Wednesday 6 October 2010

What are you doing on 10:10:10?

This coming Sunday is 10:10:10 (10 October 2010) and the people behind the 10:10 campaign have assigned it 'a'Global Day of Doing'. As regular readers will know, I'm signed up to the 10:10 movement and trying to do my bit to help cut carbon emissions by 10% in one year. If you haven't done anything yet, Sunday would be a great day to change that. People all around the world will be doing some sort of positive activity towards climate change.

From a low carbon lunch to making some small changes around your home or office, using public transport or bikes instead of your car, there are lots of helpful suggestions of steps you can take on the 10:10:10 site. They even have some tips specifically for families. If you decide to do something for 10:10 this Sunday (or any day), let your friends and family know and spread the word. The more people involved, the better.

Just so you know that I'm not all talk, no action, here are 5 things I've been doing this year to reduce my carbon footprint:

  1. Switching stuff off at night (kettle, toaster, anything that is on standby)

  2. Choosing train over plane for visiting my parents in France

  3. Using energy efficient lightbulbs

  4. Reducing our food waste at home

  5. Trying to waste less water (especially when washing-up)


These are 5 carbon-cutting things that I was already doing:

  1. Eating seasonal and local produce

  2. Being a vegetarian (food made from animal products causes a lot of emissions)

  3. Not owning a TV

  4. Not owning a car (we belong to a car club for those occasions when we need a car)

  5. Giving stuff away rather than throwing away (using sites such as Freecycle)


There's always more we can do! Here are 5 things I'm thinking of doing next:

  1. Turning off our hall radiator

  2. Turning our thermostat down

  3. Repairing things instead of buying new

  4. Getting a Hippo (reduces water wastage in toilet cisterms)

  5. Cutting down on our dairy intake


I hope these short lists give you some ideas and inspiration. I'd love to hear about any carbon-cutting steps you are taking or planning on taking. Do you have anything planned for 10:10:10 as part of a global day of doing?

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1 comment:

  1. There were a few things going on in our town - large scale open freecycling and a communal Guerilla gardening event... I feel that this should be a repetitive event and should perhaps happen more often! I feel inspired to do more and am going to stick a brick into the toilet cistern and make some draft-stoppers out of old socks ;)

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