I've been thinking for a while how to keep myself motivated in efforts to improve the environment. I'm going to try and post once a week with something I've done for the environment that week.
It could be anything: writing a letter to a politician, fixing a performance problem in some software, planting a tree. It'll probably be small, but hopefully it'll be something.
Feel free to ignore (filter by hashtag), or to pick up on the ideas. It's mostly for my own motivation.
This week I finally finished off insulating the loft of my house, bumping its insulation depth from 250 to 400mm.
It's a job I started a long time ago and kept putting off because it's itchy. It's actually fine with a decent face mask and gloves though. The heat loss through the loft is now down to about 4W per degree difference in temperature between inside and outside (U-value 0.11W/m²K), which is good.
This week I planted 11 horse chestnut trees somewhere locally to me. I’ve been growing them in pots for 2 years, from seed (nut??) and now they’re about 20cm tall they’re ready to plant out. It took about 2 minutes per tree.
This week I spoke to my county councillor about cycling provision and protected bike lanes on some of the busier roads near me. The conversation wasn't anything new, but useful to keep things on the radar.
Better cycling provision is important for modal shift away from private car use.
This week I didn't manage to do anything for the environment, as I was doing DIY all week.
Part of what I was doing was increasing shading on the south side of my house, to reduce overheating in summer. I guess that's climate-change-adjacent. I added a small lean-to roof over a door/window.
This week (erm, last week), I wrote to my local councillors about light pollution, asking if they could more widely adopt dark skies lighting principles as part of planning policy.
https://www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/lighting-policy
This would reduce energy consumption, give insects and birds better sleep, and give us better sleep too.
The advice/policies for this are quite well developed now, so should be straightforward to adopt. Let’s see if there’s the political bandwidth.
Cumbria Good Lighting Technical Advice Note To conserve and enhance our dark skies and contribute to a net reduction in light pollution across Cumbria, it is vital that we are all informed and empowered to make good lighting choices when planning new development or installing new or replacement lighting. As part of the Dark Skies Cumbria Project, Friends of the Lake District, together with Dark Source Lighting Design Studio and in conjunction with the relevant local planning authorities, has produced a Good Lighting Technical Advice Note (the TAN) covering Cumbria, the whole Yorkshire Dales National Park and also the Lancashire part of the Arnside & Silverdale National Landscape. On completion in Summer 2023, the TAN won both Platinum and Green Build Back Better Awards. It has also been shortlisted for a Royal Town Planning Institute award. The TAN provides technical lighting guidance to planners, applicants, architects, developers, electricians, property owners, communities and lighting professionals to support them in applying relevant local and national planning policies and good lighting principles when submitting or assessing planning applications or other applications (such as Notifications of Intent and Listed Building) and in making good lighting choices when installing new or replacing existing lighting outside of the planning process. The guidance covers: The importance of Dark Skies to Cumbria; The 8 Good lighting principles; Positive lighting outcomes delivered through getting lighting right; Different forms of light pollution and their impacts; The role of the TAN in the planning process; The planning and lighting design process; What good practice looks like through visuals and examples; Relevant background information in technical appendices, including a Glossary, ‘Understanding Light’ and reference/further reading list. Supporting Documents: Technical Advice Note (TAN) - Full Version (Issuu) Technical Advice Note (TAN) - Summary Version (pdf) Eight Basic Good Lighting Principles (pdf) Eight Basic Good Lighting Principles (print friendly pdf)
This week (er, last week again, I need to get more prompt with these toots) I collected several hundred grams of plastic litter from a local moorland and organised car sharing for a holiday with my friends.
This week (ha, last week) I continued the conversation with my local councillor about light pollution, and he gave me several contacts to get in touch with about some policy proposals
This week I did a point to point running race and organised to get back to the start by public transport. (Most people arrange to have a friend drive and collect them.) The train ride back to the start was very scenic and relaxing.
This week (well, this weekend, which is ending for me now as I type this on a train) I combined cycling and trains to get across the country to see some friends. Everyone else who came drove. I got some work done on the train, and some good exercise and fresh air on the 200km of cycling. It took a while though.
I’ll try and do something more interesting for the environment in coming weeks. I realise these updates are boring.
Philip Withnall
Vladimir Chicken