Talking inspiration and action with Louise Nicol from Moray Climate Action Network
Growing up, we were climate friendly without knowing it. We had our own vegetable patch, reused glass milk bottles and only ate meat once a week. Over the years and after having four children, convenience took priority over our climate footprint.
Everything changed though when my son travelled to Australia. He started to tell me not to eat meat and to think about my climate impacts… I thought he had been kidnapped by a cult! But no, he had seen for himself first-hand the damage caused by our changing climate. This got me thinking about my own climate impact and what I could do to help.
After being inspired by him and taking positive climate action as a local councillor, I moved on to my current role in Moray CAN (Climate Action Network).
My job here is all about making connections. People come to me with ideas, and I put them in touch with others to help Moray become more climate friendly. We have funding to distribute, and we deliver training events and workshops. Climate change will affect us all and we are already seeing impacts locally with fuel poverty, the recurrence of extreme weather events and flooding of the Spey. Wildfires are more frequent and roads around Tomintoul have been blocked by floods in recent years.
People locally care about these issues. Through working with the Cairngorms National Park Authority and other climate hubs as part of Cairngorms 2030 we’ve brought different audiences together with a shared common goal, collaborating to help us be more efficient on the road to net zero. I leave our meetings so inspired by what people are doing. It can be quite depressing when you think about climate change. Action is happening here and there is hope.
We’ve done work on loads of amazing projects from wildflower patches to riverbank restoration, but my favourite of all is our toad ladders. Toads sometimes struggle to climb over drains as they make their journey to lay their eggs, so we provide mesh to help them get to where they need to be. They are a toad-ally amazing invention!
Another project we’ve done through Cairngorms 2030 was to give young people from Speyside High film training and equipment. They made some fantastic videos highlighting key issues in the National Park, like public transport and helping nature. As the next generation it’s really important that we hear what they have to say on climate change and help them to act too.
Looking to the future, I hope that by 2030 people are more aware of climate change and that we are more connected and able to take action together.
The Cairngorms 2030 programme is made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players