Find a car share buddy to beat soaring fuel costs

With the cost of fuel expected to soar even further over the summer, Peterborough City Council's Travelchoice team is encouraging people to buddy-up on their car journeys to save money and protect the environment.

In particular, the team is suggesting work colleagues who live near each other could make great savings on their fuel costs by car-sharing on the commute to and from work.

The Travelchoice team operates the www.carsharepeterborough.com website that helps people find a buddy with which to share regular journeys. You can register with the site to find walking, cycling and taxi buddies too.

There are more than 364,000 journeys registered on the site, which means anyone looking to find a car share partner is in with a good chance of finding someone to split the cost of their journey.

Nicola Francis, Peterborough City Council's Travelchoice team manager said: "Fuel costs are predicted to increase further over the summer. So there seems to be no better time to join our car-share scheme. The typical commuter who car-shares every day can save hundreds of pounds a year.”

"Reducing the number of cars on the road also helps to reduce carbon emissions and help the city build upon its growing reputation as the UK's environment capital."

Finding a car share buddy is any easy way to do your ‘one thing’ for the environment as part of Peterborough Environment City Trust’s Green Festival, which runs from Saturday 29th June – Sunday 6th June.

To find out more about the Green Festival visit http://www.pect.org.uk/green-festival

Do something small today, make a big difference

In creating a change one person alone can only
make a small impact but if that person joins a group then the whole becomes greater than the some of its parts.

If you then take that to the next stage and get a critical mass of people to accept that change then that becomes a social norm. The point at which that social norm is formed is what is called the tipping point – the point at which everyone just understands.

The tipping point is neither good nor evil, it is the point where things just change because the right events happen and cause and effect take over.

Imagine the scene some one drops one copy of a newspaper, no one sees him do it, and he’s got away with it. Within an hour the wind has turned that newspaper into 20 pages in gutters, trees and gardens. It looks like nobody cares.

So, why should the teenager find a bin for the sweet wrapper, or his mate for his drink’s can? Nobody round here cares, look at the state of the place. And so these small actions create an impression. Imagine an empty shop with a boarded up front window, a short while later look at the graffiti on the very same boards. That shop front lowers the tone, but who cares?

As I said the tipping point works for good and evil. Small actions like mending the window, picking up the litter, painting over the graffiti, which on their own are only small actions, add up to a greater whole.

What really works is not when someone writes to the council and waits for them to do something, but when the people who live in the street do it themselves. It’s their street, they have ownership, they have made a difference and people have seen them show that they care. The little action of finding a bin for that sweet wrapper now has more meaning. In this neighbourhood, it matters.

The Big Tidy Up is organising events around Peterborough for people to make a difference to the streets, parks and pathways where they live. If you or your family want to take part contact The Big Tidy Up’s coordinator Naomi Jones, by emailing naomi.jones@pcvs.co.uk or calling 01733 342683. For information on forthcoming events visit the Facebook page.

Don’t tear it down, transform it.

Peterborough has some fantastic plans for future housing and the technology to create new eco homes is available for all to see, just tune into Channel 4’s Grand Designs and you will see Kevin McCloud raving about the latest insulation, solar power and energy efficient designs.

Great! But most of us live in Victorian, Georgian or 20th Century housing stock that predates climate change, but they are buildings of character that give our neighbourhoods individuality, that modern housing estates often lack.

Tearing down these properties would be wrong, transforming them is the solution.

Grand Designs have added their weight to a retrofitting campaign called the Great British Refurb. This Bristol town house won their eco home prize for its retro fit.

Link to:Award winning Bristol EcoHome

Retrofitting is coming to Peterborough. A Partnership between UKCEED, Axiom Housing Association, the City Council and others from the Environmental Cluster has attracted £150,000 of government funding to retrofit properties in Peterborough.

The project will adhere to the principle of “keep it simple stupid” focussing on the building’s shell first, then adding bolt on renewable technologies such as solar panels and heat recovery ventilation.

The project seeks to both inspire those in charge of social housing to retrofit more houses and develop the knowledgebase within the local construction and environment sectors of how to combine these technologies in the most effective manner, for more information on the project visit http://www.retrofithouse.co.uk/.

Ellen MacArthur has put sailing on hold to focus on climate change...

Ellen MacArthur, round-the-world yachtswoman, has been inspired to do her bit to save the planet by what she has seen at sea.

Four years after becoming the fastest person to sail around the world alone, Dame Ellen MacArthur is giving up ocean racing – to save the planet. She is so anxious about the threat to the environment she will abandon any new marine expeditions.

Her conversion came during a journey to South Georgia in the south Atlantic where she spent two months investigating the plight of the albatross, the giant sea-faring bird which is under threat from hooks used in long-line fishing.

Dame Ellen said: "After being on South Georgia, the more I researched, the more frightened I got. And that has scared me to the point where I can't go back to sea and go round the world again because this really matters."

"When you sail on a boat you take with you the minimum of resources. You don't waste anything. You don't leave the light on; you don't leave a computer screen on. And I realised that on land we take what we want."

As reported by the Independent...

Cut your carbon emissions by 10%...

I've talked about the 10:10 campaign before...

Brought to you by the makers of climate change film the Age of Stupid the campaign asks individuals and organisations to sign up to cut their carbon footprint by 10% during 2010.

More info about it can be found here...

I've just found a great guide on how to cut your carbon emissions by 10%. Check it out here...

Happy carbon footprint reducing!

Autumn at the Green Backyard...

The Green Backyard community growing project will be hosting it's first Peterborough Conker Championship on Saturday 3rd October.

Places are limited so if you want to be in with a chance of winning an amazing prize, not to mention copious amounts of glory then register your place by emailing thegreenbackyard@hotmail.co.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

All participants will be encouraged to make a voluntary £1 donation to the Green Backyard to help cover the cost of the event. Bystanders and friendly gamers are all welcome for free.

If there are spare places and you would like to try and register for the competition on the day then you MUST be there by 11.00am ready for the games to begin at 12.00.

All competitors will be issued with a match conker so that we can be sure of fairness, however you are welcome and positively encouraged to bring your own conkers for friendly games!

The Green Backyard will be cooking up some of their lovely harvest for the day, and would love you to bring a dish to swap and share too!

To find out more contact Sophie Antonelli, 07834 815943

www.thegreenbackyard.com

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn visits Peterborough

Mr Benn visited Peterborough to see first-hand what happens to recycling in the city, and to hear about the achievements of Peterborough Environment City Trust's Zero Waste Places project.

Mr Benn also praised Peterborough's efforts to become the UK's Environment Capital.

Peterborough city centre is one of the country’s six initial Zero Waste Places, which aim to send zero waste to landfill and exemplify good environmental practice.

Green Apple Awards for the city...

Peterborough has won a number of prestigious Green Apple Awards which recognise environmental excellence!

Anne Corder Recruitment's paper-less office won one, as did Peterborough City Council's Climate Change game.

Peterborough Environment City Trust scooped two awards one for their annual Green Festival, and one for their Zero Waste Places project.

Read more here...

Talking Energy

EOn have launched a new energy discussion website at www.youtube.com/talkingenergy

National Chewing Gum Campaign – Keep Britain Tidy

What do you think? Are fines fair cop for litter bugs? Or should we be taking a softer approach?

Have your say here...