Following a talk by Ian Roderick, one of the co-ordinators of the Go Zero Project in Chew Magna., it was decided to start a “Green Group” – with an open invitation to everyone to join in at any time. Its purpose would be to support those who want to take steps towards a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle in gathering information, swapping ideas and finding out things together. Following Ian’s advice, this will be run strictly on a ‘no blame’ basis - with the hope of making ‘going more green’ as straightforward and enjoyable as possible.

Green Group has met twice in the past few months (November and January) to talk about things we might do together, to help us reduce our environmental impact, as individuals and as a community.

We have clarified some simple principles to help guide our thinking:

• we will try and find things that we can’t easily do separately, where a group needs to do something together
• we will try and do things that make a positive contribution to the Abbots Leigh community
• we would like to make these activities enjoyable and avoid ‘preaching’

We have talked quite a bit about recycling and waste disposal: we think that there may be ways of making recycling easier, by providing better information and maybe ven getting recycling facilities in the village. But we also realise that reducing our environmental impact means not just thinking more about how we get rid of things, but also buying fewer things in the first place. That led us to wonder about ways in which we might share our resources more, lend things to each other, or see if we can find ways to link up people who want things with people who want to get rid of things.

We talked about reducing energy consumption. We thought about our community buildings - the Village Hall and Skittle Alley – might be used to show what is possible. Some kind of energy audit might be a beginning. We also thought we could create a database of people in Abbots Leigh who have installed solar panels or had cavity walls insulated, and who could let others know how this was done, what effect it has had on their heating bills, and what contractors they used.

We discussed transport, and the fact that many of us in the village make car journeys to get things like newspapers and milk. We wondered if there might be a way to share this more, for instance, grouping together to get Sunday papers. To help reduce our reliance on our cars, we think there could be good possibilities for encouraging those of us who have not cycled much recently to get more active: we could organise cycling ‘buddies’ for each other, and when the weather gets better, do some cycling trips in the evenings or at weekends.

As a next step, we decided that each of us would explore some of these possibilities in more detail, and report back next time. The next meeting will be on Thursday, 26th February, at 7.30pm in the George. We would be very happy for anyone who is interested to join us.

Resources to help you GO GREEN Recycling Energy Saving at Home Transport Eating and Shopping Recycling North Somerset has a waste reduction team, whose purpose is to help people recycle more of their waste, and reduce the amount that goes to landfill. Their website http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Environment/Waste+and+recycling/ As well as information about the use of the Green Box and Green Bag collections, there is useful information about reducing waste, and starting to compost more. For £15, they will deliver you a compost bin, with free kitchen caddy for your vegetable waste If you have things that you don’t want any more, and are considering throwing away, consider using Freecycle, a “grassroots and entirely nonprofit network of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and thus keeping good stuff out of landfills”. There is a local group http://www.freecycle.org/group/United%20Kingdom/South%20West/Bristol You simply send an email telling the network what you have to offer - anything and everything, so long as it is legal, and not dangerous. (I have used it to dispose of computer bits, an old tent and packing cases) Reasonable quality furniture and working electrical appliances can go to the Sofa Project http://www.sofaproject.org.uk/, who renovate and repair as necessary, and sell them on, mainly to low income families Energy Saving At Home There is lots of useful information on the government website at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Energyandwatersaving/ Their advice is: Turn off your appliances, don’t leave them on standby Use energy saving lightbulbs, don’t overfill kettles, put lids on saucepans etc Insulate your home Buy energy efficient appliances Install an energy-efficient heating system