Friends of the Earth Scotland : Inverness and Ross Minutes of meeting held Tuesday 28th October 2008 Present Toni Fuerst, Grace Hainey, Chris Scatchard, Shona Scatchard, Jamie Bucao, Su Cooper, Triona Shaddick, Anne Thomas, Alison Ross
Apologies John Wood, Donald McGibbon and Maggie Dove.
Introductions Anne Thomas welcomed everyone to the meeting and people introduced themselves.
Group constitution Anne read the constitution to all present. It was agreed that the group name Inverness and Ross covers, with enough flexibility, the geographical areas of where members of the group come from. It was decided that a copy of the constitution would be emailed to everyone in the group. If any member wanted additions or amendments then they should email Anne with details to be further discussed at the next meeting. If no one does this then the constitution would be confirmed at the next meeting in November.
Recent campaigns and activities Climate change (Big Ask) and Farmers Markets Jamie reported on the success of a stall at the Farmers Market in Dingwall at the beginning of October. Many people signed up to the Big Ask and also donations were received.
Waste Chris reported on the results of his survey of Inverness businesses regarding waste. He presented lots of interesting and quite astonishing facts and statistics which can be read on his own report. Chris suggested that the survey be extended and other members of the group to go round businesses with copies of the survey. The highlighted areas of concern were:
NHS Highland Carbon Reduction Workshop Anne attended this last week. The Carbon Trust are working with NHS Highland to reduce the Carbon footprint of this organisation. They have already worked with Highland Council very successfully in reducing the CO2 produced there. Representatives of Highland Council Energy and Sustainability Department were there. NHS Highland plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2012. Currently it produces 13,537 tonnes. The majority of this is from buildings. The next largest is travel. Old buildings are difficult to heat and not always easy to insulate. Temperatures are supposed to be 18 0 C for corridors, 200 C for wards and offices and 240 C for examination rooms. The reality is that it is sometimes difficult to regulate different areas, but a lot of this is down to staff awareness e.g. turning down the thermostat rather than opening a window. The meeting was open to all staff and about 50 people turned up. 3 working groups had to come up with their top 10 ideas. Some things relevant to our business waste campaign are:
Future campaigns, meetings, activities Bogbain Car Bootsale Following on from the success of the Dingwall Farmers’ Market it was suggested that a stall go along to the Bogbain Bootsale one Sunday. Toni agreed to find out more.
Why buy day 2008 Alison told the group about the Why Buy Day on 29th November and the idea of a Swap Your Stuff Stall. The group agreed this is a good idea but need to decide on a venue. Several were suggested and members of the group agreed to find out more. Grace - Victorian Market; Chris and Shona - Telford Street Co-op Alison - Railway Station, Street Stall (Council) and Eastgate Centre
Local Business Champions Scheme Further to Chris’s waste survey, Chris has been talking to Sam Adderley from FoES head office regarding CREW2 (Communities Reducing Excess Waste). One idea Chris put forward was a Local Business Champion Scheme. What we would have to do is book interviews with local businesses and discuss with them their waste and recycling policy, offer what practical suggestions and solutions we can to improve their present practices, and encourage them to “Pledge to make improvements to their current recycling and waste policy and to encourage all staff to recycle waste.” For making this pledge we would sign and give them a Champions Certificate from “FOES Inverness and Ross”, and their business name with details of their pledge will be put on a “Champions of Local Businesses” page on our local web site.
Date, time and venue of next meeting Tuesday 25 November, 6.15pm, Spectrum Centre.
|
Minutes >