Green pioneers point the individual way to a sustainable future

Published on Wednesday 22 April 2009 21:58

THE Scottish Green List 2009 – featured in The Scotsman over the past four days – is a roll-call of the inspirational people making Scotland a better and more sustainable place to live.

Take a good look at the names – these are the ones who deserve recognition for not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. It is individuals like these that need to be thanked, celebrated, encouraged and supported all across Scotland.

Hopefully, this first Scottish Green List can help do that: inspiring action like ripples in the water spreading across Scotland and beyond.

The list shows that sustainable development is not just a nice idea, or a slick-sounding phrase to be used by companies in their advertising, but is actually the only solution to our urgent, immediate, and longer term economic, social and environmental problems.

These people show us what is possible. They also show that there is no longer such a thing as a typical environmentalist. Here are chief executives in FTSE companies, SME managing directors, politicians, worried parents, creative chefs, campaigners, poets and painters, and many more.

The idea of a Scottish Green List was born from the need to build networks and create opportunities for these change-agents to meet, discuss, share and learn. Sustainability is about working between traditional skills, jobs, professions and training. It is about finding new, creative solutions cross-sector.

Our call for nominations was for individuals – we wanted to know which one person or persons, as in the case of the winners, had actually stood up, stood out, and been the force behind the change.

It could be the dinner lady, it could be the chief executive. And what a response we got! From more than 300 suggestions, we got leaders of projects so varied and often so groundbreaking that choosing 50 seemed almost impossible.

The jury had representatives from the media, the business world, the voluntary sector, social enterprise and sustainable development policy.

The discussions were challenging and certainly passionate. From more than 300 names – all of whom deserve to be celebrated – we had hard work to do to come up with the final 50. Each person nominated will be included in the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum's network. We are keen to keep this network active, and make it the incubator for bigger, better and bolder ideas.

The importance of sustainable development has become clear to politicians, businesses and everyone over the last few years. Still, recent surveys conducted by the government show that many of us are unsure how to become greener. We meet every-day barriers to changing our behaviours, and desperately need role models. Many of the individuals on the list have met shaking heads and rolling eyes over and over again, but they have stuck to their ideals.

Scotland is at a crossroads; the economic downturn, a growing desire to change, and a real drive from the government to tackle climate change, makes for a time of big opportunities in sustainable development. On the list are many signposts to where we should be going.

In short, the Scottish Green List 2009 is a treasure chest for all when looking for practical inspiration. Quite simply these people are making Scotland a better place, and lifting our eyes to what is possible. Follow them and our future will be happier, healthier, wealthier, friendlier and greener.

• Professor James Curran is chairman of the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum