South West Climate Change Networking Project - FAQ

Throughout the South West, people are rising to the challenge and getting involved with groups that tackle climate change. Many of these groups have been fantastically successful. However, no-one knows how many groups there are or what they all do. Some groups are networked with others, some are not.

We seek to address this by surveying local groups tackling climate change in the South West. This will give us a picture of group’s activities, strengths and challenges and what kind of resources they need. If you are part of a group whose activities have a positive impact on climate change, even if climate change is not a main part of your group’s mission, we’d appreciate if you could take 15 minutes and full out our survey at the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Pf7ZlnqHqNrfH3E6BGJEGQ_3d_3d

We intend for the survey to facilitate the sharing of information, skills and resources between groups. This should help create a cohesive response to climate change in the South West.

Frequently Asked Questions about the South West Climate Change Networking Project:

1. What is the survey?

This is the first attempt to create a broad inventory and survey of groups in the South West whose work helps to tackle climate change, and survey what they are doing and how.

2. Who is undertaking the survey?

The survey is being conducted by Friends of the Earth South West. The South West Regional Assembly is going to use the results of the survey as part of their scoping data for the Regional Climate Change Action Plan, so have provided funding for that part of the project. The work is being done primarily by volunteer County Coordinators; Ben, Frances, Stuart and Barbara although other volunteers are also involved. Sara Grimes is the project coordinator.

3. What is the Regional Climate Change Action Plan?

Most regions are producing or have produced Regional Climate Change Plans, because many decisions that impact the climate are made at the regional level, through policies such as the Regional Spatial Strategy. Perhaps the best known climate plan is the Mayor of London’s Climate Change Action Plan, although other regions such as Yorkshire and Humber have also produced plans. The South West Regional Assembly, with support from other regional policymaking bodies, signed onto the Nottingham Declaration and agreed to develop a climate plan at their full meeting on March 16^th 2007.

4. What other organisations are involved?

We have been consulting widely with a range of organisations to develop this survey. We are working closely with ICount, since they are undertaking an inventory of climate action on a national level to develop their interactive ICount Communities map.

5. What is the timeline?

We are on a tight timeline because we want the results of the survey to be available as soon as possible to inform decisions by networks and organisations. We also feel a strong sense of urgency around climate change. We need the surveys to be returned by September 15^th and will have the reports written and distributed by the end of September. So if you haven’t done the survey yet, please do! Again, it’s at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Pf7ZlnqHqNrfH3E6BGJEGQ_3d_3d

6. Who is being surveyed?

We are surveying a wide range of groups. For some, climate change is not their main reason for being. Our only criterion is that the group’s activities have a positive impact upon climate change.

7. What will we use the data for:

The data from this survey will be useful to a wide range of organisations, so we will actively promote the survey results. We will write the data into a regional report, and also county-wide reports, in order to:

· Inform local groups themselves: All groups participating in the survey, if they select to allow contact by Friends of the Earth, will receive an email with the regional report, to provide a picture of the work of other organisations and how it compares to their own.

· Inform support organisations: We’ll submit the information to organisations, such as the Centre for Sustainable Energy, which can provide knowledge and resources to local groups.

· Inform local policymakers and organisations: We’ll sort the results by county or district and submit them to local authorities and other county-wide bodies to inform their climate change work.

· Inform regional policy: We will submit the results to the South West Regional Assembly(SWRA) and other regional bodies such as the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) as part of the scoping process for the Regional Climate Change Action Plan, to indicate the potential for people-powered climate action in the South West.

· Build the ICount Communities Map: After the survey, there is a page where you can submit your information to ICount, who is building an interactive online map of climate groups in the UK. It is a project of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition. Since ICount has over 190,000 individual online members, the map should help you recruit members.

· Aid county-wide and other networks: Networks of groups tackling climate change have formed or are forming in most counties. These include the Wiltshire World Changers, the Cornwall Community Climate Forum and the Dorset Climate Change Coalition. The results of the survey can help inform their planning. The same goes for larger network organisations such as the Transition Towns network, the Wildlife Trust and Greenpeace local chapters; at an organisation’s request we can sort the survey results for just their organisation as a resource to them.

· Inform the public: We know from our research that there is an outpouring of action around climate change. We feel that it is vital that the public at large, who may also be concerned about climate change, know that they are not alone, and that there are many avenues to act on their concerns. To this end, we will be submitting the regional and county reports to the media. Again, individual group information will not be included in this without the group’s express permission.

8. Tell me more about the “Networking” aspect of your project

We feel that the response to climate change would be strengthened by more sharing of practical and political information and resources. This is already happening through the formation of county wide and other networks, and we wish to support this process to the extent that we can, and also to facilitate regional communication between these networks. However, it is beyond the scope of this project to run any networking events itself.

9. What about Confidentiality and Data Protection?

· The tick-boxes at the bottom of the survey give options for different levels of confidentiality.

· Information on membership numbers and group’s strengths and barriers will be collated to provide regional and county-wide data. This information will be kept confidential on an individual group basis.

· If we wish to post individual group responses, we not do so unless we have gotten express permission.

Again, the survey can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Pf7ZlnqHqNrfH3E6BGJEGQ_3d_3d

If you have not done so already, we’d encourage you to take 15 minutes and fill it out now! Thanks so much for your time. This survey is an important step towards getting organised to rise to future.