Meeting to explore healthy ageing and climate change

Frome’s older residents are invited to a meeting to learn how to become involved in climate action and what they can do to age healthily.

The meeting, which is supported by Edventure’s Future Shed, will run at the Assembly Rooms on Saturday 31st January from 2pm to 4.30pm.

There will be two presentations. The first is entitled ‘How can older people take effective climate action? What is the role of older people and how can climate action be made more age-inclusive?’ The speaker will be Mary Stevens, Experiments Co-Lead at Friends of the Earth.

The second presentation will be on the subject of ‘The impacts of climate change on the health of older people. What can we do to protect ourselves and increase our resilience to extreme weather events and their effects?’ The speaker will be Charlotte Carson – Community Sustainability Lead at Frome Medical Practice.

Organiser Miranda Pickersgill said, “As climate change increasingly reshapes how we live, age and stay healthy, we need to understand how it will affect older people now and in the future. How can people aged 65+, who make up 20% of Frome’s population, support their health and wellbeing, while the weather becomes progressively hotter and more extreme?   

“I hope this meeting will be of interest to Frome’s older residents and those who live or work with us. 65+ is a diverse group with differing life experiences, abilities, resources and vulnerabilities, which we need to consider when taking community-led climate action.

Frome resident Karen said, “I am very keen on the idea that it is within all our power to make an impact on the environment, whatever our age.”

Another resident, Camilla, said, “Whilst it’s our grandchildren who will face the true horror of a changed climate, older people are also vulnerable now to extreme heat and weather events. Anything we can do to mitigate this is very welcome.”

For further information, please contact Miranda Pickersgill at fromeclimateseniors@gmail.com