SAVING THE WORLD starts at home

This April will mark 50 years of the international environmental event Earth Day. Now more than ever, we know that we all have our part to play in combating the climate emergency. So what can we do in our communities and at home?

- Jenny Mark-Bell

Carrie Cort heads up Sussex Green Living, a Horsham-based network offering advice on living more sustainably. She says enquiries have risen steeply in the past couple of years, which she attributes to television shows such as Blue Planet and Drowning in Plastic, as well as activism by Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion.

When asked for her top tips for individuals, Carrie says: “Think about waste reduction: using less; powering down; insulating up. I went to a Zero Carbon Britain course in December about how the UK can achieve zero emissions by 2030 and one of the big messages I took away from that was that although we need to push for new housing stock to be built as sustainably as possible, insulating and powering down existing stock is crucial: double-glazing, cavity wall insulation, the roof, underfloor heating where possible – and try to use less energy, whether it’s clean renewable or not.”

BHESCo (Brighton and Hove Energy Services Co-operative) advises customers on improving their energy efficiency. Their largest project to date has been enabling local schools such as Brunswick Primary School to save money on energy by installing solar panels. Another of their more ambitious projects is working with villagers in Firle to find alternatives to oil-fired heating, which the government wants to phase out by 2030.