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In partnership with the Royal Borough Sustainability Programme and Learning for Sustainability (LfS), Sustainable Sunningdale (SUSS), an initiative of
We are looking to build our Eco team of people ready to set an example and sign on to the commitment to reduce C02. We arrange speaker events like meeting with our MP Adam Afriyie on 24 June on climate change issues. We are seeking to support a local food enterprise so please bring us your ideas. We encourage people:
Contents of this page (latest item at the top): Climate Week (March 2012) Climate Week (12-18 March 2012) is a supercharged national occasion that offers an annual renewal The Big Connection - Climate Change Discussion with MP Adam Afriyie (June 2011) The MP for Windsor and Maidenhead, Adam Afriyie, gave the ASCENT group an hour of his time to answer questions. Meeting in
The first question was on the support from Government to Carbon Capture and Storage technology where
Adam Afriyie spoke of the importance the Prime Minister attaches to this subject and the incentives that are being created to get the public to make green choices in their energy supply and their behaviour. With a student audience in mind, he explained the processes of Parliament, the time it takes to get well-thought out legislation. He fully understood the importance of international action around the treaty to replace
It was a very good discussion. Afriyie gave us the assurance that he is on message, especially after his time as Shadow Minister with a climate change brief. He let with no doubt of the constituency pressure for measures to protect the environment and was moved to relook at the Energy Bill and other measures. The dialogue will surely continue. The bike which was an integral part of Climate Week back in March 2011 in demonstrating how much energy was required to make a smoothie put in a reappearance at the "Over the Rainbow" - Family Fun Day in June 2011. On this occasion the bike was helping to show how much effort and energy was required to run a music system or power a light bulb.
ASCENT is the Ascot Community Environment Network. It was formed in December 2010 with the objective of encouraging the local community to grow in Transition Town initiatives and environmental awareness. Click here to see its inaugural newsletter. Sustainable Sunningdale is affiliated to ASCENT. Things that you can do to start living greener ... and save money and get free stuff!! Earn rewards for weekly recycling
The more we recycle, the less is going to landfill and government taxes on landfill rise year on year, which you have to pay in your Council tax. Sign up for a FREE energy audit: save money and benefit the environment The Royal Borough’s Energy Awareness Officer will conduct a free energy audit at your home (30-45 minutes) and show you how to reduce your energy bills and to access discounts available for insulation measures, boilers and electrical items. To book your visit call the Royal Borough's Customer Service Centre on 01628 683820 asking for a Free Home Energy Visit or email customer.services@RBWM.gov.uk or pick up a brochure from the Sunningdale Parish Council Office. Support local farmers and eat locally
Visit your local Farmers’ Market, upcoming dates for June and July 2011 include: 4 June (Windsor), 12 June (Maidenhead), 19 June (
2 July (
Explore more at the Thames Valley Farmers’ Market Co-operative Web site. Recycle unwanted items and request items you need – all for FREE
Make sure that your energy bills are supporting Green Energy
Ecotricity strives to increase the proportion of green energy each year (still using some traditional fossil fuels at present). As a customer you are an investor in clean energy. Ecotricity already powers more than 43,000 homes – and all of those energy bills are being reinvested in green energy. Over the last seven years Ecotricity spent more than 50p per £1 received from electricity bills on renewable energy projects – this compared to less than 4p per £1 spent by the big energy companies. Check out more on their website. A web site called Green Electricity Marketplace helps you compare the green energy tariffs available in your postcode. The Climate Week website contains information on the plans for this important week. The Parish Council hosted a bike-powered smoothie maker from 23-25 March 2011 where you could discover how much energy you could generate to run the blender. In addition, a talk on "Climate Change - the scientific evidence" was given by Dr. Manoj Joshi in the Village Hall on Saturday 26th March, 2011. Click here to see the slides from a presentation, entitled Greening Your Commmunity, given at the NALC Larger Councils' Conference and Exhibition on December 1st, 2010 by Anne Martin (Sunningdale) and Graham Hunt (Newbury). As part of the future work of Sustainable Sunningdale the Parish has commissioned a garden for the community linked to gardening courses being run from the Pavilion from summer 2010. It is entirely funded by an Awards for All grant from the Lottery. The aim is to provide access to all, through teaching and activities, the opportunity to develop new, and relearn old, skills and an appreciation of working with nature through gardening. Our ultimate aim is to contribute to a cultural shift which draws on our heritage as a ‘nation of gardeners’ but also prepares us for the future in which locally produced food will increasingly be a part of the way we live. This is part of the wider Transition movement that is spreading across the
Graeme Kennedy, our Grounds Manager, will be arranging sessions for schoolchildren and adults at strategic points during the growing season. Full details will be available in due course.
The visit of the Eco Circus with its hour-long family show combining clowning and comedy, music and artwork to illustrate the danger of the "tipping point" and irreversible climate change took place on 24th September, 2010 with performances at 2pm and 4:30pm. Click here to read more about A Tipping Point. A colourful and noisy procession left Holy Trinity school in Sunningdale heading for the Rec and the first performance of “A Tipping Point”. In a marquee filled to capacity, the children of Holy Trinity delighted in the clowning and circus frolics and were only too ready to join in with the action and the songs. Our gallant Circus troop were ready to start again for a second showing later that afternoon, parading with song, banners and large doses of good humour into the tent. The message was clear – we are damaging the planet by the way we live and waste energy – and WE must do something about it. 22nd October 2009. Thank you for signing up to Sustainable Sunningdale. 400 people have signed up so far which is terrific. If we all do the things we have promised we would save 158 metric tonnes of CO2 in a year. This has been launched at an opportune time when the public are increasingly being made aware of the changes we all are going to have to make to protect the world from dangerous climate change. With all the publicity around the preparation for the international agreement to be reached in
Our individual actions all mount up and the collective impact of these actions could make a significant difference. Above all we are raising awareness of our need to be much more careful in our use of energy and water, and reversing the trend which shows year on year increases in use of both. If we are to leave any legacy for our children and grand-children it has to start with the amount of carbon we use today. Please encourage others in your organisation to feel they too can be part of changing our community towards a safer climate for the future. Share with us your ideas of changes that need to be made – whether reducing unnecessary lighting, encouraging cycling, and other ways we can improve our local environment. Send them in and we will see what consensus is emerging. Initial Commitment to Reduce Use of Fossil Fuels What actions are you willing to commit to take to reduce your use of fossil fuels? Tick at least 5 of the actions below and send us your email (or postal) address to Sunningdale.parish@rbwm.gov.uk so that we know the numbers who are supporting the campaign Commitment sheets will be distributed during September, starting at the launch of our renewable installations with the Mayor on 11th September and continuing at Carnival and during the Festival week. Our ambition is to have at least 500 people sign up to commit to the challenges and encourage others to participate. As alternatives to getting a commitment sheet from the Parish Council you can (a) print this page, fill in your name and contact details and hand it in to Anne Martin at the Parish Council; or (b) if you have a copy of Acrobat Reader on your PC (most people do as it is free software) then download the form, fill it in on the screen using Acrobat Reader, save the form to disk on your PC with a suitable name (e.g. mynameSUS'S_form.pdf) and finally email the Parish Council, attaching your saved form to it. Note that we do not necessarily need to know which 5 items you have signed up to. We will follow this up with other ideas and initiatives in conjunction with the Recycling Bank scheme of the Borough, and other community ideas to continue to improve our CO2 savings.
Name: I have signed up to 5 actions above: ___________ You may Email me at: (address will not be passed to anyone else) Address and phone no: (only required if you do not have email)
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SUS'S
If you haven’t already signed up for Recyclebank, you are missing out! Recyclebank is a scheme that motivates people to recycle by rewarding them with vouchers that can be redeemed at national and local businesses. It’s very simple; every week that you recycle, you can earn Recyclebank Points. You can earn rewards from Recyclebank whether you have an individual wheelie bin or a shared bin for multiple flats. All you have to do is register and each week points are added. You can convert them to reward vouchers for more than 100 goods and services ranging from food and drink, entertainment, health & beauty, photo printing and more, for example £5 voucher for a spend of £25 on M&S food for 75 points. The Website is also full of tips on green living. Go to 
Ascot Freegle is a way of recycling items you no longer need or want including furniture, a printer or even an old door. Not only are you avoiding adding to landfill but you are cutting down on use of the earth’s resources. It is also a place you can request free items from others. The only rule is that it must be FREE for the giving or taking. Think twice before throwing it out, someone else in the community may be able to use it. Join the group by signing up at 
Sunningdale Parish Council uses Ecotricity as its energy supplier as it is dedicated to increasing the supply of energy from renewable sources (like wind, sun and sea)– and it costs no more as they promise to price match the standard energy companies. It is an easy step that you can take to contribute to cleaner energy and climate change reduction by reducing green house gas emissions.
