current campaigns
energy saving tips
left: 'Green machine' for re-using and recycling at Selly Oak Methodist Church
centre: campaigning in London to 'stop climate chaos'
right: recycling at St Michael's Preston
Cutting energy use, combined with campaigning, gives a clear signal that people care about climate change and are willing to take action.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Energy-saving light bulbs
One of the easiest and best known ways to save energy at home. Energy-saving light bulbs last 12 times as long as conventional bulbs, are available from all major retailers and don’t cost much more than the familiar energy-guzzling alternative. Switch your own and persuade a friend or your church as a whole to switch as well.
Lend your support to Ban the Bulb campaigning for a ban on conventional light bulbs and for greater affordability and availability of energy-saving bulbs.
Think before you print
One fifth of the 110 billion sheets (the equivalent of one million trees) printed or photocopied in UK offices annually is lost, left on the printer or binned within 5 minutes.
Think carefully before you press ‘print', print double-sided or condense your text to take up less space. If you print only on one side, use the reverse for rough notes, and make sure you recycle it when you no longer need it.
Switch it off
It’s easy to switch off lights and other electrical equipment when they are not needed. Download ‘switch off’ stickers as a reminder and find out what your place of work, school or local company is doing to save energy. An average office wastes £6,000 per year by leaving equipment on over weekends and bank holidays.
Cool down
Turning down your heating by just one degree might not sound like much, but it saves energy and cuts 10% off your heating bills each year. And what about your hot water? Check that your cylinder thermostat isn’t set higher than 60°C/140°F.
Share lifts
If you want to cut car journeys, but don't live on a bus route or near a train station, try sharing lifts instead. Find out if there is anyone who travels a similar route to yours to church, work or school who would be happy to share the driving and costs.
Lift sharing schemes enable you to register your one-off or regular journeys in order to find someone to share a lift with. It's more sociable, as well as more environmentally friendly. If you are thinking about giving up your car, but still want to take the occasional drive, join a car club for quick and easy short-term car hire.
Stand up and be counted
There is strength in numbers. Celebrate that the small changes you have been making to save energy and cut carbon emissions are also being made by tens of thousands of others.
MRDF is a member of Stop Climate Chaos, a network which brings together charities, churches, unions, green groups and others across the UK to take action on climate change. Individuals and community groups can join in too through the I count campaign. Sign up to I count for more energy saving bright ideas, political action and news on climate change campaigning.
The Climate Change Bill going through the UK Parliament at the moment is the first of its kind and provides a crucial opportunity for action. The Bill sets national targets for reducing the UK's carbon emissions by 60% by 2050, regulated by a ‘carbon budget' set every five years. Although this is a good start, it does not go far enough. To limit global temperature rises, 80% cuts are needed with an annual ‘carbon budget' to help us keep on track. You can find out whether there is a local group or MP lobby to join in your area by checking out the communities map.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Apply these three principles, in this order, and you can't go wrong. First, reduce consumption, then choose products which can be used over and over again and finally, when an item cannot be further reused – make sure to recycle it.
Plastic bags are a good example: say ‘no' to a bag at the checkout, but if you have to take one bring it back next time to use again or leave it for recycling at the supermarket. Visit Recycle Now for everything you need to know about recycling, including what facilities are available in your area.
Dreaming of a green Christmas
Christmas can be a time of over-consumption and high stress. The shops are already filling up with gifts, decorations and food, much of which will be filling dustbins by the end of December. Alternativity has ideas and resources to help you celebrate a simpler and more environmentally friendly Christmas.
And if you are looking for the ideal greener gift – check out MRDF's alternative gifts to see how trees, goats and camels can make a great gift for someone you know and help poor communities to make a living and look after their environment.
Fair miles
Don't forget Fairtrade. Although buying local and seasonal food helps to avoid air freighting, most Fairtrade products are not flown to the UK and all are produced using the minimum of energy. Fairtrade reduces poverty by giving farmers a fair price for their goods and has an inbuilt environmental standard and many Fairtrade products, such as bananas or coffee, cannot be grown in the UK.
By buying Fairtrade, you know for sure that your purchase has been produced in a way that protects the environment. For example, coffee farmers in Costa Rica have invested their Fairtrade premium in environmentally friendly ovens, fuelled by recycled coffee hulls and dried nut shells, reducing the need to cut down trees for fuel. More on Fairtrade.
Warm up this Winter
Improving your home insulation not only saves energy and money, but keeps you nice and warm! Half the heat loss in a typical home is through the walls and loft, so insulating these areas properly should be your top priority. Information about cavity wall insulation, draught proofing and tank and pipe insulation is available from the Energy Saving Trust. EST also provides advice on grants and money-saving offers available, especially for pensioners or those on a low income.
What does the Bible say about climate change?
If you are looking for creative easy-to-use Bible study material for small groups, look no further. MRDF's new 6-week Bible Study Pack on climate change includes readings, discussion questions, stories from MRDF partners and UK churches, more energy saving tips and much more. Ideal for Lent but can be used throughout the year. Order or download your free copy here.
A lighter lunch
In the UK, we buy about 1.7 billion pre-made sandwiches a year for our lunches. A huge amount of packaging is used to wrap these, most of which goes straight into landfill. It's not just sandwiches, but chocolate, crisps and any other food designed to be eaten on the go. Try to select options with less packaging and refuse extra bags or plastic cutlery - or you could opt for a really radical solution and make your own sandwiches!
Boiling Point
The simple (Fairtrade) cuppa could be an easy way to save energy. The average kettle (3kw) uses twice the energy required, due to inefficiency and overfilling. Next time you boil the kettle, ensure it's only filled to the number of cups required. You'll get your tea quicker and help save the planet. If everybody in the UK did this for a year, enough energy would be saved to power the entire country's streetlights for seven months.
