It's been hard to miss the government's advice to stockpile food and water. It's never a bad plan to have some emergency supplies, but I've been frustrated by the campaign on at least three counts:

1. The social justice angle: many people can't afford to feed themselves well right now, never mind stockpiling.

2. It's treating symptoms while ignoring the underlying causes – or at least not making any coherent link to work the government may or may not be doing to tackle the reasons for fragility in food supply and other essential infrastructure.

3. It completely ignores the importance of community and collective action.

Community works

During COVID we learnt a lot about collective action. Neighbours looked out for people living alone, and got shopping for those who couldn't go out; community groups and voluntary organisations played crucial roles:

The voluntary sector, often working closely with public agencies, individuals or informal groups of citizens, has been central to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including by meeting basic needs, highlighting new needs and existing inequalities, and coordinating responses. / Rees, James, and others (eds), COVID-19 and the Voluntary and Community Sector in the UK: Responses, Impacts and Adaptation (Bristol, 2022)

Time and again, when cold weather hits, people helped each other out, creating places where people could gather and keep warm. And some initiatives have grown and evolved:

What started as a crisis response to keep people warm through the winter has blossomed into a movement to reconnect individuals and communities across the country all year round. Warm Welcome Spaces are places full of human warmth, belonging, connection and hope.

Thousands of lives are being touched by Warm Welcome Spaces - they are the heartbeat of local communities, buzzing with life and bringing people together. Last winter, Warm Welcome Spaces hosted 3.5 million visits across more than 6,000 spaces. Warmwelcome Warm Welcome | Find Community Spaces ...

Working together works. It makes a difference in the moment, and in the long run. Fundamentally it's about building community: with neighbours, across neighbourhoods and within organisations. Human connections, connections of care.

Sure, having enough food in the house for a few days is sensible. But what's actually going to make a difference is whether the people around us look out for us, and we look out for them, when the power goes off, supermarkets are empty, flood waters rise, the internet and mobile goes down, wildfire rage…

I wish the government recognised this, and was working with local authorities, voluntary sector networks, development trusts and others to encourage, support and enable more collective and community action as the systems and infrastructure we've come to rely on are increasingly at risk¹.

Community is the an answer

Community is one of the most important responses to the polycrisis – not just to keep going in the face of difficulties and disasters, but also to empower and enable us to work together and bring about the changes that will help us to thrive right now, and to simultaneously adapt to what's coming, and tackle the root causes of the polycrisis.

Community gives people self worth and the power to do more:

Sharon Hill, Mayfield & Easthouses Development Trust: During the beast from the east, my husband and a local group of dads cleared paths. They spent a couple of days doing this and it was hard work. The guys were knackered, but one of the guys said, “that's the first time in ages I've helped anybody. I always get helped. I never help people”.

And that's what the value is: showing people that by helping yourself in these small ways, you're having a bigger influence in that. I always say that we are a jigsaw and your piece is really important. Thrivablescotland Community action tackling local hards...

Community can repair democracy:

Prof Oliver Escobar, University of Edinburgh: If democracy lives from the bottom up in everyday relationships in our communities, and then that translates into the way we build institutions, then [democracy] is much more resilient. That's where we get to the point of democratic repair.

On the one hand, there is a repair of our existing institutions, but the other part, and just as important, is the democratic repair in everyday relationships, in communities, in the way we relate to each other in our world.

That because of the contemporary political economy of the kind of capitalism we live now, we are living in now, is very much designed to destroy the very relationships and relational fabric of democratic life. Thrivablescotland Critical Mess to Critical Mass: democ...

Community can build food resilience and has the potential to transform food systems.

When I met Lisa Houston at Lauriston Farm, I arrived expecting a great community growing project. What I also discovered was an inspiring, and credible, ambition to transform the food system. All deeply rooted in nurturing community. From the design of the garden which means families share growing plots and all plant propagation is collaborative, to the community meals and celebrations.

We want to provide the evidence that you can have urban farms feeding the city, even if it's at a small scale. Because if Edinburgh had 15 of these feeding different parts of the city, that would have an impact on our food system. / Lisa Houston, Lauriston Agroecology Farm, Thrivablescotland Cultivate wellbeing while transformin...

Those are just a few examples of where community a big part of a meaningful response to the polycrisis. I find it hard to think of any problem where community isn't an important part of the answer.

Community is bigger than neighbourhoods

When we think of 'community' we tend of think of 'communities of place', but 'communities of practice' and 'communities of interest' are also crucial for creating the conditions for people and nature to thrive.

In my experience, communities of practice and of interest flourish when their members are also rooted in communities of place. That's another article, but Lisa Houston puts it well:

It's never about us. It's always about the movement. Through Land Workers Alliance and other farming networks, we are connected with other people doing the same thing, which makes the voice stronger. We're a big part of seed networks and grain networks throughout the UK and Ireland and Scotland, who are all trying to say the same thing.

And so that gives us space for advocacy, this is how you change the food system. Thrivablescotland Cultivate wellbeing while transformin...

Where is community in your work?

So, here are some thoughts for all of us working so people and nature can thrive:

• How are we and our work involved in grounded, local community?

• How are we part of the wider community of people and organisations doing this work, locally, regionally and beyond?

• How do we design what we do in ways that cultivate genuine community, that goes beyond living or working in the same place?

I'd love to hear your experiences of all this.

Coming up…

Working for change is hard. That's why I've created WorkUp, a new type of workshop to help you engage, inspire and involve people – colleagues, collaborators, stakeholders and communities.

Check it out! I hope you like it and can join me on 2nd Dec…