What is Resilience Tooting?
Resilience means many things to many people but fundamentally it is about the connections and relationships that bring us together to support each other in times of crisis. Our communities in Tooting already have a fabulously strong sense of purpose and our diverse individuals, organisations and groups work magnificently for our neighbourhood. We are already well connected – but we can do so much more to build stronger bonds, prepare for future shocks and have a lot of fun celebrating our creativity and diversity along the way.
Why this is important
Resilience Tooting is rooted in action on the climate crisis and its effect on how we live, where we live. After a summer of 5 heatwaves it has never felt more urgent to understand how we, as communities, act as the first responders in the moment of crisis. The UK is “woefully underprepared” for climate impacts already locked in (Climate Change Committee’s 2024). Food security is at risk as extreme weather reduces yields and over half of England’s best agricultural land faces flooding (see Food Resilience Report DEFRA report and according to the recent National Emergency Briefing, price shocks, food shortages and a destabilised economy are the new normal. Meanwhile AXA’s 2024 Climate Risk Index identified London as at particular risk of both extreme heat and flooding.
All of this adds to existing stressors on our community – worsening inequality, the cost of living crisis, international conflicts and increasing social polarisation -and has the potential to cause major disruptions at a local level to our community in Tooting.
In building resilience and in responding to risk and crises there is a need for response at every level from national to individual – but there is particular value in a local and hyperlocal level response to resilience planning.
We know from personal experience that when challenges and disasters hit our locality it is our communities who will be the first to respond – and the last to leave. Increasingly research backs this up. When emergencies hit, communities with deeper social connections have higher survival rates and faster recovery (Aldrich). Social cohesion forms the foundation of community resilience, with trust, solidarity and mutual support fostering effective crisis responses (GLA Protection Approaches). 90% of help in an emergency in the first 24 hours comes from neighbours. Every neighbourhood needs a hub with local networks for both preventing disasters and responding when they hit (New Weather Institute).
What has happened so far?
We began as a collaborative conversation bringing together an initial cross-section of local groups and organisations including BATCA, Transition Town Tooting, XR Wandsworth, Greener Jobs Alliance, Tooting Community Kitchen, St George’s Hospital and more alongside connection to the Emergency Planning Team at Wandsworth Borough Council. Over the past year, we have established a core group, hosted a first awareness raising community workshop on heat preparedness and established initial communications channels to share alerts and information (more below).
Get involved!
If you, or a group or organisation that you are part of, would like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com for more information, regular email updates and a link to our growing Whatsapp community.
LINK TO CROWDFUNDER
Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.
Local and national resilience resources
Wandsworth Emergency Planning webpage
London Communities Emergency Partnership resource webpage
Government Emergency Planning webpage