The ‘Save a Tonne’ Challenge 

Change a few little things about the way you and your family live so that you save one tonne of Carbon Dioxide each year. 

Since September 2008 the 5^th Spen Valley Scouts have been working to reduce the environmental impact of their homes, meeting place and local community and encourage others to reduce their CO₂ emissions.  

The Scouts, Young Leaders and Leaders spent months of training and activities helping them understand more about issues relating to Climate Change and improve their awareness of their own impact on the environment. 

The Scouts have taken part in many activities including:

• Learning how to conduct an energy survey and subsequently surveying their meeting place and own homes and suggesting improvements
• Questioning a local councillor on their views of climate change and how they are reducing emissions in the Kirklees area
• Growing their own vegetables
• Recycling at the meeting place and at home
• Improving the local environment, planting trees and tidying the local campsite
• Using public transport when going on outings with the Scouts
• Visiting the local Energy from Waste facility to understand what happens to their rubbish once it leaves their home
• Walking, cycling or sharing cars to get to the meeting place

 

Having learned much more about the impact everyone can have on the local environment and the climate, the Scouts wanted to help other children reduce their Carbon Footprint. The Scouts decided to produce a leaflet for other children in Kirklees. This leaflet aims to encourage children to save a tonne of CO₂ by changing a few small elements of their lives. 

The leaflet requires the reader to use the Governments ‘Act on CO₂‘ website to calculate their own Carbon Footprint.  

There are six topics covered in the leaflet:

• Climate Change – Information to help the reader understand the term and an area for the reader to draw a picture of their environment if Climate Change continues
• Energy – Helping the reader understand the impact of their energy consumption, tips and suggestions and an energy saving quiz
• Waste, Recycling and Composting – Helping encourage recycling and composting
• Transport – information, activities and links to help reduce the impact of cars and promote the use of car sharing and public transport.
• Shopping – Focussing on Fair trade and buying local produce, including the promotion of the local farmers markets across Kirklees.
• Making a difference – this section covers a variety of other topics which have not been touched in detail across the rest of the leaflet such as looking after wildlife and conserving water.

 

Kirklees Council have supported the Save a Tonne leaflet through an Environment Grant. This grant has enabled the messages, pictures and activities created by the Scouts to be transformed into a 16 page publication by a professional graphic designer. Kirklees Council are also aiding the distribution of the leaflet through their links with schools. This means that up to 10,000 Year 6 children across the Kirklees area will receive the messages of encouragement from the Scouts to help them each Save a Tonne of CO₂.

Copyright © 2010 5th Spen Valley Scout Group. All rights reserved.

Edited and produced by the 5th Spen Valley Scouts.
The views expressed in this website are not necessarily those of the Scout Association.