Transition Trainer, Tina Clarke visits Scotland

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:
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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.