Welcome to SCCAN's November 2018 Newsletter

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Hi <<First Name>>,

First of all, the entire Steering Group and team at SCCAN would like to wish you a wonderful and nourishing Christmas holidays with the very best wishes for the New Year! May it become the most sustainable one this century has seen yet, filled with lots of effective community action for reducing our carbon footpring all across Scotland and beyond.

Our very best wishes and we are looking forward to reconnecting with you all in 2019!

Eva Schonveld, David Somervell, Harriet Cross, Jean-Matthieu Gaunand (SG/Social Media), Maria Cooper, Pam Candea, Pat Abel, Philip Revell, Alistair Macleod, Crispin Hayes & Katharina Bouchaar (Communications)

Also, in this month's newsletter we have some interesting reading for you about:

After COP 24 - What results for CAN communities?
Sociocracy for All!
Contribution to research - Calling all SCCAN Transition Network members
Building sustainable food cities
Funding
Upcoming Events
Members
Promote your activities with SCCAN!

Inspirational Quote of the Month
“The People have spoken. Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of our civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend, is in your hands.” — Sir David Attenborough at UNFCCC COP 24 Climate Conference

After COP 24 - What results for CAN communities?

Copyright: UNFCCC

The Conference of the Parties (COP 24), the annual Climate Change Conference where leaders from almost 200 countries come together to agree on the the world's climate policy, just came to an end on Saturday the 16th December.
Although the event was disappointing from an individual citizen and civil society point of view, with arrestations of NGO actos in COP history, there were also some positive developments for raising individuals' and communities' voices in the global climate debate:
One of the intitiatives to give people and communities a bigger voice is “The People’s Seat”, launched by Sir David Attenborough. It aims to raise awareness among people from around the world, empowering them to join the global conversation on climate change and to let the world know they want action.

What is the "People's Seat"?

According to The Beam Magazine, "The ActNow.bot is a fully interactive and responsive chat bot on the UN’s Facebook page that suggests everyday actions — determined by the user’s interaction with the bot — that can be taken to preserve the environment and logged on the platform to be shared with social media followers to persuade them to take action too". So - #TakeYourSeat and let your voice be heard!

This year also saw the founding of a new Working Group, the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP), "for the exchange of experiences and sharing of best practices on mitigation and adaptation in a holistic and integrated manner" (UNFCCC).

Overall, Robert from ECOLISE, the European Network for Community-Led Initiatives on Climate Change and Sustainability, that we as SCCAN are a member of, found COP 24 was a "mixed bag of results".

Read the ECOLISE summary of COP 24 here

Sociocracy for All!

Socio...WHAT?

Sociocracy is an increasingly popular governance and decision-making method that supports healthy group processes. Sociocracy has a strong focus on equality and effectiveness and is used worldwide in a variety of organizations, like for-profits, associations, communities, cooperatives and schools.

A sociocratic organization is dynamic and self-repairing. No meetings that last forever, no power games, no winners and losers, no decisions behind closed doors. Sociocracy is for everyone who dreams of a world where we all can make decisions as equals, reduce economic inequality and enjoy deep human connection - getting things done that are important to us and our colleagues.

"In the SCCAN Steering Group, we have been using sociocratic principles successfully to ensure that all our voices are heard about the topics that matter to us. This has sometimes brought in points of view that were unexpected but have always been enriching, so we highly recommend this approach to everyone."
- David Somervell, SCCAN Steering Group

We are glad to announce that there will be two workshops held in February for different levels of experience with Sociocracy - an introductory workshop and a workshop focusing on how to use it practically in your organisations.

Jerry Koch-Gonzalez and associates will be visiting Scotland provide an overview over the basic concepts of sociocracy: how we make decisions, how we empower and connect teams and we can improve continuously over time. There will also be exercises and role plays so everyone can experience the clarity, consideration and flow that sociocracy brings.

When:

Saturday 23 Feb Introducing Sociocracy / Dynamic Governance
Sunday 24 Feb Implementing Sociocracy / Dynamic Governance

9.30 for 10am - 5pm in Edinburgh, venue tbc.

To register your interest or to find out more please contact Eva Schonveld.

Contribution to research - Calling all SCCAN Transition Network members

Deanne Boisvert is a PhD researcher from the Netherlands. Her research focuses on a comparison of community resilience among (1) Transition Network, (2) The Dark Mountain Project, and (3) the Alaska Federation of Natives; three networks that link multiple geographic and/or social communities.

Deanne will be in Scotland 26 December – 5 January and is available to interview Transition groups from around Scotland. She will be in Edinburgh and in Fife during this time.

If you would like to get interviewed please get in touch with Deanne.

More info on Deanne's Transition Network research

Building sustainable food cities

Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen are members of the Sustainable Food Cities network. These food partnerships have recently appointed new coordinators and are gearing up to address food issues in their local areas, and contribute to the UK-wide Veg Cities campaign.

Would you like to be part of this exciting work?

If you are in Glasgow or Aberdeen, please get in touch with Riikka and Steve, the respective coordinators. If you are based in Edinburgh, the Edible Edinburgh partnership is seeking new members who have a strategic mind and expertise on food insecurity, public health, urban food growing, food waste, or social marketing.

To find out more: get in touch with Nourish.

Funding

Before the year closes, ponder about how these funding opportunties could best help you finance your green community actvities over the Christmas holidays:

Smarter Choices, Smarter Places Open Fund are offering grants from £5,000 to £10,000 and larger grants of between £10,001 and £50,000. Funding is available for 50% of the project cost with another 50% to be match funded. More information can be found on the Paths for All website.

Waste Prevention Implementation Fund
Grants are available from Resource Efficient Scotland for the implementation of waste prevention measures within SME organisations. It is recognised that while organisations understand the benefits of waste prevention, they often do not take action, lacking the finance and support to make the necessary changes. This fund has therefore been designed to help organisations overcome these barriers to undertake a particular project with a focus on raw materials savings, carbon savings and the movement of waste material up the waste hierarchy.

Foundation Scotland is involved in administering approx £4M each year in community benefit funds from wind farms across Scotland. From Annandale to Ventient - the funds cover all regions of Scotland. You can find out more about each fund and how to apply by clicking here.

For some inspiration about how some of these funds have been established and run click here.

Upcoming Events

Work that Reconnects workshop
Sat-Sun 2-3 February 2019
Water of Leith Visitor Centre, 24 Lanark Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1TQ
With: Larry Butler, Ratnadevi and Eva Schonveld

Are you concerned about what’s happening in our world? Would you like to explore your ability to respond?

At this weekend workshop, we will use The Work That Reconnects, a form of transformative group work developed by Joanna Macy, to give us energy and focus to respond to the current challenges faced by our planet.
The workshop is a powerful way to connect more deeply with others who share our concerns, under the supportive guidance of experienced facilitators. There will be time to wander along the Water of Leith alone or with others, and will include some opportunities to practice mindfully being through guided meditation, ChiKung and Yoga. The rich combination of people, place and workshop content will help to inspire and strengthen our ability to keep moving forward with active hope and positive resolve.

Costs: Sliding scale of £100-70 where people paying the higher rate generously support the attendance of those less well off. If the costs are getting in the way of coming, please get in touch.
More info: https://www.livingmindfulness.net

We regularly update our facebook page and twitter with the latest news and events, make sure you are following us!

Community Development Alliance Scotland Conference 2019
Thu 7th February 2019, 9am - 4pm
The Studio, Glasgow

The Community Development Alliance Scotland Conference is the Annual Conference of CDA, bringing together all national organisations who share support for and understanding of community development in Scotland.

Please contact Rachel at cdascotland@gmail.com for more details and to register.

Resources

Local Energy Scotland has recently put together guidance to help community organisations that would like to take forward renewable energy projects on their community buildings.

Through the CARES programe Local Energy Scotland can provide support and funding to help secure renewable energy installations for eligible applicants currently looking to take advantage of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

Tip: This is useful reading if you would like to prepare for the next CARES application round for loans and innovation grants which opens on 14th January 2019.

Members

So that you know who else is "in the boat" we have created this new section in which we present the latest Scottish Communities Climate Action Network members and the things they are passionate about.

This month, we are pleased to welcome the following organisations and individuals to the SCCAN family:

Full Members

Greening our street is a community group in Edinburgh dedicated to promoting biodiversity in our cityscape so that birds, bees, and humans can flourish there. We maintain a wildflower plot and a community garden and orchard on the Meadows.

Bikes for Refugees (Scotland) helps New Scots to connect with essential community services and to form new friendships through the provision of refurbished donated cycles and the transformational power of cycling.

Repair Cafe Glasgow is a voluntary organisation that aims to provide social, economic and environmental benefits to greater Glasgow by offering a free repair service for damaged, broken or torn hand-portable household and personal items. We run regular monthly Repair Café sessions at Kinning Park Complex. We promote a local repair culture by offering repair skills training to those who can benefit from it economically and socially.

Associate Members

MAD Challenges (Associate Member) creates outdoor endurance events across Scotland where people sponsor participants in carbon-saving behaviour pledges – not money – using the Do Nation platform. We use these events and the pledging system as a catalyst to spread conversation throughout people’s networks, encourage reflection on our connections with nature, and empower people to take action on climate change.

Save Our Service Veterans Scotland (Associate Member): Treatment of hidden wounds by horticultural therapy and sport therapy. Creating environment and boosting bio diversity in urban areas.

Take One Action Film Festivals (Associate Member) nurtures communal exploration of the stories, ideas and questions at the heart of positive social change. Through film screenings, conversation and enquiry we bring people together to inspire a fairer, more sustainable and more fulfilling world, in Scotland and beyond our borders.

Be next to join SCCAN's growing network - click here!

Promote your activities with SCCAN!

We are happy to help your promote climate-related events, projects or stories in our newsletter.
Just send them to: info@scottishcommunitiescan.org.uk (ideally also include an image) by 14th January 2019.