Wednesday 2nd December 2015
This week in Paris 190 countries have gathered to discuss climate change and to agree to an international commitment that helps us to combat it. That’s all very exciting, but how can we play our own part in the fight against climate change? At Paper Round our Green Team are holding our own Climate Week to encourage people to think about the impact they have on the environment. By implementing small changes, together we can make a big difference.
So what’s going on?
On Monday we held “Meat Free Monday” people bought in different, meat-free dishes, for us all to enjoy at lunch time. Then voted on their favourite (that was the hard part!) we had: lasagne, shepherd’s pie, mushroom rice and a vegetable curry (as well as a host of other treats). The winner will receive a voucher for Mildred’s vegetarian restaurant. Why Meat Free Monday? Livestock farming is directly responsible for climate change, water depletion, deforestation, species extinction and ocean pollution. As meat consumption increases, so does its negative impact in these areas. Animal agriculture alone is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than all transportation (airplanes, trains, cars and boats) exhaust put together. By having meat free days, even just once or twice a week we can all help reduce the impact of meat production on the environment.
Tuesday was “Travel Light Tuesday” to encourage everyone to walk more. As an extra incentive, we’ve all been given BPR pedometers to see who’s travelled the furthest by the end of the day on Friday. The furthest travelled will receive a voucher for JD sports. Why walk? There’s zero CO2 emissions, you’ll strengthen your heart, boost vitamin D and it can even give you energy!
Wednesday’s bringing us back to basics: why are we doing all of this? To preserve our environment. How can we encourage people to remember that? With “Wildlife Wednesday” We’re holding a photography competition where everyone has been encouraged to submit a picture on the theme “wildlife”. The winners will receive their image on a canvas.
Meat free days, even just once or twice a week we can reduce the impact of meat production on the environment.
Thursday is “Trashy Thursday”. We all have a choice with the waste we produce: we can reuse it, we can recycle it or we can put it straight in the bin. Reuse is always the best option, whether that’s keeping the tubs from your weekend take away, reusing your bread bags as sandwich bags or getting creative with your corks, there’s loads of things you can do. Sometimes though, things are too far past their best to be reused, enter: recycling. By recycling your waste, you’re ensuring the effort that went into making it, isn’t going to waste. The majority of materials can be recycled in ways you may not have even thought of: plastic bottles can be turned into fleeces and food waste can power homes, all helped by you simply putting your materials into the right bin. To keep us on our toes, each floor in our office here will be audited to see which contents of the general waste bin could have been recycled. The floor with the highest recycling rate will get breakfast sandwiches.
Finally, we’ve got “Fossil Free Friday”. We’ll be settling down to watch two short films about the use of fossil fuels, followed by a climate week quiz and the winners of each of our competitions being announced.
It’s all well and good hearing in the news about why we should be aware and do our bit for climate change, but sometimes it’s nice to remember the reasons why we’re making the effort. If you’re interested in forming a green team, hosting a similar event or finding out more about what you can do, get in touch and we’ll see how we can help.
