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Climate change
05/06/2009
A Perthshire community hailed for taking decisive steps to cut its carbon footprint is aiming to inspire other communities into action this weekend.
The Comrie Climate Change Conference will see 160 community representatives from across Scotland gather in the village to discuss what more can be done at a local level to combat climate change.
The main objective of the family oriented event is to offer advice and showcase ways of creating greener and more sustainable communities. Organiser The Comrie Development Trust (CDT) has previously been held up as an example to others with its plans for community composting, increasing local food production, developing renewable energy for community buildings and a local transport plan.
Attendees will hear from a wide variety of speakers including WWF, Fintry Community Renewables, Whitmuir Organics and Down to Earth, and view the new movie from director Fannie Armstrong, 'The Age of Stupid'.
The CDT is part of the Perth and Kinross Carbon Reduction project: a street-by-street insulation and energy efficiency project with Comrie, Alyth and Letham communities.
Ahead of officially opening tomorrow's conference, Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham, said:
"I am delighted to see for myself the impressive efforts to motivate communities into acting on climate change. It is heartening to see so many people gathered to support, learn and showcase ways that little changes can have such a huge impact.
"The Comrie Development Trust was awarded nearly £300,000 support from the Climate Challenge Fund to roll out the Perth and Kinross Carbon Reduction project in Comrie. When complete, this model has the potential to be adopted by many communities in Scotland.
"Working at a local level has the benefit of strengthening community spirit while being part of the collective global solution to climate change. Knowing Comrie folks as I do, I have no doubt that this conference will be both informative, fun, and, most importantly, I hope it inspires people to make a difference in their own communities across Scotland."
The Comrie Development Trust is owned and controlled by local people (600 members), with 12 board members, and is one of the best-represented development trusts in the UK. Advisory Partners are Scottish and Southern Energy, and Perth and Kinross Council. The Comrie Climate Change Conference will run both Saturday and Sunday in the Comrie Community Centre, The White Church.
The Climate Challenge Fund is worth £27.4 million over 2008-2011. The Fund is designed to enable communities to come forward with their own solutions to make a significant reduction in carbon emissions. So far, 89 applications have been approved by the independent Grants Panel, and 120 communities across Scotland have received awards. Projects may have environmental, social and economic dimensions, for example, to give people skills, improve health, help them to work together or provide better community facilities, and all must have carbon reduction at the heart of the project.