Community Energy discussion workshop?
Dear All,
Thanks for a great meeting just now.
I'm getting lots of references to Prof David MacKay's "Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air", not just from energy-focused people. I'm also really enjoying reading it.
I love its approach - let's work out all our energy consumption on the one hand, and all our possible sustainable energy sources on the other, and then we can work out how we get our consumption to not exceed our possible sustainable sources. [I haven't read it all yet, so can't respond to Carl's and Jack's earlier discussion about micro-grids yet.] Does energy out = energy in? If not, we need a different plan!
There's a real need for people to understand these issues in this sort of a easily comprehendible, energy-aware way, to move away from NIMBY or SEP [Someone Else's Problem] responses, both generally and in the specific context of what we're trying to achieve in Peckham and Nunhead i.e. we need to build awareness and engagement. This is also a novel take on the issue which might enable us to engage new audiences - I suspect that many people are heartily sick of the "reduce your carbon footprint" message, and also really want the opportunity to "say their bit".
I wonder therefore if something Peckham Power might want to do is host some sort of community workshop for people to engage with these issues, using participatory popular education methods. The info in the book is easily summarisable, and the key issue that MacKay leaves open - because it is a political decision - is how to make up the balance. It seems to me that this is something that many people would really enjoy discussing, provided that it's in a safe space, and that this might engage a wider audience than the non-gagging geeks if we made it clear that this was friendly and totally for non-experts. [The book is available as a free downloadable pdf, so there are no copyright issues, so long as we acknowledge our sources; MacKay is very happy for this work of his to be used widely.] Maybe we could do this in collaboration with say Transition Town and Peckham CRAG and any others, if they're interested?
The sort of structure for this half-day event I'd propose would be:
- welcome and intro - food??
- session on UK energy consumption [start by asking people in small groups to identify sources, then put in descending order]
- brief plenary to discuss info - what was surprising, encouraging, worrying etc
- break
- session on UK energy sources [start by asking people in small groups to identify sources, then put in descending order]
- brief plenary to discuss info - what was surprising, encouraging, worrying etc
- break
- working in small groups, each group to devise possible scenarios with reasons for their decisions
- plenary to discuss each group's proposal, and reflect on the workshop
What do you reckon? Maybe we could put in a bid for Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding, or some such? [And I'd love to be involved in delivering this, if you're agreeable.]
Bw
Anna
#1
Hi Anna,
I'm very much for this jargon busting non-technical approach. It's a very good way for Peckham Power to swell membership of the non-techie, non-activist local crowd who'd like to find out more but get bamboozled before they have progressed their understanding of the broad issues. How well we connect with them is a significant measure of success for PPC, so I'd be happy to support you in setting up one of these sessions.
Thanks for the enthusiastic review of David MacKay's book (and from Jack too). I'm going to get hold of a copy this week.
All the best
Matthew
#2
Hi Anna,
I agree with you and Matthew: getting through to the "non-geeks" is going to be a real challenge. And I definitely agree that a workshop would be a good way to explain the issues to many people.
About 6 months ago, I attended a couple of climate change workshops run by COIN (Climate Outreach Information Network; George Marshall's charity). I attended because I was videoing some "vox pops" for them but COIN very kindly let me join in with the workshops. They were excellent. One exercise which really stuck in my mind was an exercise to explain the relative magnitudes of CO2 emissions from various activities. We started by standing in a straight line. Then the facilitator (Tim) told us how far to move forwards. So, for example, "move forward 1 inch if you left your TV on standby all year. Move forward 3 feet if you took a flight." etc. Very interesting stuff and an excellent way to personalise the "boring" figures.
It was only two days ago (reading MacKay's book!) that I understood that the average European produces his/her own bodyweight of CO2 every two and a half days (30kg CO2 per day; 11 tonnes per year)! Astonishing. (And that's excluding the CO2 produced in foreign countries during the manufacture of the consumer goods we buy; including this gets the European per person total up to a staggering 22 tonnes CO2 per year, IIRC) I get the impression that many people just don't understand the scale of the problem, and hence explaining the scale of the problem is an important job.
Another quick anecdote: back in December, there was an article in The Time's fashion supplement (I read it because it was on the top of the "reading pile" in the toilet at Ginnie's parents' house). There was an article titled "Are you carbonarexic?". The main thrust of the argument was that people who try "obsessively" to reduce their CO2 emissions are suffering from a mental disorder similar to anorexia. Pah! I think they've underestimated the problem by several orders of magnitude. According to MacKay, we all need to aim to emit about 1 tonne of CO2 per year (by 2050). We currently emit 11 tonnes per person per year. So scale this to human body weight: a "healthy" target weight might be 10 stone. It's as if we're all morbidly obese weighing in at 110 stone (700kg). And the folks who get down to, maybe, 50 stone are being called "anorexic".
Hilarious.
Back to the main point... My only question about running a climate workshop is to ask if it is within the "remit" of Peckham Power? I have no answer to that. Maybe it doesn't matter; maybe it *should* be within the remit?
Thanks,
Apologies for the waffling email. I have to do my self assessment tax return today so I'm procrastinating!
Jack
#3
All very persuasive and solid reasoning apart from the explanation about why you were reading the Time's Fashion Supplement.
#4
Ha!
#5
Thanks for everyone's comments.
I think there's some confusion - I'm not proposing a climate workshop - we've already discussed this issue, right? We
don't want to push the climate change angle - but an ENERGY workshop. I'd want to leave explicit mention of climate change out completely.
My reasoning behind an energy workshop is various:
I really like Jack's comments about the COIN workshop he went on and the methods used there - those are the sorts of methods I'm thinking of. Spoke with Jo Pickett-Baker yesterday, and she thought energy workshop a good idea, especially if very participatory.
Since Peckham Power is an energy project, I don't see why such workshops shouldn't be within our remit.
As for reading The Times - I can cope with that - you were doing underground research, right Jack? But the fashion pages???? Glad you feel so free to share!
Bw
Anna
#6
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to your points 1-5. I had pictured your workshop idea as energy not climate focussed so sorry if not clear.
By the way have now got David MacKay's book and have just read the first chapter. It's very well argued and refreshingly avoids the complicated when it's not necessary to the main thrust of the argument - a very good principle for us when running the workshops.
All the best
M
#7
Many thanks for the clarification, Anna. Sorry I got a bit confused! I completely agree with all your points!
Should we talk to COIN to see if they could help with the workshop?
No worries either way, of course!
Many thanks,
Jack
#8
I really really like COIN - but I think collaborating with them would convey the impression that we're a climate change focused project, which may restrict our effectiveness as already discussed, methinks.
Bw - wil be good to see you tomorrow!
Anna
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