climates and want to stay in touch, you can follow us on Twitter: @ClimatesNetwork and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/climatesnetwork. Thank you.