This is a draft vision and action plan for starting to build a resilient low carbon  community in Dunbar and District over the coming years to 2025. The Local Resilience Action Plan, as we are calling it, builds on local survey findings in which over 1500 residents in the Dunbar and East Linton ward area have been interviewed during 2009-2011. These surveys have highlighted a strong desire to be able to source more locally produced food, live in more comfortable and energy efficient homes in neighbourhoods which are safe and attractive to walk and cycle around, for increased opportunities for local employment….and much more. The surveys have also highlighted the many barriers which currently prevent us all from doing many of these things. The intention is that this action plan will provide a guiding framework for the work of Sustaining Dunbar over the coming years.  It will require to be constantly updated and revised as time goes on.

We live in interesting times!

In the next fifteen years, because of the decline in world oil production, as well as the need to meet Scottish Government Climate Change targets, we will need to at least halve our fossil fuel consumption.

That means each of us reducing our consumption by about 5% per year, every year.

As oil production declines, we can expect the oil price to increase and to become increasingly volatile and for supplies to be subject to disruption. Major changes to the workings of the global economy will be inevitable.

We can also expect an increasing number of extreme weather events due to the raised level of energy in the atmosphere as average global temperatures increase.

Given these challenges, what will this locality look like in 2025? How can we empower ourselves to build a vibrant low-carbon economy for the Dunbar area which is resilient enough to cope with the challenges that we will face?

The action plan shows how we might start creating a more localised, vibrant and resilient local economy which can not only help us to cope with the major challenges which lie ahead but which, we believe, can create significant opportunites –for meaningful work, to develop new skills, to strengthen community networks and working to enhance the local environment.

Please click here and take a look. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What have we missed out? Please add your comments and ideas using the ‘leave a reply’ section . Thank-you!