There's lots you could do as part of the Climate Day of Action - here is some further information and resources to inspire you

 

Working out your carbon footprint

The WWF have created a simple questionnaire that will help you find out your current carbon footprint. It’s quick and easy to use, breaking down its results in a way that’s easy to understand and providing tips for what you could do next.

 

Take the survey here

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Fashion and clothing

Good On You ratings give you the power to make better choices when you shop. They have a directory that ranks big brands based on their impact on our planet as well as on animals and the workers producing our goods.

Their directory is available online as well as through their apps of Android and Apple devices.

 

Water

In England the average person uses over 120 litres of water every day! Bringing this water to your tap at home requires energy whilst treating our waste water is also an energy intensive process. There's also only so much water to go around and when there's not enough rain (as has happened this summer), we all need to do our bit to cut down on our water usage.

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Our partners at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust are running a campaign this summer to help you save water and money (as well as having the chance to get £500 of your bill). Further information can be found on their website.

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Further information to help you reduce your water consumption is available from Southern Water and the not-for-profit group Waterwise

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If you’re out and about and need water, instead of buying a bottle, why not bring your own and refill it? Whilst plastic bottles can be recycled, transporting bottled water is very energy intensive. The Refill project have a map that shows you where your nearest free tap is and the app is available on both Android and Apple devices.

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Heating, insulation, electricity and gas

When thinking about your carbon footprint at home, electricity and gas are probably two of the main things you think of. There are a range of resources out there to help you reduce your carbon footprint and help save you money.

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SSE have a good range of hints and tips to help you with this, so too do the Energy Saving Trust. If you want to know more about switching to a green electricity tariff, which will mean your electricity comes from renewable energy, the Centre for Sustainable Energy have information that can help you.

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In the UK, our homes are often very energy inefficient, this means that they are poorly insulated and lose heat easily.  To help combat this, The Schools Energy Project offer Thermal Imaging Surveys, and the loan of thermal imaging camera. A thermal-imaging camera is an amazing device as it can see the temperature of everything; it’s able to show us where heat is escaping from our homes and our buildings.  Often the camera reveals that heat is leaking out through draughty windows or badly-fitting doors, or through a roof without enough insulation.  By using a thermal imaging camera to identify heat loss in your home you can take measures to tackle these problems and achieve significant savings on our winter heating bills

You can also call the Hitting the Cold Spots team at the Environment Centre on 0800 804 8601 for free impartial advice on advice about keeping your home warm and to find out about any grants that may be available to you.

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Resources for businesses

There are a wide range of resources available to businesses, many of these will be targeted to a specific industry or sector. However, here are some more generic resources:

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Locally, The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Partnership exists to encourage and support businesses to adopt sustainable business practices. Looking more broadly, a wide range of information is available from the WWF as part of their Emission Possible initiative and from the Carbon Trust. Both of which are aimed at helping businesses consider and reduce their environmental impact.

 

Other help

Want to know about something else? Hampshire County Council have a good range of information and resources available on their Smart Living website.

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Similarly The Environment Centre, a charity based in Southampton, have advice and support on their website that’ll help you save money whilst helping our planet.

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These are just a few starting suggestions, there’s a massive amount of other information out there online – take a look and get creative

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