Case study: Conservative Environment Network
Climate Outreach training young Conservatives
Climate Outreach has been delivering workshops for the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) Academy.
The Conservative Environment Network (CEN) Academy is a three-day residential course for young UK Conservative Party members – university students and recent graduates – aiming to get them inspired about conservative environmentalism. Through the academy CEN hopes to ensure that as these young political activists develop their careers, they continue to draw on the knowledge and skills gained during the course.
Ultimately, many academy attendees will go on to have careers in the political and environmental sectors. We hope they will continue to draw on the knowledge and skills from the academy in their activism and careers, providing them with a solid grounding in conservative approaches to protect the environment.
Isabel Goodwin, Conservative Environment Network
Climate Outreach has run sessions during the last two CEN Academy residentials. As part of our sessions, we delved deep into the individual stories behind our desire to protect the environment, helping the participants tell authentic climate stories and connect on a human level around climate change. s
It felt quite vulnerable, people talking about their lived experience on the very first day of [...] life-changing events such as flooding and how that has impacted their way of thinking. Everyone will have their own experiences like that, but we often don’t stop and reflect on it. Maybe we’d find a lot more common ground.
Isabel Goodwin, Conservative Environment Network
Melissa Hussain, the Founder and Director of Anti-Poverty Conservatives and the London Chair of Conservative Young Women, was one of the 2023 CEN Academy Participants. Following her participation, she distilled some of the lessons from Climate Outreach in this blog. Since then, Melissa has continued to promote conservative environmentalism through social media resulting in conversations about environmental issues across party lines.
The Climate Outreach workshop was my favourite session from the academy because it was practical. What was good was that [the instructor] knew he was talking to Conservatives so he gave advice that we could adopt as Conservatives. He emphasised using normal forms of communication and using the institutions that are available through government to advocate for the environment. We, Conservatives, often prefer this approach.
Melissa Hussain
Inspired by her positive experience at the CEN Academy, Melissa decided to become a student ambassador for The University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s inaugural summer school for future climate innovators from around the world.
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