Folks in Scotland were very fortunate to be able to invite Transition Trainer, Tina Clarke from the USA to visit on on the 2nd & 3rd of March 2019.

The first day was a Scottish Communities Climate Action Network Spring Gathering and Skillshare event. (more text here to summarise the day - David S to supply).

Tina wrapped up the first days session by sharing her experience of helping grassroots initiatives across America, Canada and Europe.

The second day was entitled 'Transition Training for a Carbon Neutral Scotland' and after a go-around to introduce ourselves, and what we wanted to gain from the day, Tina took us through what she called the 6 ways to create Social Change:

1. Hands On - practical activities.
2. Spiritual, Consciousness, Beliefs and Values - mind focusing
3. Educational - developing skills, knowledge, exchanging knowledge too
4. Organising Voter Power - being active politically, etc.
5. Economics - which split down into three other headings
   1. Investments / Divestment - what you choose to invest in.
   2. Boycotts - like dolphin friendly line caught tuna etc.
   3. Alternatives - local currencies, community supported agriculture, etc.
6. Civil Disobedience / Protesting - kids school strikes, climate marches, XR, etc.

Tina also talked about the suitable scales of action.
Neighbourhood Level - smaller local clusters of neighbours/households (say approx 15 people within 15 mins walk of each other), where action should be focused on the practical (hands-on) activities. In Permaculture speak this would be the herb zone, chicken zone, etc. This could be communal growing spaces, orchards, compost bins, etc. Focusing on a Resilience of 1-3 weeks worth of resources.

Municipality/Community Level - town sized populations, where the outlook is broader in scope, looking and lifespan and legacy elements, food supply, water supply, heating, cooling, sanitation, with a Resilience focus on say 1-3 months.

and the Regional Level - were the focus might be on 1-3 years ahead, and be about local economics, energy plans for 100% renewables, 50% of food supply, etc.

Understanding these scales will help us to apply the right activities and planning at the appropriate level. ie there's no point in focusing on local economic issues at a neighbourhood level, and equally at a regional level it's very complex to organise big hands-on activities. In Scotland we need to look at streets, towns, villages, regions of cities as well as the larger regions and local authority levels of society and to channel our efforts to where they will be most effective an efficiently adopted.

Recommended Resources from the weekend are:
- Mark Jacobson - see link
- Story of Stuff
- Transition HealthCheck
- Climate Challenge Fund - Scottish Government funding for community-led projects.
- (more here)

Reflections from attendees:
<name> - <reflection here>
<name2> - <reflection here>


Many thanks to David Somervell for organising the weekend and to Tina for making a deviation from her trip to Denmark to see us in Scotland.

Book your place here for Scottish Communities CAN's Annual Gathering. This year we have two days of events: Day 1 takes a look at why local decision is the future of politics, and how that might look, through talks and participatory workshops. Day 2, which takes a closer look at the conditions needed for good decision making in your local group or community, is an experiential workshop.

Day 1: Politics as Though People and Planet Matter: Harnessing democracy for our communities’ futureCan we imagine a world in which communities have control over the decisions that matter to us, and the resources to act on them? Can we re-invent how we do local democracy and local politics? And what would this mean for community-led climate action? The draft programme for the day can be viewed here.

• time: 10am-4.30pm
• date: November 3rd
• venue: Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall St, Glasgow G41 1BA
• cost: cost per day: £5: individuals, £15: organisations

Through talks and workshops we’ll look at where local democracy is in Scotland right now. We'll hear more about exciting new opportunities for climate active communities to get more involved. We'll hear about citizen's juries for windfarms and ancient commons regimes being brought bang up to date. We'll hear about alternative decision making models such as sociocracy. And we'll consider the Scottish Government's current Democracy Matters consultation -  to ask ‘can we do democracy differently to unleash community action and systems change?’ Book your place here.
​
Day 2: Decision making and governance: building a healthy relationship to powerA training day with Claire Milne, Transition Network and Eva Schonveld, SCCAN 

• time: 10am-4.30pm
• date: November 4th
• venue: Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall St, Glasgow G41 1BA
• cost: cost per day: £5: individuals, £15: organisation

Healthy, fair decision-making requires a willingness to share power - and sharing power requires an awareness of our own relationship with power. In this workshop we’ll look at the cultural elements needed to support us all to come into healthier relationship with power and build a healthy culture around governance and decision making. We will explore how these cultural elements can be used in our local groups and projects and in our collaborations with local government, so as to make the decisions we need to protect the needs of people and the environment. Book your place here.