Green Matters
Pin a winner
New mums and dads could win £100 of Marks and Spencer vouchers by being the 1,000th Hackney parent to make the switch to real nappies.
So far, 950 people in the borough have signed up to dispense with disposables and choose real nappies instead for their young ones, saving an estimated £500 each.
With every baby using a total of around 5,000 disposable nappies, the result is eight million being thrown away every day in the UK.
The carbon footprint of real nappies can be up to 40 per cent less than using disposable ones if some simple steps are followed, such as using A+ rated washing machines and airdrying them instead of using a tumble drier.
The Council can also help cloth nappy converts with a £54 cash incentive to put towards washing costs.
The Hackney Real Nappy Network is a group of parents using real cloth nappies that holds regular informal Nappy Natters drop-in events.
More information
For further details call Real Nappies for London on: 020 7324 4709; or visit www.realnappiesforlondon.org.uk
Cook with a crowd
If you’re beginning to tire of chomping your way through mounds of winter vegetables, head to Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market for some inspiration.
Market Chef aims to help people inspire each other with local food knowledge, rather than stay at home with celebrity chefs.
The theme of the next event will be troublesome vegetables – such as curly kale.
All food will be made from produce on sale on the day. It will be cooked in an outside kitchen, and as well as watching the demonstrations, visitors will be able to taste the final dishes and give their verdict.
Residents are also being invited to take part in the event as cooks. The market takes place every Saturday from 10am-2.30pm at William Patten School, Stoke Newington Church Street.
More information
For the next date, or if you would like to take part call: 0207 502 7588 or email: growcomm@growingcommunities.org
Talking about change
More than 200 people packed into Abney Hall to find out how Stoke Newington could become a beacon of sustainability.
The Transition Towns event on 18 January saw community groups, social enterprises and Council officers discussing energy conservation, waste reduction, recycling, and sustainable transport.
The event was part of a national campaign to get people thinking about long-term reduction in energy use, as well as developing local projects.
It is hoped Stoke Newington can become a Transition Town, and those gathered also heard from a successful sister project in Brixton, south London.
The Council supports a number of waste-cutting schemes, including furniture reuse; Give or Take days; and subsidised compost bins and wormeries.
More information
Visit: www.transitiontowns.org.uk or email: transitiontownstokenewington@yahoo.co.uk
You can find waste reduction tips on the Waste Reduction page.
Tree-mendous
Volunteers who give up their time to protect the borough’s trees, looked back on a successful 2008 as they led more than 50 people on a guided walk in Abney Park Cemetery on New Year’s Day.
The Tree Musketeers collected a well-earned gong from City Hall in December at the Greater London Assembly and Forestry Commission’s first awards for the capital’s tree and woodland projects.
Long-serving Musketeers Eugene Clerkin, Bay Leahy, Mike Trier and Russell Miller accepted the award – which is on display in Hackney Central Library – on behalf on more than 500 volunteers. Eugene said: “It is very gratifying to be acknowledged after working so hard to improve trees in Hackney.”
The Musketeers, who began life as Hackney Tree Wardens in 1998, were chosen by a judging panel that included representatives of the Forestry Commission and Woodland Trust.
As well as holding regular walks and work days in Hackney’s green spaces, they have created tree maps of the borough, and produce an annual tree calendar. They have successfully replanted Stoke Newington Common with 66 new trees and begun replanting Hackney Downs and Springfield Park.
More information
For further details and calendar stockists call: 020 8985 5008; email: tm@km551818.demon.co.uk; or visit: www.hackneyenvironment.org.uk/TM
Transition town
Stoke Newington is taking a big step towards sustainability by becoming a ‘transition town’.
The aim is for local people to come together and deal with concerns about climate change and peak oil – the point in the future when world oil production enters a terminal decline.
The scheme will look at ideas such as locally focused food-growing, energy conservation and micro-generation, sustainable transport, shopping, and waste reduction.
The project will be launched on 18 January in Abney Hall, Stoke Newington Church Street, from 3pm to 5pm.
Council officers will attend the event. Various local groups are expected to take part, and likeminded people are invited to get involved.
For more info email: transitiontownstokenewington@yahoo.co.uk
Switch on to electrical recycling
If you got the latest upgrade to an electrical item this Christmas, or are planning to bag a bargain this month, don’t let your old model go to waste.
The Council, in partnership with the North London Waste Authority, has joined forces with high street retailers to help people recycle their old electrical goods.
Nearly 40 stores, including Apple, PC World, Carphone Warehouse, Currys and Aldi are offering to take electrical waste in store when someone buys a new item.
Up to 154 million small electrical products were bought in the UK last year – weighing a staggering 551,000 tonnes in total. But, in the same period, only 56,000 tonnes of small electrical items were recycled.
If your goods are still in working order, you could also post them on Freecycle, an online network where people can give away items they no longer want for free in their area.
The Council also offers a free removal service for bulky items like fridges.
More information
For a full list of retailers accepting goods visit: www.recyclenow.com; Visit Freecycle at: www.freecycle.org; for a bulky item collection call: 020 8356 668.
Young minds help us think green
Dedicated students have won a grant from the UK’s biggest volunteering charity to create an educational campaign that encourages people to think about the environment.
CSV awarded the £500 cash to Our Lady’s Convent High School, Stoke Newington, as part of a national scheme for young campaigners who want to bring about powerful change locally or globally.
The project involves pupils organising games, activities and talks for a community challenge day, which will raise awareness of the benefits of recycling and show how everyone can contribute to tackling global warming.
Supervising teacher, Vikki Barrowcliff, said:
“The girls were so excited and overjoyed when I told them the news. Our aim with the grant is to educate and enable others to have a voice and choice on protecting the environment.”
Year 10 pupils Inez Sarkodee-Adoo, Shaunette Vincent, Jonelle Telles and Ebony Harding will be leading the challenge day.
They have until April to successfully carry out their campaigns and evaluate their success.
CSV awarded ten grants nationwide, together with the Association for Citizenship Teaching, to mark the 10th anniversary of Sir Bernard Crick’s recommendation to include citizenship as a subject in the curriculum.
Funding for farm
Hackney City Farm has won £20,000 to develop a community carbon reduction scheme.
The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) whittled 500 entries in its ‘Big Green Challenge’ down to ten finalists, including the Goldsmiths Row farm.
Finalists were given the cash to put an eco-friendly project idea into practice for a year. The best one will be awarded a whopping £1million in prize-money.
The farm has until October to demonstrate its ‘Back 2 Earth’ project should be the winner.
It aims to ‘demystify and enthuse our community’ with its ‘60 steps to 60 per cent carbon reduction’.
To do this, the farm is recruiting and training 15 green ambassadors in the 60 steps, who will go on to develop their own schemes across the borough and pass on knowledge about biodiesel, growing food and alternative energy installation.
Over the year, the farm will be hosting events, training and information on simple steps everyone can take towards reducing their carbon footprint.
More information
Visit: www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk or: www.biggreenchallenge.org.uk
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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