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2023-2024 Climate Workshops

Two workshop series on environmental change in Warren have been completed. The workshops expanded residents’ knowledge on what’s possible as Warren faces environmental change and the Market to Metacom plan. The workshops also inform Warren HEZ and the town on what the community wants and needs. Workshops are run by Kate Schapira, nonfiction writer, community advocate, and a professor at Brown University.

Where Warren Meets the Water took place in Spring of 2023. It consisted of exercises and discussions for remembering Warren’s strengths and grappling with anxiety about the present and future. Participants shared stories about the past and imagined what they’d like the future to look like, including what’s next for the Market Street neighborhood.

The Fall 2024 workshop series, Where Warren Meets the Future, consisted of exercises and discussions focused on disaster planning, staying calm in uncertain circumstances, and building community with neighbors. Participants shared how they’ve been personally impacted by climate change and considered what steps they could take in response to future flooding.

These summaries also include an additional workshop on Flood Preparedness, and a Preschool Science workshop.

Here, you can review past workshops if you’re interested in attending in the future. You can also practice the exercises yourself, and with friends or neighbors.

Spring 2023 Where Warren Meets the Water Workshops

March 2, 2023:

Participants participated in a grounding exercise and two discussion exercises on how Warren has changed as a landscape, and the towns strengths as a community.

Exercise 1: Participants reflected on how the landscape in Warren has changed. They talked about changes in human-made structures, like shops, streetscapes, and buildings; as well as environmental change, like new grasses, trees, flowers, or the shoreline–both human-caused and natural. Workshop facilitators listened for patterns across people’s responses, including how these changes made others feel.

Exercise 2: Participants reflected on their strengths, or “Warren’s abundance.” As a starting point, they considered:

  • What administrative systems do you wrestle with regularly and successfully? (Insurance, disability, medical, permitting …)
  • What materials are easy for you to get hold of and use? (Construction, garden, repair, sewing…)
  • What habits and practices of caring for others are familiar and even fun for you? (Elder care, childcare, tending plants or pets, cooking for people, peer mentorship, doing hair or nails …)
  • What are you good at building, fixing/maintaining, or taking apart? (Cars, boats, bikes, buildings…)
  • Are you good at showing other people how to do something? At coordinating a bunch of people to do something together? At solving problems or resolving conflicts?

Finally, the group reflected on what strengths they might lack, and how to seek them out.

April 6, 2023:

Exercise 1: First, workshop participants shared stories someone else had told them, and what moved them about that story. They reviewed why we tell, retell, and listen to stories: to share/hear realities outside of our experience and learn from them.

Exercise 2: Everyone shared a story of their own, starting with a moment that sticks out in their memory and going from there. Options included:

  1. Tell a story of living through environmental change, or other changes related to where and how we live—the time your house flooded, or the time someone in your family grew too frail to keep living at home safely. 
  2. Tell a story about the Warren that you love—an event or time that reveals the town at its best, a quality in the town that you would like to preserve and be part of.

They shared it twice with a partner, then their partner repeated it back to them. Then they switched. Finally, someone wrote the names of all the storytellers and key elements of their stories on a board.

The group also expressed the desire for detailed information on future flooding, who is responsible for the different components of Market to Metacom, the town’s hurricane plan, and the development of a webpage for information. Kate came back to the May meeting with additional information and updates on info-gathering.

Presenters prepared to share their stories with Kate Michaud, Warren town manager.

May 4, 2023:

Exercise 1:  In small groups, everyone brainstormed one change that would help Warren residents weather climate change and would also be good for residents in some other way. They focused especially on bringing in strengths Warren may lack (people with expertise?), relationships between neighbors, and things that are simply enjoyable. 

Participants then reflected on next steps: how can they affect how the town manages flooding? They reviewed ideas from the previous meeting:

  • CERT training(s) for residents
  • HEZ working group on climate change and stress
  • Drop-in listening sessions/events with neighbors in Jamiel’s Park
  • Door-to-door listening sessions with Market St. businesses

Kate and other facilitators from the HEZ added some options:

  • “STORMTOOLS Saturdays”
  • Documenting the Market St area 
  • Resident advisory committee for sea level rise adaptation
  • Town webpage of resident questions and answers

Participants interested in any of the topics gathered together to share contact information and talk about next steps.

Flooding Preparedness Workshop

May 7, 2023:

Residents came together to discuss their personal experiences with flooding, tools and tips for preparedness, and questions they’ve had. This information was incorporated directly into a Flooding Preparedness Packet put together by Khaled Abdo and Josie Diaz, students at Brown University.

Fall 2024 Where Warren Meets the Future Workshops

October 3, 2024:

During the ‘Warren Tomorrow’ workshop, participants discussed keeping themselves and others calm in current climate circumstances, building connections with neighbors, and sharing their expertise in preparing to handle tough situations. 

Exercise 1: Participants shared stories about climate impacts in their daily lives, including but not limited to flooding. 

  • As a follow-up, they discussed how stress can be reduced through planning and preparedness
  • Participants shared their emergency plans, whether these plans included people outside their households, and their process for creating them. 

Exercise 2: In pairs, participants role-played making disaster plans with neighbors. They attempted to answer the following questions:  

  • How will you make sure the kids and elders in the house (possibly including yourself) have what they need?
  • How will you take care of pets? 
  • What will you do if the power is out for a while? If the heat/AC stops working?
  • What will you do if one of your houses becomes unsafe (broken windows, blown-off parts of the roof…) If both are?
  • What will you do if one of your cars is flooded? If both are?

Participants followed this up by writing about how they’d feel carrying out these conversations with neighbors in real life and considered the possible obstacles in place.   

Discussion: Participants shared their ‘troubleshooting’ reflections and considered what might make these conversations easier. They practiced saying “I’m nervous about…” and “I’m worried about…” 

Exercises 3 and 4: Participants repeated the roleplay exercise with new partners. Practice leads to improvement! 

November 7, 2024:

During the ‘Warren in Five Years’ workshop, participants discussed what might occur as flooding becomes more common, celebrated their current neighborhoods, and envisioned how they might improve their communities even as circumstances change. 

Discussion/Grounding in Exercise 1: What might be better about living in Warren in five years—what might we have solved, changed, or addressed? 

Exercise 2: “Drawing from the Well” exercise.

  • Participants shared their memories of safety and connecting with others, bringing up one detail at a time and focusing on clarity. 
  • Next, they worked on constructing mental images of themselves at times when they’d reached a ‘safe harbor’, trying to remember how that feeling manifested physically.  
  • Participants were encouraged to “take any safety and confidence that comes from bringing these memories forward” and “ask it to be ready for you when it’s time for things to change again.”

Discussion: Participants discussed what they currently value and appreciate about the plants, trees, sidewalks, and streets in Warren, and what they would like to see more of, keeping these questions in mind:

  • What are some plants and trees that grow close to where you live? Where are some that you like to visit? 
  • Are there plants or trees that you maintain yourself, like a garden? Do you do things to maintain your sidewalks (sweeping, raking, shoveling…)?
  • What makes a sidewalk good? Where are the places in Warren where it’s nicest and safest to walk or ride? 
  • How easy/pleasant is it to spend time outside in your neighborhood? What would make it easier or more pleasant?

Exercise 3: ‘Farewell Ceremony’ exercise: Participants made lists of things they valued and enjoyed, considering lessons from the workshop to invent a ‘farewell ceremony’ for the trees that Warren is curing or a ‘welcome ceremony’ for the new trees/new developments in town.