For us ‘community energy’ has a double meaning. Glasgow Community Energy aims to connect and empower local people through community-ownership and democratic involvement in our renewable energy co-operative, as well as by inspiring and sustaining community activism through our Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund (RRAAF).
Proceeds from the sale of our energy will be distributed through RRAAF using a democratic participatory grant-making process (inspired by Edge Fund) to fund popular education and creative action which investigates, exposes and challenges the root causes of social, environmental and economic injustice, and helps make visible the hidden links between energy / power / wealth in our society.
Glasgow Community Energy aims to build on and reinvigorate Glasgow’s radical past – from Mary Barbour in 1910s, Jimmy Reid in 1970s, Cathy McCormack in 1990s to Castlemilk Against Austerity in 2010s – helping to heal the many communities which were dislocated and damaged by our city’s extensive post-war redevelopment, identified by Glasgow Centre for Population Health as one key reason for our comparatively poor health. Their research shows the important role that community activism must play:
Political activism, as a quite intense form of mental stimulation, can therefore play a double role in terms of public health: it can stave off the damaging effects of social isolation and exclusion by establishing deep ties and bonds within communities, while at the same time having a tangible impact on government, and therefore improving public health via more socially just legislation. – CommmonSpace