BANZAI

Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative

Author: Mick Patrick

  • Community climate action and alphabet soup

    There has been a considerable drive towards community-led climate action over the last couple of years. This has resulted in a good number of local groups being formed but also led to confusion and overlaps at the higher level where local and national governments want to support community initiatives. Within Edinburgh, we have been puzzling over the relationship between two organisations established by the council and by national government to help with community climate action.

    The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) helped fund the creation of an organisation run by EVOC (Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council) with a name that has varied a little over the last year, but which has now settled (I think) as Edinburgh Communities Climate Forum (ECCF). CEC’s interest was primarily to provide an interface and support to the community action aspects of its 2030 Climate Strategy.

    In parallel, the Scottish Government has commissioned the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SSCAN) to set up a nationwide pool of community Climate Action Networks, intended as the first step towards Climate Action Hubs that will underpin a strategic, regional approach to climate action across Scotland. And so Edinburgh Climate Action Network (ECAN) has been born.

    Initially, the existence of ECCF and ECAN in Edinburgh caused a fair amount of confusion: were they overlapping (and thus potentially competing) or complementary? Agreement has finally been reached and the coordinators of the two organisations are now working together. The following summary was recently put out by ECAN:

    The Forum and Network share the goal of supporting community-led climate action, however the Forum’s remit is more specific than the Network’s. The Forum is primarily council-facing, and aims to support community groups to achieve the goals outlined in existing public policy strategies [e.g. the CEC 2030 Climate Strategy]. The Forum will hold events and offer resources, but will not have a membership. 

    The Network aims to support community groups in whichever strategy and direction is the priority for Edinburgh communities — any community group can be part of the Network and influence the specific goals of the Network. Community groups can then also define how the Network will relate to the Forum, depending on how much the Network feels the Forum’s strategy aligns with communities’ priorities. To summarise, [ECAN] is a broad commons, into which [ECCF] will feed, and through which [ECCF] will be able to widen its reach.

    OK?! We hope that we’re now entering a period of much more effective support for local groups such as BANZAI, and opportunities to influence both local and national government.

  • BANZAI Car Share has launched!

    Map of area included in BANZAI car share scheme
    Area covered by the BANZAI car share

    We have recently set up a local car share scheme covering the Leamington Terrace Area and parts of Bruntsfield. If you answer Yes to some of the following questions, that maybe the scheme is just what you’re looking for.

    • Are you concerned about climate change, or anxious about air quality?
    • Do you want safe, less polluted streets with plenty of space for walking and cycling?
    • Have you got a car which is unused a lot of the time? Have you considered whether you could share or live without it? 
    • Want convenient access to local cars without the restrictions and profit- making of commercial Car Clubs?
    • Would you consider hiring a car to a trusted neighbour (age 21–75 only) if it was easy, insurance was sorted and it helped cover the cost of ownership?

    Find out more on our page about BANZAI car share.

  • ‘Net Zero’ What can we DO?! — Inaugural BANZAI Event

    ‘Net Zero’ What can we DO?! — Inaugural BANZAI Event

    Event Overview

    On 23 September 2021, we organised a film screening plus discussion as part of Climate Fringe Week as well as for the European Day of Sustainable Communities (EDSC21). The event took place 6.30pm–9.00pm and was kindly hosted by Bruntsfield Evangelical Church (with generous assistance in person from LT resident Fraser McLaren), which provided first-rate facilities for seating, screening, food and group facilitation.  We received a small grant to help cover costs from EDSC21, via their local representatives, the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN).

    The film  we screened was Not Without Us (12+, 72mins), a documentary following seven grassroots climate action campaigners from across the world, before and during COP21, Paris 2015. The film was made available to us at minimal cost through What the COP?, an initiative organised by Take One Action. After the film, we held open discussions in four small groups to air ideas on what aiming for Net Zero might mean to us as a community and what actions we could take locally.

    Tasty free refreshments were generously provided by home-baking residents in Leamington Terrace and by GreenCity Coop via Dig In Community Greengrocer. 

    A total of 50 people attended the event and most of them stayed through to the end (when there was a draw for some honeycomb and honey generously donated by Jeanna Brady from her family’s back-garden hives). Here’s a breakdown:

    • 39 people registered via Eventbrite, of whom 27 turned up.
    • Of the total attendees, 29 were previously unknown to us. 
    • 25 were from the Bruntsfield area; others came from nearby parts of the city, plus some from Leith, Granton and Dunbar. 
    • External representation at the event came from Dig In and from the Hiya Car car-sharing scheme.

    The Event in More Detail

    Mick Patrick from the LTA group welcomed everyone and introduced the idea of the event, of BANZAI and the planned structure of the evening. 

    The film was interesting. Despite being made only six years ago, the world portrayed — pre COVID, pre Greta Thunberg, pre-Extinction Rebellion etc – seemed so different from now. And yet, so much that needs to change remains the same. The film focused on individuals working at a high level to help encourage systems change, rather than local change. However, it stressed that change at all levels is required, and clearly showed how working together helps people stay positive and create change.

    After the film there was a chance to grab some more refreshments before dividing into four smaller groups, roughly based on home neighbourhood. Each group was facilitated by one of the organising team in discussions and idea-sharing for about 30 minutes. In each group session there was an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves and to consider the kinds of net zero supporting actions that might be suited to small community groups and that they’d like to see. Topics that came up included:

    • reducing home energy consumption (e.g., insulation, heat pumps);
    • moving away from car use and car ownership;
    • resource sharing (e.g., tools, cars, cargo bikes);
    • increasing local biodiversity;
    • coordinated campaigning for measures such as street-level EV charging;
    • and many more.

    The facilitators made notes of the group sessions and the organising team will consider everything that came up, and work out how to proceed.

    What Next?

    We will encourage the many attendees and BANZAI followers from neighbourhoods other than the Leamington Terrace to consider setting up their own street-level community groups to act on Net Zero. We will use the information gathered at the event to put any near-neighbours from such areas in touch with each other to make that a bit easier. We hope that BANZAI will work as an umbrella organisation to help the various groups share ideas, resources, experience, campaigns etc. It should be noted that BANZAI is not yet formally organised, constituted or funded in any way.

    We also have the notes from the discussions on the kinds of actions that people consider might be attractive and successful at that level, which are being used to seed our planning.

    In the meantime, BANZAI’s online presence provides opportunities to continue to spread the word, garner interest and facilitate further discussion and sharing of ideas. A website is also being created which may be useful in future.

    Further work will be done to make the Leamington Terrace Area group for Net Zero action more organised and distinct from the broader BANZAI concept. The LTA group will then consider what ideas to proceed with in our community. Some members will also work on the development of BANZAI, at least in its early days, until responsibilities can be shared among members of a wider collection of street-level groups.