Maidstone Weald Labour Party

GREEN ISSUES

Given are recent advert in the Downsmail we are re-issuing our most popular blogs, here is one from our enviroment correspondant Patrick Coates.

In his speech to the Labour Party Conference David Milliband said

“- one person half-filling their kettle when they have a cup of tea during the course of a year may not sound like much; but if a million people do, it would be the equivalent of taking 20 000 cars off the road- one family switching three light bulbs to low energy is hardly a revolution; but if a million people did it would be the equivalent of taking 100 000 cars off the road- cavity wall insulation costs about £150; at least that’s what I was quoted last Friday for my own home by the Energy Savings Trust; if a million of us have those walls filled it would be the equivalent of taking nearly 700 000 cars off the road.”

We agree and here is our policy is outlined below.


MAIDSTONE AND THE WEALD'S LABOUR PARTY CLIMATE PLEDGE

We are asking people to take 5 steps to change the world. *

1) DRINK UP : Pledge for a year to only fill up a kettle enough for the drink they are making, we could save almost 55,000 million cups of CO2 being released into the atmosphere.

DID YOU KNOW

One million species will be doomed to extinction in our lifetime.

2) BE BRIGHT : If one person replaced one normal light bulb with an energy-efficient one, we would save 88,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

DID YOU KNOW

One hundred million people will suffer from the effects of flooding by the end of the century.

3) SWITCH OFF : Pledge for a year to switch of their TV instead of leaving on standby, we would save 60,000 tonnes of CO2.

DID YOU KNOW
If we can get the Climate Change Bill passed we will save more than 3 Billion tonnes CO2, between now and 2050.

4) COOL IT : Each person who pledges to turn down their thermostat by 1 degree per year, could reduce the UK CO2 emission by 400,000 tonnes.

DID YOU KNOW

Government grants are available, to bring renewable energy, such as solar water heaters, to many consumers.

5) STEP OUT : If each of us could walk or cycle, whenever possible, we could save 760,000 tonnes per year.

DID YOU KNOW

Our 'carbon footprint' is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases we produce


* Based on 2 Million people only.

We are now beginning to realise that it is up to each of us to take responsibility for reducing our impact on the environment as well as putting pressure on the government and business to play their part in making a difference.

Patrick Coates
Environment Correspondent for Maidstone Labour Party