My Big Green Weekend

I'm feeling suprisingly refreshed after an action-packed Green weekend! On Saturday, I was up bright and early to go to our national Party Council meeting, which this quarter was held in Edinburgh. Then on Sunday, at Glasgow's West End festival, I dipped my toe into a classic form of fundraising, steeped in Green Party lore and tradition - the home baking and bric-a-brac stall.

Saturday's Council meeting heard reports from all corners of Scotland, as activists from branches large and small told us all what they'd been up to and what they've got planned. As Young Greens Convenor, I was pleased to report that since the election, we've got some excellent new people and are all getting together soon to come up with plans to make good Green things happen. To expand on this a little, as I see it, the Scottish Green Party has got tons of ideas for ways that our communities, our nation and ultimately the world could be better organised to create a greener, more equitable world where we humans live well, and within our means.

Though we may not yet be forming governments, our elected Green Councillors and MSPs are working incredibly hard to communicate these ideas, to make the case for radical change and to get real Green wins where they can. And while they're doing that, I'd like to see Green activists coming up with ways to show people, rather than just tell them about our great ideas! Could that mean doing bits of guerilla gardening?  Organising a workshop on something practical? Getting some ladders out and de-plastic-bagging beautiful trees? A bit of fun street performance or story-telling to go along with a street stall? What do you think?

To return to my action-packed Green weekend, after Council's exhange of info and ideas, we retired to a pub for chit-chat, a cool beverage and to play with Martin's new iPad.

Then on Sunday, our stall at the festival was a big success. By the end of the day, we had sold out of fairy cakes, loaves, traditional sweeties, tomato plants and healthy young sunflowers - "CHEAPER THAN THE GARDEN CEN-TUUUR!" as I called out truthfully and often. Cllr Martha Wardrop also got loads of people to sign up to oppose plans to build a huge block of luxury flats on much-loved Otago Lane.

The big picture and the small picture, the national and the local - it all matters massively. Two different kinds of satisfaction, both good for the soul. One comes from being part of something big, working together with friends from all over the country, as we prepare the ground for future success. The other, a more instant form of gratification - a series of little but lovely thrills as you snag yet another fairy-cake eater or sell the final sunflower!

All in all, a good weekend, and an experience I would certainly care to repeat.