#PowerShift - action + info
If you came to the #PowerShift event - or even if you didn’t - welcome! We’d love to hear from you. If you want to be more involved, mail us at:
[email protected]
Here are a few things you can do to take part in the energy revolution today:
Set up a #PowerShift “Ceilidh Theatre” event in your community or invite us to visit. Start by contacting us on [email protected]
Join POL.IS, our deliberative digital democratic space on renewables and communities in Scotland (made possible by CrownShy). Please vote, as well as create your own issues! [For more info, scroll down]
Become a paying member of Spring for up-to-date news on gatherings, a weekly newsletter and links to community projects
HOW TO USE POL.IS
Pol.is a democratic tool that’s designed to map the richness and complexity of a community’s opinions on a topic of their concern.
In this case, as the graphic shows, the big question for this pol.is is: “When it comes to Scotland’s energy transition, what feels fair, realistic and worth acting on?”
In pol.is, you respond to such questions in a few ways:
By ticking “yes”, “no” or “pass/unsure” to a range of statements in Pol.is (see top picture, right)
But also, there’s the opportunity to create your own statements - expressing what’s hasn’t yet been said, based on your own perspectives and experiences (see bottom picture, right)
These new statements then enter the overall pool of responses, making for ever-more subtle rather than polarised positions
Pol.is’s algorithms analyse these statements and shows them as clusters of dots, or zones of opinion. - This helps you see areas of unexpected agreement (or “uncommon ground”), beyond the expected consensus or polarity.
The more a community uses it, the more nuanced are the areas of concern. We should remind you that it’s also a lot of fun!
Click on images to go to Spring’s pol.is voting site
Information
All inquiries: [email protected]
The Spring Consortium - participating organisations:
The Scottish Beacon – network of local newspapers in Highlands and Islands
CrownShy – civic and democratic technology
The Necessary Space – theatre company
Equitable Energy – research, advocacy
Bella Caledonia - media platform
The Alternative Global – system convenors for ecocivilisation
Additional participating organisations in PowerShift event:
Josh Doble from Community Land Scotland (sign up for newsletter)
Connor Watt from Platform London
RESOURCES AND CONTEXT
From the news platform the Scottish Beacon, two articles from their PowerShift series (conducted in conjunction with The Herald), covering the tumultuous relationship between Scottish communities and the renewable energy revolution:
Mike Small, “Introducing the PowerShift”
Mike Small and Rhiannon J Davies, “Voices from rural Scotland on the renewable energy rush”
Rhiannon J Davies, “Lessons from communities already making renewables work for them”
More articles on Scottish Beacon’s community empowerment tag
From Indra Adnan at the Alternative Global, an editorial on our PowerShift event as an example of “New Paradigm Artivism”
From democracy and land campaigner/journalist Lesley Riddoch, “Highlanders have the right to be angry over explosion of wind farms”, in The National
From Mike Small, “Democratise energy, liberate technology”, Bella Caledonia
