Guerrilla war against urban eyesores wins top green prize

Published on Monday 24 May 2010 21:26

Gardening group are rebels with a cause, says Jenny Fyall

IT ALL started when a group of keen gardeners set about pulling up weeds and planting flowers at an ugly brownfield site in Glasgow under cover of darkness.

Come morning, the pathside eyesore in Townhead, near the city's Royal Infirmary, had been transformed. The Glasgow Guerrilla Gardeners was born.

Since that night in August 2008, the team of volunteers has gone about sprucing up other neglected parts of the city, led by Jennifer Calder, 35 and Darren Wilson, 30, from Glasgow.

Among their armoury is the "seedbom" invented by Mr Wilson's company Kabloom.

The bomb-shaped device is hard-packed with seeds and fertiliser.

When thrown into an area of wilderness, seeds are blasted across the ground, turning a dull, dreary area into a beautiful flowerbed.

The pair last night scooped top prize in this year's Scottish Green List, run by the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum, in partnership with The Scotsman.

The Scottish Green List aims to recognise the achievements of unsung environmental champions across our communities.

Mr Wilson said they hoped to inspire others to take action to improve their neighbourhoods.

"We like to work in the evening so that people can see the full impact of something changing," he said.

"They walk by one day and the next there are flowers."

Acting under cover of darkness also means they do not worry about getting permission from the council before waging war on its ugliest pieces of land.

"Traditionally it's done in the evening because it's a bit subversive and we are not really supposed to be doing it," he said.

"However, Glasgow City Council are quite happy for us to do guerrilla gardening so we actually sometimes do it during the day now too."

He said there have never been any complaints.

"Nobody has ever been arrested or anything like that or had any real complaints. People will often give you a funny look and then come over and get involved and have a chat."

And Mr Wilson is having success with his seedbom. It is now for sale in shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow, by Liberty of London, as well as on the internet.

The Scottish Green List is now in its second year, and attracted more than 200 nominations.

The top 20 environmental champions have featured in The Scotsman. Today we reveal numbers one to five.

They include people who work in a range of sectors, including the NHS, the fishing industry, and even for an abattoir in Mull.

The winners were unveiled at a ceremony at yesterday's conference "Can the Green Economy Deliver for Scotland?" at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, organised by Scotsman Conferences.

The top 20 green champions were chosen by a panel of judges, who included last year's winner Mike Small from local eating initiative the Fife Diet, Brendan Dick, director of BT Scotland, Louise Scott, director of Media Co-op, Carol Craig, chief executive of the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing, and The Scotsman's environment correspondent Jenny Fyall.

Evan Williams, chairman of the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum, praised the winners.

"The Glasgow Guerrilla Gardeners caught the judges' imagination with a project that reconnects with nature, uses otherwise wasted urban space and shows how the shape of our communities really only depends on our imagination and initiative," he said.

He added that the 20 winners showed how sustainability could make businesses profitable, create resilient communities and promote health and well-being.

2: Tom and Marjorie Nelson

TO TOM and Marjorie Nelson it makes no sense for cattle, sheep and pigs on Mull to be transported more than 100 miles to an abattoir on mainland Scotland.

They were aware this added to the food miles of the meat, damaging the environment due to the carbon emissions linked to transport.

Thanks to a large extent to the couple's hard work on the committee running the Mull Slaughter House, animals can now be slaughtered close to the fields where they graze.

Whereas other small community abattoirs across the UK are closing, Mull Slaughter House has come back from the brink and is thriving.

The judges behind the Scottish Green List believed it epitomised the idea of re-localising food, which is seen as a crucial part of sustainable development.

Without Mull Slaughter House, which is run by a co-operative of more than 60 local farmers, animals from the island would have to be transported for five hours to Dunblane.

Mr and Mrs Nelson believe having a local abattoir improves animal welfare.

And it provides local restaurants and shops with fresh, local produce – a far cry from the New Zealand lamb for sale in supermarkets.

The slaughterhouse was built in the 1970s but closed in the 1990s. Since reopening it has been refurbished and a new cutting and packing room added, meaning it can cope with more animals than in the past.

Today about 80 per cent of the cattle and 60 per cent of the lambs killed are consumed locally.

And it can even cater for traditional breeds of cattle and pigs that mainstream abattoirs can be reluctant to take, such as hairier types of native pigs.

Mr and Mrs Nelson have been in the driving seat of developing the new facilities, which are now used by other nearby communities as well as farmers in Mull.

3: Joe Frankel and Dominic Marjoran

FOOD packaging makes up a large proportion of waste that ends up in the dustbin – and much of it still cannot be recycled.

Joe Frankel and Dominic Marjoran, of Edinburgh, decided to tackle the problem head on by coming up with Vegware, the UK's first company producing and distributing compostable food-packaging.

All their products are made from plants, and decompose within 12 weeks after use. The range spans tableware, napkins, hot and cold cups and takeaway packaging.

It means even if hosting an event such as a festival, barbecue or picnic, there is an alternative to using plastic throwaway plates.

Among events deciding to use Vegware's products are this year's Big Tent Festival.

The two entrepreneurs, who have scooped third place in this year's Scottish Green List, set up the company in 2006.

The renewable raw materials used for their products include corn, potato, cassava and bagasse, a by-product of sugar cane made from the dry fibrous residue left after the stalks have been crushed to extract juice.

4: Mike Park

THE fishing industry in Scotland is rarely out of the news because of the problems posed by depleted stocks. And Mike Park, chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, has scooped fourth place in the Scottish Green List for his enlightened approach to the problems.

Rather than shortsightedly fighting for greater quotas for fishermen, he has taken a longer-term approach to issues of stock depletions. He stood up to controversy when the campaigning group Cod Crusaders accused him of not doing enough to fight for bigger quotas for the fishing fleet.

Mr Park has championed Scotland's innovative conservation credits scheme – whereby fishermen are rewarded for avoiding areas of juvenile fish – and won it international recognition.

He has worked to make sure his association members adopt the conservation measures. He also works closely with other parts of the fishing industry, government and NGOs to ensure the scheme reaches its conservation objectives and remains practical for the fishermen.

5: Douglas McIntosh and Graeme Condie

IT IS not easy to change the way thousands of people travel to work.

But Douglas McIntosh and Graeme Condie have taken on the challenge at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – and have already achieved impressive results.

The duo, who make up the Travel Plan and Systems Team at the health board, have introduced car sharing, the most successful cycle to work scheme in Scotland, and other improvements to encourage people to use more environmentally-friendly forms of travel.

They set a personal example by car sharing themselves, and they have not only inspired staff but have been a motivation for similar schemes in other NHS boards.

The Scottish Green List judges were impressed by their successes, despite budget constraints, and decided they were worthy winners of fifth place in this year's awards.

REST OF THE BEST

6: Borestone Primary P6 Class, Stirling

7: Colin Paton, director of Calder Cabs, West Lothian

8: Mike Farrell, Letham Nights

9: Kerr MacGregor, solar energy expert, Edinburgh

10: Jack Marshall, owner of Tapside, Bo'ness

11: Iain Clyne, Real Education Active Lives project, Inverness High School

12: Glen Bennett, EAE Ltd leaflet distribution service, Midlothian

13: George Niblock, Aberdeenshire Litter Initiative

14: Steve Johnson, Lothian Buses

15: David Somervell, energy and sustainability manager, Edinburgh University

16: Gavin King-Smith, hydro power expert, Scottish Borders

17: Rehema White, University of St Andrews

18: Dr Sian George, head of commercial development, Aquamarine Power

19: Dr Branka Dimitrijevic, Glasgow Caledonian University

20: Henk Verweijmeren, Invisible Heating Systems, Ullapool