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.

The Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN) are having their Annual Gathering 9.30-4.30 on Saturday 4 February 2017, David Hume Tower*, George Sq, Edinburgh EH8 9JX.
Book at https://sccan4feb.eventbrite.co.uk 
A day packed with inspirational talks and workshops with lots of space for you to share as well!

• Paul Allen, Director of the Zero Carbon Britain project at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales, will give a keynote address on their Zero Carbon Britain – Making It Happen research.
• ​Andy Wightman, Green MSP, will join in the afternoon as a Keynote Listener, and will provide an inspiring conclusion to the day, sharing ideas on the Community role in delivering low carbon aspirations.

See more information here.
​
Highlights of the day include:

• Building regional momentum:  Learning from Fife CCAN network – and applying it to your region
• Community Energy / Community Enterprise – How we got stuff done – feedback from existing projects
• Update and consultation – what’s going on with Energy & Climate Change Policy in 2017
• Adaptation projects – what are they and support for getting them started.

There will also be an Open Space where you bring the topics most urgent and interesting to you and your group for wider discussion.  See below for draft programme.
Social evening 6-9pm Friday 3 February, David Hume Tower.
For those of you nearby – or coming the day before to stay over – we invite you for an informal Social with food and drink on the Friday evening. This is a chance to get to know each other more. Paul Allen will join us for this – to share his experience of moving ideas into action.   Register at https://sccan3feb.eventbrite.co.uk

9.30 Registration opens. - refreshments
10.00  Welcome and warm up session
10.30  Plenary Session
Suzy Goodsir of Greener Kirkcaldy, on Lessons from Fife CCAN’s pilot regional network
Paul Allen of Centre for Alternative Technology, on Zero Carbon Britain 2: Making It Happen
11.15  Workshops 1

• Building regional momentum. Learning from Fife CCAN network – and applying it to your region
• Global Connections: MAJI project Malawi, international alliances and climate justice
• Community-led Enterprise: Simon Glover, Dunbar Waste Innovation
  + Joe Gair and Ian McConnachie from Tower Power, Edinburgh

12.30  Lunch
13.25  Workshops 2

• Community Groups “heathcheck” - a Transition Network toolkit
• Sharing project learning: short presentations from member projects
• Climate Adaptation projects – what do they / could they look like?

14.30  Break
14.40  Open Space: topics generated by participants

• What are our wise next steps in growing our low carbon, resilient Scotland?

16.10  Final Plenary
A Special Guest gives feedback from Open Space discussions: sharing the next steps
16.30pm  Close

then....

17:00 Transition Scotland folks head to the pub to discuss TS stuff.

* Location map at https://goo.gl/lb1Q92