Significant energy efficiency measures in Dundee community space. Improving the efficiency of an 1888 building through insulation (both attic and underfloor), secondary glazing upgrading, installation of destratification fans (to better direct the heat towards the colder floor level from a 7m height) , solar PV panels and heat distribution measures to reduce carbon emissions by 34% and reduce heating output by 25-30%. The benefits of each have been detailed in an audit for the building. Our peak usage is also in the evening, when most of our classes take place. Battery power will allow us to generate and store during quieter daytime sessions to then allow for storage and use in the evening. Insulation will have a direct effect on the cold pool we have in the centre of our main practice space. Radiator heat goes straight up into our 7m vaulted space. With both insulation and 6 destratification fans, we could move an even heat to the lower levels as seen in the Dundee Rep. With soaring energy costs, we would be better able to direct resources towards maintaining our rich family and outreach programme providing a warm, welcoming and comfortable space.

With soaring energy costs, and reduced household income, and the organisation's core funds coming from community classes, we cannot put up class prices without increasing the pressure on our clients. With outreach classes 6 days a week, our free programmes also feel the effects of comfort and well-being in our space. Sharing our message about energy would also be a large part of our comms for the duration and after the project, as the most significant project we have taken on since our inception.

Watch our VIDEO to find out more about our project!

We are a local community group who have recently taken over the redundant bowling green in Fairmuir Park, in order to establish a community garden.  Thanks to the support of the Dandelion Project (Unexpected Gardens) we have made an excellent start with the community garden.  However, we have much wider ambitions and want to build on the work already started .

Our aims for the future cover two of the criteria in the Climate Fund - Resilience and Community Engagement.

We want to make the garden more productive by growing larger amounts of fruit and vegetables which could donate to those in need and the local community larder.

We want to encourage more people to grow their own food in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the food we eat.

We wish to support our eco systems and bio diversity through types of plants we grow and the gardening methods we use. this would include recycling of green and brown waste through  composting , the use of natural fertilisers; supporting a natural pond and providing homes for birds and bugs.

We hope to increase the numbers of people in the wider community who use the garden by providing a wide range of workshops and community activities.

Dandelions began community engagement by providing free lunches once a week through the summer and we would like to continue this activity.

To achieve our aims we would like to apply for funding for materials to build more planters for the garden and polytunnel, cold frames, a tea/coffee shack and  a mud kitchen for the children. These are the materials we have asked for the immediate future.  We have put in three quotes which vary between a total of £10-12000.

Thank you for considering our bid.  

We partner with others at home & abroad, supporting people to have more control over their lives. While much of our work over the past three decades has focused on overseas programmes, since 2006 we have grown our Scottish activities to include sustainable education workshops and more recently a food security & food waste programme from our base at The Roundhouse, a former social work building in Whitfield, Dundee.

Our vision is for the Roundhouse to be a hub for sustainable learning and living here in Dundee - a place to provide people with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate changing, uncertain times and the confidence and resources to meet the challenges they face.

The Roundhouse café & Community Kitchen addresses hunger while reducing food waste through education & repurposing of surplus foods. Last year we captured over 8 tonnes of surplus food from 17 local supermarkets, businesses, & farms, using much of it to produce and distribute through local foodbanks more than 10,000 meals using 1,750 volunteer hours.

We want to shift the focus away from simple provision towards education & self-sufficiency through transformed behaviours & improved skillsets around ideas of food & sustainability. Our café (which supports a pay-it-forward scheme & gives away surplus food ensuring everyone can eat) is becoming a gathering place for locals & community groups, addressing social isolation, food waste, and hunger simultaneously. Our garden and allotments are tended by a volunteer community gardening group, producing fresh produce for use in the Roundhouse Community Kitchen café and meals.

Informed by community feedback and experience we are seeking to expand our work growing food locally and inspiring others to do similarly. This project has the aim of improving the health and wellbeing of Whitfield residents by empowering them to make informed, healthy choices. Employing a part-time member of staff and supported by volunteers we will run a series of workshops tailored to different groups within the community, supporting people to have the skills, confidence, and means to grow their own food - however much or little! - and cook using fresh and budget food items. 

Watch our VIDEO to learn more about the project here

Campy Growers are transforming a derelict space into Dundee's biggest community food garden: the Vegetarium, with the potential to produce tonnes of fresh, local food to benefit the whole city.

As food costs increase, we need to build resilience, security and the skills to grow our own food, in response to the worsening climate crirsis.

We are both mitigating emissions, as well as adapting to future food shortages and at the same time boosting biodiversity.

So, over the next year, we will:

• Expand our growing space for food production.
• Provide fresh produce to community projects.
• Deliver workshops to teach people across the local area how to grown food.
• Deliver cooking skills classes, lunch clubs and other food and health-based activities.
• Inspire, excite and welcome families to connect with vibrant, fresh, local food.
• Produce vegetable seedlings to support Dundee residents and other community gardens to grow veg.
• Grow high-quality, nutrient-dense food using sustainable agro-ecological methods.
• Minimise carbon emissions and maximise carbon absorption through shortening supply chains, composting onsite waste and building soil carbon.
• Enhance biodiversity, soil restoration and carbon drawdown.
• Guide individuals throught their horticulture journey by upskilling and training  them.
• Regenerate the soil, which has been neglected and compacted ovber the years, with the use of green manure and manual tools.
• Help connect poeoplpe with their local food grower. Increase knowledge of and participation in environmentally sustainable land activities buy providing opportunities for peopole to be involved with the site, such as Community Supported Agriculture membershio, volunteer days, pick-your-own, open days and stalls.

As a volunteer-led organisation, over 2 growing seasons, having rejuvenated the soil, we have produced approx 3 tonnes of vegetables that have been donated across the city to individiuals, families and charities.

We are looking to employ a full-time gardener and opart-time Project Coordinator to develop this work and allow us to reach our full potential for the benefit of the whole city.

We are also seeking funds for the propagation of our vegetable seedlings and the upcycling of two abandoned shipping containers into usable storage.

Our success supports the success of other food projects across the city.

Dundee has a vast amount of unused green space areas on the doorstep of peoples homes. They are prone to littering, fly tipping, are unloved eyesores in communities, and difficult and costly for the council to maintain. 

Backyard Botanicals in Mid Craigie are neighbours who want to make our neighbourhood a happier, cleaner, healthier place to live. We have been given permission to maintain this unused council greenspace on our doorstep, which can only be accessed through houses which are on its boundary. 

We seek to rejuvenate the area with wildflower, plants, and trees which support our eco systems and improve bio diversity. Our vision with our space is to grow food but also to create a tranquil, colourful haven for insects, animals, birds and bees. We hope to grow local flowers and plants that will support insect pollinators that have been in steep decline due to climate change and habitat loss. In addition to the food that we eat, pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilise soils, and support other wildlife. 

With investment we would like to use two Polycrub tunnels as they are a community based business dedicated to using recycled materials. "They are designed to withstand extremely strong winds, snow, frost, collisions from air born debris and vandalism". Backyard Botanicals invisage growing long term and any investment on equipment needs to be good quality and built to last.

All of the neighbours involved are determined to create a safe space where not only us but our children and grandchildren can be involved from the beginning, learning about growing food, pollinators and the environment that they helped create on their doorstep. 

Where possible, reusing and upcycling second hand items preventing them going into landfill; using natural materials to create a wildlife corridor; sharing of plants, seeds and cuttings through community engagement. 

We would like the grant money to purchase gardening tools, a lawnmower, 2 polycrubs, fruit trees and wood/materials to build raised beds as some of our neighbours have mobility issues. 

With surplus harvest, we aim to food share with family, neighbours, and local food larders.

We hope to inspire others to rejuvenate their greenspaces in their communities. Looking afresh at neglected sites within their neighbourhood could bring new possibilities for a healthier community and a healthier planet by reducing the carbon footprint on the food we eat and also bringing pride back into the areas where we live.

1. Victoria Gardens is a 2600 square metre urban growing and social space on Blackness Road. Victoria Gardens has been awarded the Silver Gilt Certificate and the Its Your Neighbourhood Level 5 Certificate in 2022. Annually the garden supports over 500 visitors/participants ranging from school groups, community organisations, volunteers and students. The Victoria Gardens runs an annual summer club supporting young people over the six weeks over the holidays. Over and above this we run foreign language classes, yoga, arts & crafts groups, weekly garden club, a community fridge and social events. Victoria Gardens has a wild culinary area with common ‘weeds’ that can be used in cooking. The garden also has a compost area to produce its own nutrient rich soil. The garden also produces jams, chutney and teas using organic ingredients from the garden.

Our ambitions are to create a sustainable space with an aim for net zero. We will achieve this by installing solar panels and batteries to reduce our energy ouput of 2000kwh per annum, install a water reservoir system collecting rainwater to be used for agriculture, a large polytunnel to increase production of fruits and vegetables from warmer climates. Thus reducing carbon miles through international food transport. The garden would grow local fruit and vegetables over a longer growing period including the winter. Lastly we aim to grow our community fridge by employing a dedicated staff member, he/she will liase with supermarkets, food providers, the Dundee Food Insecurity network and others to ensure a constant supply. This food will then be distributed to local partner organisations, foodbank, support cafes and individuals. This will reduce food waste in the City.

YYI is applying to purchase a large polytunnel, solar panels, water butt system and staff costs for running the community fridge

Douglas Food Cupboard are a Local Community Group who are providing a local response to tackling food waste and food insecurity in the East End. 

We would like a grant to support our membership, which consists of local residents, to reduce their energy consumption. We would do this by providing 80 of our regular members with an air fryer and 10 LED energy saving lightbulbs each. While this would have economic benefits for our members, they would also be positively contributing to the aim of reducing energy use as both devices are more energy efficient than traditional ovens and lightbulbs. 

To accompany the air fryers we would also provide some ingredients and recipes to encourage our members to increase their confidence in using the device. 

Globally, young people rate climate change as the most important societal issue (Ojala, 2018), and 77% think the future is frightening, 66% are very or extremely worried, and 45% reporting that their feelings about climate change affects their daily life (Marks et al., 2021). A concept that attempts to capture the psychological impact of climate change is ‘eco-anxiety’, which has diffused into public discourse (see BBC, 2019). Eco-anxiety contains common features of anxiety, such as uncertainty and lack of control (Pihkala, 2020; Stanley et al., 2021) and is conceptualized as a manifestation of the impact of climate change on wellbeing. In a study of adult students, Schwartz et al., (2022) found that engagement in collective action decreased the symptoms of depression related to climate change anxiety. However, Schwartz and colleagues (2022) did not address what it is about collective action that functions as a buffer for climate change anxiety.

We propose a project that would examine ways to engage communities and especially young people around climate change. We believe that this type of engagement will not only raise awareness but also improve resilience and well-being as it relates to the effects of climate change. One important aspect of engaging communities to mitigate climate change is that acting together – and seeing others act – can really affect wellbeing, thus encouraging continued action. Acting together can reduce climate anxiety and create a sense of empowerment, a feeling that in working together, people really can create change. 

We will use a qualitative approach to understand what factors harm or improve people’s psychological wellbeing in the context of climate change, focusing on the roles of identity, intersectionality, collective action, and direct and vicarious (dis)empowerment. Speaking with students and activists, we propose to conduct focus groups with non-activists to explore how their understandings of climate change relate to their wellbeing and empowerment. We will also conduct individual interviews with climate activists to ask people what it is that gets them motivated to make changes in their own lives and also in trying to get others motivated as well. Speaking with both non-activists and activists will provide contrasting perspectives on shared community, identity, and wellbeing. We will partner with local organisations to share this information and find ways to encourage young people in local communities to take part in climate action.

Outputs for this work will come in two forms: community-focused output and academic output. In terms of community-focused output, the project’s primary aim is to provide local stakeholders and local young people the opportunity to discuss their experience of participating (or not) in collective action for climate change. This work will ideally find out ways to better connect these groups, first through a workshop for local organisations, and then through an event that would allow young people in Dundee to connect with those organisations. It could also be beneficial to bring this information to the local council and other local government bodies, and we would do this by preparing a lay report that can be shared publicly. The academic output would involve carrying what we learn in the interviews and focus groups to conferences and academic publications so that further research can be carried out in the future.  

£1612 - total salary for a project assistant to help organise and coordinate interviews, focus groups, and workshops with local stakeholders. Cost calculated for 7.5 hours per month for 12 months, starting 1 June 2023.

£980 - travel and accommodation for project consultation from Dr Sara Vestergren. Dr Vestergren will participate in workshops with local stakeholders.

£1032 - Transcription (group interviews - 5x120min)

£1800 - Transcription (individual interviews - 20x60min)

£600 - Participant incentives (40x15)

Total: £6024

Wellbeing Works is a local mental health charity based in the Wellgate Centre.  The Community Toolbox is their new project.  It is a library of things people in and around Dundee can borrow instead of buying for decorating, DIY, gardening, outdoor events, cleaning, baking, entertaining and more.  This means that people who can't afford to buy these tools and equipment are able to access them, and as a community we are reducing our carbon footprint by borrowing instead of buying items that ultimately end up in landfill sites. We are also building a culture where we share our skills and resources.  Check out the Community Toolbox at dundee.myturn.com 

NO CHILD IN DUNDEE SHOULD GO HUNGRY

Dundee Bairns was formed as a community project in 2016 and was formally constituted as a charity in May 2017. We provide free breakfasts and lunches during the school holidays and free hot 2-course evening meals through our Tea Club during the winter months. Throughout the year we also deliver Christmas food hampers and vouchers, gifts for children, Easter eggs, cooking packs for families and schools and children's activity packs. Over the last 6 years we have provided over 450,000 meals to children in Dundee. In addition, through our Cosy Bairns project we have provided new clothes and footwear to just under 6000 children during the winters of 2020,2021 and 2022. All the aforementioned services rely on our staff and volunteers using their own cars. During the summer holidays we have had to rent vans due to the extremely high volume of meals we provide on certain days, but for almost all our services we currently rely on our volunteers and staff using their own vehicles. 

In 2017 when we started the Tea Club meals, we provided them to 5 Primary Schools, and now in the period October 2022 to March 2023, we will be providing over 1,000 hot meals per week, spread over 18 locations. 

The grant we are seeking from the Dundee Climate Fund would be used to purchase an electric van. This will reduce the requirement for our staff and volunteers to use their own vehicles and reduce the carbon footprint of the charity.  

An electric van is ideal for Dundee Bairns as our daily mileage will be no more than 100 miles per day, and therefore a single charge will suffice each day. It is likely that the annual mileage could be as high as 25,000 miles per year, and we believe that we would be best served by purchasing an electric van.  The quotes we have received to date equate to a cost of £24,000.

 If we are succesful with our application there are 3 main benefits. Firstly, having our own electric vehicle will allow the charity to provide our meals, children's clothing/footwear and other items for schools and children in a more cost effective manner. Secondly, it will reduce the demands made on our staff and volunteers to use their own vehicles and finally it will significantly reduce our carbon footprint. A truly win,win,win situation.