From the use of solar panels and recycling schemes to woodland conservation and car clubs, even the smallest rural neighbourhood can act sustainably. Begin by tapping into the concerns and passions of every neighbour, friend and local enterprise.

WINDS OF CHANGE
High on a blustery hill right in the middle of Scotland sits a towering wind turbine, whipping up 2.5 megawatts of energy a year for the national grid. There are another 14 white giants in the same wind farm, but look closely and youll see this one is different: adorned with marker – pen doodles and signatures all round its base. It is a peoples turbine and its power belongs wholly to the community of Fintry.

Thanks largely to the determination of the Fintry Four – a group of green locals – the 300 – plus households in this rural Stirlingshire village are set fair on their course to becoming a zero – carbon, zero – waste community. When the wind – farm developer came knocking at the door of the community council in 2004 seeking backing for its new development, Fintry rejected the standard benefits package in favour of far bigger aspirations. It took four years of negotiation but they pulled it off.The paradox of the deal is that the village gets to use none of its own renewable power: the structure of the national grid makes that impossible. What the wind turbine grinds out for the 550 villagers is cash: an average of $50,000 annual income until 2022, when the $2.3 million cost of the turbine will be fully paid off. After that, this should go up to $400,000 a year.

The money all goes into the Fintry Development Trust, set up to reduce the villages energy use and carbon emissions. They are thinking broad and long – term, but starting with simple projects. This is a village off mains gas, so their domestic fuel bills are expensive. An energy survey revealed just how expensive, as Gordon Cowtan, one of the Fintry Four and now the trusts treasurer, explains: “One of the things that surprised us was the level of fuel poverty – 45 per cent of households were spending more than 10 per cent of their income on heating and lighting. Although our role is to reduce carbon, we have to tackle fuel poverty.”

So they hired an energy adviser to help residents shift to more sustainable heating methods, including fitting micro – renewable schemes in 22 houses, and have also helped fund a new woodchip biomass boiler for the sports club. But FDT is also turning its attention to other issues, such as the lack of public transport. Enterprise project manager Kelly Mclntyre has just launched their community car club, having secured grant funding tor two secondhand vehicles. Even before it was fully operational, she says, three villagers ditched their second cars in favour of the club.

Gordon Cowtan really believes that community is a good level at which to tackle climate change: “If your neighbour is putting in a ground – source heat pump, it makes it much easier for you – you are not exposing yourself to the risk of something new and scary. When the community is moving in a certain direction, you can take a lot of people with you.

WOOD – U – LIKE?
The Woodland Trust has launched a community woods project to mark the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Its the perfect opportunity to plant one in your locality, and can help combat climate change.

MOVING MOUNTAINS
Mary – Kate Jones has lived all her life in Tregarth, at the foot of Moelyci Mountain in North Wales. As a little girl, she often used to go up to Moelyci farm with her brother to play. As a teenager, she went along to the crowded public meetings about the landowners threatened sell – off of the 350 – acre farm and mountain and where an enterprising group of locals was trying to gauge community interest in buying shares to own the land.

Since 2003 Moelyci has become a community – owned environmental centre. Today, the former livestock farm has a market garden and shop, pick – your – own soft fruit, allotments and a green waste composting centre, while also running courses in greenwood – working, craft skills and conservation management plus paid work – experience programmes for local unemployed people and even a university research project.

John Harold, a pioneering force in the venture, acknowledges that back in 2002 they thought theyd embarked on mission impossible. But he also understands that there is something very powerful ahout the notion of people in a poor rural area being able to work, walk out on and survey an expanse of wild land that is truly theirs.

TAKE THE PLUNGE
When Steve Housden looked out at his garden in the village of Peopleton in Worcestershire on 20 July 2007, it was fast disappearing under floodwater. By 4pm his family had abandoned their home, not to return for 15 months. The problem was not river flooding but run off from farmland. With the district council unable to help, the village decided to take charge for itself and devise a new flood alleviation scheme. Never mind the cost – estimated at up to ?250,000 – the legal hurdles were formidable. They had to negotiate with district and county councils, the water authority and the Environment Agency. And specific legal powers had to be delegated to the parish council, so that the villagers could dig their deep ditches and bury large pipes under the farmers fields. The parish council blew its entire reserves, took out a loan and patched together a finance deal. Local goodwill knocked ?100,000 off the cost of the scheme and by February this year the new flood defence was complete.

Capital lesson
The Industrial and Provident Society that owns Moelyci Mountain and form has nearly 700 members, who mostly paid ?25 for their shares. But it cost ?400,000 to buy the land, so to raise the money quickly the co – operative formed a holding company, backed by personal guarantees from a handful of individuals. They also had help from the green bank Triodos and the community financier ICOF. Within two years the Moelyci enterprise was stable and had a solid enough business plan to allow it to take over the loans. The result is a truly comrrunity – owned precious habitat protected for the future with the finance in place to keep it that way.