Record Setting: Telling Oxford’s local climate stories

Changing weather patterns are affecting how people in Oxford County live, work and spend time outdoors. Extreme heat, wildfire smoke, drought, flooding and severe storms are becoming increasingly visible in our communities.

These experiences are also becoming part of Oxford’s history. Through Record Setting: Telling Oxford’s climate stories, Oxford County invites residents to share stories and materials that show how extreme weather and changing conditions are affecting their homes, health, work, and daily lives.

Your submission can document a major event or an everyday moment. We are interested in how changing weather has affected you, what you have noticed, and how the experience has made you feel.

What can I contribute?

You can share:

• A written story, personal reflection or journal entry
• Photographs or videos
• Screenshots of text messages or social media posts
• Images of storm damage, flooding or wildfire smoke
• Photographs of items damaged or changed by extreme heat
• Artwork, correspondence, notices or other materials that help tell your story

Note: Please remove personal, identifying or sensitive information about other people
before submitting screenshots, correspondence or other materials.

Prompts to help you get started

• Is there a particular weather event you remember?
• How have extreme heat or poor air quality affected your health or activities?
• Have storms, flooding or heavy rainfall affected your home, property or neighbourhood?
• Have changing conditions affected your farm, crops, animals, garden or business?
• Has unusual weather changed the way you work or spend time outdoors?
• Have you made changes to your home, property or routine in response to extreme weather?
• Do you feel worried or uncertain about a changing climate?
• What would you want someone 30 years from now to understand about your experience?

Everyone is welcome to participate. Farmers, business owners, outdoor workers, emergency responders and others whose work or daily lives are particularly affected by extreme weather are especially encouraged to share their experiences.

How to share your climate story

1. Share your story with the community using the Stories tab below. You can submit written information and upload photographs or other images.
2. If you do not want your submission displayed publicly, email your story and materials to archives@oxfordcounty.ca with the subject line “Record Setting Climate Stories.”
3. Include the approximate date and location of the experience, along with any information that will help future generations understand what happened and why it mattered to you.

There is no deadline for participating. You can return to this page whenever you have a story or material you would like to contribute.

What will happen to my submission?

Submissions will be reviewed and may be transferred to Oxford County Archives for long-term preservation. Selected stories and materials may also be shared through future educational initiatives, exhibitions or an update to Oxford County’s Climate Action Plan.