Taking action grid
Oxford Travel Options website launches
Making space for nature in north Oxford: Alexandra Park needs your help!
Next spring will mark the 100th anniversary of Alexandra Park, possibly Oxford’s oldest public park, situated between Middle Way and Woodstock Road, just a block from Summertown’s shops. Over the past four years local volunteers have been working to transform the park into a welcoming, safe place for people of all ages – a place to meet friends or enjoy quiet contemplation, to rest and to play, and to connect with nature. More projects are planned, including a community sensory garden and haven for local biodiversity. Summertown and St Margaret’s Neighbourhood Forum are now calling for more people to join them and to be part of next summer’s Centenary celebrations. Email the Forum (sstmnf.secretary@gmail.com) if you would like to find out more.
Continue readingCome and meet us at the North Parade Market!
Air pollution in Oxford – what we can do about it
We’re lucky to live in a beautiful city – but there’s no escaping the fact that transport has become a hot topic across Oxford, including in our community in north Oxford.
Air pollution from motor traffic is a major issue, particularly for children and older people:
- A 2019 study found that, in Oxford, roadside air pollution stunts lung growth in children by 14.1%.
- Another recent study found that “[a]ir pollution from traffic is linked to some of the more severe forms of dementia“.
- And conversely, hospital admissions for asthma in Oxford dropped by 41% as air pollution from traffic fell during Covid lockdown.
NEW! Housewarming Guide 7 on Electricity, Appliances and Home Renewables
We are excited to launch our seventh Housewarming Guide: Electricity, Appliances and Home Renewables.
Our first six Housewarming Guides focused on how to reduce heat loss and how best to heat your home to achieve the lowest carbon emissions and costs. This guide focuses on saving money and reducing carbon emissions from electricity use. Find out how you can:
- use electricity more efficiently in your electrical appliances; and
- generate electricity at home through renewable sources.
Take action for sustainable fashion
Fast Fashion is harming the planet
The fashion industry accounts for:
- 20% of industrial water pollution
- up to 35% of ocean micro plastics
- 4% of global fresh water use
- 4-8% of global carbon emissions
Three out of five items of clothing end up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being produced. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned.
We can all buy less, repair more and buy second-hand. And we can call for change across the fashion industry.
Write to your favourite Oxford shops to demand better
As part of Great Big Green Week, Low Carbon Oxford North have compiled a directory of Oxford shops that score poorly on sustainability and ethical ratings (based on rating website Good On You), together with contact details and a template email and social media message.
Continue readingImproving your home to use less energy – recording, slides and summary of event
Jointly hosted by Low Carbon Oxford North and Low Carbon West Oxford on 19 May, our final ‘Spring Workshop’ from Communities for Zero Carbon Oxford looked at ‘Improving your home to use less energy’.
We were delighted to be joined by a wonderful group of expert contributors as well as ‘real people’ who had carried out extensive retrofits to their homes:
- Brenda Boardman (Oxford University’s ECI, LCON trustee, and Woman’s Hour ‘2020 Power List for Our Planet’ Innovator)
- Saskya Huggins (Low Carbon Hub)
- Gary Irvine, former Home Energy Assessor
- home owners Damian Ryan and Will Schreiber
You can access a recording of the event and slides on Low Carbon West Oxford’s website, along with links to the slides and videos of the other events in the series.
Continue readingTalking waste and climate – tips and resources from our recent workshop
Our second ‘Spring Workshop’ from Communities for Zero Carbon Oxford (hosted by Low Carbon West Oxford) took place this week, ‘Talking climate and waste’. It was great to explore different aspects of consumption and waste with a fantastic team of experts, including Anaïs Bozetine from Replenish, Jenny Figueiredo, formerly at WRAP, and Mark Watson, Waste Strategy Projects Officer at Oxfordshire County Council.
A recording of the event and slides are available on the Low Carbon West Oxford website.
Continue readingSustainable fashion – time for more action!
Many of you will remember our Sustainable Fashion webinar last summer, with Kim Polgreen (Sustainability Educator) and Stephen Cawley (former Head of Sustainability at John Lewis).
We’re launching an information campaign on Sustainable Fashion
There was so much interest in both the live event and subsequent video that we’ve decided to launch an information campaign: we want to continue our discussion of the environmental impacts of the clothing sector – and what we can do about it.
Continue reading