New #TalkingMyLanguage campaign launches to make climate awareness work more inclusive

With over 170 languages spoken in Lewisham, the Talking My Language campaign aims to build a sustainable dictionary packed with words, sayings and phrases used in the borough and across the globe about environmental issues, like food waste, nature and green spaces. 

Residents can share sustainable phrases that they use on this virtual board, such as ‘waste not, want not,’ ‘drogie jest tanie’, which means ‘dear is cheap’ in Polish and refers to buying something higher quality that might be more expensive but will last longer, and the Mandarin saying “zhuǎn song”, meaning to pass on an unwanted gift to someone else, preventing it from going to waste. 

This initiative is part of the Council’s Climate Conversation campaign, which aims to spark discussions about climate change and encourage residents to make simple changes in their everyday lives that will have a positive impact on the planet’s future - such as cycling to work or school, eating less meat or buying a reusable coffee cup. Residents can share what changes they’re already making - or planning to make - on this virtual pledge board, to help inspire others to take action. 

The #TalkingMyLanguage campaign also goes hand-in-hand with the Council’s wider work to deliver on the commitments set out in its Climate Emergency Action Plan, which was recently recognised as one of the best-performing Climate Plans in the country by Climate Emergency UK. This work includes introducing 45 School Streets outside primary schools in the borough to make it safer for children to walk and cycle to school and to improve air quality, making some schools, adult learning centres and community centres more energy efficient by installing solar panels and greener heating systems, and developing a new 10-year plan to prevent waste and boost recycling rates. 

Cllr Patrick Codd, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “Speaking about climate change and how we can all work together to tackle it is so important - but all too often, the language used by governments and organisations is reflective of a small group of people, rather than the many diverse communities that the UK is home to.

“Our Talking My Language campaign aims to address this important issue by encouraging residents to share words, phrases and sayings that they use in their homes and communities that relate to climate change issues, to help us make sure that our work to raise awareness of the climate crisis and how we can all address it is shaped by local people.”

Get involved

• You can share words, phrases or sayings that you use in your climate conversations on our #TalkingMyLanguage virtual board - or just have a look to see what’s there and maybe get inspired. 
• You can also share these on Twitter using the hashtags #TalkingMyLanguage, #climatechat and #climatecuppa and tagging @LewishamCouncil.
• Download our step-by-step guide to raising awareness of the climate crisis and taking action to tackle it
• Pledge to change something in your daily life that will help improve the environment, such as switching your commute to foot or bicycle or having oat milk in your tea instead of cow’s milk
• Find out more about how you can help tackle the climate crisis on our website.