New climate change events

by Fiona Montgomery

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is aiming to keep climate change high on the political agenda in the Scottish election campaign with some innovative events planned.

A series of ‘speed dating’ type Climate Cafés is being organised for key constituencies in March as well as a major ‘Climate Day’ online political debate with all the parties on the evening of Wed 13 April.

Other actions to get involved in include promoting the SCCS manifesto and taking part in an election E-action. And don’t forget about supporting WWF’s Earth Hour on Saturday 26 March, the day of the TUC March for the Alternative in London.

Get any family, friends and colleagues who aren’t going to the march with you to sign up and switch off their lights for an hour that evening.

UNISON members in Aberdeen South, Glasgow Southside, Edinburgh Central, East Lothian, Perthshire North and Falkirk West are urged to take part in the Climate Cafes there. These are being set up to lobby candidates in an informal and engaging way in some of the hardest fought constituencies.

With a small group of people, you’ll get ten or fifteen minutes to ask questions of your candidate before a bell rings and you move to another table and another candidate. The discussions will be pretty lively, and show candidates why they should do all they can to tackle climate change should they be elected.

You can find out about these and others, or how to organise your own climate café, at www.stopclimatechaos.org/scottish-elections

Full details, including the SCCS manifesto, are also on the UNISON Scotland Green Workplace website pages.

**The Scottish Government has published guidance for public bodies on how they should be putting their climate change duties into practice.

UNISON lobbied hard for the duties to be in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act, and they will be useful for branches to know about in local campaigns on cuts.

The Scottish Government guidance is available online at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/02/04093254/0

• Watch out for information coming soon about an important STUC climate change conference being organised for May or June. The aim is to look at job opportunities and threats, identify how to enhance the STUC-Scottish Government 2009 communique on climate change and build trade union capacity in workplace and community initiatives.

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