Climate Cafe

Join your local climate conversation

If you, like most Australians and most people in the world, are concerned about the impact of fossil fuel burning causing climate heating and increasingly deadly weather and environmental impacts – and you would like to learn more and connect with others in your community – come along to our Climate Café!

WHEN: Last Thursday of the month, 7:30pm
WHERE: Platform 3095 Café, 965 Main Road, Eltham (next to Eltham Train Station).
WHAT: Local (and further afield) subject experts and knowledgeable residents share their insights on a range of topics relating to our changing climate. Talks are followed by questions and discussion. Come early and join us for dinner or just come for the talk. All welcome!

2026 Climate Cafe – upcoming topics

September 24: Talking to Kids About Climate Change
Dr Aimee Maxwell, Educational and Developmental Psychologist

Children are already encountering climate change information through school, social media, extreme weather, family conversations and the emotional atmosphere of the adults around them. Even when they do not fully understand what is happening, they may absorb the fear, urgency, anger or helplessness surrounding it. How can adults speak honestly about climate change without overwhelming children? How do we respond when a child is frightened, angry, grieving or convinced that the future is already lost? And how can we support hope without offering false reassurance or placing responsibility for a global crisis onto young shoulders?

In this presentation, Dr Aimee Maxwell will explore how children understand climate change at different developmental stages and what helps them process difficult information. The session will consider climate anxiety, emotional regulation, age-appropriate honesty, the protective role of trusted adults and the difference between constructive action and burdening children with adult responsibility. Participants will leave with practical language and principles for talking with children and young people in ways that are truthful, emotionally containing and appropriate to their age. The aim is not to shield children from reality, nor to ask them to carry it alone, but to help them develop the emotional resources, relationships and sense of agency needed to live meaningfully in a changing world.

Dr Aimee Maxwell is an Educational and Developmental psychologist based in Eltham. She works with children, families, educators and school leaders, with particular expertise in emotional regulation, developmental psychology, neurodiversity, psychological safety and the emotional demands of work and leadership. Aimee’s work helps people engage with difficult realities without becoming overwhelmed, avoidant or falsely reassured. She brings a developmental, evidence-informed and deeply human approach to questions about how adults support children through uncertainty, distress and social change
October 29: The Fight to Save Our National Parks
Jordan Crook, VNPA
November 26: Getting off gas
Ben Russell, Goodbye Gas

Climate Cafe is informal, friendly and everyone is welcome. Come early and have a meal, or grab a drink or snack, or just join us for a stimulating talk and discussion. We look forward to seeing you there!

Climate Café events are held on the last Thursday of each month – same place, same time! Speakers on a range of topics start the discussion at each event.

Keep in touch and get reminders and details of Climate Cafe events and speakers, and other events – sign up to receive the NCAT Newsletter.

If there is a topic you’d like to hear about, or a speaker with expertise you know of who might like to present at this forum, please get in touch to discuss.

See all upcoming events at What’s On

Previous Climate Cafe topics

2026

#35 – August: Caring for Country / Friends Groups in Nillumbik, Vicky Shukuroglou (Friends of Biodiversity – Hohnes Hill) and Jill Kellow (Friends of Moor-rul Reconciliation Grasslands/Friends of McMahon Ball Paddock) (summary)
#34 – July: How Sustainable Macleod Tackles the Climate Emergency, Robin and Paul Gale-Baker from Sustainable Macleod
#33 – June: How does the Anthropocene change how we think about society?
Rachel Busbridge (ACU) (summary and slides)
#32 – May: Environmental and Climate Resilience Benefits of Cohousing
Teresa Dominik, Brougham St Co-housing Development (summary and slides)
#31 – April: Sustainable Housing: Energy across the life of your home – Melinda Miles, Clean Energy Nillumbik (summary and slides)
#30 – March: Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance and Campaign – Kelly Albion, Climate Justice Coalition Convenor, 350.org
#29 – February: The environment of the solar system and the Earth’s climate – Dr David Jamieson. (summary).

2025

#28 – November: The Aviation Industry and Climate Change – Geoff Collis (summary and slides)
#27 – October: Novel Crops – Dr Chris Williams (notes and slides)
#26 – September: North West Shelf Gas Project – Mitzi Tuke
#25 – August: The science behind climate change – Tim Davis
#24 – July: Gardens for a Warming Climate – Peter May
#23 – June: The State of the Forests: Where are we now? – Kinglake Friends of the Forest – Rosemary Storey
#22 – May: It’s all about us: Understanding people to protect the planet – Lily Van Eeden (RMIT)
#21 – April: Active Transport, Urban Planning and Sustainability – David Collis
#20 – March: Rebuilding Democracy to Solve the Climate Crisis – Sonia Rhandawa (Sortition Foundation)
#19 – February: Housing and Development in Nillumbik: A climate change perspective – Anne Nielsen, Eltham Community Action Group

2024

#18 – November: Fire Preparedness – Alice Gower
#17 – October: Climate Adaptation – Simon Kerr (La Trobe University)
#16 – September: Rewiring Australia – Natalie Bucknell (Clean Energy Nillumbik)
#15 – August: Environmental Principles in Building Design – Lynnsay Prunotto
#14 – July: Transport Decarbonisation – Liz Chase
#13 – June: Slow Fashion – Jodie Stevens
#12 – May: Electric Home Appliances – Natalie Bucknell
#11 – April: The Arts in the Environment Movement – Mitzi Tuke/Angela Davies
March: Nillumbik Climate Month
#10 – February: What’s with the food? – Vasundhara Kandpal

2023

#9 – November: Soil Health – Bev Middleton
#8 – October: Degrowth – Michaela Carter
#7 – September: Renewable Energy in the Home – Guy Palmer
#6 – August: Why I’m a Climate Optimist – Prof. Neville Nicholls
#5 – July: Deep Adaptation – Dr Aimee Maxwell
#4 – June: Why biodiversity is important for climate – Vicky Shukuroglou
#3 – May: Native Forests and climate change mitigation – Sue McKinnon
#2 – April: Energy Efficiency at home – Lucinda Flynn
#1 – March: Climate conversations as a way to build social change – Lisa Whiston

You can find summaries of these talks in our Newsletters.