Welcome to our Infographic on Cool Blocks* as it has unfolded in Ecovillage Findhorn, Scotland. We followed simple steps in 8 Topics that helped us translate our Carbon Neutral 2030 plan into positive actions to improve our resilience and improve our quality of life. (Cool Blocks* is an initiative of Empowerment Institute coolblock.org)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PDF OF Cool Blocks Infographic

Topic 1: Cool Blocks for Park Ecovillage Findhorn WHERE Do we Start?

We build on the positive change started with the Household Emergency Resilience Plan published by Moray Council and distributed by the Park Emergency Resilience Group, a subgroup of the Findhorn Kinloss Community Council.

Look at your copy and you will see that most of the steps look like the Cool Blocks Topic 1, Priority Actions for the Energy-Resilient Home (see below). This list is common sense for emergency preparations for: Food, Water, Communications, Lighting, Cooking, Composting, Heating, Toilets, Children, Clothing, Safety and Electricity. It also helps us plan for the future in our Caring Community Circle.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

When we prepare for emergencies, we become aware of the basic needs we have for daily life. This helps us learn about how we depend on the infrastructure that supports us for eating, heating, moving, caring, recycling and working. In our CN2030 Survey we asked you questions about all of these activities. Emergency planning helps us measure a minimum requirement for each activity. This gives us practical hands-on experience in what we depend on for living as individuals, families and organizations in community and how we can meet our commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Topic 2: Resilience With Cool Blocks WHERE Do We Go Next?

Go back to your Household Emergency Resilience Planning booklet and you will see that more steps embrace the Cool Blocks Topic 2, Priority Actions for the Disaster Resilient Household. This list guides us to think through being ready for natural disasters, including:  Preparing a Go Bag, First Aid, Communications, Preparing for Fire and Wildfires, Medical and Special Needs, Animal Protection and even Cyber Attacks.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

When we prepare for natural disasters, we become aware of how complex the world is and how we depend on others for the systems and structures that enable the quality of our  daily living. Thinking through what can happen if fire, flood, windstorm, polar vortex, or sea rise might impact our lives as isolated or clustered incidents, helps us prepare not only for our own survival, but learn how we can better survive any natural disasters when we work together. We can learn about the variety of life conditions we might face in planning to achieve Carbon Neutrality and prepare for the worst case scenarios (and not just hope for the best). Expanding our capacity to take responsibility for our individual needs,  grows capacity to respond to the needs of our families, friends and organizations in community whether we face natural disasters or prepare to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Topic 3: Calculate Carbon Footprint to Refine Life Style Practices WHERE Human Behaviour Counts

Moving on from Cool Blocks Topics 1 &2  (Household Emergency Resilience Plans), this week we calculate our Carbon Footprint. PET has the link to CALCULATE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT HERE: https://parkecovillagetrust.co.uk/carbon-strategy/carbon-calculator/. PET’s Carbon Footprint Survey Reports on our track record for: Eating, Heating, Recycling and Moving by:  Recycling Household and Food Waste;  Eating Vegan, Vegetarian or less meat; Reducing Hot Water for Showers, Dishes, Clothes; Turning Thermostats to 19C and Turning Off Appliances; Car Sharing and/or Driving Hybrid/E-Vehicles; and Flying Less. 

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Personal behaviours reflect life style choices. Our PET survey said 78% of respondents care about climate. IPCC/UN estimate that human behaviour contributes to 27% of effective strategies impacting climate change. As an individual we can pay to offset our carbon footprint – but more importantly, as an ecovillage we can model our choices for a simpler, sustainable life style that co-creates with the intelligences of Nature. Proactively tracking our choices helps us learn by measuring emissions from Eating, Heating, Recycling and Moving. This data gives us feedback to track and reduce emissions while improving our lifestyles through informed choices, working together in households, blocks and the whole community. The image of East Whins symbolized this for the cover of the IPCC 2022 Report – so our choices do have impact in the wider world!!

Topic 4: Comfortable Home, Wheels and Meals – WHERE Can We Make a Difference?

Calculating your Carbon Footprint: https://parkecovillagetrust.co.uk/carbon-strategy/carbon-calculator/ ). Once we know our Carbon Footprint, we can make choices everywhere we live, work and visit. At the Park Ecovillage Findhorn, when we switch from LPG to Air/Ground Source Heat Pump and/or Solar/PV panels, we notice how quickly our electric bills drop as we use “free energy” from the sun and wind. This improves when we seal air leaks around windows and doors. Driving my EV car uses the wind (as the wind turbines supply the power). Growing my own food or purchasing from local growers strengthens the local circular economy. Turning down the thermostat, tuning up the furnace, heating water efficiently, using appliances when the sun shines/wind blows and air drying clothes all reduce electricity bills.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Individual lifestyle choices impact our collective ecovillage commitment to become Carbon Neutral by 2030. Every day in every way we walk along the path of renewable energy choices, we create the conditions for improving neighbourhood action. We gain new feedback from the data in our monthly bills that remind us adding an extra sweater or wearing a hat are easy choices that save money and the environment. Our ecovillage citizen scientists, Just Transitions researchers and energy technology experts have invested time, resources and expertise to work together on strategies that neutralize carbon emissions by planting, gardening, composting, bio charring, recycling and renewably heating.

Topic 5: Stewarding Water WHERE Can We Make a Difference at Home Every Day?

Become aware of how precious water is – just read the news and see how blessed we are in Findhorn Peninsula to have our aquifer. Though we may complain about the rain – when we see the parts of the world that are parched, we realize this natural resource is vital to people, animals, gardens, Nature. Start to track how much water you use – by using  a container to dispense drinking water and count how often you refill it during the day. Install water savers in the shower and/or try the 3 minute shower – turning the water off when you are soaping hair or body. You can preserve water by reducing toilet flushes (if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down). Mulch your garden beds to retain moisture. Only water gardens late in day – and if possible use your rain barrel. In many parts of Ecovillage Findhorn we are using grey water for lawns and landscapes. And as we build dwellings we are installing more porous surfaces for roads, returning water to the ground.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Use of water flows through all the strategies for our ecovillage CN2030 commitment. How we eat as vegans, vegetarians or reduced meat consumers demands water to support our choices. Whether we heat water for hygiene, clothes washing or radiators, the effective use of energy for the comfort of our home depends on water. Even selecting room temperature or refrigerating water costs (renewable) energy. We don’t meter water usage on Findhorn peninsula, but you can act as a voluntary steward of water.

Topic 6: Safe, Healthy, Green Eco-Streets WHERE We Live?

Ecovillage Findhorn has a vision of itself as a green healthy and safe place to live. This showed up in the Call for Ideas sent to Moray Council (https://findhorn.cc/call-for-ideas-july-2023/). Becoming Carbon Neutral starts with knowing yourself, your neighbours, your address and the special cultural, social and geographic features of our ecovillage. Connecting with our near neighbours not only improves emergency responsiveness (see Topics 1 and 2) but is daily practice that keeps us aware of how to support vulnerable friends and neighbours. When we slow down to the speed limit in the Park (10 mph) we not only make it safer for pedestrians and children, we save fuel. “Eyes on the street” give us a collective sense of all “being well” or when something or someone endangers persons or property. (Special thanks for the new speed bumps on the Pineridge/Field of Dreams connector – they remind us to drive mindfully.) When our blocks are green(er) because of volunteers acting as the Park Gardeners, we are rebalancing carbon by recycling compost and nurturing our “bright green” uncommon commons.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Living a healthy, safe and green lifestyle establishes, stabilizes, strengthens and supports the conditions for Carbon Neutral living. In Ecovillage Findhorn this amplifies the core principle of “Co-creating with the Intelligences of Nature”. This spiritual practice stewards interconnections with all life – seen and unseen. Through nurturing this web of life, we realize that Carbon Neutral commitments can simply be a celebration of the sustainable, regenerative way of living we model and teach our children and grandchildren.

Topic 7: Resourcing Community Richness – WHERE Are We Optimizing Resources As a Way of Life?

Ecovillage Findhorn is a naturally resourceful human habitation. We are blessed with opportunities to interact with the whole community at NFA Meetings and Friday Coffees. We participate in monthly Whole Community Meditations. Neighbourhood (aka Block) parties started during the Covid Lockdown with the Town Crier visits and continue in pop-ups to this day. East Whins and Soillse Co-housing share tools and laundry facilities. When the Barrel Cluster needed to dig up a pipe, they made a group decision, hired the expert and got on with the job. RB Kindness Corner reports random acts of kindness weekly. Recently we have had an increase in new owners and renters – maybe it’s time for us to introduce a Welcome Wagon? Living across from the Children’s Play Area I notice parents sharing daycare (and always applaud Fiona’s frequent parade of little people). So many ways we enliven our blocks – even offering veggie garden space to amplify our “growing” footprint!

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Optimizing our resourcefulness at every level of the community multiplies our social, cultural, emotional and physical capital. We practise the skills of Donut Economics by living with Care for each other, our place and planet. Whenever we share resources we are living more sustainably – doing more with less. “Work as Love in Action” implements Carbon Neutral 2030, as we interact with the people who share our living spaces, ways of life and values. This strengthens the social fabric of our ecovillage blocks in “normal” times so that we have these resources to call on as a Caring Community Circle and Emergency Responders as well as Capacity Developers for the ecovillage we are designing for CN2030 .

Topic 8: Living as a Cool Block –WHERE Are We Walking Our Talk?  

Committing to be a Carbon Neutral Ecovillage was a pioneering act when Ecovillage Findhorn first started surveying in 2015. Perhaps we have influenced our closest municipalities, county and other places in Scotland/UK? Now we are called to influence each other in the ecovillage by backing up our intentions with action. That is why we applaud the Topics set out by the Cool Blocks program. We know that behind every Priority on the Topics are Online Menus explaining how to practise each Priority. Those actions enable us to become “Cool Households” – and they also show us how we can help each other to make decisions that make a difference.

 HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Working together – spreading the word – encouraging each other in the face of challenges means we can keep improving the results we have been tracking with our 5 Carbon Neutral Surveys (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019). Being open and willing to supply your data into this community information bank, makes visible the results of all our efforts. Our CN2030 Survey measures for residents, guests and businesses, carbon emissions for: Flying, Car Driving, Food, Internet Use, Heating/Cooking Gas and Electricity. In the midst of our cooperation and collaboration to become carbon neutral, we discover a modicum of healthy competition – because we want to know we are doing better than last year and better than other places – and the Cool Blocks menu for Priorities and Actions engages, coaches and amplifies our commitment.

Let’s continue our momentum to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.