SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development)

Background

Callander, a small rural town of 3,000, fifteen miles north of Stirling took its first steps in community climate change action in March 2007. It originated from the Callander Kirk Green Team which had been operating since 2003, and launched as part of their outreach programme, driven by six volunteers. The ‘stage one’ aims of the outreach group are to raise awareness, demonstrate what people can do personally, then look at what can be done as a community. Events have been staged specifically to meet each of these aims, and the group feels that concern and ownership of the project has transitioned from the church into the community. The group now has a supportive group of sixteen members, but the bulk of the activity is coordinated by two volunteers.

What are they doing?

The project launched with a showing of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth followed by a panel of experts for a Q&A, and a workshop type session where the community communicated what it thought its role could be in mitigating carbon emissions. Through its strong pre-launch coverage in the community and district papers, a fantastic political timing to act as a hook, as well as a plethora of flyers, posters, and parent notices out through schools, the event attracted 100 members of the community, and a great deal of positive engagement and feedback. In the year that the project has been running, the core team have noticed that residents are much more aware of climate change, although how this transitions into action has not been determined.
The second activity, designed to inform individuals what they could do in their own lives, targeted energy efficiency, renewables and sustainable living through an open day of information and activities. This was attended by about forty people, and was felt to be less effective.

The final activity, to look at community level activity focused on potential community energy schemes, and was delivered by the Energy Saving Trust. The audience was by invitation, as the discussion looked at real proposals that could be delivered in Callander, and therefore needed certain agencies present to agree to take the proposed initiatives forward. Of particular interest was a community energy scheme that the local privately owned leisure club was looking to install, which could be created to be large enough to service the nearby housing estate. This last activity has proved to be most time effective in terms of potential to drive quantified carbon reduction.

The group has worked extremely hard to ensure that key agencies are involved the whole time. This includes the schools, the National Park, the local business association, local leisure association, and the community and district council. Whilst attendance can be sporadic nonetheless the group have noticed that key agencies such as the councils can see that supporting such activities will help them meet some of their own objectives, and they are more eager to help once that connection has been made.

The next plan is to conduct a household energy survey.

Callander Top Tip

Try to get as wide a range of groups, and organisations involved right from the start and keep them involved. Start with a good awareness raising film or talk, and link into something that is local, current and topical.