Worried about climate change but don’t know where to start? Or that you can’t make a difference?
Plus life can be just too busy to fit in saving the planet on top! We hear you!
We, at Wealden District Council, feel the same so we’re excited to be doing a Couch to Carbon Zero Sprint.
It’s designed for busy people to help us slash our personal carbon footprints, in 5 minutes a day. We’ve shared the top tips and tricks below, do one thing a day over the next 10 days and start reducing your emissions in your everyday life!
1: Carbon Footprint- We kicked off our Couch to Carbon Zero sprint for all of us at Wealden District Council. First is all about getting our own personal baseline and a great way to do that is to measure our individual carbon footprint. Do you know yours? If not, you can get it in minutes using WWF’s calculator. This is not about putting the onus on each of us as individuals, but rather understanding where we might have some quick wins.
2: Banking- Did you know that many of the high street banks use our money to invest in fossil fuels? Is your bank funding fossil fuels? Find out in seconds by heading to: bank.green How does your bank fare?
3: Energy- It’s actually shorter showers - less than 4 minutes is the goal! Ditching the tumble dryer and turning down the thermostat are close behind, so all good actions to take if you’ve not had a chance yet. (The goal for the thermostat is 18-21 degrees.) If you find it hard to have a short shower, put on a sub-4 minute song! Here’s a playlist of tunes from the team at Couch to Carbon Zero.
4: Clothes- The Fashion industry is second only to the Oil and Gas industry as the most polluting on earth. There are enough clothes in existence to clothe the next 6 generations. New is so old…Buy secondhand, repair what we have, do clothes swaps with friends. Basically, make buying new the last resort, and when we do, buy the best quality we can, made from the most natural materials.
What has been your biggest steal from a charity shop or on Vinted (or similar platform)?
5: Pensions- Pensions can sometimes feel like a dark art and it’s not something we tend to think about on a regular basis. However, there’s £3 trillion in UK pensions so a huge amount of money to be put to good (or bad). Do you know what your pension is invested in? The brilliant campaign, Make Your Money Matter, is helping us find out and use our voice to ask pension providers to ensure they take the planet into account when making their investment decisions.
6: Soils- Peat is a rich wetland taking thousands of years to form. Apart from being wondrous, precious ecosystems, they also capture carbon powerfully. Sadly, just like the Amazon, they are equally in danger, with very few remaining. We prize it in gardening for its richness and ability to hold water, but we’re effectively digging up a rainforest for our rhododendrons!
If all our peat were to be lost that would be the equivalent of five years of England's total annual CO2 emissions. Selling peat for gardeners hasn’t been banned yet (though it’s due to be) so in the meantime let’s be sure we’re helping by refusing to buy it. There are plenty of peat free alternatives now so look for the packaging that shouts about it! Locally, we’re delighted by all the brilliant partnerships helping to restore our soils, like The Pevensey Levels Farmers Cluster Group and Long Man Brewery’s Regenerative Agriculture in Litlington.
7: Oceans- With 2.7 trillion fish caught worldwide every year precious ecosystems and fish populations are destroyed by this industrial scale fishing. We can help by not only reducing our fish intake (50% is a great target) but also choosing the right fish. The Good Fish Guide will help you make the best choices.
A. Rope Farmed Mussels B. Wild Salmon C. Farmed Salmon D. Prawns Why?
Because, amongst other reasons, intensive prawn farming destroys precious mangrove coastline, farmed salmon, wild salmon (if it’s alaskan or pacific) is relatively low impact as populations are still healthy, and rope mussels actually clean the water and because they are in baskets and ropes harvesting them does not harm the sea bed.
8: Plants- When we think about eating less meat and more plants, we assume we need to go vegan - but we don’t! To meet our climate targets in the UK, we need a 20-30% reduction in current consumption levels, so having just two plant based days a week is brilliant - and buying ‘better’ 'locally produced' meat, fish and dairy when we can helps restore the planet. Why is it so important? Well it’s much more than methane from cows…
Here’s some of the benefits of going plant-based, in no particular order..
1. Fertilisers and animal waste are damaging our waterways and rivers
2. Industrial meat production takes up huge amounts of the available water on earth
3. Meat production is the number one cause of deforestation globally
If you’ve been wanting to go more plant-based but aren’t sure where to start, check out the brilliant #boshboys and Rachel Ama. Their food is easy and seriously yummy - your family won’t even notice there’s no meat!
9: Tech- Did you know that the UK creates the most e-waste per capita in the world, second only to Norway? That’s the sort of accolade we don’t want, so let’s change it up! When buying new tech like phones or PCs, check out secondhand deals first. You’ll be amazed how good they are and most come with a years warranty, so you can buy with confidence. And they’ll probably buy your old tech too.
And for any tech that needs repairing, have you visited one of these brilliant repair cafes?
Repair Café Uckfield
Repair Cafe Forest Row
Repair Cafe Heathfield and Horam
Crowborough Repair Cafe
Mayfacs SHED
10: Let's celebrate the actions we’ve taken. What did you find interesting? Anything you’ve changed up as a result? Congratulations you should be rightfully proud! The co-founders of Couch to Carbon Zero, Aimee & Sonia, want to invite you to join them at Every One Of Us. In ONE pithy email a week, the duo will bring you ONE vital thing & ONE exciting thing, plus all the perks & fun, so you stay inspired & planet fit. It's our planet and this is for everyone.
Follow the Climate Change team at Wealden on Facebook for climate friendly activities and events in your local area.
Worried about climate change but don’t know where to start? Or that you can’t make a difference?
Plus life can be just too busy to fit in saving the planet on top! We hear you!
We, at Wealden District Council, feel the same so we’re excited to be doing a Couch to Carbon Zero Sprint.
It’s designed for busy people to help us slash our personal carbon footprints, in 5 minutes a day. We’ve shared the top tips and tricks below, do one thing a day over the next 10 days and start reducing your emissions in your everyday life!
1: Carbon Footprint- We kicked off our Couch to Carbon Zero sprint for all of us at Wealden District Council. First is all about getting our own personal baseline and a great way to do that is to measure our individual carbon footprint. Do you know yours? If not, you can get it in minutes using WWF’s calculator. This is not about putting the onus on each of us as individuals, but rather understanding where we might have some quick wins.
2: Banking- Did you know that many of the high street banks use our money to invest in fossil fuels? Is your bank funding fossil fuels? Find out in seconds by heading to: bank.green How does your bank fare?
3: Energy- It’s actually shorter showers - less than 4 minutes is the goal! Ditching the tumble dryer and turning down the thermostat are close behind, so all good actions to take if you’ve not had a chance yet. (The goal for the thermostat is 18-21 degrees.) If you find it hard to have a short shower, put on a sub-4 minute song! Here’s a playlist of tunes from the team at Couch to Carbon Zero.
4: Clothes- The Fashion industry is second only to the Oil and Gas industry as the most polluting on earth. There are enough clothes in existence to clothe the next 6 generations. New is so old…Buy secondhand, repair what we have, do clothes swaps with friends. Basically, make buying new the last resort, and when we do, buy the best quality we can, made from the most natural materials.
What has been your biggest steal from a charity shop or on Vinted (or similar platform)?
5: Pensions- Pensions can sometimes feel like a dark art and it’s not something we tend to think about on a regular basis. However, there’s £3 trillion in UK pensions so a huge amount of money to be put to good (or bad). Do you know what your pension is invested in? The brilliant campaign, Make Your Money Matter, is helping us find out and use our voice to ask pension providers to ensure they take the planet into account when making their investment decisions.
6: Soils- Peat is a rich wetland taking thousands of years to form. Apart from being wondrous, precious ecosystems, they also capture carbon powerfully. Sadly, just like the Amazon, they are equally in danger, with very few remaining. We prize it in gardening for its richness and ability to hold water, but we’re effectively digging up a rainforest for our rhododendrons!
If all our peat were to be lost that would be the equivalent of five years of England's total annual CO2 emissions. Selling peat for gardeners hasn’t been banned yet (though it’s due to be) so in the meantime let’s be sure we’re helping by refusing to buy it. There are plenty of peat free alternatives now so look for the packaging that shouts about it! Locally, we’re delighted by all the brilliant partnerships helping to restore our soils, like The Pevensey Levels Farmers Cluster Group and Long Man Brewery’s Regenerative Agriculture in Litlington.
7: Oceans- With 2.7 trillion fish caught worldwide every year precious ecosystems and fish populations are destroyed by this industrial scale fishing. We can help by not only reducing our fish intake (50% is a great target) but also choosing the right fish. The Good Fish Guide will help you make the best choices.
A. Rope Farmed Mussels B. Wild Salmon C. Farmed Salmon D. Prawns Why?
Because, amongst other reasons, intensive prawn farming destroys precious mangrove coastline, farmed salmon, wild salmon (if it’s alaskan or pacific) is relatively low impact as populations are still healthy, and rope mussels actually clean the water and because they are in baskets and ropes harvesting them does not harm the sea bed.
8: Plants- When we think about eating less meat and more plants, we assume we need to go vegan - but we don’t! To meet our climate targets in the UK, we need a 20-30% reduction in current consumption levels, so having just two plant based days a week is brilliant - and buying ‘better’ 'locally produced' meat, fish and dairy when we can helps restore the planet. Why is it so important? Well it’s much more than methane from cows…
Here’s some of the benefits of going plant-based, in no particular order..
1. Fertilisers and animal waste are damaging our waterways and rivers
2. Industrial meat production takes up huge amounts of the available water on earth
3. Meat production is the number one cause of deforestation globally
If you’ve been wanting to go more plant-based but aren’t sure where to start, check out the brilliant #boshboys and Rachel Ama. Their food is easy and seriously yummy - your family won’t even notice there’s no meat!
9: Tech- Did you know that the UK creates the most e-waste per capita in the world, second only to Norway? That’s the sort of accolade we don’t want, so let’s change it up! When buying new tech like phones or PCs, check out secondhand deals first. You’ll be amazed how good they are and most come with a years warranty, so you can buy with confidence. And they’ll probably buy your old tech too.
And for any tech that needs repairing, have you visited one of these brilliant repair cafes?
Repair Café Uckfield
Repair Cafe Forest Row
Repair Cafe Heathfield and Horam
Crowborough Repair Cafe
Mayfacs SHED
10: Let's celebrate the actions we’ve taken. What did you find interesting? Anything you’ve changed up as a result? Congratulations you should be rightfully proud! The co-founders of Couch to Carbon Zero, Aimee & Sonia, want to invite you to join them at Every One Of Us. In ONE pithy email a week, the duo will bring you ONE vital thing & ONE exciting thing, plus all the perks & fun, so you stay inspired & planet fit. It's our planet and this is for everyone.
Follow the Climate Change team at Wealden on Facebook for climate friendly activities and events in your local area.
