Building Your Dreams
While wardening at Puttenham Bunkhouse Barn last weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Meeks, its founder, who spent many years as editor with Cycling UK, (Cyclists’ Touring Club), and who, aged 16, was the youngest elected member of the YHA’s management team here in the south-east.
Sitting relaxed in the sunshine, amid butterflies and flowers, wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Wilderness not woodchips”, Chris continues to share his passions.
He’s an astonishing example of how one person can inspire a generation. The bunkhouse began life as an idea: finding a place, negotiating the lease with Guildford Borough Council, raising £130,000, removing a huge cattle trough and digging out the floor to lower it by 50 cm. The eventual opening in 2005 was achieved thanks to enormous input from a team of volunteers, including John Bannister, an alternative technology expert.
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What does COP 27 mean for us locally?
/in Climate change, Energy, Take Action/by Eve DelvesWell, Horsham District Council held a Climate Action Day on 20th October to help prepare the parish councillors for what lies ahead for all of us.
Two thirds of the 32 parish councils in HD were represented, with 11 parishes not attending. So what progress has been made?
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New Climate Emergency Centre opens in Eastbourne
/in Climate change, Events/by Eve DelvesRead more
Communities take Action
/in Recycling, Refill, Repair Cafe, Sussex Green Hub/by Eve DelvesGreen Hub Map
You might be feeling the world is not making enough progress with serious action to address the climate and ecological crises, especially with attention being diverted to the energy and cost of living crisis. Crisis after crisis, hey! However, we are seeing a rising of communities coming together to show how being leaner and greener helps save money and the planet.
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Community Collaboration at its Best
/in Children & nature, Eco News, Education, Recycling, Single use plastic/by Eve DelvesDuring the first lockdown in 2020 many people felt isolated. Sussex Green Living (SGL) thought it was important to connect people and to continue its work improving the environment. SGL’s Carrie Cort organised weekly online Horsham Climate Café events. Some of these attracted over 150 people, both local and from further afield. One of the aims of the café was to introduce people ‘virtually’ from the same villages and this is when the seed of Billingshurst environmental group BilliGreen was planted.
The group was started by Mela Davidson and Melanie Holliker who both wanted to create a network that boosted the local community and had a positive impact on the local environment.
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Car Sharing in Horsham
/in Eco News, Transport/by Eve DelvesRead more
The Big Picture
/in Eco News/by Eve DelvesSouth Downs painting by local artist John Thompson
Scotland seems to be ahead of the game in looking at the big picture, using the joined-up thinking that needs to happen now to address the current crises in resources, economy, nature and climate.
Last month’s Film at the Horsham Green Film Festival was made in Scotland: ‘Riverwoods’. This wonderful film opened with shots of Alaska’s bountiful nature, then moved across the same latitude to Scotland with its acres of treeless uplands, a legacy of the clearances of the traditional small mixed farms to make way for large scale sheep grazing.
But why are there no sheep at Knepp’s rewilding project? Read more
Saving Energy can Save Money AND Protect the Planet
/in Eco News, Energy/by Eve DelvesAround 21% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from our homes. With the increase in energy prices that we have seen, making your home more energy efficient will lower your energy bills. Good for the planet and your pocket!
Many organisations talk about energy saving tips, but they often require a big financial outlay with buying a new boiler or retrofitting your house. These are great ideas and will have a big impact on your energy consumption, but if you can’t afford these right now, here are some lifestyle tips you can make that won’t cost you a thing. Read more
How to Grow in Harmony with Nature
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Ecology/by Eve DelvesBy planting a variety of a different crops each month, and especially by planting crops amongst fruit or nut trees, even more food can be grown in a small area.
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Sixty Years since Silent Spring (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Climate change, Ecology/by Eve DelvesRecycle. Repair. Save fuel. Care about Nature. They’re becoming mainstream now. But it wasn’t always thus.
Sixty years ago, things were very different. Big science and technology dominated everything. Problem with insects munching your crops? Destroy them with DDT! Want to get to the shops faster? Try our new ’59 saloon with fuel consumption lower than the Dead Sea! Everything was going to be newer, shinier, faster, bigger-and largely made of plastic.
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Is the climate broken? Opinions from the people of Horsham
/in Climate change, Take Action/by Eve DelvesTo find out what the people of Horsham think, we spent a recent lunchtime patrolling the busy streets around the Swan Walk Shopping Centre.
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A Fond Farewell for our Green Queen (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Ecology/by Eve DelvesDo you consider what happens to your waste? (First published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Recycling, Single use plastic/by Eve DelvesAs managing our environmental impact becomes increasingly important, this is a question on many peoples’ minds. In West Sussex, all household waste is processed at two sites managed by Biffa, West Sussex Ltd. A team of our recycling volunteers recently organised visits to Brookhurst Mechanical Biological Treatment Facility and Ford Materials Recycling Facility to find out more.
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The Humble Bumble (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Eco News/by Eve DelvesRead more
Sustainable Flowers & Floristry (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Eco News/by Eve DelvesFlowers are a precious part of our life-events, but are we aware of the significant environmental and human costs of the demand for cheap flowers at all times of the year?
Until the 1970s, bought flowers came from British farms, while today, most are grown commercially in Holland, Columbia, Ecuador and Kenya, routed through Dutch auctions. The flower industry has a massive carbon footprint, from heating greenhouses to refrigerated transport, a vast chemical footprint from pesticides, herbicides and preservatives, some banned in the UK, polluting soil and water, poisoning pollinators, impacting flower workers and their communities, many producers are not Fairtrade.
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Horsham Vegan Market (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Food Waste/by Eve DelvesPires Place Vegan Market is conveniently placed in the centre of Horsham in Piries Place. It’s a regular event and takes place on the last Saturday of each month from 9.30am to 3.30pm.
Featuring up to 16 stalls, the vegan market offers tasty cold food varying from plant-based artisan ‘cheeze’, pies and savouries through to the most delectable cakes & sweet treats, with some gluten-free options of course! There is a hot food stall each month, often hotdogs (vegan of course!), and a new-comer offering a range of freshly made vegan pizzas. You will also find non-food stalls at the market selling anything from make-up and body care through to eco-friendly household goods and gifts, all of course, completely vegan and not tested on animals.
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Want less, Waste Less (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Recycling, Single use plastic/by Eve DelvesAs mentioned in last week’s blog, a jolly band of Sussex Green Living’s recycling ‘wombles’ enjoyed a tour of Biffa Mechanical and Biological Treatment Facility at Warnham recently.
And when I say ‘enjoyed’ I really mean it! If anyone had told me even a few years ago that I would be excited about a tip trip, I would have been very sceptical – but there we are, that’s how life rolls.
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Taste or Waste? (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Food Waste, Health and wellbeing/by Eve DelvesI recently listened to a Sustainable Squad podcast (Listen to this episode now on @spotify and @applepodcasts) with Shane Jordan, who became a chef by chance because of his involvement with Food Cycle, collecting unwanted food from shops by bicycle then taking it to be cooked at a Sussex community centre. In his book, Food Waste Philosophy, he explains that he uses every edible part of plants in his cooking, including banana skins.
I was struck with his passion and ingenuity. Another inspirational example is Horsham chef Lenny Salsano, who works at Hill Top Primary School in Crawley. Pre-pandemic, he engaged the pupils in planting, growing and cooking the food used in their lunches. Lenny is keen for the children to learn how important it is to eat fresh, unprocessed food, and shares his skills with pupils. This year they have made salads, chopped vegetables and watched him make bread, which they then eat. Five other schools under the Caterlink umbrella are now using Lenny’s model.
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Puttenham Barn Bunkhouse
/in Children & nature, Green Suppliers, Transport/by Eve DelvesWhile wardening at Puttenham Bunkhouse Barn last weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Meeks, its founder, who spent many years as editor with Cycling UK, (Cyclists’ Touring Club), and who, aged 16, was the youngest elected member of the YHA’s management team here in the south-east.
Sitting relaxed in the sunshine, amid butterflies and flowers, wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Wilderness not woodchips”, Chris continues to share his passions.
He’s an astonishing example of how one person can inspire a generation. The bunkhouse began life as an idea: finding a place, negotiating the lease with Guildford Borough Council, raising £130,000, removing a huge cattle trough and digging out the floor to lower it by 50 cm. The eventual opening in 2005 was achieved thanks to enormous input from a team of volunteers, including John Bannister, an alternative technology expert.
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It’s Crystal Clear…We have a water crisis (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Climate change, Ecology/by Eve DelvesA surprise from a zoom I attended last week was that many people are unaware that we have a real water crisis here in Horsham District, the first ever in the UK on this scale. The huge water shortfall means that all building work is now on hold while solutions are sought.
Southern Water provide drinking water for over a million properties, and remove and recycle the waste water of almost five million people. Quite a task!
Although we have 205 reservoirs, this provides only 7% of our water. The majority comes from underground aquifers, with around 25% being taken from rivers.
The cost of this service from 2020-2025 is around £1,000 per property, with improvements ranging from digitisation, artificial intelligence and machine learning to re-vamping the 3,500 pumping stations and 40,000 kilometres of sewers. Over a thousand options are being modelled including banning non-essential water use and building a desalination plant at Shoreham.
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Beach clean & Art to highlight plastic waste in Eastbourne
/in Children & nature, Youth Eco Forum/by Eve DelvesRead more
Youth in Action (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Youth Eco Forum/by Eve Delves“Whilst it’s true that you can only do so much alone, by coming together, we can find ways to reduce the human impact on climate change and make a positive difference.” says founder member Catherine Sleeman. “The idea was to bring us together and give us space to speak about issues important to us and operate independently.”
The forum was initially set up as a fortnightly Zoom meeting during lockdown and is an easy way for young people from across a wide area of Horsham District and beyond to meet.
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Play with Plastic Free July (First Published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Climate change, Refill/by Eve DelvesGoing plastic free for a whole 31 days does sound pretty daunting, some would argue impossible, but it’s a great opportunity to get a little creative, learn something new and hopefully pick up a couple of new habits you can stick to. It’s like diet and exercise, if you’re not enjoying it and it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle you’re unlikely to carry on with it.
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Why the UK Energy Price Hikes & Energy Shortages?
/in Climate change, Energy, Green Suppliers/by Carrie CortMultiple factors are behind the gas price increases. Geopolitical pressures, including high demand for gas from Asia and low supply from Russia, as well as last year’s cold winter, which left gas stocks low, are among the main reasons.
Other countries, such as Norway and Germany, have done a much better job of moving away from gas-fired heating and adopting electric heat pumps, meaning consumers are less exposed to price leaps. Many energy companies have gone bust in recent months and new suppliers have had to purchase gas and electricity on the wholesale market. Britain’s entire energy market needs modernising. Read more
Climate Change hits Sussex as UK Declares First Red Extreme Heat Warning
/in Climate change, Take Action/by Eve DelvesThe national emergency came only a day after Sussex Green Living’s CEO Carrie Cort, her son and the charity’s Youth Eco Forum leader Tash Barns joined ‘Zero Hour’, a coalition of UK campaigners, world-leading scientists, academics and members of the public in Victoria Tower Garden next to the House of Lords in Westminster.
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The Importance of Rainforests (First Published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Climate change, Ecology/by Eve DelvesIt has been like having parallel lives.
The UK has one of lowest levels of tree cover in Europe at 13%, globally ranking 136th out of 189 countries. Looking down from a plane over our green desert fields, we can see how few trees there really are with only tiny patches of ancient woodland remaining, maybe unaware that here in England our level of biodiversity is painfully low. Although the woodland cover has doubled in the last 100 years this is mainly with non-native conifer plantations, where very little diversity can exist.
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