Clackmannanshire Green Map Initiative

We have a number of events planned over the next few months, although with the project just starting dates and venues are to be confirmed

July - Official launch of the project with a presentation and drop in map-making workshops with a theme of 'Putting Kincardine on the Map' Join us to 'map the things that make life worthwhile'. FREE Swap your old conventional lightbulbs for equivalent low-energy ones, maximum of three per household on a first come first serve basis. FREE. Our chance to sign up to 10% in 2010.

August -  Workshop with Tulliallan Primary on recycling, energy use and growing spaces.

September - Active Travel Day, a chance to car share, cycle to work, take the train or walk to school.

October - Local food, growing spaces and composting workshop.

If you would like to be kept updated by e-mail drop us a line at simplylocal@actionforchange.net or check the website and community noticeboards at the Community Centre, Library, Post Office and Co-op.

Kincardine has seen many changes in the last 25 years, from the closure and demolition of the old coal-fired power station to the new rail link, road bridge and bypass route being built. 2010 / 11 will see the end of Kincairne, Sandeman and Ramsay Courts, the three blocks of high flats that have dominated the Kincardine skyline for 40 years, to be replaced by mixed social housing. A community that once saw thousands of people and cars passing through it every day is now quieter and less interrupted. Change is all around us.

Simply Local is Kincardine’s Low Carbon Challenge. We want to hear from residents who are interested in local walks, heritage and transport, who want to buy local and maybe grow local, keen on composting or crazy about recycling. With energy becoming increasingly expensive, Simply Local will provide information and opportunities to save money and reduce our carbon footprint at the same time!

Simply Local, the Low Carbon Kincardine project is part of the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund. The fund seeks to develop strong and resilient communities able to manage the transition from high-energy dependency to a more sustainable future.

Please bookmark this website as it will be updated regularly.

10% in 2010 is the challenge of the Low Carbon Kincardine project, with a series of workshops using the principles of Measure, Reflect and Act, local residents will be inspired to sign up. The average European citizen has an approximate carbon footprint of 10 metric tons, 10% means a reduction of 1000kgs that may seem a lot, however drive 10 miles less each week and that equals 225Kgs a year – so only another 775Kgs to go!

For more information contact simplylocal@actionforchange.net or phone 01259 731447.

On Friday June 5th, World Environment Day, Clackmannanshire celebrated along with 15 other countries around the world the global launch of the Open Green Map. At a presentation at Alva Parklands, now equipped with wireless broadband especially for the occasion, the Clackmannanshire Green Map Initiative joined with the Ochils Landscape Partnership and BBC Breathing Places to celebrate their respective projects. You can view the Open Green Map on this website, make a comment or even 'Suggest your own Green Sites' around Clackmannanshire.

CGMI and the Sustainable Clackmannanshire projects are about the development of strong, active communities in which local people within a geographical area are able to come together and have the capacity to do things for themselves. They can define the challenges they face and tackle them either independently or, if they choose, in partnership with others. 

The publication of a comprehensive green map of Clackmannanshire will encourage residents to visit and take part in more events across the county. Improving particpation, health and well-being and retaining more of local residents spend within the county.

The Clackmannanshire Open Green Map and the Green Map are exciting opportunities to "map the things that make life worthwhile". As a direct result of our recent survey the CGMI project is now developing the Clackmannanshire Environmental Network, enabling groups to get together share skills, experiences and offer mutual support. You can read that survey here. 

Green Maps were first started in1992 in New York. Since then there have been 500 green map projects started around the world.

“If you get right down to it, sustainability is really the study of the interconnectedness of all things.”

Barbara Lither

Since 1995, Green Map System (GMS) has helped connect towns and cities to a global movement, children to their communities, governments to environmental issues, people to businesses and services and solutions to problems. The basic goal of GMS is to make community development more sustainable through inclusive participation. With the help of GMS’s resources and guidance, it’s up to the local Green Mapmakers to focus that participation on key issues and sites in their communities. Your Green Map will help everyone act locally for a healthier, greener future.

www.greenmap.org 

Green Maps are locally created maps of community strengths, mapping the things that make life worthwhile.

“If you get right down to it, sustainability is really the study of the interconnectedness of all things.”

Barbara Lither

Since 1995, Green Map System (GMS) has helped connect towns and cities to a global movement, children to their communities, governments to environmental issues, people to businesses and services and solutions to problems. The basic goal of GMS is to make community development more sustainable through inclusive participation. With the help of GMS’s resources and guidance, it’s up to the local Green Mapmakers to focus that participation on key issues and sites in their communities. Your Green Map will help everyone act locally for a healthier, greener future. 

 Friday 10th October the 'Walking on Wheels' group from the Whins Resource Centre set off for Inglewood Pond. The group is starting on its John Muir Discovery Award and had a wonderful time collecting and identifying autumn leaves. Inglewood pond is situated on the right hand side of the Tullibody Road, heading out of Alloa, close to Inglewood House

Learning for Living is an exciting project which has received European funding through LEADER. We are working with the innovative Open Green Map which creates a living portrait of community as mapped by local people. By charting all the local resources using the unique mapping language created by Green Map Systems it becomes possible to get a complete picture of Clackmannasnhire as seen by the people who live here.

The Clackmannanshire Conservation Action Team or CCAT for short was started in response to the desire of local people to get involved in environmental projects. For CAT activities please check out the Events section of this website. If you would like to become a CAT volunteer please contact Enid at Action for Change - enid@actionforchange.net

The Earth Charter is an international document created entirely "to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace."

Action for Change (AFC) supports, develops and trains organisations, communities and individuals in sustainable development and resilience. This arises from recognition that although initiatives such as Local Agenda 21 and Community Planning encourage a bottom up approach to development, a major problem exists whereby local communities on their own are often unable to contribute effectively to this process. AFC acknowledges that without addressing this problem and taking steps to create informed and engaged communities, the large scale social, economic and environmental change required for sustainable and peaceful communities in the 21stC will not take place.AFC addresses this need by offering a holistic approach to sustainable development, using the ethical framework of the Earth Charter and its associated educational resources.

The Earth Charter is a product of a decade-long, worldwide, cross cultural dialogue on common goals and shared values http://www.earthcharter.org

Starting as a UN idea in 1989, it was carried forward and completed by a global civil society initiative, then finalized as a People’s Charter in 2000 by the Earth Charter Commission. In 2008 the Earth Charter Initiative (ECI) launched it’s strategy of decentralised empowerment, encouraging and supporting grassroots initiatives across the world to take forward the vision of the Earth Charter. The mission of ECI is to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace.

AFC is the only Affiliate in Scotland of ECI.In 2005, funded by Awards for All, AFC produced a 16 panel exhibition (artwork supplied by ECI) called “Seeds of Change – The Earth Charter and Human Potential” used to support the 3^rd World Youth Congress in Stirling. AFC represented Scotland at ECI international conferences in Amsterdam in 2005 and 2008.