This site builds on the record of a series of six conversations that took place in Tayvallich in late 2020/early 2021 to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by our changing climate and to map out some possible routes forward. The sessions were supported by Scottish charity Keep Scotland Beautiful who helped to facilitate the sessions, to take notes and to guide everyone through this journey. This work is part of a pilot programme funded by the Scottish Government to support communities looking to develop local plans for Climate Change.

Our climate is warming

2020 was the joint hottest year ever recorded. The results from climatic models highlight that unless we treat the issue of Global Warming as a global emergency and an urgent priority the impacts are only going to increase. For the UK these impacts are going to have a large direct or indirect effect on our health, wellbeing and environment. In Tayvallich we are likely to see extreme storms and floods more frequently than we have in the past. We will need to make changes to reduce carbon emissions and adapt how we live to fit a changing climate. In changing or adapting our lifestyles there are opportunities to improve them.

So why make a plan?

The scale of adaptation we need to make will impact everyone, but not equally. Making a plan offers the opportunity to shape the changes we make as individuals to benefit the community as a whole. Making a plan for Tayvallich can also help us understand the challenge as it applies to us on a local level and see which changes are most beneficial to the community.

If you would like to understand more of the science being our changing climate you can visit this page.

Conversation 1. Time to imagine the future

First, everyone was asked to imagine Tayvallich in 2030. What would have changed? What were people talking about? Are there new sights to see or smells, or sounds? How do we feel about living and working in this future?

These personal imaginations were shared and the kinds of hopes and dreams people have were discussed. This helped everyone to come together and to have opened minds to the possibilities and to listen to the views of others.

Conversation 2 - Challenges ahead

The group then went on to learn about changes that are taking place from an environmental perspective, and about Scottish Government and Argyll and Bute Council plans and policies. They looked at MET office weather projections, considered matters like local flooding, and much more besides. Some exemplar projects were also presented highlighting the successes of other community-led initiatives from community energy through to food growing projects, circular economy activities, active travel projects, etc.

A survey was also distributed on-line and via postcards around the village to invite the wider community to send in their visions and to comment on Tayvallich as it stands today. This survey was partly based on the Place-Standard toolkit questions and included a few additional questions about local resilience. The summary results of this survey are at the end of this document.

Conversations 3 & 4 - Action Cards

The next two sessions started to focus on a set of possible actions that could be taken forward. A toolkit provided by Keep Scotland Beautiful helped to seed conversations around 6 different topics: Food, Energy, Waste, Travel, Adaptation and Nature (some samples of the toolkit are shown below).