Our Town Partner, the Chiltern Society is on a mission to get people of all ages actively doing their bit to improve their local environment.
By encouraging the public to make better connections between their habits and the impact that these actions have on the environment, they hope to help foster positive change and support people in making easy and innovative changes to limit their environmental impact.
One small change can make a huge difference if enough of us subscribe… will you take part?
They have come up with five easy things you can do to become more sustainable and give your local environment a boost. If you’re feeling like a challenge, you can take them all on, but even a tiny change can go a long way especially if you encourage others to take part too.
Pick which thing (or things) you’re willing to try, and make the pledge online at chilternsociety.org.uk/pledge
- Reduce your water consumption
On average, 171 litres of water are used by residents in the Chilterns everyday- this is more than anywhere else in Europe and our chalk streams are running dry as result. Turning the tap off whilst brushing your teeth, taking a 5 minute shower instead of a bath, only using full loads in your washing machine and dishwasher and watering your plants with your used washing up water are all easy things you can do to cut back on your water consumption.
- Go meat free one day a week
Meat production is a major contributor to climate change. By cutting back on your meat consumption for just one day a week and buying better quality, locally farmed meat when you do purchase meat, you’ll be helping to make a big difference.
- Cut down on your non-recyclable waste
Approximately 900 tonnes of non recyclable waste from around the Chilterns gets collected everyday. That’s the equivalent of 150 elephants. Did you know that you can’t recycle takeaway coffee cups from major high street brands? Shiny or glittery wrapping paper is also off limits, as are tissues and kitchen roll. By making small changes to your shopping and consumer habits, you can easily cut back on your household’s non recyclable waste. If enough of us do this, we’ll be sending a message to industry influencers!
- Reduce your car journeys
Is there one journey every week that you could walk instead of drive? Or possibly use public transport? By making changes like this, you’ll be cutting back on your carbon emissions. If we all did this, even for just one journey a week, the impact would be huge! And our bodies would thank us for the extra exercise.
- Plant a native tree or shrub
Trees and hedgerows provide and purify our air, clean and encourage water storage, give our wildlife homes, lock up carbon and make our landscapes green and beautiful. By absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, trees help to combat climate change so we need to be planting more of them.
Share your pledge on social media and encourage others to take part using the hashtag #LoveWhereYouLive. Don’t forget to tag @chilternsociety
The Chiltern Society is a local environmental charity that works tirelessly to conserve the Chilterns landscape and its wildlife, and campaigns to protect it from damaging threats. To find out how you can support it’s work, visit chilternsociety.org.uk or call 01494 771250.