"Join the revolution" was the invitation from Comrie Development Trust to communities from across Scotland working to tackle climate change in their local areas. Picturesque Comrie, in rural Perthshire may not seem a hot bed for radical ideas but the village "where ancient rivers meet new ideas" felt pretty radical by the end of a weekend conference in early June.
The conference, run for communities by communities, brought over 100 delegates and speakers to the village for a weekend of presentations, workshops and visits.
It felt somewhat doom and gloom at the start as local MSP and Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham opened proceedings. A very honest and frank discussion followed the speechifying. Roseanna made clear that many politicians know the urgency around climate change issues but evidence suggests the electorate are not ready to take the measures required. People need to make and win the arguments in their own communities before the politicians will move boldly, concluded Roseanna. In other words - the present encumbents won't take risks with their future political careers. An issue Alastair McIntosh - the next speaker- refers to as NIMTO syndrome ( Not In My Term of Office).
Provocative as ever, Alastair (author of Hell and High Water) recognised that there are no easy solutions - and maybe no solutions. Much of the increase in carbon has arisen in our own lifetime where we have moved from necessary consumption to consumersim and unnecessary consumption. His plea is for us to reconnect with the natural elements that we have lost touch with and with children and look to our inner development.
There is a ray of hope in what he said - we can take charge of ourselves and learn to be content with less material wealth. So from the spiritual challenge we moved to the challenge for communities.
Simon Hooton from Sustainability South West ( a charity based in England) shared his thoughts on how communities can raise their game. Essentially he argued we have to imagine and plan for better options - recognising that less is more. Like Alastair he emphasised the way in which we have become separated from nature and called for future considerations about the environment to be grounded in what the environment can do for people - rather than seeing it as something out there to which we have no connection and 'protect' in a sterile way.
Simon's organisation promotes a scheme called Fair Shares Fair Choice. Using a CO2 reduction model called Contraction & Convergence (C&C) to calculate a ‘fair carbon share’ for every person who lives in the UK, practical support is offered through case studies and a 'carbon lifestyle coach'.
A large group of attendees met at the end of the day to consider how to encourage our politicians to take up a similar approach for Scotland to support the ambitious Climate Change Bill. My thought is: Are we brave enough to go down this route and make the radical changes we need for a truly sustainable future?
On a positive note - the Scottish Government has committed to targets in the proposed bill that reflect the science. So maybe we really are at the start of a revolution where government and communities will be heading the same way.
The nights are drawing in and across the country boilers and stoves are getting lit for the winter, so it’s not surprising that October 1st was Central Heating day. It’s not surprising either that this is the time of year when energy bills start to stack up.
