Holy Trinity Green Group
News and information from the Holy Trinity Green Group
Events
Wimbledon Farmers' Market celebrates its 10th anniversary in May and has organised some special events for
Saturday 1 May (Morris Dancing) and
Saturday 8 May (Birthday Bash with free cake and music, Punch and Judy shows, a hog roast, and paintings from the artist in residence).
Fete of the Earth, Saturday 15 May 11 am to 3 pm
Community Centre, St George’s Road, Wimbledon.
As usual there will be plenty of plants on sale.
Sustainable Merton with Transition Town Wimbledon will have an information stall.
Transition Town Wimbledon's Food Group Monday 17 May 7:30pm
Follow-up meeting at the Alexandra Pub, 33 Wimbledon Hill Road. For more information email susanna.riviere@googlemail.com.
Deen City Farm Bottle Roof Project Sun 30 and Mon 31 May 11 am till 5 pm
Community Build Days: Come and give an hour or more of your time to help with the eco-roof made out of recycled drinks bottles
Contact louisaloakes@deencityfarm.co.uk 020 8545 2178
Wandle Valley Festival Sat 5 and Sun 6 June 11 am till 4 pm
Sustainable Merton will have a stall near the Stable Block and Snuff Mill on both days, and volunteers will be there to answer questions about sustainability
Wild Life Quiz for children, potato printing, homemade cakes and cookies
Benedict School Summer Fair Sat 12 June
Church Road, Mitcham.
Sustainable Merton will be running activities linked to the Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone
Keep campaigning
According to Dr Clifford of Christian Aid, Christians need to CAMPAIGN HARDER AND LOBBY THE GOVERNMENT for tougher climate change legislation. So if you are not already bombarding your representatives, please do so.
LINKS: http://sustainablemerton.wordpress.com/
http://www.foe.org.uk
http://www.wwf.org.uk
Take the Christian Aid Copenhagen pledge
Christian Aid want to create a mass movement that demands our leaders help deliver a fair and effective deal at Copenhagen. To join in campaigning for a fair, effective deal in Copenhagen, you can sign up to their Copenhagen Pledge. It is a pledge to do all you can to reduce your carbon footprint and to spread the word about our campaign. Christain Aid will be sending the prime minister a list of all the pledges taken as a measure of the growing demand for climate justice.
Go to http://www.christianaid.org.uk/take-the-copenhagen-pledge/ to sign up.
Green Group ideas and web-links
Ditch the car for short-distance journeys and use pedal power or walk. You'll slash personal carbon emissions, beat traffic and get fitter. Pledge not to travel by aeroplane for a year!
http://www.dothegreenthing.com/actions/walk_the_walk
http://www.eta.co.uk/green_driving
Remember to take a bag with you when you go shopping or buy sandwiches for lunch (or even set up a 'bag pool'); write a shopping list and stop buying more food than you need; buy products from recycled materials; use green cleaning products; and have milk and food delivered. Avoid jet-setting, globe-trotting greens. Eating seasonal, field-grown foods can really help to reduce your emissions.
As a first step, you could visit our local farmers markets.
Wimbledon Farmers' Market takes place every Saturday at Wimbledon Park Primary School from 9am - 2pm
Merton Abbey Mills Farmers' Market is on every Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am - 5pm
There are also several companies who will deliver seasonal organic food to your home.
Eat it all up. Around a third of all the food we buy ends up being thrown in the bin and most of this could have been eaten. Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family £420 a year and has serious environmental implications too.
If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road
Look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/localseasonalfood.shtml#quickjump to understand why it is important to eat local AND seasonal produce.
Look at http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ to see why it is so important not to waste food and for advice on how to make sure you don't buy or cook too much.
See also http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/home/index.html
You'll be getting your electricity from clean, renewable sources like wind turbines - saving masses of carbon emissions. Guidelines on green energy tariffs are changing, so visit http://www.greenelectricity.org/ for up-to-date advice. Once you've decided which one suits you best, you can switch to green power at www.uswitch.com . Also see http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
Stop water waste. For example, in your toilets, fill a plastic bottle with water, seal it, and then place it in your cistern. The toilet will still flush effectively but will use much less water. Fix any dripping taps. As for showers, keep to 5 mins max and also don't leave the tap running while you are brushing your teeth.
Conserving water helps to preserve wetland habitats and rivers that are vitally important for wildlife.
LINK: http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/3784.htm
Make sure you recycle EVERYTHING can (see if you can get your recycling bins overflowing). Remember that only plastics numbered 1 and 2 can be recycled from home - the rest can be taken at the Weir Road site.
See www.merton.gov.uk/recycling for more information. Also, order a compost bin if you have not already done so on 0845 077 0757. The Council sells them at reduced rates.
Reduce energy use. For example, turn off mobile phones, televisions and cd players. Switch off lights when not in a room or going out. Also avoid overfilling the kettle and wasting energy.
LINKS: www.biggreenswitch.co.uk and WWF www.wwf.org.uk
www.together.com lists simple ways to reduce climate change.
Clare Brown
Green Group
