Adessi 10:10 - Earth Hour

Earth 2011 will be taking place on 26^th March at 8.30pm – are you taking part?

Earth Hour is organised by the WWF and first started in 2007 when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses in Sydney, Australia turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.

People across the world came together in 2010 to protect our planet by turning their lights off. Darkness fell across 128 countries and iconic buildings in Europe, Asia, Africa and America were switched off.

Why not join the Earth Hour sign up challenge online, where a map of the UK indicates which areas have the most sign ups – with the Shetland Islands out in front, will you sign up to the challenge and get your hometown to the top?

You can find more information about Earth Hour and sign up here.

Adessi 10:10 - How does our behaviour affect our energy use?

An article on the BBC News website has suggested that the way people use and live in their homes has been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency.

The article which quotes research conducted by Katy Janda, a senior researcher for the UK Energy Research Centre's (UKERC) Energy Demand theme, suggests that we need to remember that there is a human side to how we live in our homes and use energy, and not everything can be addressed simply by technology.

The energy from people’s homes accounts for one quarter of the energy so it is essential that we fully understand the best to way to reduce our usage, and provide a solution which is easy for people to understand and action.

Quoting the ‘Information Deficit Model’, Janda compares our energy use to supermarket shopping, by quoting research that suggests that when people are not given prices for individual items when they shop, but just a total amount at the end of each month, they find it difficult to know where to make savings. The same principle can be applied to energy use. Many people find it difficult to reduce their energy as they don’t know where they can make savings.

One suggestion for improving this is ‘information gap’ is the use of feedback monitors, such as smart meters, which can show a homeowner can see how they are using energy, which is more important for reduction than the amount of energy being used.

Do you use a smart meter in your home? If not, do you think it would help to reduce your energy use?

Click here to read the full article.

Adessi 10:10 - Recycling on the Rise

Last week, Defra revealed that 40% of rubbish was recycled during the 12 months before June 2010, which is a 0.4% rise on the year before March 2010, and although this rise is small, it indicates 2.3% less waste.

How much do you recycle?

Websites such as www.recyclethis.co.uk give lots of tips and advice for reusing and recycling, and even offer help with reducing how much power you use. At Adessi we are all doing our bit to recycle all our paper, crisp packets and plastic bottles, but I think the focus should not only be on recyling, but reducing and reusing too.

If you have any tips for reducing and reusing in an office we would love to hear them!

Adessi 10:10 - Climate Change Awareness

How aware of climate change are you? According to recent surveys around 70% of Britons believe that global warming is caused by human activity, compared to less than half of Americans, but 80% of Brazilians. Brazilians also seem to be on par with Europeans in their belief that global warming is happening and is important, with only 10% disagreeing in both cases.  It has commonly been assumed that there is a lack of understanding of climate change in the developing world, but these results suggest otherwise.

“Brazilians remain upbeat about the future. Almost half of the interviewees said it was possible to reconcile environmental concerns and development, and more than a third agreed that all countries should contribute equally to emissions reductions — regardless of whether they are rich or poor.” (from http://www.scidev.net/en/news/brazil-beats-us-in-climate-change-awareness.html)

More than 2,000 Brazilians responded to the survey published December 2010, conducted by the National Confederation of Industries.

Our understanding of climate change and our belief in its effects on the world were further highlighted in the BBC documentary: Meet the Climate Sceptics, which aired Monday 31^st January on BBC4. The film featured Lord Christopher Monckton touring the world, and broadcasting the key arguments against man-made global warming: Do we have evidence that we are heating up the atmosphere or are we dealing with science we don’t fully understand? 

In the end Mr Monckton’s claims were found to have significant gaps in evidence and were not scientifically accurate.

You can watch Meet the Climate Sceptics on BBC iPlayer here.

So after an increasingly turbulent year in global weather patterns what do you think about climate change?

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!

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