Household Challenges: how to take part
Watch out for your card
Challenge cards have been delivered to letterboxes with your Stay Local around 4/5 May, as well as school book bags and given out at our launch (27th April) and a few other places.
They advertise the following challenges.
Commit to 3 of the easy challenges below, then put the card in your window to show your support for our community to tackle climate change.
We are counting the cards 25th May to 9th June, with the aim of 15% of all homes displaying one. We have support from a university to calculate CO2 saved!
If you can help us count the cards in your road please Contact us
Didn't get a card? Collect one from the Community Centre and local shops (Co-op, Barnards, Kassia, Fish and chip shop, Grandeur Beauty, Grosvenor Physiotherapy, Bellissimo, Hebe, and Ginos) or you can Print your own.
Challenge 1: Help wildlife
Create a 1m square garden space/window box for nature
You could:
Leave an area untended for nature to do its thing! Leave grass and wild plants (aka weeds) to grow. Leave dead leaves and twigs. You could even make a small pile of old logs or twigs and leaves. Make sure everyone knows not to tend it.
Create a pollinator patch with wildflowers.
This will contribute to our pollinator corridors project
Contact us if you need some seeds.
Make a small pond perhaps from an old washing up bowl
Window box: Turn an old washing up bowl or other container into a container garden for wildflowers.
Challenge 2: Grow food
Grow some salad on your windowsill and eat it
See our guide from Garden Organic.
Contact us if you need some seeds.
You could also grow pea shoots with cheap marrowfat peas from the supermarket and have harvests within 2-3 weeks!
Challenge 3: Save energy
Only boil the water you need
Only filling the kettle to the level of water you need could save £37 a year according to our experts.
This is because heating water is typically the most intensive use of energy in the home.
It helps to keep the kettle scale free.
Challenge 4: Prevent waste
Reduce food waste by storing food correctly
Set your fridge to 5C
Store fruit and vegetables correctly: keep them in the fridge, except for: unripe bananas, onions and whole pineapples
You can also set yourself a reminder if food needs eating soon.
Challenge 5: Protect health
Have 3 conversations about climate change
As the saying goes, it's good to talk.
Talk about any concerns you may have about climate change, and how you feel.
You could talk to friends, neighbours, work colleagues, or school friends.
If the person might have a different opinion to yours, this short video might help.
You could talk about:
Your feelings
News reports that concern you
"I'm feeling worried about climate change, how do you feel about it ?"
"I'm concerned that it will affect my children's future"
Did you know ticks are more common now because of climate change?
Do you know when and how to check for them? And why you should?
Greening Denmead
The challenges you are doing (including this one!)
Why the card is in your window
A community project that you're excited about
Want to achieve even more?
So do we!
Find out about our community projects