Dundee Climate Fund by D C Thomson & Co Ltd

The Dundee Climate Fund has been set up to support communityled climate change projects. It’s based on a model called Community Choices where citizens of Dundee will decide how to spend a budget that supports the delivery of the city’s Climate Action Plan.

The Dundee Climate Fund has a budget of £375,000. Each Dundee resident is able to decide how the entire Dundee Climate Fund budget is spent across the various project proposals. The Dundee Climate Fund will support projects that relate to one or more of the themes below:

▪ Login/register on Dundee’s Voice. Visit bit.ly/DCFHowTo to see how to sign up if you don’t have an account already!

▪ Explore Dundee Climate Fund Projects.

▪ Vote for your favourite projects.*

▪ Submit your choices!

Spend the budget across as many projects as you like. Once the voting has finished, the projects will be ranked, matched to the available funds and those with the most votes will receive the funding.

*Only Dundee residents can vote

The Dundee Sound Collective is a group of sound artists working to connect communities with their environment through sound and listening. In partnership with NEoN Digital Arts, we will lead local groups on a series of free soundwalks and field recording workshops. Focusing on the hidden detail of our environments – the depth of flora and fauna, how much we can hear when we actively listen – allows us to consider the breadth of the impact of climate change around us. Six workshops

will take place in and around Dundee over the course of a year, each focused on a different theme such as birds of the Tay Reedbeds or plants in the Botanic Garden. The recordings gathered will be used to create an online sound map of Dundee that can be community updated and will track the impact of climate change on our soundscape.

The practice of soundwalking can be powerful for highlighting climate problems – traffic noise drowns out birdsong; marine industrialisation reduces the biodiversity of our waters. Introducing groups to this practice can raise awareness of the issues we face.

The collective has experience working with schools, universities and other young people to help them learn about soundwalking and sound recording – we’ve previously held workshops with Hot Chocolate Trust, YPC, Soundbase, Dundee University and Abertay University. We aim to extend these workshops to the whole community to help people gain hands-on experience with sound equipment

and recording techniques, and to reconnect with the river and nature around us. We love to work in collaboration with local experts to study our local wildlife more deeply.

NEoN was established in 2009 and aims to advance the understanding and accessibility of digital and technology-driven art forms. NEoN has organised exhibitions, workshops, talks, conferences, live performances, public discussions and outreach activities. NEoN is committed to working with Dundee’s local communities, engaging with young people and offering volunteer opportunities.

NEoN Digital Arts has been a collaborator on several sound installations and works including the successful “Whale” by Yolanda Harris which invoked Dundee’s past as a centre for the whaling industry and increased our awareness of the new cultural industries replacing it on the waterfront. Also, the commission of “Themes for Buildings and Spaces”, where Andrew Wasylyk (alias of Scottish writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Mitchell) invited the listener to explore the city through sound.

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 we 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 ecosystems and biodiversity through the types of plants we grow and the gardening methods we use.

This would include recycling 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 number 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 to £12,000. Thank you for considering our bid.

Gathering Sound, Dundee Sound Collective.

eeling Strong’s Synthesis Climate Project will be a year-long project which raises awareness on climate change, ecoanxiety and how we can use nature as a tool to improve the mental health of young people in Dundee. Feeling Strong exists to make sure that every young person aged 8-26 in Dundee who has experienced a mental health or wellbeing challenge is supported to reach their full potential. We deliver projects, services and campaigns in the community to tackle stigma, build conﬁdence, develop resources, create networks and, most importantly, support the positive recovery journey of our young people. This 12-month project has a total budget of £16,572 to be spent over the year. We will engage young people by:

Building knowledge of the positive effects being in nature can have on our mental health and how young people can develop creative responses to the climate crisis. We will do this through a series of art-making workshops leading to the development of works which will be exhibited publicly in Dundee.

Raise awareness around the negative impact climate

Fchange can have on our mental health by asking young people to create an interactive, playable game about the top four endangered animals in Scotland, as well as supporting our young people to produce and ﬁlm a documentary about local climate activism and ecoanxiety in Dundee.

We will also host a mini COP-style conference at the Feeling Strong Hub, focusing on climate issues that impact young people, highlighting the voices of young speakers locally and create pathways for young people to be further engaged in climate activism.

We will get young people out in nature via an outdoor interactive art trail that raises awareness of the importance of conservation and how engaging with nature can have a positive impact on our wellbeing, and also ensure young people’s creative responses are highlighted across Dundee.

Workshop Phase: In this phase, we will invite young people to attend creative and climate activism workshops based at our hub. These workshops will be free and accessible to anyone aged 12-26 who is in Dundee. They will include life drawing, poetry, zinemaking, activism, documentary-making and planning for sustainable futures.

Game Jam: We will host a Game Jam with Dundee University Archives. The prompt will be the impact climate change has on mental health. We will ask the

participants to create a game inspired by one of the most endangered species in Scotland.

Exhibition: We will host an exhibition of participants’ creative outputs from the workshops responding to climate change, endangered species and climate activism. This will be open to the public, raising awareness of climate change and young people’s voices. Nature Trail: We will install a nature trail in Dundee’s greenspace. There will be 12 QR code points on this trail where people can see art made during the project, and it is aimed at encouraging young people to get out and use Dundee’s greenspaces. If they collect all the QR codes, they can come to Feeling Strong to receive a custom pin badge.

Conference: We will host a mini COP-style conference at the Feeling Strong Hub where young people will have localised discussions with decision-makers about mental health and climate change. The outcome of this event will be the creation of a manifesto featuring the testimonies of young people.

End of Year Showcase and Release of Documentary: Alongside our Climate Conference, we will host a ﬁnal exhibition showcasing all creative outputs made during the project, with a documentary featuring interviews with local ﬁgures discussing the impact climate change has on our young people’s mental health.

We’re Shaper/Caper – an independently led, multi-award-winning dance company and a registered charity based in Dundee. We were set up in 2015 and we are all about communities! Creating excellent art that connects with real people drives us. We want to ensure that as many people as possible, despite their socioeconomic backgrounds, race, and/or gender, can access high-quality arts for free.

We really believe that the arts are an intrinsic part of achieving a cohesive society that can spark civic action for social change.

We won the Inspirational Work in Education and Community Outreach Award from One Dance UK in November 2020. In 2022, we were ﬁnalists for the Charity/Group Initiative Award from Proud Scotland and the Digital Citizen Award from the Scottish Charity Awards.

We want to help save the planet before it’s too late. We want to make sure that the world is a better place for our children and grandchildren.

Above all, we want to encourage and embolden children and young people to ﬁght for their right to

a safe and healthy future. We’re developing a new touring schools show for young people aged 8 to 12. The World Is My... explores the climate crisis through human impact and inspires positive action. Through the lovable characters of Nico and Grandad, The World Is My... encourages children and young people to ask questions, tackle challenges and think independently.

We are working with The James Hutton Institute, a leader in environmental research who make major contributions to the understanding of key global issues. Having a scientiﬁc input to this project is crucial. We want to make sure that the stories we tell are accurate and informative, and that our young audiences leave knowing exactly what they can do (and encourage the grown-ups in their lives to do) to make a difference.

We have worked with more than 45,000 children and young people over the last seven years, and we deliver creative learning projects in 116 primary schools across Dundee, Perth & Kinross and Angus each year.

Through this, we’ve developed a very successful model for interacting with children in a highly creative way that maximises inspiration and empowerment.

This vast experience continues to inform how we

shape The World Is My... for young audiences, with our core values – kindness, respect, collaboration and humour – at its heart.

The funds from this application will allow us to pilot the show in 10 Dundee primary schools. There is no cost for the school to access the production.

The Climate Heroes Project is centred on community action against climate change. Providing learning spaces and opportunities to protect the environment with the development of a school allotment and eco classroom at St Fergus Primary School, Ardler, Dundee.

It will focus on key themes such as energy efficiency, reducing waste and improving biodiversity by increasing awareness and engaging communities and young people in climate change. Our application is based on dialogues with parents, teachers and pupils of the school. While the main thrust of the proposal aims to address climate change, it also seeks to advance child learning and development. It will also involve the Development

Worker of Ardler Village Trust as a link to other local environmental projects and connects well with other community learning initiatives aimed at saving energy and costs amid the cost-of-living crisis.

The Eco Classroom: An outbuilding situated in the school ground that will create an immersive experience for learning and engaging with the environment, while promoting wellbeing. Having an outdoor practical space for education makes subjects more vivid and interesting for children to enhance their understanding and aid creativity. We intend to reuse natural resources by harvesting rainwater on the roof and using solar power. We propose to have a mini weather station. By encouraging pupils to use it, we can create a handson approach to learning about the ways our climate changes over time.

The School Allotment: A vegetable garden that will provide wellbeing benefits as well as educational benefits to the pupils about sustainability, producing our own food and how to reduce carbon footprints. The school kitchen, Early Evening Cafe at Ardler Complex and Community Fridge can make use of the produce, making sure nothing goes to waste. Having a link with Ardler Village Trust and access to other projects within

the community will enable us to share skills, tools and experience from community volunteers.

We propose rewilding areas of the playground for nature to regenerate and grow, which will support dwindling populations of native pollinators including bees and butterflies. We intend to enhance the biodiversity in the area by creating more green space, boosting the presence of insects and wildlife. Getting pupils involved in making bird boxes and maintaining the minibeast hotel provides opportunities to learn about how we care for wildlife.

By inspiring schoolchildren within the community to be aware and take care of nature and wildlife on our doorstep, we can promote the importance of looking after our environment. The increased green spaces will benefit the environment and our health by improving air quality, connection to nature and mindfulness. They will also function as a sustainable urban drainage system, which will in turn prove to be beneficial with the current climate change challenges.

We believe there is a need for community action against climate change now more than ever. We need to educate people today for a better planet tomorrow. The aim of the Climate Heroes Project is to help achieve this.

Globally, young people rate climate change as the most important societal issue that they face, and most report feeling frightened or worried about how climate change will affect them. This “eco-anxiety” has the ability to affect people’s day-to-day lives, create feelings of uncertainty and worry about the future, and hinder their wellbeing. One way to address this impact on wellbeing is through engaging in collective action. Research suggests that collective action has the ability to buffer eco-anxiety in individuals – not to mention its potential positive impacts on mitigating the effects of climate change itself!

We propose a project that tries 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 wellbeing 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.

Speaking with students and activists, we propose to conduct focus groups with nonactivists 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.

The Community Food Hub & Freecycle group have always believed that local people are the key to reducing carbon emissions and helping to protect the environment. Through the Larder, food waste from major supermarkets is reduced and the Freecycle service has saved tonnes of clothes, toys and household items from incineration and reduced the need for people to buy new items in the shops. The Freecycle part of our service has gone from a

few items on a table to a community resource where people donate as well as take – toys come back after a few months when children get bored with them, clothes come back once they are outgrown, books once they have been read. For Food Hub customers, we have issued slow cookers to reduce cooking costs and will be shortly starting a “slow cooker challenge” with customers to cook a slow cooker meal and share the results on our Community WhatsApp page and encourage others to give it a try.

We feel it is now time to take our care for the environment a step further while also benefiting local people – a win-win situation.

We would like to purchase heated clothes airers as they use considerably less electricity than a tumble dryer and hanging wet clothing on radiators as this makes boilers work harder therefore costing more money and creating more emissions. Air fryers will also help people to reduce energy usage, as will LED light bulbs, draught excluder kits and reflective radiator panels.

We believe that when a community is struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, it’s patronising to preach about reducing carbon emissions but providing these items will enable people to reduce household energy bills in addition to reducing damage to the environment. This will therefore help to create a thriving community that will actively seek out other ways to reduce costs and energy dependency. This is a project for the long term and aims to go further in, and for, the future.

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 light bulbs 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 light bulbs.

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.

Dundee, 1833. The age of steam power. Thousands of Dundonians work in the factories and mills producing textiles for sale across the country and across the world. It is a time of rich opportunities, but also unprecedented social challenges. And it is the beginning of a dangerous increase in carbon emissions, which today threatens all life on our planet...

Dundee, 2022. The age of climate change.

A new industrial revolution is afoot. Green technology is changing the way we live and work, and has the potential to make life better and fairer for everyone. But how can we harness it? And how can we make sure no one gets left behind?

We are Dundee Heritage Trust, proud custodian of Dundee’s only industrial heritage museum: Verdant Works.

This is the engine room of the city’s industrial past.

But now, as we embark on our own green journey, we need your help!

Verdant Works is based in an original Grade A-Listed Victorian mill building from the 1830s, run by a lively team of staff and volunteers, and holds a nationally signiﬁcant collection, including an original steam engine and large-scale replicas of the machines used by Dundee millworkers for more than a hundred years.

Our machines all run on electricity today – meaning we don’t have to burn coal to demonstrate to our learners and visitors how these magniﬁcent machines worked in the past.

But because so much of our building is old, we are still powered in many places by gas – a fossil fuel which, when burned, releases carbon dioxide and other harmful gases into the atmosphere.

By replacing the gas heating in our Machine Hall with a low-carbon electric solution, our project aims to save nearly a tonne of greenhouse gases every year – the same as 11 ﬂights from Edinburgh to Stornoway! – and will help us keep this space warm for learners and visitors as they get to know the story of the mill from industrial powerhouse to a green museum for the 21st Century from our enthusiastic

volunteers and award-winning education tours and workshops.

And, by installing the same system in our beautiful but sadly underused High Mill, we will open up entirely new opportunities for green community activities, exhibitions and events involving the whole community.

With your support, this exciting project will enable us to:

▪ Keep our volunteer guides warm in winter to run our much-loved heritage machinery demonstrations for the public.

▪ Host more schools for tours and workshops designed to get students thinking about important climate topics, such as the industrial revolution, climate change, STEM for the future, green technology, and how museums can help the planet in the 21st Century.

▪ Host more sustainable events and exhibitions with local businesses, community groups, artists and makers.

▪ Pioneer a new Green Verdant Works Action Plan to further improve our sustainability and reduce our carbon footprint.

HELP US START OUR GREEN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Vote to keep Dundee’s heritage alive and its future at Verdant Works green!

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 six 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 increasing 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 six days a week, our free programmes also feel the effects of comfort and wellbeing in our space. Sharing our message about energy would be a large part of our communications for the duration of, and after, the project – the most signiﬁcant initiative we have taken on since our inception.

Apartnership between Hillcrest Homes (who have a multi-award-winning energy advice team – HEAT) and the Stobswell Forum to deliver tailored energy advice and support to all residents (of any tenure) in Stobswell.

Advice and support to individuals on all aspects of

energy saving and efﬁciency. The project will purchase a thermal imaging camera and will be out in the community actively looking for properties where there is heat loss to see where improvements can be made for residents.

Liaison advice and support to landlords on energy efficiency measures that will improve the energy efficiency of their properties therefore benefitting the tenant. Upskilling of local community groups and volunteers to spot and signpost residents for support. Raising awareness of climate change and energy efficiency with young people through schools and other youth services.

Professor Fionn Stevenson is a recently retired

world-renown expert on housing performance evaluation who wishes to give back to the city she studied and lives in as a volunteer.

She is a member of the Stobswell Forum community and has carried out numerous projects like this in the UK and abroad as an academic researcher while at the universities of Dundee, Oxford Brookes and Shefﬁeld from 2000-22.

She has particular skills in facilitating community engagement with housing performance evaluation, and has worked in the past with Scottish Homes, various local authorities, housing associations and national private housing developers such as Stewart Milne and Barratt Homes.

Fionn will contribute her time on a voluntary basis to support some of the activities detailed in the original bid. As such, there is no requirement for additional funding for this specialist expertise.

Strathmartine Community Larder will use the funding to purchase energy-saving household equipment which will be sold on to local residents at a subsidised cost. This will allow people living on lower incomes to purchase items that they would not normally be able to, such as slow cookers, LED light bulbs, dryer balls, air fryers, halogen ovens, draught excluders etc. We also aim to provide a scheme where items can be paid in instalments prior to receiving goods. Energy-efﬁcient appliances are essential to help residents save money and energy, protect the environment, and generally enhance their lifestyle. Thus, the more energy-efﬁcient home appliances they have access to the lower their utility bills will be while protecting the environment from harmful gases such as carbon dioxide.

As well as the above, SCL will work in partnership with several community growing spaces groups to purchase materials for growing kits to be distributed throughout the area to promote and encourage home growing as a means of reducing food costs to families affected by poverty. The growing spaces volunteers will offer support and instruction on how to use these kits and how to maintain future home growing.

Resilience Local Food Growing: The volunteers from Baldragon Community Garden and Ardler

Environmental Group propose to distribute potato-growing kits throughout the community of Strathmartine. This community initiative will encourage families, individuals etc to try growing food and reap the rewards. It’s ideal for those who don’t have a garden. The environmental beneﬁts include less greenhouse emissions, a smaller carbon footprint and reduced food waste. Importantly, it will foster a connection with nature. While this initiative will play a role in helping with climate change, at the same time it will show that growing your own food can lead to ﬁnancial savings, and improve mental health and wellbeing. It’s hoped that this small initiative will get folk of all ages enjoying the outdoors and learning new skills and knowledge to then pass on to others.

We have discussed the above proposal with the trustees, volunteers and current SCL users and they are all in agreement that the energy-efﬁcient appliances would be of beneﬁt to local people who are struggling with the increased energy costs and increased cost of living. It was the SCL trustees who put forward the idea of not simply handing out the appliances free of charge but to create a system where the items can be purchased at a lower cost therefore providing some future stability for the appliance project with an aim to continue the service

long term. The Ardler Environmental Group and the Baldragon Community Garden volunteers were consulted regarding the growing kits and see this as an excellent opportunity to link in with the community of Strathmartine and to get people involved in existing and new community gardens in the area with a view to long-term engagement.

Both of the above projects can be linked into the long-term work of the SCL who will offer courses and groups such as cooking on a budget, one-pot cooking, batch cooking etc, teaching people how to best use their new equipment and indeed the food they will be growing.

The project will focus on the Strathmartine area of Dundee which includes St Mary’s, Kirkton, Ardler and environs. We will work with various food projects and greenspace/community garden projects, for example Strathmartine Community Larder, Ardler Village Trust Community Fridge, Chalmers Ardler Church Larder, three community centre LMGs, St Mary’s growing space, Friends of Clatto, Ardler Community Garden, and school family development workers.

Dundee has a vast amount of unused green space areas on the doorstep of people’s 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 ecosystems and improve biodiversity. 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 airborne debris and vandalism.” Backyard Botanicals envisage 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 secondhand items preventing them going into landfill; using natural materials to create a wildlife corridor; and sharing plants, seeds and cuttings through community engagement.

We would like the grant money to purchase gardening tools, a lawnmower, two 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 from the food we eat and also bringing pride back into the areas where we live.

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 crisis.

We are 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 agroecological methods.

▪ Minimise carbon emissions and maximise carbon

absorption through shortening supply chains, composting on-site waste and building soil carbon.

▪ Enhance biodiversity, soil restoration and carbon draw down.

▪ Guide individuals through their horticulture journey by upskilling and training them.

▪ Regenerate the soil, which has been neglected and compacted over the years, with the use of green manure and manual tools.

▪ Help connect people with their local food grower. Increase knowledge of and participation in environmentally sustainable land activities by providing opportunities for people to be involved with the site, such as Community Supported Agriculture membership, volunteer days, pick-your-own, open days and stalls.

As a volunteer-led group, over two growing seasons, having rejuvenated the soil, we have produced about three tonnes of vegetables that have been donated across the city to individuals, families and charities. We are looking to employ a full-time gardener and a part-time project co-ordinator 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.

The community-led Maxwell Centre and Garden has been at the heart of the Coldside area for more than 20 years. We have an outstanding reputation nationally for delivering a holistic project for wellbeing through support services, youth work and our community garden and outreach. We are determined to make our communities stronger, more resilient and adaptable to change but also build the capacity to change our local environment for the better, have important conversations about climate and social change and demonstrate how this can be achieved at the neighbourhood level across Dundee.

OUR PROJECT: We will make food growing more accessible to everyone in Dundee to learn and experience environmental action ﬁrst-hand in people’s own neighbourhood in three ways:

▪ A NEW DUNDEE FOOD GROWING MAP and EVENT CALENDAR

More than 30 community growing spaces to visit. Hundreds of events to attend and volunteering opportunities throughout the year.

Community gardens will increase their capacity and visibility through the Dundee Food Growing/ Community Garden Network, training and support.

Volunteers will gain from better physical and mental health and local biodiversity will be improved.

Neighbours will beneﬁt from gaining new skills and friendships and access free local produce, increasingly important with the cost-of-living crisis and given that £1 out of every £10 we spend is on food and that 30% of greenhouse emissions in the UK are from food production.

▪ REVAMPED FOOD GROWING TOOL AND SEED LIBRARY

We aim to save people money and reduce waste and carbon emissions through these activities and increase the food-growing spaces and their productivity across our city.

• Borrow tools and books to get growing your own food

• Free access to one-to-one advice

• Free seeds, seedlings, cuttings and plants

• 40+ free weekly workshops

▪ YOUTH-LED FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE EVENTS

Each month we will focus on different climate-related topics to enable and support our community to reflect, learn and take action for a greener and fairer Dundee.

We’ll celebrate food, nature and community through free gigs in the garden, films, food, games, conversations for change, etc.

LONG-TERM VISION: We are committed to sustaining this project beyond this funding opportunity.

There is a strong momentum amongst community growing spaces, with our new Dundee Food Growing/ Community Gardens Network and Grow Dundee group that will keep engaging people in Dundee.

This project is a unique opportunity to deliver and promote, through experience and example at community gardens, many of the objectives laid out in Dundee’s Climate Action Plan and the 20-minute Neighbourhood concept for sustainability.

Growing Chrysalis, run by Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) in Dawson Park, are transforming a disused bowling green into a multipurpose community space, directed by local need.

This project will bring people together, encouraging people to form new and stronger connections building community capacity and resilience. The space will create opportunities for the whole community to develop and share skills, to volunteer and to inﬂuence and improve this amazing greenspace. In addition, SAMH will also deliver targeted sessions with schools, nurseries, colleges, families, intergenerational and disability groups.

We have already started transforming this unused, chemically treated, barren grass space into a wildlife and human-friendly haven. We have set up several nodig beds, mulched borders with woodchip and created a native wildlife corner, wildﬂower border and fruit beds, however there is a signiﬁcant area of lawn that needs further investment.

Our climate change priorities include:

▪ Improving biodiversity by taking wildlife-friendly approaches, eg animal habitats, welcoming insects, rewilding, no chemicals.

▪ Using climate-resilient growing approaches, eg perennial vegetables, drought-tolerant plants, saving seeds, rainwater collection/irrigation, organic methods.

▪ Encouraging recycling, reusing, repurposing and using natural materials wherever possible, eg seed and plant swaps, plant pot swap, upcycling, buying second hand, sourcing local materials.

▪ Supporting visitors and volunteers who face increased climate anxiety with our experience of delivering mental health support.

We need funding that can push our project forwards and enable investment into the space as a shared community resource for years to come:

▪ Polytunnel/food forest/raised beds/tools – So that local residents of Douglas, West Ferry and the wider Dundee community, whatever their income, have access to affordable organic food on their doorstep. This will reduce their climate impact while providing opportunities to learn skills in climate-friendly food growing.

▪ Composting area – Composting prevents food waste going to landﬁll while feeding our soil and teaching others how to do this at home.

▪ Rainwater catchment/water irrigation system –We want to collect our autumn and winter rainwater and store it for the drier spring and summer months, reducing reliance on tap water. This includes a selfwatering polytunnel using irrigation from rainwater tanks.

▪ Outdoor kitchen/shelter – Having opportunities to gather and share food will encourage people to socialise and discuss individual or collective ways to prevent climate change. With a welcoming atmosphere, sharing a table, preparing food together and eating with fresh ingredients we can demonstrate healthy, climate-friendly habits that are accessible.

We partner with others at home and 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 and food waste programme from our base at The Roundhouse, a former social work building in Whitﬁeld.

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

We want to shift the focus away from simple provision towards education and self-sufﬁciency through transformed behaviours and improved skill sets around ideas of food and sustainability. Our cafe (which supports a pay-it-forward scheme and gives away surplus food ensuring everyone can eat) is becoming a gathering place for locals and community groups, addressing social isolation, food waste and hunger simultaneously. Our garden and

allotments are tended by a volunteer community gardening group, producing fresh food for use in The Roundhouse Community Kitchen & Cafe 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.

Wee Feed the World is a unique and farreaching photographic initiative celebrating the small, family farmers, ﬁsherpeople and hunters who provide 70% of the world’s food in ecologically and socially just ways, despite the many challenges they face. Led by the University of Dundee Botanic Garden and the Gaia Foundation, the initiative seeks to support the global food sovereignty movement and to raise the voices of the urban and peri-urban farmers whose work both locally in Dundee and globally demonstrates the vital importance of agroecology and food sovereignty for building a climate change-resilient food system.

Over more than two years, 50 farming communities across six continents have worked with 40 awardwinning photographers, including Rankin, Martin Parr, Nadav Kander and Gabriela Iturbide, to document their lives, celebrate their work and to highlight the challenges they currently face – from climate change to mega-mining. The funding this project seeks will add to that with urban and peri-urban farmers in and around Dundee to bring the world of food, acting locally while thinking globally, to multiple venues across the city.

The photos will be exhibited in a diversity of food and drink-connected places across Dundee from October 2023, crossing formal gallery boundaries to connect the growing spaces and their potting sheds to centres of faith, to community hubs and with bespoke formal galleries. Through the power of making the unseen seen, the stories of the men and women who truly feed the world will reach a much wider audience. The light will bring focus to those who are working hard behind the scenes to help feed Dundee in an environmentally sustainable way, with local examples of soil-to-plate that embed environmentally sustainable practices with reduced food miles and enhanced freshness.

We hope that shining a light on local growers and producers, with artisan food producers both near and far, will bring into the spotlight and help engage our community in conversations that will help inform a

transition in the local food system. Food, after all, is the human story, linked to our sedentary transition and agrarian tradition. Its sharing will help the city to aspire for a city where fresh, local, sustainable produce is available and affordable for all and where good food is a celebrated part of our culture.

Victoria Gardens is a 2,600 square metre urban growing and social space on Blackness Road. Victoria Gardens has been awarded the Silver Gilt Certificate and the It’s Your Neighbourhood Level 5 Certificate in 2022. Annually, the garden supports more than 500 visitors/participants ranging from school groups, community organisations, volunteers and students. Victoria

Gardens runs an annual summer club supporting young people over six weeks during the holidays.

Over and above this, we run foreign language classes, yoga, arts and 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 has a compost area to produce its own nutrient-rich soil. The garden also produces jams, chutney and teas using organic ingredients .

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 usage by 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 liaise 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, food banks, 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.

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 twocourse 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 six years we have provided more than 450,000 meals to children in Dundee. In addition, through our Cosy Bairns project we have provided new clothes and footwear to just under 6,000 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 ﬁve primary schools, and now, in the period October 2022 to March 2023, we will be providing

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

If we are successful with our application, there will be three 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.

Our Coldside ward extends from the edge of Dundee city centre north over the Law, with historic communities including Hilltown, The Law, and Coldside itself among many others. It is an area of great beauty and variety, with a friendly and vibrant community spirit, but it is also a place where many, especially families and older people, endure poverty and acute need.

Enthusiastic and committed volunteers from within the ward work long hours to meet those needs, through local projects including a food cupboard, meal clubs and the community food larder based at Hilltown

Community Centre. The larder opens on two lunchtimes every week, providing a range of food, including fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, milk, and chilled and frozen goods to local community members for a small payment. The larder is a lifeline for many, and more and more people are joining as the cost-of-living crisis intensiﬁes.

But to meet increased demand for this and other essential services, our volunteers have to travel in private petrol and diesel vehicles to shop, collect donations and pick up other resources. The volume of food that is needed is much more than could be carried on foot or by bike, and is too much to take on a bus. Just at a time when the people of Dundee are growing more and more aware of the climate and biodiversity emergencies, and the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels, we are having to use petrol and diesel vehicles to meet our community’s essential needs.

We are therefore asking for help from the Climate

Fund to decarbonise our volunteer transport, by leasing an electric vehicle for food and community support projects. There is already a plan for an electric car charging station at our base in the community centre, which we could use, and the vehicle would be available to all volunteer groups working to support and help the people of Coldside ward. Having an electric vehicle for these essential shopping and other journeys would not only reduce our carbon footprint and impact on the environment, but would also raise awareness of climate change and biodiversity loss, building capacity and engaging the community in our shared work to build a better, cleaner and fairer future.

▪ February 9-25 2023: VOTE ▪ March 1 2023: Successful artist announced

Sustainable Dundee and ScrapAntics are inviting Dundee citizens to choose one of five artists to transform their idea into reality, by creating a legacy sculpture at the Botanic Garden. The sculpture will encourage conversation around sustainability whil e being interactive, playful and suitable for all ages.

The five proposals comprise a timber-frame ‘tipping point’ sculpture, a large multi-chamber terrarium, a carved wooden pollen totem pole, a kinetic metal sculpture and a colourful community ‘dome’ with a time capsule.

Everyone is welcome to view the proposals and select which they would like to see realised as a permanent sculpture in the garden. Once chosen the winning artist will engage with the local community and schools through a series of creative workshops, before creating and installing the sculpture in time for the public opening in May.

To see the five proposals and cast your vote, please visit: dundeesvoice. communitychoices. scot/budgets/9 or scan the QR Code .

Transition Dundee is a community-led social enterprise aiming to make Dundee a more sustainable, happier and healthier place to live through various climate-focused initiatives. We would like to increase the amount of food saved from going to waste in and around Dundee, through our project ‘Dundee West End Community Fridge’ and our partnership with the Dundee Community Food Network (DCFN). The Community Fridge has been running since July 2019 and has so far saved a whopping 220 tonnes of food, approximately 500,00 meals, and the same carbon reduction as planting and growing 11,500 trees. While our project is primarily about reducing food waste, it also offers digniﬁed access to food for those in need because of the environmental focus and the fact that everyone is encouraged to use it. We work closely with the DCFN and would like to share the extra food saved with the 25+ existing food projects, ensuring the food is spread across the whole city and many more people are able to beneﬁt from it. We know there is much more food out there to be saved (and many more people in need of food given the cost-of-living crisis), so with this project we aim to double the amount of food we currently redistribute and there are three ways in which we would like to tackle this:

A Gleaning Group: The Gleaning Network is a network of community groups, organisations and farmers all over the UK who are working to reduce farm-level

food waste. The network exists to bring together and empower communities, enabling them to salvage surplus food left on farms; food which can then be redistributed through the DCFN, primarily beneﬁtting those on a low income. There is not yet a formal Gleaning Group in Scotland, so Dundee would be the ﬁrst – and we are in a prime position geographically between the produce-rich areas of Perthshire, Angus and Fife.

There are many reasons why farms have surplus –systematic overproduction, cosmetic standards, order cancellations, worker shortages and unpredictable weather. And it’s not always just farms – the Community Fridge team has often been asked to go and pick fruit trees from private gardens in Dundee at the owners’ request which we are not usually able to do. The extra capacity would allow us to help reduce this waste too. The Gleaning Network provides a tried-andtested toolkit for making sure our supervised visits to local farms are safe, fun and a worthwhile opportunity for local people to learn about where their food comes from, why waste reduction is important for the climate emergency and feed their community.

Electric Van: A second-hand electric van would allow the Community Fridge team to be more ﬂexible and able to collect larger donations from supermarkets and other businesses when the offers are made, as well as to reduce our carbon footprint (by eliminating petrol/

diesel car journeys currently made by our collection team). The van would also be used to collect and distribute the large volumes expected from gleaning days – meaning we would be able to take food to other projects in a sustainable way.

Increased Community Engagement: There is increasing concern from our community about the impact of food waste and we would like to hold more workshops/events to show how small changes can make a big impact to the planet, our health and our bank balance. We would work in partnership with community groups and other organisations across the city to deliver this to reach as many people as possible.

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