Nominations sought for environmental awards
Volunteers from communities across Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park will be honoured at The Community Partnership’s Gathering awards ceremony on Saturday October 27, at The Three Villages Hall, Arrochar. The awards aim to recognise contributions made by local people raising environmental awareness, promoting environmental conservation or making their community more sustainable.
The Gathering, A Green Revolution – building sustainable communities now, is set to be an informative day-time event open to community development trusts, community councils, community interest groups and village hall management groups from around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
Within the context of global climate change the event will feature a packed programme exploring what communities in the national park could look like in the future, and visualising what a ‘green community’ could look like. This event holds a potential in changing some of the challenges that rural communities in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs face; marine litter and pollution, declining populations, changes in the landscape, scarcity of resources, a growing global food crisis as well as reducing CO2 emissions.
Event speakers and participants include Professor Sarah Skerratt, rural society and policy director of policy engagement at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and author of Recharging Rural – Creating sustainable communities to 2030 and beyond; Zero Waste Scotland; Nourish Scotland; Arrochar Hydro Scheme; Energy 4 All; GDLodge Architects and many more.
The event will also address the impact of scarcity of resources looking at how community is the key to circular economy and how local projects can help develop new resourceful initiatives and promote sustainable choices.
Nominations are now being sought for the Community Environmental Award aimed at community initiatives or groups, and Young Environmentalist of the Year for individuals under 25, and is open to anyone who lives within or in a gateway community to the national park.
Details and nomination forms can be found by visiting The Community Partnership website, www.thecommunitypartnership.org.uk, and the deadline for nominations is October 15.
The Community Partnership is run by its members and its mission is to support the sustainable development of the communities in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park enabling innovative grass roots partnerships and provide a representative voice on community views.