Green Times Magazine Autumn 2023

Britain in Bloom Success

Aberdeen is officially the best in bloom city in the UK. At this year’s prestigious Britain in Bloom awards Aberdeen was awarded a Gold Medal and Best City. The city was also a runner up in the Horticulture Excellence category.

The awards recognise the dedication of all our community partners, schools, Friends groups, volunteers, and staff in caring for and maintaining the city’s green spaces. The environmental and social benefits of their work are there for us all to enjoy, across the city.

Aberdeen has a long tradition of horticultural excellence and community partnership. Our parks and green spaces are one of our greatest assets – along with those who faithfully and lovingly care for them.

The city category was judged on its horticulture which is our amazing parks and green spaces, community involvement, which is all our fantastic green partners, including Friends groups, schools, businesses, community groups and the thousands of volunteers who help us, and environmental responsibility which is the work carried out for the Council’s climate plan, carbon reduction, and other similar projects.

Britain in Bloom is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and is the top gardening competition for councils and other community organisations across the UK.

The city has won a medal in either Britain in Bloom or Beautiful Scotland every year since 2008 and has been award-winning in the competitions since 1964.

Public squirrel sightings soar in 2023

Cultivating the Future of Community Gardening

You hardly get back to the daily routine of work and school after your holidays, the clock changes and suddenly with the darker, colder days closing in, you find yourself asking where did the autumn go?

At the St. Fitticks Edible Garden we spent the end of the summer and most of the autumn focusing on the erection of a new tool shed, replacing the one blown away by the wind last year. The shell with a shelter extension had been completed just before the arrival of Storm Babet, putting our work under test, which, to our relief, lived up to our expectations. The greenhouse wasn't that lucky, most of the roof windows needed to be replaced, but no major damage had been done.

The tatties had been harvested by the Growing for Wellbeing group this year. The 8-week course had been set up by Jayne Smith from Mindstore, Rebecca and Lucy from CFINE, Gavin Barrett - Ayres mindfulness facilitator and Viktoria from Cultivate Aberdeen. The course put a big emphasis on wellbeing, incorporated meditation; using senses through listening to birds and sounds; smelling and tasting herbs, while the participants also learnt about seed sowing; composting; germination and so on. With very positive feedbacks from the participants, we are planning the second course in late spring/ early summer next year.

Cultivate Aberdeen was also delighted to learn that our collaborative initiative with other community gardens had been granted by RHS Connected Community Fund. Discussions started on how to improve volunteer involvement and other aspects of community gardening with FRESH Community Wellness, Earth & Worms and Tullos Community Gardens, The Secret Garden Society, facilitated by CFINE.

In the last few weeks of autumn we are preparing the garden for winter, clearing the raised beds, adding compost, and weeding the flower beds. With the shelving of the shed planned to be finished soon and the 1m3 water tanks connected to the gutters it will give an easier start for next year's growing season.

Finally, we would like to say thank you to Viktoria Szilvas for her work and dedication of taking care of the garden, organising events, coordinating volunteers and corporate groups and initiating collaboration with other organisations. She had been with us since 2020 as secretary, then securing a one-year part-time job as Volunteer and Community Coordinator, which is coming to an end. We hope she keeps supporting our work with her expertise and enthusiasm.

We would like to thank everyone for their contribution for the upkeep of the garden, wish everyone a blessed festive time and looking forward to meeting you again in the new year.

Contact email: info@cultivateaberdeen.co.uk

Website: www.cultivateaberdeen.co.uk/

Social media: www.facebook.com/cultivateABDN

Aberdeen City Council placed in top ten for UK climate action progress

Aberdeen City Council is in the top ten of single-tier UK councils, and joint second in Scotland for action on climate change, in the Climate Emergency UK Climate Action Scorecards. Aberdeen scored 55% this year, compared with the UK average of 35%.

The Council has set ambitious targets for making strong and lasting contributions to addressing climate change including a target to becoming net zero by 2045.

Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: "The Council's high placing on the Climate Action Scorecards highlights the scale of action it has already taken. Much more, though, remains to be done. One way individuals and organisations active in Aberdeen can show their commitment meeting the challenge of the climate and nature emergencies is to sign the Aberdeen Climate and Nature Pledge, committing to take action to help the city reach its climate and nature ambitions."

Net Zero, Environment and Transport Vice Convenor Councillor Miranda Radley added: "Partnership working is the only way to achieve our ambitious climate goals. I am pleased that progress and collaboration has resulted in the Council to placing so highly on the Climate Action Scorecard."

Aberdeen’s full scorecard results can be viewed here: Aberdeen City Council Climate Plan Scorecards

Compass Directions

The Reuse Shop at Hazlehead HWRC has recently expanded with the opening of the DIY hub in summer 2023. This latest element brings together tools and gardening equipment, as well as excess DIY materials, within the shop to make it even easier for residents to buy reused items, and to create something new out of materials that might otherwise have been thrown in the skip.

Paint is also now available in the shop which can be taken away in exchange for a small donation to charity. Offering paint for reuse not only reduces waste, but also eases the financial burden on the Council to find a safe way to suitably dispose of it.

The shop opened in 2022, with the Council’s Waste and Recycling Service, partnering with SUEZ, to sell on the good quality items that were brought to our recycling centres.

The idea stemmed from the volume of good-quality items that were being dropped at the four HWRCs across the city. Some of these items, which were still in good and workable condition, were diverted for reuse elsewhere but most were disposed of as waste, often in landfill. 

The shop was then expanded to provide more storage and display space and a canopy was added to provide a covered outdoor space to sell large items such as furniture, garden and sports equipment. During the first year of operation, SUEZ collected and sold on a large quantity of children’s toys, furniture, kitchenware, sports equipment, electrical equipment, books and games sourced from all of our HWRCs, as well as direct donations from the public. The shop has also increased its opening hours and brought in an additional member of staff to manage the increasing demand.  

The Reuse Shop is operated by SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK in partnership with Aberdeen City Council.

www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/reuse-shop

Hutton’s peatland team pick up prestigious conservation award

Pioneering scientific research by The James Hutton Institute into Scotland’s globally important peatlands has been recognised at the leading Scottish nature conservation awards.

The Hutton’s work to put “peatland on the map” won the Nature of Scotland Conservation Science Award during a prestigious awards ceremony held at the EICC in Edinburgh last night (November 22).

Over the last 10 years, the team has driven deeper understanding of the importance of Scotland’s peatland to the conservation of the natural environment and their role in contributing to, or mitigating, greenhouse gas emission.

Through the production of a wide body of research, the Hutton’s interdisciplinary peatland team has enabled direct action, informing restoration and protection efforts of peatlands.

Dr Rebekka Artz, who leads the Restoration and Adaptive Management team at the Hutton, says, “We’re honoured to be recognised for this award amongst such a selection of impactful conservation science teams. The peatland research team at the Hutton is a truly fantastic group of people focused on delivering scientific evidence with integrity and impact. 

“Our work has contributed significantly to understanding the effectiveness of peatland restoration, the condition that peatlands – which form a quarter of our land mass – are in, the greenhouse gas emissions damaged peatlands emit and the mitigation potential and other ecosystem function gains that can be achieved through their restoration.”

The team’s work has included, for example, putting a first estimate on the total net losses of carbon from damaged peatlands in Scotland, which supported the development of realistic targets for restoration.

The team’s research outputs have also supported the development of peatland-specific targets and instruments to deliver restoration, via the Third Land Use Strategy, the Update to the Climate Change Plan, and the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

The team work closely with Peatland ACTION, RSPB Scotland, Forestry & Land Scotland and other key peatland managers and restoration delivery bodies to deliver better conservation outcomes.

The awards recognise the individuals and organisations making a difference in their local communities, businesses and schools to support Scotland’s wildlife and special places.

The awards ceremony, now in its 12th year and co-sponsored by the RSPB and NatureScot, was hosted by zoologist, TV presenter and RSPB Ambassador Megan McCubbin and TV presenter and nature enthusiast JJ Chalmers.

Image: Members of the Hutton’s peatland team, helping to put Scotland’s peatland on the map. Left to right: Dr Mhairi Coyle, Dr James Cash, Dr Tom Parker, Dr Linda Toca, Marek Vidis and Dr Rebekka Artz.

Video: https://youtu.be/b-_rp4uPgRE

Worried about your fuel bills?

With concerns about fuel poverty on the rise, the team at Scarf offer a helping hand to householders looking for simple and straightforward advice and support about energy.

You can find out more about Scarf by visiting their website at www.scarf.org.uk

Meadow-in-a-Box

Last autumn an idea grew in my head, planted there by some projects going on around me in Aberdeen City Council’s Environmental Services: Aberdeen B-lines, a change in grass cutting to encourage wildflowers, and an increased interest from schools in wildflowers and pollinators.

As Acting Countryside Officer, up from the ranks of the Aberdeen’s Countryside Rangers, I have increased powers of purchasing, and closer lines of communication with council higher-ups. I still don’t know what a Performance and Development Manager does, or a Technical Officer but I do know they’re useful people to ask about projects and how to generally Get Things Done.

Using my enhanced powers I thought I’d transform my box-based idea into an actual living thing, and that it should have a name. What better than something very literal (and I apologise to anyone who thought of this name first!)? So Meadow-in-a-Box was born, only without boxes or anything to make it a meadow.

Having decided that shop-bought planters were too expensive I decided to explore the world of the Scottish Prison Service, and secured an order for one hundred planters built by inmates of HMP Grampian, Peterhead, in their joinery workshop.

While more planters were in production, the first ten were collected and filled with compost by the gardening staff of Aberdeen City Council. The phrase ‘sturdy and rustic’ was used to describe the planters, and I like that description as it seemed appropriate to a wildflower meadow.

Filled with enthusiasm I set out to deliver the first ten Meadow-in-a-Box planters to Aberdeen City school early years settings. At the projects genesis I’d emailed every head teacher in council-run schools, explaining my idea including its benefits for biodiversity, pollinators and the education of children in school nurseries. Evidently my pitch was put well as more than thirty schools signed up their early years staff and pupils for a Meadow-in-a-Box.

So in May I delivered planters to ten schools and, at a few, had the pleasure of working with the children as they enthusiastically sowed wildflower seeds provided for free by Sarah Smyth of NatureScot.

The seed mix includes Black knapweed, Red clover, Devil’s-bit scabious, Ox-eye daisy, Red clover, Selfheal and Yarrow, so provides a beautiful palette of red, white and purple. As I’m sure you know, each of these wildflower species is native to Scotland and great source of nectar for pollinators such as bumblebees, moths, hoverflies and butterflies.

As October unfolds into Autumnal weather, the Meadows-in-a-Box have seen full flowering as they painting playgrounds of ten schools with colour. The plants will be dying back now, marshalling their resources for growing next year.

In 2024 the first ten Meadows-in-a-Box will be joined by another thirty, located at more schools and also care homes and sheltered housing. Aberdeen will see a bit more colour among the grey granite buildings, contributing to the nectar value of the city and helping pollinators thrive between the streets and houses.

I have plans to grow Meadow-in-a-Box beyond Aberdeen so who knows: perhaps you’ll soon see a Meadow-in-a-Box near your house or workplace, with its attendant kaleidoscope of butterflies and bumblebees drifting amidst the wildflowers?

Awesome Autumn in Duthie Park!

Hutton puts focus on green finance with new appointment

Green finance and how it can drive environmental progress alongside economic interests is under the spotlight at The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen thanks to a newly created role.

The Green Finance Fellowship, awarded to new Hutton staff member Dr Umar Farooq and funded by The Macaulay Development Trust, will see research carried out into how finance can accelerate environmental and social sustainability.

This will include evaluating the benefits of green finance and exploring innovative financial strategies that drive environmental and social progress while safeguarding economic interests.

Dr Farooq, who studied at the University of Strathclyde, as well as in China and Pakistan, his home country, has previously worked in both academia and business, including as a chief executive at an agri-tech start-up. He joins the Hutton after working as an associate professor in business studies in Punjab, Pakistan. 

He says, “Green finance has taken centre stage globally, given the pressing environmental challenges like the climate crisis, resource scarcity and vanishing biodiversity. Our financial decisions now will wield unparalleled influence over our planet's future. So understanding the ramifications of green finance is pivotal, as it’s the linchpin for a more sustainable, just and nature-focused economy.

“In my transition from over a decade in academia to my current role at the Hutton, my research focus has shifted from conventional finance to energy economics and green finance. This change has allowed me to bridge the gap between theory and real-world impact.

“I've been fortunate to work with start-ups, where my business and finance background proved invaluable. Now, at the Hutton, I'm excited to apply this knowledge to create actionable strategies that contribute to a more sustainable financial and environmental future.”

Dr Farooq’s role in the Hutton’s social, economic and geographical sciences department, has been supported by a three-year fellowship award from The Macaulay Development Trust. The trust is a charity which supports research into sustainable use of land and natural resources, for the benefit of people, their communities and the environment.

I Bike Activities Summer 2022/23

I Bike Aberdeen is a project that engages, enables, and motivates participants to increase their  active travel and physical activity levels, thereby improving health and wellbeing.

The I Bike Schools project works with children to encourage greater enthusiasm and uptake of cycling in the city. I Bike Schools aims to create a culture of walking, cycling and scooting, promoting a safer happier and healthier school communities.

Throughout the 2022/2023 term, I Bike have continued work within schools carrying out 64 activities across 10 city schools, including:

•             Bikeability sessions

•             Led rides to give pupils safe, guided, experience on roads

•             #AndSheCycles festival event aiming to get more girls on bikes

•             Bike maintenance workshop teaching individuals how to care for their bikes

These sessions have engaged over 2100 pupils, providing new experiences and helping some reach landmarks such as cycling the length of a playground for the first time.

I Bike is boosting sustainable travel; one teacher said ”More pupils are choosing environmentally friendly methods of travel to school, resulting in fewer cars parked outside the school gates’’.

You can find out more information by visiting www.ibike.sustrans.org.uk