Here are Thames Water top ten water saving tips:

Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth

A running tap uses six litres of water per minute

Have a refreshing shower instead of a bath

This can save over 300 litres of water per week.
But be careful - a power shower can use more water than a bath!

Fit a Save-a-Flush device to your toilet cistern

A bag of harmless crystals which saves one litre of water per flush
 Order a free cistern device

Fully load your washing machine

A full load uses less water than two half loads

Keep a jug of water in the fridge

Then there is no need to run the water until it gets cold

Don't leave the tap running to clean dishes or vegetables

Use a bowl of water instead

Fix leaking taps

A dripping tap can waste 140 litres of water per week

Order a water butt

Collect rainwater to use on your plants and lawn saves litres
of treated tap water
 Order a discounted water butt

Use a bucket when you wash your car

This uses up to 125 litres less water than a hosepipe does

Water your garden in the early morning or late evening

Minimising evaporation from the soil

There is lots more good information on the Thames Water site: http://www.thameswater.co.uk

Turn off the heat when sleeping and away from home. Keep it at 13 when home

Borrow an electricity meter

Boil only as much water as needed

Turn off lights

Put in low energy bulbs

Get a veg box to eat locally and in season

Get milk delivered – no plastic bottles

Call catalogue companies to cancel delivery of them

Buy yogurt from Brixton Market in reusable glass containers

Install radiator panels

Have lambeth collect moth-eaten woolens for recycling

Install secondary glazing

Put cling film on windows

Compost using bokashi box

Buy veg and fruit without packaging

Share rides

Do the school run by bicycle

Commit to limiting air travel to one roundtrip a year

Put in a front door curtain

Switch to a renewable energy supplier

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/feb/03/milkman-milkround-doorstep-delivery

Update on milk delivery to your door.

Here's an opportunity to get local schools growing food!  Get in touch with your local school and ask how you can help.

Press release from the mayor's office:

Blue Peter gardener lends support for campaign to recruit young growers

London's primary school children are being encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables by the Mayor, Boris Johnson, through a new Capital Growth schools competition launched today (Thursday 21 January).

The Mayor has written to all 2300 plus primary schools in the capital urging them to create thriving food gardens. Schools with existing gardens will be encouraged to start growing food, expand their plots or start planting food from scratch. The competition has the support of Chris Collins, the Blue Peter gardener, who will visit one of the winning schools.

Judging London’s top school gardens will be Rosie Boycott, the chair of London Food, Peter Holman, CEO of London in Bloom, Katie Law from the Evening Standard and a representative of London Food Link, the charity that manage Capital Growth.

There are three categories: 'Bugs and Slugs' (a garden focused on biodiversity); 'Collect and Create' (a garden encouraging the reuse and recycling of 'waste' items); 'Climate Cool' (a garden designed to cope with a changing climate). The top food growing schools in each category will win a visit by a celebrity gardener, cash prizes of £500, plants and a wormery. There will also be prizes for 12 runners up including fruit and vegetable packs and gardening tools. The first 50 schools to register will receive a Spring sowing selection of organic seeds from Duchy Originals.

Boris Johnson, said: 'What better way to bring alive elements of the school curriculum than through hands - on experience in growing your own grub. There is much top notch work taking place by green fingered teachers and pupils across the capital already, which I salute. We want to help cultivate this growing appetite for locally grown food, reward the top performers and bring more schools into the Capital Growth fold. Whether tending plots in some paint pots or on the perimeter of a playing field, food growing in our schools will help make London a more pleasant place whilst giving our kids a lifelong skill.'

Rosie Boycott, who launched the competition by helping pupils from Ambler School in Finsbury Park plant their new garden, said: 'It has been shown that kids who grow their own go on to eat more healthily and appreciate good, nourishing food. Many kids in London don't know the magic of seeing a seed flourish into an item you can eat, or even the names of common vegetables. This is what we want to help schools conjure up to create a city of micro farms.'

Chris Collins, said: 'I've been fortunate enough to engage children in the fine art of gardening for a number of years now. It is a subject that comes naturally to them. Let’s take advantage of this and use the vehicles of growing food and the school environment to improve their lives, both in terms of the food they consume and their physical and spiritual well being.'

By entering the competition schools can help meet Capital Growth's target to create 2012 community food growing spaces by 2012. Schools will receive a welcome pack, access to curriculum links, lesson planners, volunteers, practical support and advice, help with getting discounts on gardening items and free materials plus opportunities to apply for small grants.

Capital Growth was launched in 2008 by Rosie and Mayor, Boris Johnson, to boost grow your own in the capital. Managed by London Food Link, part of Sustain, it now has more than 160 spaces already being cultivated across the capital in a diverse range of places including schools and canal banks, roofs, private gardens open to the community and parks.  Capital Growth is also working with large organisations such as Transport for London and British Waterways along with borough food growing programmes such as Edible Islington.

Prizes and support for the competition are being provided by London in Bloom (www.londoninbloom.co.uk); Garden Organic (www.gardenorganic.org.uk); the Royal Horticultural Society (www.rhs.org.uk); Fiskars (www.fiskarsgarden.co.uk) Wiggly Wigglers (www.wigglywigglers.co.uk); School Food Matters (www.schoolfoodmatters.com) and Rocket Gardens (www.rocketgardens.co.uk)

For more information or to register, visit: www.capitalgrowth.org/schools

Thursday, February 11, 2010, 7-9pm

Methodist Church Hall, Half Moon Lane, Herne Hil

The Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes will be there to talk about Copenhagen and next steps. Also: "The meeting will also hear from councillors from Lambeth and Southwark on what can be done at local level to make sure we do our bit to address the climate change problem."

Our eco team is working to reduce our rubbish this month. Everyone already recycles all Lambeth accepts, and many people take other plastics to Sainsbury’s (they have big bins at the back of the parking lot for things like yogurt pots and plastic bags).

We talked about a great way to compost food waste – even cooked food. It is a bin about the size of a microwave called a Bokashi. It has no smell! Wiggly Wiggler’s sells them - http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop/category.html?activecategory_id=16&-session=shopper:5EB9B05F02dbe25BAAumVn7F58B5.  a wormery which is useful for creating both composted soil and ‘worm juice’ which is used as a feed for plants. It can be also be bought  from Wiggly Wigglers

Then we talked about reducing rubbish by trying to reduce packaging. Buying local is a great way to do this:

• farmers market in Brixton on Sunday mornings (10-14) is excellent and it is convenient that it is every week. We buy as much as we can from there including yoghurt in glasses so no plastic to recycle

• ·It seems that the green grocer in Herne Hill is being managed by someone else, and the produce is much improved (and packaging free).  They had nice jerusalem artichokes the other day.
• Pretty Traditional on North Cross Road has great packaging-free veg
• The butcher uses less packaging than the grocery store.
• SMBS Foods (Lordship Lane) will refill Ecover dishwashing bottles.
• Dairy Crest reuses their bottles.

Buying a veg box is another great way to get packaging-free (and local and seasonal) veg.  http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/ I’m a Riverford fan - http://www.riverford.co.uk  also, dairy crest do an organic veg box

Buying in bulk is another good way to reduce packaging (and save money!) Our team is going to organise a bulk buy from Suma http://www.sumamarket.coop.

We are considering having a street sale in the spring – have a clear out and sell or give away your stuff.  freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/ and ebay are also a good way of avoiding putting things in the skip.

To reduce junk mail: get a “no junk mail” sticker from the library and register with the Mailing Preference Service - http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/. One team member also called all the catalogues she receives to ask them to stop sending them.

Our team is going to write a letter to Sainsbury’s on behalf of our team to tell them that we are going to shop elsewhere in an effort to reduce packaging. 

www.bigbarn.co.uk – if you type in your postcode you can find local food suppliers

Recycled A4 printer paper and envelopes from http://rps.gn.apc.org/

If you’re interested in green building materials, the Ecobuild exhibition is at Earls Court at the beginning of March.  If you are interested you can register for free at http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/register.html.

Our eco team is tackling energy reduction this month, so I've compiled a list of energy saving measures (largely taken from the Energy Saving Trust website).The savings are based on a mid-terrace 3 bedroom house with gas heating.

Wall insulation

• Install solid wall insulation (internal) £ 230 savings 1,247 kg of CO2
• Install solid wall insulation (external) £ 250 savings 1,325 kg of CO2

Loft insulation

• Install loft insulation to 270mm £ 160 savings 884 kg of CO2
• Top up your loft insulation to 270mm £ 50 savings 247 kg of CO2

Double glazing

• Install double glazing £ 100 savings 532 kg of CO2

Draught proofing

• Fit draught proofing £ 20 savings 127 kg of CO2

Floor insulation

• Install floor insulation £ 30 savings 179 kg of CO2

Tanks and pipe insulation

• Fit a hot water tank jacket £ 40 savings 192 kg of CO2
• Insulate your primary pipe work £ 10 savings 62 kg of CO2

Energy Saving Recommended products

• Fridge freezer £ 40 savings 138 kg of CO2
• Upright/chest freezer £ 20 savings 82 kg of CO2
• Refrigerator £ 10 savings 47 kg of CO2
• Dishwasher £ 10 savings 48 kg of CO2
• Integrated Digital Television £ 10 savings 23 kg of CO2

Heating

• Install a condensing A rated boiler with heating controls £ 160 savings 881 kg of CO2
• hink about which rooms you need to heat and when; if you are gone during the day, set the timer on your boiler to go off during the day. If you have an unused guest room, turn off the radiator and shut the door.

Fit energy saving light bulbs

• Fit energy saving lightbulbs in your home £ 40 savings 135 kg of CO2

Simple tips

• Turn down your thermostat by 1°C £ 30 savings 169 kg of CO2
• Turn appliances off and avoid standby £ 30 savings 126 kg of CO2
• Wash your laundry at 30°C £ 10 savings 44 kg of CO2
• Only boil as much water as you need £ 10 savings 28 kg of CO2
• Drive efficiently
• Always turn off your lights when you leave a room £ 10 savings 24 kg of CO2
• Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.
• If possible, fill up the washing machine or dishwasher: one full load uses less energy than two half loads.
• Don’t use a tumble dryer! Air dry your clothes; they will last longer as well.
• Wash your clothes at 30 degrees.
• Don’t buy bottled water. Water is very heavy and energy-intensive to transport and bottle. For less than £100 you can install a water filter on your tap if you don’t like the taste of tap water.  Buy a reusable water bottle to carry with you.
• Clean water takes energy to produce as well as heat. As well as taking short showers rather than baths, you can restrict flow to your taps by installing an aerator. There is information about a number of ways to save water on the Thames Water website: http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/9047.htm.

Interested in sustainability? Carbon reduction? Transition towns? Let's start a conversation in Herne Hill!

To kick off, we'll be screening The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, an inspirational film about how a community responded to the challenges of living with less energy.

Documentary Film Screening: The Power of Community
upstairs at the Prince Regent, 69 Dulwich Rd
Tuesday, November 24 - drinks at 7pm, film at 8pm

Shane Collins will be there to introduce the film and for Q&A afterwards. And Danielle from The Wave will have a brief talk about the events planned for December 5th in advance of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

Herne Hill Green Drinks: This will be the first Herne Hill Green Drinks, subsequently to be held on a Wednesday at the Prince Regent. Green Drinks is an opportunity for environmentally minded people to meet up in an unstructured way to share ideas, information, and inspiration.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

Documentary Film Screening upstairs at the Prince Regent, 69 Dulwich Rd
Tuesday, November 24 - drinks at 7pm, film at 8pm

Please join us for a screening of The Power of Community, an inspirational film about how a community responded to the challenges of living with less energy.

“When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call ‘The Special Period.’ The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.” - http://www.powerofcommunity.org
 
Herne Hill Green Drinks: This will be the first Herne Hill Green Drinks, subsequently to be held on a Wednesday at the Prince Regent. Green Drinks is an opportunity for environmentally minded people to meet up in an unstructured way to share ideas, information, and inspiration.