Thursday 23 December 2010

Adessi 10:10 - A Very Green Christmas

It is difficult to forget about our green pledges and 10:10 activity at this time of year, the snow and ice outside makes it ever so tempting to turn the heating on full blast all day long, and the importance placed on presents and cards mean we buy (and often forget to recycle) tons of wrapping paper and cards.

However, Children's ITV have taken full advantage of the excitement of Santa visiting to teach children about green issues. The site 'Mission Green Santa' is a fun and interactive website which runs alongside a TV programme for 5-11 year olds. Kids are encouraged to make daily, monthly and yearly pledges to help stop Santa's runway from melting. The pledges range from 'Have a shower instead of a bath' to 'Have a big chat with your family about how you can save energy' and 'Ask your parents to help you grow your own veg'. By making pledges children can earn 'greenies' which they can spend in the virtual shop on green items to help the elves and Santa. I think this is a fantastic idea, as it makes being green and saving energy really fun for kids, and it will also result in a strong emotional reaction because every kid wants to make sure Santa can bring them their presents on Christmas day!

A way of being green for us adults this Christmas is recycling Christmas cards, it can be so tempting just to throw them all away with the huge amount of Christmas rubbish, but this year it is easier than ever! The Woodland Trust are looking for you to recycle your Christmas cards so they can plant more trees. Recycle your cards this January in special bins in TK Maxx, M&S and HomeSense stores and the stores will donate money to the Woodland Trust which we will use for planting trees.

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Adessi 10:10 - Baby it's cold inside the office


The staff at the Newcastle Adessi office proved North East residents have a high tolerance towards the cold when we survived a day without any heating, despite the plummeting temperatures outside.

As we sat at our desks in several layers and even fingerless gloves there were similarities between our office and that of Scrooge and Bob Cratchit’s. However unlike Bob we weren’t the victims of a cruel boss trying to save money, we were showing our promise to be more environmentally friendly.

The measure was prompted after we felt we had been using the heating excessively and had neglected any targets we had set as part of the 10/10 initiative.
It wasn’t an easy task, there was some complaining and lots of cold fingers but we have hopefully reduced our carbon footprint, if only for one day.

Now we braved the cold we want businesses to follow our example and get involved in the 10/10 initiative. Perhaps they can incorporate it into their 2011 New Year’s resolutions.

So have a go, if you think you are hard enough.

Adessi 10:10 - Living in the Future

I saw this story in the Metro on my way to work this morning and thought I'd share it with all of you:

A couple are living one hour ahead of the rest of the nation to improve their health - and wallets. For the past four years, Janys and John Warren have set their clocks to British Summertime. The retired couple from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, began the experiment to ease Mr Warren's cluster headaches - a condition thought to be triggered by a change in the clocks. Besides better health, we have 'lower fuel bills and far more usable daylight hours', said Mrs Warren, 66.

 - Metro, Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 (Page 11)

I'm assuming the story has come from 10:10 and the Lighter Later campaign, and it is great to highlight how people can benefit from not changing the clocks in ways that are not immediately obvious.

Laura

Monday 6 December 2010

Adessi 10:10 - Support for Lighter Later

As firm supporters of the 10:10 initiative and their Lighter Later campaign we were delighted to hear last week that the Daylight Savings Bill had passed it's second reading.

The legislation could lead to a trial shift of the UK's clocks forward by an hour, which would result in us having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings all year round. The bill passed its second reading by 92 votes to 10 and will now proceed to the committee stage. Conservative MP Rebecca Harris made a rousing speech highlighting the amount of support the bill has from a wide variety of people, organisations and businesses: ""The fact that daylight saving has been championed by people all over the country and across the political spectrum suggests that it is not a party political issue. Honourable members will note the remarkable range of more than 300 organisations backing the bill as part of the Lighter Later coalition".

Lighter Later campaign manager Daniel Vockins said: "Britain may be blanketed in snow today, but the nation is one giant step closer to having more sunshine in our lives. This bill is proof that you can tackle climate change whilst making society better and happier."