Read about Green Venture's first Climate Café with CoWork at the Cotton Factory.
Our First Climate Café
On May 8, 2025, Green Venture hosted its first-ever Climate Café with CoWork at the Cotton Factory.
The purpose of the event was to explore eco-emotions such as eco-anxiety and climate grief, local climate realities, and the collective challenges and hopes that come with living in a time of climate change. The evening provided a space to reflect on and connect through the climate crisis and how it’s impacting our lives and our city.
Once attendees grabbed food (catered from 541 Eatery + Exchange), they sat down in small groups with GV facilitators to discuss provided prompts. Attendees first spoke in a sharing circle, letting each member of the group share their initial thoughts before discussing the prompt as a group.
Attendees included long-standing activists, people new to environmentalism, and both Hamilton residents and people from outside Hamilton. Attendees ranged from undergraduate students to long-time retirees.
Connecting across generations seemed to be especially meaningful for attendees. Both older and younger attendees shared that they often felt other generations did not feel the same climate grief they did. In one group, participants expressed a desire for more intergenerational climate activism and felt that the Climate Café was a step towards achieving cross-generational solidarity and hope by allowing them to interact with people of other generations.
In addition to the Climate Café’s initial goal of providing a space to connect over shared struggles and climate grief, the Climate Café became a space to reflect on climate activism and imagine new ways to approach climate action.
Attendees stressed the importance of civic engagement and promoting agency among Hamilton residents. Some long-time environmentalists expressed feelings of frustration, having advocated for climate action for decades, but seeing efforts fail at the local level. Attendees discussed the need for more community involvement in municipal decisions. They suggested educating and empowering people to engage their city councillors and show up to city council and committee meetings, most of which are open to the public.
Attendees watched the sunset through the historic Cotton Factory’s windows as they listened to group reflections.
Attendees embodied Green Venture’s call to “come as you are,” vulnerably sharing their uncertainties, fears, and sources of hope, allowing those in the space to connect across diverse life experiences, upbringings, and shared experiences with environmentalism in Hamilton.
Nicole, Green Venture’s Energy Program Manager, who developed and planned the Climate Café, shared, "Our first Climate Café showed how valuable it is to create space for honest, open conversations about climate change. We’re excited to keep it going -- with more events, new activities, and a bigger focus on reaching people who haven’t been part of this conversation before. Whether you’re deeply involved or just starting to think about climate, this is a place for you. Stay tuned, we'll be back soon!"
To hear about our next Climate Café, be sure to follow our Instagram and Facebook!
We’d like to thank CoWork at the Cotton Factory for the beautiful space and everyone who shared their stories, time, and empathy. You made Green Venture’s first Climate Café a special and memorable evening.
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