The staff team of the new East Lothian Climate Hub are in post and ready to support people across East Lothian to take climate action.
Bobby Pembleton Climate Hub Manager
Bobby brings a diverse background to the role of East Lothian Climate Hub Manager, with skills and experience facilitating imaginative communication and enabling community engagement.
In doing so his early career included publishing a newspaper of political satire and co-founding and operating an independent punk music venue and vegan restaurant, teaching English abroad and recently a tenure at the University of Edinburgh, first supporting student social entrepreneurs, then facilitating engagement and innovation at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. His focuses there included compassion for a wellbeing economy, enabling circular economy projects, community-driven collaborative retrofit, and sustainable tourism. He is deeply passionate about, and believes in, our ability to work collectively for impactful climate action and meaningful change. Bobby is now dedicated wholeheartedly to working collaboratively with communities across East Lothian, to recognise the urgency of addressing climate change, and to support our community to advance climate project.
He stays in Musselburgh and is a dedicated partner and father, rower in the Eskmuthe Coastal Rowing Club, citizen scientist for Riverfly on the Esk. He is a keen Science Fiction reader and amateur writer. Check out this piece he wrote set in East Lothian: Regenerative [R]Evolution.
Jo Gibb Community Development Officer
Jo previously worked in the international development and fairtrade sectors before transitioning to community engagement closer to home, most recently working in a community garden in East Lothian whilst bringing up two small children. With experience in facilitation, training, and one-to-one support, Jo loves working with people collaboratively. In recent years, Jo became increasingly aware that all is not right in this beautiful world of ours, and threw herself into helping set up Climate Action East Linton.
In doing so she appreciates some of the journey local groups can take in getting set up and in getting projects going (and can empathise with the rollercoaster that can sometimes be!). Jo believes strongly in the power of collaboration within and between communities and is excited to be part of the Climate Hub, where she works with communities across East Lothian so that collectively we can all play our part and create the change that is needed.
Email elclimatehub@dolilthings.org
Tess Humble Community Development Officer
Tess Humble has a long history of work rooted in fighting for climate and migrant justice. Her work centres around community-led action, movement building and network development. Most recently, Tess worked in Govan in Glasgow engaging communities who will be “most impacted by the crisis” around climate, justice and action.
Prior to that, she worked as Mobilisation Officer for the COP26 Coalition where she oversaw the on-the-ground Glasgow engagement, supported the establishment of 50 local hubs across the UK and was a key organiser for the Glasgow demo on 6th March, which was the UK’s largest climate demo to date. Tess believes in work that is rooted in relationships and bridging communities, collective decision making and reflective strategy. For impactful action, we need to support communities to lead in both action-taking and deciding the solutions to create the world we need to see. Tess lives in a small cottage between Ormiston and Humbie.
Email elclimatehub@dolilthings.org
Sarah Bronsdon Project Director
Sarah is both Chief Exec of Lil CIC and a member of the ELCAN Steering Group as well as an active member of the Hub Team. She brings support from a broad ranging background in policy, fundraising, third sector management, biodiversity & landscape ecology and likes nothing better than bringing people together and making stuff happen!. Prior to Launching Lil in 2018, Sarah worked as a freelance fundraiser supporting a range of nature based projects including the reintroduction of Golden Eagles to the South of Scotland and Habitat conservation & skills development for Cairngorm National Park. Prior to that she led on landscape scale projects for the Lottery Fund in Scotland, worked as the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Strategy Officer and on land use & agriculture for NatureScot.
Sarah believes that nature is the answer – reconnecting people with the support system that can offer us a safe, well resourced place to thrive but only we can respect and support it in return. Lil’s mission is to empower people to live a lower impact life by providing advice and opportunities – making it easier to change behaviours and take action. Their work focuses on the areas of circular economy & waste minimisation alongside reducing the impact of consumer behaviour of biodiversity and these aspects feed into the work of the Hub more broadly.
Sarah lives just outside Haddington with her partner, two teenage kids, a couple of dogs, a cat & 6 hens. She’s a keen walker, paddle boarder and scuba diver (if she gets a chance!) but you’ll often find her outside pondering the next steps in creating a forest garden.
Email sarah@dolilthings.org