Southampton Sustainability Forum

10 ways to make 2008 a more sustainable year.

1. Persuade your boss to take action

When you’re at home, you probably already turn off the lights when you leave the room. But what about at work? According to the Carbon Trust, businesses are running up huge bills, and wasting resources, by leaving lights on. “Lighting accounts for 40 per cent of business’ electricity bills and leaving the office lights on overnight wastes enough energy to make 1,000 cups of tea,” says Hugh Jones, solutions project director at the Trust. Turning off the lights when rooms aren’t in use, cleaning windows to make the most of daylight and investing in energy efficient lighting are all easy ways to make a difference.

Visit www.carbontrust.co.uk for information.

2. Take the family on an eco-friendly break

Taking holidays closer to home, which don’t require the need to fly or drive, is the simplest way to cut down your contribution to global warming. Train travel is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get around, and links to destinations in Europe and beyond are improving all the time. If you must go further afield for some winter sunshine, travel independently or with an ethical tour operator. Responsible Travel screens operators for their impact on the environment while Tourism Concern offers advice on how holidaymakers can make a difference.

See responsibletravel.com and tourismconcern.org.uk

3. Buy local, organic, seasonal produce

Chalking up food miles is one of the biggest ways of undermining your green credentials, so stop buying strawberries in winter and start buying fruit that is in season. The website www.eattheseasons.co.uk tells you which fruits and vegetables – and even meat and fish – are in season in any one month. Signing up to an organic box scheme will help support local farmers (see www.why organic.org for suppliers) and shopping in local shops will support your community. Finally, if you have the time, there’s always growing it yourself!

4. Switch to green cleaning products

Household cleaning products contain a huge array of chemicals that can be hazardous to ourselves and the environment. But it’s relatively easy to find alternatives. Eeveryday items such as vinegar and bicarbonate of soda can keep your home sparkling. But if mixing up your own shower spray doesn’t appeal, there are plenty of eco-friendly ranges available in the shops.

Try www.greenpeople.co.uk or www.enjo.co.uk

5. Give up your car

We all know that petrol-guzzling cars are one of the biggest contributors to global warming, so giving yours up is an obvious way to cut your carbon footprint. If that seems too much to bear, try cutting down on car journeys. If all those who drive to work used alternative transport just once a week, it would cut CO2 emissions by more than 10 per cent. Cycling to the shops or doing the school run by foot will save on emissions and get you fitter. Car sharing is another solution.

Visit www.liftshare.com or www.shareajourney.com for schemes in your area.

In Southampton Whizzgo cars operate across the city, vsit www.whizzgo.co.uk

6. Put your money where your mouth is

A recent report by ethical bank Triodos found that when it comes to bank accounts and savings, most otherwise green consumers “don’t live up to their principles”. While they are busy recycling and buying organic products, they are happy to invest their money with banks that may be financing projects that harm the environment. The Co-operative Bank does not invest in any business involved in the extraction or production of fossil fuels while Ecology building society offers ethical savings accounts and green mortgages.

7. Reduce, reuse, recycle

Every household in Britain produces more than a ton of waste annually, almost 80 per cent of which is buried in landfill sites, polluting ground water and producing gases that contribute to global warming. You may already recycle the waste you produce, but what about not producing it in the first place? Little steps like only buying products with minimal packaging and using a mug for tea at work instead of plastic cups can make a big difference. Don’t throw things away – fix and reuse them as much as possible, or donate them to someone who needs them.

8. Become an ethical fashionista

Try “swishing” – otherwise known as clothes swapping. Rather than contribute to the 900,000 tons of shoes and clothes that are thrown away in the UK each year, people are getting together with friends to swap the things they never wear to the items they’ve always wanted. Earlier this year the country’s first large-scale swapshop, Visa Swap, was launched, giving shoppers the chance to swap their unwanted clothes for points to spend in store.
See visaswap.com for more information.

In Southampton BAG IT UP is offering a doorstep service, collecting all your unwanted clothing, shoes and household textiles, to raise funds for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Charity. To request a collection, please call the freephone number, 08000 434342, or register your details on the website www.bag-it-up.org.uk

9. Say no to plastic bags

You might only use the average plastic bag for five minutes, but it can take an astonishing 500 years to decompose. Yet billions of plastic bags are thrown away in this country every year, ending up in landfill or littering our roads, parks and gardens, and playing a major role in global warming. Several retailers are now taking a tougher line by charging per bag or making them from biodegradable materials.

10. Save water

Water is a precious commodity, yet we waste huge amounts of it every day. There are ways of cutting down though, including taking showers – which use only 40 per cent of the hot water needed for a bath – and putting a Save a flush Bag in your toilet cistern, which can save up to a litre of water per flush.

Adapted from an article from The Independent 2008.