Our third blog on taking an ecosystem approach to democracy. Shared Future director Jez Hall concludes a short series of think pieces on tackling the crisis in our democracy, by taking an ecosystem approach. Whether it’s the climate emergency, financial austerity or low levels in trust in our leaders, we, and they, are not helpless.

On the 6th September 2024 about 30 climate activists, researchers and democracy practitioners played a game. Not any game. One about democracy, money and the climate crises. Our workshop was one of many fascinating events during the two day mini-conference in North London on democracy and the climate crisis.

On day one leading academics on public participation and climate change shared their perspectives and research on power, systems and adapting to the climate crisis. A deep dive into climate assemblies, economic planning and public participation. Day two was for testing out some different models of practical community engagement.

Building consensus from the grassroots.

We heard from Involve on their Thriving Places Climate Researcher programme, soon to get underway in 25 locations across the UK. Which will be training local community researchers to go deeper and connect within communities and help their local authorities create shared visions of the pathway to net zero. These visions will aim to unearth local priorities and perspectives that are easy to miss or ignore. 

Also from Humanity Project, who are leveraging a more direct democracy approach to mobilising citizen demands. Based loosely on the previous work of XR on promoting citizens’ assemblies, they are stimulating local forums to take action and lobby their government, locally and nationally, to quicken the pace on climate policy.

My workshop was on Participatory Budgeting, and a game based on a hypothetical city of Empaville. We’d played a similar game at the Festival of Debate in Sheffield earlier this year. This version looked a bit deeper into the budget underpinning local investment. We imagined a brave city council committing £10m to a citizen led investment strategy to create a just transition. 

What was fascinating was to see how these different approaches to democracy (deliberative, direct and participatory) followed so many similarities. They all began in communities, connecting diverse perspectives and working towards a rough sort of consensus. A plan created with citizens, not delivered to them.

Breaking the silence on the contradictions of current policy.

These debates and processes are now global. In considering the recommendations from the French Citizens Convention on Climate the respected thinktank IDDRI reflected that the citizens’ recommendations ‘break the silence surrounding the contradictions of current policy.’ We know we are in a crisis, but our politicians seem to still be fiddling while Rome burns. Spending money on propping up carbon intensive industry, encouraging consumerism and building new airports, when every respected scientist knows that time is running out. Why?

Graham Smith, in his new book on climate assemblies called We Need To Talk About Climate offers one simple stark reason: “Fossil fuel companies and others who profit from existing political and economic systems have privileged access to the corridors of power and have long been able to shape the story about what progress looks like.”

It seems too obvious, but only this week the new Labour government has found itself embroiled in accusations of special privileges, and enjoying gifts from powerful people. Nothing to see here they say, that is just how government works, and if they haven’t influenced us, then it’s not a problem. Perceptions matter though. Especially when most people already have shockingly low regard for our democratic leaders. 

Recent ONS data on trust in government shows that “Just under half of people said they had little to no confidence in their own ability to participate in politics, and two-thirds had little or no confidence that they have a say on the decisions made by the government.” 

Trust in political parties, from the same dataset, runs at about 12%… or… 88% of people generally don’t trust them. However, distrust is not the human condition. The majority (70%) of people in the UK reported that, in general, they trust most people.

Trust in Democracy can be earned.

Nothing is certain but death and taxes, goes the popular saying. Taxes are our fundamental relationship with our governments. We give ‘them’ money, willingly or not, to purchase services and make investments on our behalf. We have to trust government to spend the fruits of our labour well. And democratic participation can build that trust. I’ve written before how under long term adoption of participatory budgeting leads to great tax collection rates. The carrot sometimes works as well as the stick. 

As Graham Smith puts it “Citizen participation can increase the legitimacy and public acceptance of social action on climate. As the transition to low-carbon futures unfolds, it will impact people’s everyday lives more directly. Knowing that fellow citizens have been part of decision-making processes increases public confidence and builds consent in dealing with change.”

The change will not be easy. But it’s not going to get any easier unless we act soon. Now is the time for governments to realise that elections every 5 years are not enough. That change is coming. And that change means we need to use all the tools in our democratic tool box. 

Otherwise, we’ll likely suffer the fate of past less globalised human civilisations, which collapsed into conflicts over land, water, natural resources or food. From exhausting the fruits of mother nature’s fertile ecosystems. Meanwhile, their elites dithered, protected by their privilege and simply unwilling to accept the obvious.

We can act, and change, if our leaders reach out to, listen and trust the people, just as people naturally trust each other.

Read the related blogs by Jez in this series, on Ecosystems of Democracy: Go Deep, Connect and Inspire, and Fertile Margins: The Power Within Ecosystems of Democracy

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Featured image: Can Democracy Survive the Climate Crisis PB workshop