It's Earth Day! 6 ways to get involved
22 April every year for the last 52 years is Earth Day. Starting in the US this is now a planet wide day for learning about our impact on the environment and taking action to stop burning fossil fuels that create climate emissions which cause irrevocable harm to our planet. Below are 6 actions that everyone can take to tackle climate change and invest in our planet.
1 Read our community climate action plan
Over the last year or so we have held 60 events, had over 400 conversations, creative commissions, feasts and celebrations talking about climate action. Lockleaze residents care about climate change, they want things to change for the better, and we have co-produced an action plan on how to take action for Lockleaze. Read the plan or the summary here.
2 Take action - do a litter pick
When co-producing our climate action plan we found that less talk more action was what people wanted to see. A great way to start this is with a litter pick, you meet other neighbours who care about your neighbourhood, you make the place look better and you show people you care. Change starts with small steps in the right direction. There is a litter pick this Saturday at the Hub, Gainsborough Square from 10:30 and also a chance to be part of the Waste ground to love ground looking at how we can transform the fly-tipping hot-spot on Constable Road. Read more about that project here.
3 Take action - make your garden wildlife friendly
Did you know that private gardens make up 29% of land in urban areas, that’s 6 times the amount for parks and 40 times the amount for allotments. So supporting pollinators requires action in our gardens, also the newt population is almost entirely dependent on private ponds. 3/4 of our food depends on pollinators so keeping these populations alive and healthy is essential to all of us. There are some great how-to guides on Avon Wildlife Trust’s website and also RSPB’s website on what you can do in your garden, or a window box to help. On Wednesday 4 May at 11.00 The Bumblebee Conservation Trust will be at the Hubbub cafe @ the Hub Lockleaze, to talk more about how we can bee friendly. Free, all welcome. Get in contact if you would like to be part of a group of residents taking action for nature.
4 Take action on plastic
Facts about plastic are staggering. To pick one - 1 million plastic bottles are bought every minute. Most plastic isn’t recycled (estimates between 80-91% thrown away) it ends up in our waters, in our food system, it produced climate emissions to create it and it lasts for 1000 of years before decaying. We should be writing to MPs and supermarkets banning single use plastic and we can all change one thing - like use a reusable bottle and don’t buy plastic bottles.
5 Take action - change one journey
Lots of us have cars and travel by car because it’s convenient, and sometimes it is the only way we can get where we need to go because public transport won’t get us there on time, walking or cycling is too difficult - say with kids or with lots of stuff to carry, or in horrendous weather. That said, there are plenty of journeys we take in the car because that’s what we always do. However, if just one car trip a month per person were switched to bus or coach in the UK we would make a saving of two billion tonnes of C02 per year and there would be one billion fewer car journeys on the roads. We can all change one journey a month.
6 Take action - buy less
A huge amount of our carbon emissions comes from what we buy. We’ve all heard the saying REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE - but too often action has focused on recycle when the bigger carbon savings and impact is in reducing what we buy in the first place. Some great ways to buy less include:
sharing (which is great for connecting with our neighbours too) . You can also use a share library and we hope to set one up in Lockleaze soon
Buy nothing groups using facebook buy nothing groups or freecycle,
Buy second hand gumtree or ebay or charity shops to get stuff for free or cheaper second hand
Repairing - go to repair cafes like those in Lawrence Weston or at Horfield Common, or go online for advice on how to repair such as this facebook group or wiki how