TEDxTeesside: building climate resilience

This TEDxTeesside talk, sponsored by Point North, shows why and how climate resilience is community resilience.

2 December 2025

Building climate resilience: Why we supported TEDxTeesside

To mark our 30th anniversary, we proudly sponsored T EDxTeesside and supported a talk that speaks to the core of our mission: building stronger, more resilient communities.

Ned Gatenby’s talk is a powerful and personal reflection on queerness, climate change, opportunity and the deep resilience found in local communities.

His words are delivered in a way that feels real, hopeful and grounded in everyday life that many will be able to relate to.

It’s a talk we encourage you to watch, as Ned shares how climate resilience is, at its core, community resilience, and how by supporting local people and projects, together, we can make a big difference and create real change.

Here are our key reflections from Ned’s talk.

Finding strength in identity

Ned opens his talk with a striking question: What does it mean to be normal?

He shares memories of growing up feeling different, describing “this vague and shapeless feeling that I could never quite shake.” As he grew older, he embraced his queerness, learned he had ADHD and worked through anxiety and depression. Instead of letting difference divide, he used it to connect with others. He discovered that “it’s my queerness, my deviation from normal, that allows me to channel this compassion.”

That sense of compassion shapes how he views climate change and how he engages with communities.

Climate change is already reshaping lives

Ned first learned about climate change at university, discovering how “human activity is altering the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans at an industrial scale.”

But his understanding deepened when he saw online how people from across the world, especially those already under pressure, were living through the consequences every day.

Speaking to a packed theatre hall in the Digital Life building, Ned reminded us that the climate emergency sits alongside a crisis of compassion and a crisis of communication.

Many communities already face food insecurity, cold homes, poor health and a lack of opportunities. As he put it, “so many people are living a worst-case scenario right now.” In that context, traditional climate messaging doesn’t always land, especially when people feel unheard.

What set his talk apart was its refusal to lean on fear or instilling guilt. Instead, it was about offering hope.

Think big, but act local

Throughout his talk, Ned highlighted local projects making a meaningful difference: a volunteer-run garden offering fresh food and friendship, cycling programmes helping young people build confidence, and a cricket club that cut its energy bills and now shares what it learned so other groups can stay open and resilient.

These projects came from communities among the UK’s 10% most deprived, like many of the groups and projects we support at Point North, showing that climate action doesn’t always look like what we imagine “climate action” to look like, but its impact is profound.

As Ned put it:

“Resilience happens when ordinary people do extraordinary things, often on a shoestring, and usually without trying to be extraordinary.”

Point North: Leading the way in local climate resilience funding

At Point North, we know community resilience and climate resilience go hand in hand. That belief drives our climate approach.

We’re proud to be a signatory of the S ME Climate Commitment, working towards net zero emissions by 2040 or sooner. We’ve also embedded climate action directly into our grantmaking. Many of our grants now include a greening allowance, extra funding to help groups reduce their environmental impact, save on energy costs and build the skills they need to be climate-ready.

This support helps local organisations stay strong, adaptable and sustainable.