How can green micro economies grow?
After the case study presentations, groups came together to discuss their ideas. Below are their suggestions.
Group 1
- Facilitation to connect everyone / everything
- Leadership from the Council and others to support green micro economies
- Mobilize financial models
Notes:
- Identify people in community with dynamic energy who can / want to drive ideas forward
- Some people want to do something but no community there.
- Local Jobs
- CCF 2 - focused on community economic projects
Group 2
- Decision making on a local level
- Procurement to include environmental evidence
- Community owned energy
Group 3
- Governance, at all levels, must engage and support community development including self-generated community initiatives
- Capacity Building at community level.
Group 4
- Land Reform - providing a sense of ownership via actual ownership
- Value Change - as part of wider social change.
- Establishing and defining communities
Notes:
- Role of taxation: Levy on carbon producing industries to be ring fenced for investment / funding
- Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust Case Study - return of land resources to people, especially land (sense of ownership).
Group 5
- Creating incentives and disincentives through ecological tax and ‘internalizing externalities'
- Small community projects can feed off each other. BUT, what is community?
- Accountability - combination of grassroots / bottom-up and top down mechanisms for accountability - government supporting communities.
Group 6
- Routes for communities to invest in and own local generation
- Support for individuals and leadership
- Funding sources for community level programmes
Group 7
- Local income stream
- To what do we ascribe value? - not everything need be monetary
- Community = ownership / involvement / benefit / resources.
Group 8
- Awareness that these options are available to communities
- Skills and development training for communities (toolboxes and how to use them)
- * Government could insist on public sector volunteering to assist communities in these ventures e.g. Scottish Enterprise *
Group 9
- Incentive - financial? - Case studies to show it will work?
- Community champions
- Communication and engagement around common goal.
