The Youth Collective by Qin Lu

January 2018

THE YOUTH COLLECTIVE GLOBAL SCOTS

Qin Lu Abigail Blunt Catriona Binnie Weirong Zhong Megan Szczypka

INTRODUCTION |3

OUR RESEARCH FOCUS |5

PEOPLE AND KNOWLEDGE |7 INTERVIEW |9 KEY INSIGHTS |13 CASE STUDIES |15

JOURNEY |27

FUTURE PROJECTIONS |29

1 SOFT POWER AND GLOBAL SCOTS

Our collective understanding of soft power is that it is a persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of economic or cultural influence. We think soft power success depends on the ability of a country to attract and build a good global reputation. As Joseph Nye, who coined the term soft power, states ‘seduction is always more effective than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual opportunities are deeply seductive.’ Within the soft power brief, our sub-topic was Global Scots: this covers the idea of international people with Scottish heritage or values living abroad. Therefore, within this brief we were to explore ways that global Scots could be used to create a Scottish soft power strategy, presenting a recontextualised vision of ‘Scottishness’. We defined Global Scots as Scottish people by nationality who live abroad, but also people who visit Scotland and take away Scottish values to their home country. We decided to focus on global Scots in the respect that people visiting Scotland would take away a modern representation of Scottish values.

OUR RESEARC H FOCUS This stage was based on creating a focus for our desk research and interviews with stakeholders.

Exploring Soft Power and Global Scots, we focused this initial brief down to two focus questions, creating a direction of our research. Our research became focused around young people: they are a modern representation of Scottish values and would allow us to move away from more stereotyped ideas of Scotland. We wanted to explore how they travel, their Scottish values and what we could utilise from this. These initial two questions developed alongside our research insights and so adapted to suit our findings through the project. As Creswell (2007) states, ‘our questions change during the process of research to reflect an increased understanding of the problem.’ Therefore throughout the research process we adapted our questions to reflect the knowledge we gained. Our two focus questions were: what are unique Scottish values and how do we utilise these? And how will the current political situation in Scotland affect young people’s opportunities to travel? Through these questions, we wanted to explore what young people felt their unique Scottish values are, moving away from what we traditionally think of. We wanted to base this off of the current political situation in Scotland: the Scottish Independence referendum took place in September 2014 5

and the EU referendum took place in June 2016, with the UK deciding to leave the EU. This gives us an interesting and complex situation to work within: will Brexit affect young people’s ability to travel and spread Scottish values? Our research then focused upon this and how we could utilise the current way young people travel and create new ways for them to make connections with other young people from different countries. We used these two questions as the guide for our desk research, looking at the effect the Scottish Independence referendum and Brexit has had on young people and their opportunities. Within this, we also explored what we felt Scottish unique values were by looking over what Scotland is currently excelling in. It became clear that Scotland is a liberal and forward-thinking country, not only compared to the rest of the UK, but other western countries. Building upon this, we discovered that Scotland’s youth are becoming more engaged in politics and issues they care about due to the political situation. Organisations such as the Scottish Youth Parliament are supporting young people in Scotland to become more engaged.

2 7

PEOPLE AND KNOWLEDGE

These are the organisations and people we highlighted that were important to speak to in order to further our knowledge in Scottish values, and particularly young Scottish values. We aimed to conduct interviews with as many of these stakeholders as we could, in order to widen our understanding. We were able to speak to two stakeholders, Robin McAlpine from Commonweal and Toni Andrews from Young Scot. Commonweal is a Scottish â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;think and do tank,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; campaigning for social and economic equality. Young Scot is a Scottish youth information and citizenship charity, working with young people aged 11-25 in Scotland.

Interview with Toni Andrews There is a lot of stuff that happens globally but not with young people. Youth globally are wanting to become more engaged. Young people visiting Scotland always notice the scenery - they say it is beautiful and cold.

QA &

Toni Andrews Young Scot Q1. In your experience working with young Scots, how would you say they engage with politics and position themselves politically? Scotland was the first country to allow voting at 16, and that shows not only an interest from young people to engage politically but also an interest from those in the political sector that see the value of young peoples’ opinions. This is the formal way that they are involved. Informally, Scottish Government departments are looking to young people for the work that they are developing and that with the growing trend of co-design, alongside quantification, shows the growing appetite for the opinions of young people.

Q2: We noticed a fact that said 1 in 4 young people joined a political party following the Independence Referendum. How do you think about this? That’s definitely a new trend following the independence referendum but I think that’s something that Scotland has always been good for. The SYP was founded one day before the devolved Scottish Parliament. This shows that the youth involvement in politics has always been really strong in Scotland anyway, and that has been 20 years now. You can pick up on social media and general media that young people are much more engaged. England are only just now looking at votes at 16 for young people, and that is three years after Scotland has. Other values that they have are that they are very openminded and that is definitely compared to the older generation. Things like LGBT rights, equalities, like the Race Equality Framework that is being done with young people – so there is definitely an openness and want for diversity and young people are definitely a lot more aware of that, even if it is not something that affects them directly. Young people will consider those with disabilities, learning and support needs and different backgrounds as well as minority groups. I think this is something that is unique to Scotland but also specifically obvious in our young people. I think in Scotland in general there is a lot of issues in Scotland, and we are a lot more liberal in response. So for example, the marriage equality act that was passed in Scotland and it has been passed for a couple of years, but there are still a lot of countries, and even developed countries like Australia that are only just now having that conversation.

Q3. Imagine a situation where Erasmus doesn’t exist anymore, and it becomes more difficult for young people to travel and study in Europe after Brexit. Do you think that Young Scot or the Scottish Youth Parliament could help create new links for young people and what would that look like? I think in terms of the practicalities, I think the way in which young people will be able to travel will be more difficult but there is definitely more of an appetite for it so I think that if things like Erasmus aren’t available then it will be more difficult and it’s naturally going to be isolating but I also think that it is fuelling the fire a little bit with young people in that they have been told they can’t do it anymore so they want to do it more. I think they have a much broader world view in terms of political activism in young people and so they want to engage in other countries and other cultures. I think it will balance out – it might be more difficult but actually it ends up that they are more passionate about it. I think that is in line with what the Scottish Government is doing and what organisations like Young Scot are doing as they are pushing forward to form links so that young people can still make the most of that. So that pushes the political side as well.

Q4. What has young Scots reactions been to Brexit? What are there main concerns? Yes. I think that from our experience there’s a strong reaction, but I think that is because they are so politically engaged in the referendum so they are very aware of what is going on politically, so that makes a stronger reaction. I think in terms of students it’s Erasmus, travelling and experiences. I think a big part of uni is travelling and meeting new people and cultures. For younger ages it’s more the idea of close-mindedness of not being supportive of those from different backgrounds. So there is that negative reaction to the thought that Britain is being close-minded and ignorant. It’s more of an emotional reaction than a practical reaction. I think that younger than student age it doesn’t necessarily impact their day to day lives because they are not seeing the price of bills or anything go up. It’s more emotionally ‘I don’t like this,’ because it isn’t what they believe.

Q5. How important is it for young Scots to be travelling and experiencing other cultures? I think Scotland is a pretty small country so the variety of cultures and experiences is much smaller than people in Europe have access to. I think that it is really vital that they interact with others from different countries, cultures and backgrounds. I think this is something young people do already as they are so aware of other people, so I think it is natural to look outwards but I think in rural Scotland is that transport is already an issue for people so getting access to cultures abroad is even more of a struggle. I don’t think it is an easy task but I think it is vital. Whether that is through travel or through other means.

Q6. What opinion do you think a young person visiting Scotland or studying here for a period of time would think about Scotland? There are things with the scenery, which is an old-fashioned thing when you think of Scotland, but it’s the one that I know that when people visit Scotland they say it is beautiful and it is cold. Everyone also thinks Scotland is very welcoming. Everyone who goes to the Highlands and Islands is like everyone is very welcoming, people are friendly but also there is nothing there. There’s just hills! Then you have all of the old-fashioned things like whisky and oldbuildings. I think tourists coming to Scotland still have very traditional views – haggis, bagpipes, castles, highlands cows.

Q7. What do you think they would tell their family/friends at home about Scotland and Scottish life? I think there is a lot of stuff that happens globally but not with young people. We do a lot of work with the European Youth Card, and we have had quite a lot of people come here with the different countries to visit us, and now that Louise (the CEO) is now the president of European Youth Card Association (EYCA). So we have a really strong link with EYCA and a lot of young people come to us. EYCA is for countries that are also not just in the EU. So it is wider than the EU, and even if Brexit happens, and when it happens, EYCA will still be run in the same way. For me, it’s about the longevity of it as well, so you don’t want to be linking into something that is based on membership to the EU. You don’t want it to be that three years down the line when we aren’t part of Europe that the project can’t run anymore. Young people are more vocal in Scotland too, which is good. I think the youth globally are becoming more engaged. Look at global summits. It’s whether you want it to be Europe focused or world focused. Look into the EYP, and if you have to be a member to sit on it and look at Global Summits. There is the 2050 Climate Change group, and they went to the Summit in Paris. They work simultaneously – this is maybe a model you can look at. For Global issues instead of just environment issues.

Interview with Robin McAlpine Build the idea of ‘human capacity to do better, be better.’ Our environment represents our desire to lead internationally on renewable energy. ‘Thought and practice leader’ links to aspects of our culture and history.

QA &

Q4. In your opinion, how can we ensure European young people are exposed to Scottish values?

Robin McAlpine Commonweal Q1. We are trying to recontextualize a vision of Scottishness within the 21st century - therefore moving away from the stereotypes of whisky tasting, bagpipes etc. What vision of Scotland would you like to see represented to Europe? There is absolutely nothing wrong with cultural identifiers; indeed, it is futile to try and get away from them all together. The Swiss do cuckoo clocks, the Italians have pasta, the Germans wear lederhosen – none of these signifiers are exactly ‘real’ but they remain ‘real’ in the sense that the form the external and indeed the internal understanding of the nation. So I think the trick is to identify what there is already there in these identifiers, look for what lines up with the kind of message we tell about ourselves now, look at what seems to be rather meaningless symbols and what there is that seems to move in the opposite direction of what you’re hoping for. So for example, mountains and glens and lochs speak to our environment and represent a very visual hook for our desire to pursue (and lead internationally) on environmental policies and practices, and also on the case for extended decarbonised and renewable energy. Much of our literature and poetry along with the experiences of the Scottish Enlightenment speak of humanism and a philosophy of tolerance and peace and understanding. We have very strong cultural history of applying human thinking to human problems to come up with big solutions – from engineering to the full range of sciences and more. We should build the idea of ‘human capacity to do better, be better’ from this. There are quite a few versions of ‘leading the world to try to be better’ which tie up in these areas. This idea of a ‘thought and practice leader’ linked to aspects of our culture and history is how we can move to a modern sense of ‘soft power.’

Q2. We feel young Scots are forward thinking, politically engaged and liberal. Recent events such as the Independence Referendum and EU Referendum have also fuelled these values and young people’s interests in this area. Would you agree with this and why? Yes – but it is important not to become carried away by this. Likelihood to participate generally is not an inherent quality of a person or a country, it is a function of the democratic conditions in which a person or country finds itself. There are basically two factors most likely to result in participation – (1) to what extent is the thing I’m asked to participate in important or powerful or going to make a difference and (2) to what extent is my participation likely to make a difference? Participation comes where people feel they can really influence something which is worth influencing. I’d perhaps add onto that there is an emotional element as well – we participate in things we feel we can care about. Actually, Scotland objectively does not do desperately well on participation, and I don’t think there is any evidence that this trend is different among the young.

Q3. What opportunities do you think young Scots will miss out on if Scotland is not part of the EU? There are a number of formal linking programmes (such as Erasmus) but I’m afraid again the idea that this is being taken from young people (a common ‘soft power’ argument from Remain campaigners) is substantially undercut by the fact that Scots (British as a whole) are very poor at actually taking up these opportunities. Few Scottish students actually spend time abroad as part of their studies and when they do it is often a technical requirement rather than a real desire to experience other European cultures. I’m afraid that I am sceptical about how much the EU really creates opportunities for most people.

The truth is that we tend not to have a desperately clear or formed view of the culture and ethos of a different country unless we go there or put it in front of people’s noses. Without these people kind of ‘infer’ these things from extremely soft sources indeed – which takes us right back to bagpipes, whisky and ‘meanness’. It is perfectly possible to do something about this – if you actually want to. Let me give you two examples. We could build large residential ‘youth camps’ and make it as inexpensive as possible for young people from across Europe to come here for a week or two week break which could provide a really focussed range of opportunities in whatever areas it is that we want to promote. People remember and ‘feel’ places they’ve been more than anything else. Alternatively, while Scotland can’t build embassies, we can engage in any commercial activity we want – such as opening a ‘Scottish cafe’ in the centre of every EU capital. These could be profit-making (or at least break-even) initiatives which introduced people to Scotland, its food, its culture and its values in the softest way possible – by making it tasty and affordable and enjoyable and something people want to do anyway.

Q5. Our direction with our project is to connect the European Youth Parliament to the Scottish Youth Parliament and hold an annual discussion in Scotland, potentially in the form of a residential stay, where politically engaged young people will come together to discuss global issues. What are your thoughts around this? Yes – but one big point I’d make. If we all continue to see the EU as a set of institutions rather than a collection of people, we shall continually remake it in the image of institutions. And if we do that, it will continue to be seen by many people as institutional and vaguely ‘not human-focussed’. So tie up with parliaments by all means, but that is a very specific kind of person you’re looking at there. Better to target school and youth groups and social groupings and to do that in a thematic way (for example, you might target a selection of countries at a time – small ones, ones with big environmental movements, costal ones with a maritime tradition, ones with wilderness spaces or whatever. Scotland is quite small to try and target the whole of Europe in one go.

Q6. We are then thinking that the young people involved will produce recommendations for the Scottish Government and individual European Governments. What are your thoughts around this? There’s another problem here – success of initiatives which lead to recommendations in part depends on the extent to which people actually feel recommendations have an impact. The track record on this is not brilliant. Think about motivation – what would make you want to go to (say) Lithuania for a week or two? Two weeks of pointy-headed discussion and a set of recommendations to the Lithuanian Parliament? It is very easy to design initiatives and events which are ‘something’, which look like you’re doing something of the sort of thing that might have an impact. It is much more difficult to have a real impact. Those kinds of initiatives are more rare and they involve really creative thinking. Why Scotland? What’s different than all the other places where ‘the kids’ can talk about saving the environment and come up with recommendations? What would be something future generations would actually talk about?

Q7. Through this, we want to put Scotland on the map as a progressive country that is creating the opportunity for young people from across Europe to come together to discuss global issues. It would expose European young people to Scotland and they would hopefully take a positive idea of Scotland home with them that they can share, essentially becoming the ‘Global Scots.’ Do you think this is viable? Yes – subject to the above. No-one will become a Global Scot just because we want them to. They will do it if their experience of Scotland is such that they ‘feel’ it. This means a mixture of winning them over with a mixture of our amazing natural heritage, our history and culture, our current ‘aliveness’ and by managing to find alignment between our values and those of the people who become our ‘soft ambassadors’. This is really possible – but it is also worth noting that many more groups and countries would like to do this than actually manage it.

KEY INSIGHTS After the interviews and case studies we reorganized our previous desk research and insights to form three key aspects that shaped our soft power strategy. These were: Young people This insight focused around young people being future influencers. Renewable energy This is an area Scotland is currently successful in. The Highlands This is a current area that attracts people to Scotland and links with our success in renewable energy.

WHY Renewable Energy? Renewable energy is defined by energy collected from renewable resources, which include wind, hydro, wave, tidal, biomass and solar. Scotland is leading the European race and is set to become the first renewable nation in Europe by 2020. The Highlands and Islands of Scotland have a growing global reputation as the energy powerhouse of Europe with a high number of renewable projects based there. Renewable energy is therefore a unique soft power asset for Scotland as we head towards becoming the first renewable country in Europe.

WHY the Highlands? We explored why this is a soft power asset for Scotland. We focused specifically on the Highlands as this area links into our research around renewable energy. The Highlands generates a large tourist revenue and is one of the key defining features of Scotland. The highlands offers a mixture of culture, history, scenery. Prevalent in renewable sources.

WHY Young people? Job Opportunities - Renewable energy is a growing industry and therefore offers future job opportunities for young people. Engaged - From our research, we found young people are willing to be engaged in the discussion about energy, the environment and how both can be managed for a sustainable future. Educated - Let them understand and have a voice within the challenges of renewable energy and how Scotland can lead the energy movement. Young people play the role as future influencers and leaders in this area.

CASE STUDIES G8 Summit The G8 was a political forum where leaders come together to discuss current global issues. These summits go on to create change and draw attention to the issues that are currently affecting us.Â

Federal Agency for Work Germany Federal Agency for Work Germany programme supports young people from Europe in finding an in-house vocational training position and brings them together with project providers and companies in Germany. 15

We explored case studies that linked into these key insights from our research.

2050 Climate Group The 2050 Climate Group aims to lead a social movement by engaging, educating and empowering Scotland’s Future Leaders to take action on climate change. The 2050 Climate Group, Scotland’s youth climate group, is a collection of young professionals across Scotland who all share a commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation and accelerating Scotland’s transition to a low carbon economy. We think it is interesting that there is a strong youth movement in Scotland towards a sustainable future - we think this is an idea that we should utilise.

Camp Cooper Camp Cooper is the UK’s leading American-style overnight summer camp based in Scotland, for international & British campers aged 7-17. At Camp Cooper, they actively encourage campers to develop lifeskills such as independence, confidence and leadership. They focus on forming friendships, inspiring creativity and having fun. This camp is a sell-out every year, and we found it interesting that they have placed this camp with American values in Scotland and have made it a success - it shows how strong American soft power is! 16

THE

DESIGN

This research led to the creation of The Youth Collective. The current situation is that Scotland is one of the leading countries in renewable energy alongside Iceland, Sweden and Costa Rica, but there is no space within Scotland to celebrate and optimise this. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created a new situation where we enable young people worldwide to view Scotland as a place that not only has a beautiful landscape, but also has a forward-thinking attitude to youth engagement in renewables.

In 2015, Scotland generated 59% of its

The Youth Collective focuses on youth

electricity consumption through renewable

participation within Scotland’s renewable energy

sources, exceeding the country’s lofty goal

future. This is done through various levels,

of 50% renewable energy by 2015. Moving

through local and national initiatives and also

forward, the Scottish Government’s energy plan now calls for 100% of

electricity

consumption to be generated through renewable sources by 2020, and 50% of total energy consumption

(including

transportation)

2030. In the lead up to this, we have created a vision of Scotland as a continuous world leader

renewable

young

people

energy, the

through engaging the international community. The main space within Scotland for this strategy is The Power House, based within the Scottish Highlands. This space acts as the central space in Scotland for engagement with the young people from the national and international community.

with

forefront.

ETHOS This will not be a monetizing system used for Scottish capital gain, but will act as a belief system allowing Scotland to be a world-leader in spreading soft power through renewables via youth influence. It would be funded by the Scottish Government with input from renewable organisations that had an interest in the initiative. It would be available from those of all socioeconomic backgrounds, achieved through our partnership with the Scottish Government and therefore allowing us to create links and engage with all schools in Scotland. Within the roles of Renewable Energy Ambassadors, there will also be a focus on diversity of young people to represent Scotland’s renewable success nationally and internationally. 18

VISIONS

These are the core visions for The Youth Collective, with a focus on Scotland’s renewable future and utilising this as a soft power asset.

Draw attention to Scotland as an existing world leader in renewables.

Amplify and Scotland’s a youth partic

The Scottish Government’s energy plan now calls for 100% of electricity consumption to be generated through renewable sources by 2020, and 50% of total energy consumption (including transportation) by 2030. In the lead up of this, we have created a vision of Scotland as a continuous world leader in renewable energy, with young people at the forefront.

By engaging youn renewable energy aims to globalise putting young pe change.

Utilise the natural landscape. The Youth Collective will be located in the Highlands, as the Highlands is the European powerhouse for renewable energy. Within this, it will allow Scotland to showcase its natural environment.

d globalise attitude to cipation.

Develop novel ways of thinking about Renewables in Scotland and abroad.

ng people in the future of y, The Youth Collective e youth participation by eople at the forefront of

We have developed a flow of energy from Scotland to other countries. In this way, we can spread Scottish renewable soft power and attract more international young people to engage and spread this beyond Scotland.

Make Scotland a central space for renewable innovation. With young people, The Youth Collective will set up Hackathons and Jams, which focus on creativity and innovation in renewables. The aim is to have international students involved in this process, in order to create a youth energy movement. 20

THE FLOW 3 OF ASSETS Centre

The Centre is a space for those who wish to research or visit a location designed specifically to facilitate growth in the renewable energy sector. Nicknamed â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Power House,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; the facility will be able to host fifty individuals whilst they are able to attend workshops, complete projects and listen to lectures about the advancements made within the field of renewables. The centre will be located in the Highlands of Scotland to allow for those visiting the Power House also experience the best of Scotland.

Living g Space

Ambassadors Those are chosen to be Ambassadors for The Youth Collective will be chosen from those who have attended Pop-Ups around Scotland. The Ambassadors will shadow a more experienced Ambassador for three events, then will be supported by TYC to set up their own Pop-Up event within the country. Once a number of local events have been hosted, the Ambassador will have a chance to host an event abroad. During this time, they will look to recruit individuals that would be interested in either visiting the Power House or think about joining the Youth Collective members at the two-week annual camp. 21

Rec Centre

Lecture/ Workshop Space

International People The ease of flow of international people is imperative for the soft power aspect of The Youth Collective to be successful. We promote the involvement of international citizens to engage in all aspects of The Youth Collective. The flow of international citizens as an asset will be encouraged by the Pop-Ups, the Centre (The Power House) and the annual camp within the centre.

Windfarm Project Centre

Hydro-Power Project Centre

Visitor Centre Research Space

Projects The projects are an extension of the two week Power House camp. These will be completed for as long as an individual sees fit. The project will be centred around renewable energy and will be formed during the visit to the Power House. Once underway, the participant will have an option to post about their project on the TYC website , where our Scottish sponsors will be able to browse and have the option to fund or aid any selected projects.

Camp The Camp will run annually at the powerhouse. Attendees will have been recruited from all over the world through pop-up events ran by TYC. During these two weeks the participants will be invited to attend lectures, workshops and begin a project with the aid of renewable energy specialists. Each year the camp will run to educate individuals on a particular division or advancement within renewable energy. This opportunity offers young people the ability to meet others from across the world and to discuss and exchange ideas around sustainability in an environment that will be able to support these discussions.

Celebration Various celebrations will be organised to allow those who are not interested in being involved with renewable energy activities but do care about progression of our renewable energy contribution as a country. There will be a celebration for 2020 - when Scotland is able to produce 50% of Scotlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electricity demands through renewable energies and there will be another event planned to celebrate the country being able to produce 100% of energy consumption through the use of renewable energies. The celebration events will be ran by ambassadors throughout schools and universities as well as groups throughout Scotland.

Pop-Ups Pop-Up events will be ran by Ambassadors throughout the world, within host venues such as universities, workplaces and societies. These events will look to educate the public about renewable energies of their choice as well as what TYC is able to give back to the renewable energy cause. It will be a time where individuals are able to explore their interest in renewable energy without having to have any previous experience or knowledge. A truly accessible space to learn.

CAMP COMPONENTS 1

Lectures Optimizing efficiency of renewables at home and abroad Scaling up smart energy systems Incorporating renewables into mainstream manufacturing industries Lectures hosted by Special Guests within renewable industry.

2 Discussions Global attitudes to renewables Solar electricity in cities

From theory to implementation Natural vs Synthetic - Energy Usage

Workshops Workshops on energy reduction Tech innovation challenges Imagining a completely renewable world â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Create your wind turbineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; workshop

4 Extras Hiking trips to surrounding highlands/ visit castles/hill walking Designated free chill out time

OVERVIEW

JOURNEY THROUGH THE YOUTH COLLECTIVE

Jack 18 Inverness Engineering student at Aberdeen

Greta 23 Germany Part of a youth club in Germany

This shows the journey of two young people through the Youth Collective, from how they would make initial contact with the Scottish initiative, to how they would in turn become Global Scots.

Jack has a school trip to The Power House with his geography class when he was 15.

During the trip he finds out about the The Youth Collective Ambassadors. He has an interest in the environment, so he signs up.

Greta attends a youth group in her home town in Munster, Germany. During one session they host a workshop from a Youth Collective Ambassador.

This session sparks Gretaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention. She is told there will be a hackathon held at The Powerhouse this summer and decides to apply.

4 Jack is accepted as an ambassador and has been tasked to run pop-ups in his area.

He then has the opportunity to run an event in Germany, to highlight what Scotland is doing around renewable energy.

Jack meets Greta at her Youth Group meeting in Munster.

She is offered a place at the hackathon in Scotland and looks forward to attending that summer.

After attending the camp, she is encouraged to run renewable projects in her own home and submit it to the online project forum.

Jack sees on the site that Greta has started her own project and decided to help.

2020

2018

The Youth Collective (TYC) is established to draw attention to and optimise a renewable Scotland.

TYC is involved in the push towards the 2020 target and creating awareness of this.

2030

TYC optimises the 2030 target through engagement in Scotland and abroad.

FUTURE PROJECTIONS FOR T H E YO U T H C O L L E C T I V E 29

THE CONCLUSION For the future, The Youth Collective aims to:

Offer The Youth Collective’s resources to continue our aims and to aim to celebrate

and optimise Scotland’s energy consumption targets and achievements.

As the collective grows, we would like to encourage going down a morally rewarding

pathway as opposed to capitalizing on Scotland’s role as a key player in renewables.

Further spread Scottish soft power abroad via young people with renewable ideals,

creating a youth energy movement.

Through designing The Youth Collective with its collective values, we believe we have mobilised existing resources and establishments to develop and further spread Scottish soft power in a novel manner, bringing local, national and international awareness to Scotland’s considerable influence in renewable energy, and its attitude to youth participation.