Communities or custodians?
It’s not just Spring in the air! I can feel a new wave of environmental awareness amongst the communities around us, uniting and supporting each other to reduce our impact on the planet.
Entries by Marianne Lindfield
Sussex Green Living – Spreading like Wildflowers!
This month’s Sussex Green Ideas webinar focused on the OnePlanet technology platform which is designed to enable users to understand how health, environment, community development and economy are interconnected, and support pathways to action.
Introducing North Horsham Community Land Trust
The North Horsham Community Land Trust (CLT) was very pleased to attend the Sussex Green Hub at the end of January to explain to residents who we are and what we are aiming to achieve. NHCLT was formed following an initiative by North Horsham Parish Council in January 2020. We are a community led, not-for-profit […]
How we can help nature
We are all aware of the urgent need to protect our nature which has been depleting at a rapid rate. If you want to make some changes at home to protect nature, boosting the biodiversity in your garden or outdoor space is a great place to start. Biodiversity and climate are inextricably linked, you can’t […]
The Importance of Nature
We all want a world where our climate is stable, nature thrives, and where all people have health, happiness, and prosperity – it’s our human right, right? Unless we change things, we are on track to breach the 1.5°C temperature increase limit set by the Paris Agreement by 2030. The breach risks irreversible environmental degradation […]
Recycling Plastics
These Earth’s natural resources are key to our Western lives: water, air, oil, gas, coal and minerals. Perhaps we could be thinking about recycling as another resource that is about reusing these over and over again? Here are some tips as to how and where we can recycle.
Sussex Green Hub welcomes wider community
Each month a special and very welcoming Horsham community event pops up, open to all: The Sussex Green Hub, and last month our warm-hearted community got even bigger and better as almost two hundred visitors attended throughout the day. This month our busy volunteers refilled 140 bottles with personal hygiene and cleaning products, repaired 43 […]
Plastic Free Coronation Celebrations
During the weekend of Saturday 6th to Monday 8th May, there will be celebrations and parties all the country. Local town, Eastbourne, has put together a guide to help with the preparations and create eco-friendly events. We’re sure that King Charles would approve.
How to Store Food to Prevent Waste
We are all guilty of wasting food but did you know that 25% of food wasted in UK households is due to cooking, preparing or serving too much? This costs us £3.5 billion a year. So being savvy with our food can prevent waste and save us money, not to mention the benefit to the […]
Improving Soil Health with biochar
It was the first experience I’ve had of using a retort kiln. Normally I use a ring type. The ice crystals were glistening on the metal door as I pulled hard. It creaked with resistance as the morning sun shone upon what was left of the wood. It had been reduced by half through a […]
Pollinator Highway
As a child, I never understood the saying, “It’s an ill wind indeed that blows no good,” but I recently realised that’s what’s happening now. I went to buy a thermal T-shirt, my current one sadly threadbare, but there were none to be had. The assistant told me they had ‘overperformed’, because fuel prices are […]
Horsham Cape of Good Hopes
At Sussex Green Living we often talk about our outreach with families, in the villages, in schools and with the Youth Eco Forum. What people may not realise is that we also run community sessions with the elderly. Morag and I went along to the Kings Court Care Home in January this year, taking the […]
The Impact of Flying
This year we’re asking, “Can airlines please tell us the truth – the whole truth – about the impacts of aviation? Is it not one of the biggest polluters of our planet?” Like cigarette packaging and advertising, and in a similar way to food allergy advice, shouldn’t plane tickets have health warnings for us and the […]
SECA Annual Event – Meeting of Hope
It was the first time I had been to a SECA meeting, and it was inspiring to see over a hundred people working together for change. We arrived in Brighton in an electric car, (my first time in such a conveyance), for the annual South East Climate Alliance or SECA meeting, the aim being to […]
Philanthropists and business heroes needed
It is easy to focus on finances and ignore the climate just now, when the cost-of-living crisis is hitting us so hard. However, the two are fundamentally interlinked. Reassessing how we live and what we consume ultimately saves resources for our planet and puts money into our pockets too. For 2023 we want to build […]
Veganuary 10th Anniversary
2023 is the tenth anniversary of Veganuary, a month during which people don’t fast entirely, but simply commit to just eating plants. The vegan organisation GenV was started by Matthew Glover who also came up with the increasingly popular idea of Veganuary. GenV doesn’t take donations from the public but has a number of celebrity […]
Sussex Green Living Achievements 2022
Well what a year 2022 was for Sussex Green Living. As we reflect on the last year and plan for the future and 2023, we thought it was worth taking a moment to share some of our achievements… Demand for Sussex Green Living environmental education services in schools and public events has never been higher, […]
Eastbourne’s first Climate Emergency Centre
After six busy and successful weeks Eastbourne’s first Climate Emergency Hub has reached the end of its temporary lease in The Beacon Centre at the end of December. During this time the hub team organised over 50 workshops and took turns to keep the hub open as a drop-in centre for the public, seven days […]
Students create inspiring art in Repair Cafe Challenge
When thinking about living an environmentally sustainable life, the first thing most people think about is the 3Rs: ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. As part of Sussex Green Living’s education outreach programme, we initiated a School Challenge looking at how you can reduce waste by repairing. Our school challenge for Horsham District Schools was supported […]
New Year New Green Resolutions
New year is often a time for reflection and making resolutions. I always start the year with good intentions but find it’s hard to keep them up when things get busy. This year I’m looking to put in place some changes that are easy wins. If you too are in that frame of mind right […]
Restoring kelp, eliminating single use plastic
Did anyone see the coverage of the Earthshot awards presented by the Prince of Wales in Boston earlier this month? They were awards given to organisations, companies or cities recognised as making a significant contribution to dealing with climate change, reviving our oceans, and other similar objectives. You can watch the whole ceremony on BBC […]
Protecting the Battery Life
“The battery won’t charge…” We hear these words very often at the Horsham Repair Cafe. It’s true that batteries don’t last forever, but we can make a drastic difference to its life expectancy. The original hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, uses a large traction battery. Many are still running 20 years later. So, how can the […]
Birds of a Feather
On a guided tour of the George Watts Gallery, near Guildford recently, I was surprised to learn about the Victorian artist’s ‘protest pictures’. Born when our own Percy Shelley was at the height of his powers writing his controversial poems of protest, I felt the two would have got on well, with their artistic commentaries […]
Christmas Money Saving Ideas
Last Christmas we bought 226,800 miles of wrapping paper, 5.3 million artificial trees, 6.8 million real trees and £42 million of unwanted toys. As we continue to tighten our belts, we look at ways to reduce the waste from Christmas so we can have a more sustainable Christmas, that costs less for the planet and […]