Co-ordinator: Anne Litherland
Useful websites:
Cool Wirral, the local partnership for Climate action https://www.wirral.gov.uk/about-council/climate-change-and-sustainability/cool-climate-change-strategy
Wirral Environmental Network
‘The aim of the organisation is to advance the education of the public about the preservation of our world’s natural environment, ecological sustainability, natural resource conservation, waste management, recycling, and the principles of Fairtrade within Wirral and the surrounding area.’ Visit Wirral Environmental Network for more information.
Love Food Hate Waste
The way we deal with food in the UK is having an impact that’s being felt right around the world. We live in a global community where what we do affects people in many other countries. So, saving food really is everybody’s responsibility, and there are lots of small things we can all do every day to make a pretty big difference. For more information, delicious recipes, including vegetarian ones, and what do with leftovers go to https://lovefoodhatewaste.com for more information.
Meat Free Monday
Meat Free Monday, Launched by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney in 2009, Meat Free Monday is a not-for-profit campaign which aims to raise awareness of the detrimental environmental impact of animal agriculture and industrial fishing. The campaign encourages people to help slow climate change, conserve precious natural resources and improve their health by having at least one plant-based day each week. For more information, including recipes, go to Meat Free Mondays.
Love Your Clothes
Every year an estimated 336,000 tonnes of used clothing gets thrown in the bin in the UK. There is absolutely no need for any clothing or textiles to make its way into a bin and this is both a significant environmental loss and a missed business opportunity.
Love Your Clothes was launched in 2014 to address this issue and help inspire and influence consumers to make small conscious changes to reduce the impact of clothes on the environment.
It aims to improve the sustainability of clothing across its life-cycle, and influencing consumer behaviour is a major part of that. Why? Because the most significant opportunity for reducing the environmental impact of clothing lies in increasing the active life of the clothes we wear.
Currently, over 5% of the UK’s total annual carbon and water footprints result from clothing consumption. But if clothes stayed in active use for nine months longer (extending their average life to around three years), this would reduce their carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30%. Extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction.
In the average UK household, nearly a third of clothes (worth over £1,000 per household, £30 billion in total) haven’t been worn in the last year. There is huge potential for consumers to get more from what they already have.
Love Your Clothes helps raise awareness that we can all make a huge difference by taking small steps. We all need to think ‘do I need it’ before we buy, to be better informed when we purchase clothing, to choose pre-owned options more frequently, to learn long lost repair and fixing skills, to get creative with clothing and to share and donate unwanted clothing. Last but not least of course to keep all clothing and textiles out of the bin (yes, even your pants).
You can find out more here.
Environmental Actions:
Each week, we will publish a list of actions all based around the three key principles. For the full list see here.
Below is a selection of our current environmental actions:
Actions to live SIMPLY:
Reduce car use:
- Reduce car use:Switch off your car engine when stopped or parked;
- Offer lifts to reduce car journeys;
- Have a car free day every week;
Energy:
- Close windows, curtains and doors to keep heat in;
- Have an ‘unplugged day’, no TV or phones;
Actions to live SUSTAINABLY:
Care for creation:
Say Live Simply prayers;
Celebrate the Day of Prayer for creation on 1st September;
Plant a tree to remember birthdays, baptisms and other celebrations;
No room for a Tree? Virtual trees can be bought from Cafod and other charities.
Actions to live IN SOLIDARITY
Lobby MP and PM regarding climate change
Sign up to receive the NJPN NW Justice and Peace Bulletin by emailing.
Take part in Cafod’s seasonal green fundraising ideas
https://cafod.org.uk/News/UK-news/Spring-fundraising-ideas
Laudato Si is the encyclical written by Pope Francis and addressed, not just to Catholics or Christians, but to all humanity. In it he uses the term ‘Our Common Home’ which is why we use it. Copies of the book are available @£6.95 and a shorter booklet ‘Catholics and Our Common Home’ is available @£2.25 from the Fairtrade stall. Please contact Anne on 07910960316 to arrange collection or delivery.