Climate Change:
A day of reflection, meditation and opportunity at Christ Church, Downend
Featuring a special 10.30am Service with Ruth Valerio: Manager of a Rocha's Living Lightly Project and author of L is for Lifestyle: Christian living that doesn't cost the earth
Followed by a family picnic and also Earth Connect: A multi-sensory, interactive, reflective trail around the church
Free public screening of the Age of stupid at 3.30pm (www.ageofstupid.net), rated 12a
20 September ‘09
Six easy steps to reducing your bills and CO2 emissions
Fact:
Every year 25% of the UK's total CO2 emissions come from houses.
The average home produces 6 tonnes of CO2 - that’s more than the average car - and we waste about two power stations worth of electricity just by leaving things on standby.
Boiling the kettle
Don’t fill the kettle to the brim. Just boil enough for your needs. If everyone did this - the energy saved would power the street lamps of Britain for the following evening!
Light bulbs
Remember to turn off lights when leaving a room. When replacing light bulbs try to use the low energy type. They produce 80% less carbon than standard bulbs, last up to 15 times longer and use so much less energy so saving you money.
Electricity
Remember to turn off at mains when not using the tv, computer, dvd, sky digital, microwave etc. The energy used to power display clocks, digits, ON lights, and memory chips accounts for 8% of the UK’s domestic energy consumption. A dvd player left on uses almost as much electricity as one playing a dvd. A laptop uses a lot less energy than a computer.
Food and cooking
Plan your meals, so you don’t waste food. Try some vegetarian meals each week. (Fact: The meat and dairy industry produces more climate-changing emissions than all the cars, lorries and planes on the planet).
Try to buy British and Fairly Traded food - in season - from local shops and Farmers Markets where possible.
Keeping clean
Wash clothes in 30 degrees or colder- it still gets everything clean. This will save up to 40% on energywhich is mainly used in heating the water. Tumble driers use lots of energy, try to dry clothes either outside or indoors. Put shirts and blouses on hangers then they’ll need very little or even no ironing. Take a quick shower in preference to a bath.
Recycling
This is the un-glamorous but really important part of the energy equation. An amazing amount of energy can be saved by recycling and re-using items.
Recycling one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours.
To dramatically cut down on plastic bottles simply order more milk from the milk man and reduce the amount of bottled drinks you buy. Do use your councils re-cycling facilities.
Our Action Policy
Read Christ Church's Environmental Action Policy [PDF]
You can download and read