We’re going to let you into a little secret::::::People tend to work in the public sector as they care about the community and the environment. Your next mission, if you choose to accept it is to go out there and find the right find the right people within the target organisation you have selected. 

 

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a public organisation doesn’t care about the Climate or Environment. If you are speaking to someone and get the impression that they don’t care, you are either asking the wrong person, miss communicating or most likely you’ve been too negative and have got their backs up.

 

Our syndicate has come across several examples of groups lobbying for Council’s to “care about climate change”.. never take an adversarial approach like this, every public organisation is made up of a community of passionate people, first you need to find the right people.

 

Here are our tips to find the right people:

-       Attend Public Events around the topic, this could be a planning event, consultation or community conference, there will be Council Officers there, if you can’t find them, ask someone to point you in their direction.

-       Virtual Conferences are very open, sign up and attend events such as the Local Government Climate Conferences and speak to people.. most have a list of people attending, have a look at the names..

-       Most Local Authorities and some public bodies use the same website format, go to the reports part of the organisations webpage and search for these terms. 

o   Climate Change

o   Climate Emergency

o   Environmental Manager

o   Pollution

            If you open a report at the bottom there will be the name of an officer who authored it, probably also including contact details.

-       Attend a Cabinet meeting and ask to speak (you will have to request early).

-       Go onto LinkedIn, look up an organisation and search for employees of a Public Body. If you have a profile ask to connect to them and message them, most likely they will be happy to speak to you.

 

Now remember, every public organisation is made up of a community of passionate people, never take an adversarial approach with them as it will not work in your interest.