The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pulling together, not pulling apart
Royal Scottish Geographical Society CEO Mike Robinson reflects on stepping down from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland which he established in 2006
As a child I didn’t understand why grown-ups were so obsessed with time and money and paid so little regard to the environment. I feel I grew up as part of the Greenpeace generation because to me they represented a challenge to this status quo.
I’ve always been bemused by the fact that we don’t look after the environment very well.
Although we encourage kids to care about the environment, I felt that once I left university and started work, I was meant to leave all that behind; that somehow it was a luxury and not seen as anything to do with business.
Years later, I remember meeting a successful businesswoman who had devoted her life to working in her family’s firm. When she retired her only reference other than work was to reflect back to her happy childhood.
She bought the house that she’d grown up in, along with a small woodland, and began to restore it, trying to recreate the things she remembered so fondly from childhood, but now years later realised had disappeared.
It struck me that she had finally come back to the one important thing that she’d set aside when she started work.
When I got a job myself, I refused to leave that part of me at the door!
What inspired you to set up SCCS?
I’m big-picture minded and I’ve always wanted to tackle issues on an ambitious scale. I also wanted people to start talking about climate change more openly.
When I was working at RSPB, I realised we weren’t talking about climate change, and wanted to find something positive people could spend money on which would help.
After a slow start – and more presentations to boards and CEOs than I can count – it began to take shape, eventually building to over 60 member organisations, with between us around 2 million members in Scotland. It became and remains the largest coalition ever formed in this country, and included community groups, health charities, student bodies, humanitarian and aid agencies, and most environmental organisations.
Establishing and chairing SCCS is probably the greatest privilege of my working life, and it made me appreciate the amazing people who choose to work for charities – I met so many of the
thecouriermagazine kindest, hardest working, brightest and most compassionate, politically savvy people throughout the third sector.
What were the main aims of SCCS?
The primary aim was to promote climate action among our supporters’ bases, to secure legislation – a climate act through the Scottish Parliament – and if successful, to then promote the Scottish example more broadly to try to inspire other nations to respond.
There was already a discussion going on in Westminster, and now we had an opportunity to achieve something in Scotland.
Initially I was involved in both, because I also sat on the board of the London coalition (called Stop Climate Chaos).
We set up a charity and began to build from the bottom up.
In October 2006 I organised a series of talks at the Botanics, and invited all the biggest names I could find in climate change.
This led to about 1,000 people attending talks, and an instant direct supporter base and media profile, as many of our speakers were also asked to respond to unfolding events – such as major weather events or the Stern report.
Crucially we gained the support of the eco-congregations, and through them the Church of Scotland, and also the Catholic Church. We brought together all the religious leaders for a joint press statement on climate change, and their support took the campaign to another level.
Politicians couldn’t hide behind party political lines when religious leaders were not hiding behind religious lines!
Having stepped down from SCCS, what is your next challenge?
I want everyone to understand climate change solutions. This is the purpose of the new Climate Solutions qualification, which has been developed by RSGS in association with the universities of Edinburgh and Stirling, and the Institute of Directors.
I’d like this to be a mandatory requirement, available to students beginning courses at university, to anyone in business, and to every member of the Scottish Parliament.
Climate change is such a critical issue – if we don’t understand the answers, we’re never going to make a difference. Everyone has a role to play, and if we don’t get better at pulling in the same direction, we’re only going to pull ourselves apart.