A walking school bus involves parents taking turns to accompany children to school on foot, stopping along the way to collect other children to join the convoy. One parent takes on the running of the line: drawing up a timetable, registering the children, general planning. The other parents are ‘conductors’ and take turns safely bussing the children to school.
The walking school bus Lire la suite »
Ask your local authorities to serve vegetarian meals in schools and other institutional settings requiring collective catering. Ask your local authorities to take steps to combat food waste in collective catering. Ask your local authorities to offer school meals made from organic products.
Sustainable food in collective catering Lire la suite »
A community garden is a garden that is collectively designed, built and maintained by the residents of a neighbourhood or village. You can find starter guides, technical information and various resources on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website – click here.
Community gardens Lire la suite »
For people who do not have access to a garden, communal compost is an interesting solution in several respects: learning a new skill, potentially initiating a mutually beneficial exchange with your neighbours, producing you own compost for your indoor plants or for shared greens, contributing to better managing your immediate environment, and reducing your waste disposal costs.
Communal compost Lire la suite »
Waste can be found on country roads, city streets and even in the oceans. More and more collective clean-up events are being organised. The goal? To clear a particular area of rubbish and strengthen community bonds by taking part in a unifying activity. At your level, you can either look up waste collection initiatives near you or organise a collective clean-up operation in your neighbourhood with the help of a local association or school, for example. The first step is to identify and demarcate the area that you wish to clean and set a date. Then you need to spread word of your event to ensure that as many people as possible participate. Finally, you should let your local authorities know about your event in order to properly demarcate the targeted area and ensure that the collected rubbish can be disposed of safely. Certain precautionary measures should be taken during clean-up events, namely wearing gloves and closed shoes to avoid any injuries caused by sharp or dangerous objects.
Collective clean-up events Lire la suite »
Cities tend to experience temperatures 2 to 3°C higher than rural areas. Urban greenery helps to reduce this ‘heat island’ effect. Initiatives to make cities greener can be led by residents as well as local authorities. You can plant trees in the streets, introduce greenery to roundabouts or road verges and climbing plants to facades, or plant flowers around the bases of trees in public spaces. Many local councils are supporting residents and setting up programmes specifically to this effect. Some are even organising calls for projects to finance citizen-led initiatives. Other possible actions: Ask your local authorities to set up wildlife crossings. Ask your local authorities to make street furniture greener. Ask your local authorities to replace tarmac with other surfacing materials that have a higher reflective coefficient and are more permeable.
Green your street Lire la suite »
Certain cities also have borough or neighbourhood councils, which either serve to make decisions at a more local level or to act as an interface between residents and elected officials. Example: London – click here
Borough or neighbourhood councils Lire la suite »
Your local authority may create spaces for shared governance and public consultation, especially when implementing its climate strategy or launching new urban development projects. Example: London – City Hall consultations and CLC consultations
Public consultations Lire la suite »
Example: *- London City Hall – click here for the Climate Action Strategy and here for the 2018 London Environment Strategy
Council website Lire la suite »
Seek out your council or city hall’s transport strategy to gain insight into what your local authorities are doing to make transport and traffic greener and more accessible. You can also find out more about all available transport options on your council or city hall’s website. Example: London City Hall, click here for Transport and here for the Mayor’s 2018 Transport Strategy
Council website Lire la suite »
