Winchester Action on Climate Change

Denplan, one of Winchester district's largest employers, has become a WinACC organisational member by publishing and pledging to reduce its carbon footprint on the WinACC website.  Denplan has been instrumental in supporting WinACC since WinACC's inception in autumn 2007 and has now become WinACC's second organisational member.  The first was architecture plb in December 2008.  WinACC hopes that other organisations will soon follow these pioneering examples.

View Denplan's carbon footprint.

Find out how your organisation can become a WinACC member.
 

WinACC's Science and Technology Advisory Panel has produced a paper which sets out the technical basis for setting national and local targets to mitigate climate change.  It defines the overall energy budget that the district must keep to take its share of national and global emissions cuts required for there to be a chance of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees C.  The paper shows that a local cut of 7% year on year until 2050 is required for this.

The chairman of Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC), Robert Hutchison has written to the Prime Minister expressing the organisation’s ‘deep dismay’ at the Government’s decision to allow the construction of the third runway at Heathrow Airport to proceed.

Empowered: How Calculating your Carbon Footprint Can Empower You to Make a Difference

When Ellie Bolton sat down to calculate her carbon footprint it was with a certain measure of apprehension.  “I had no idea how many tonnes of CO2 emissions my household fuel bills, car mileage and daily habits would equate to,” She said. Curiosity drove her on with a wary eye on the clock – how much time would this take? It sounds complicated, doesn’t it?

There is no let up in the determination of Winchester Action on Climate Change to reduce Winchester’s carbon footprint and transform the district into a low carbon society.   Robert Hutchison, the Chairman of WinACC, says that ‘Climate Change is the biggest challenge facing us all.  We are in real danger of being the generation that watches its own gradual extinction on television’.   Recognising that the presence of a change agent or champion is always a necessary condition for meaningful change, Winchester Action on Climate Change is keen to recruit, train and support a group of Low Carbon Champions.  

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to join WinACC by using our recommended online carbon calculator to determine your carbon footprint. The calculator gives you a comprehensive, personalised action plan for reducing your carbon footprint.  You can then use this to make your own WinACC pledge to reduce your carbon footprint over the coming 12 months.  The whole process shouldn’t take much longer than half an hour. In fact, many of our members have reported their surprise in how easy, enjoyable and empowering they found it to be.  Become a member....

Feature article by Ellie Bolton.

Did you see the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) advertisements on the television this Christmas asking you if you are ready to say goodbye to the polar bears?  It is a very emotive ad.  Nobody wants to see polar bears disappear and their desperate plight as victims of human-caused climate change is distressing.  I hope that it has been an effective fundraising campaign.  But, perhaps what the advert should have gone on to say is that we all have a part to play in mitigating against the effects of climate change, and the people of Winchester more than most.

Winchester’s City Councillors have been encouraged to lead by example by making a New Year commitment to reducing the carbon footprints of their households.    Robert Hutchison, the Chairman of WinACC, has written to all 57 elected members of the City Council asking them to join Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC).    Membership of WinACC is open to all individuals, households and organisations in Winchester district that measure and report their carbon footprint and commit to reducing them.  

The Sustainable Communities Act process has started! You and your communities can now drive the actions of government to increase bus services, restrict supermarkets, promote local renewable energy and much more.  BUT, you can only use the Act’s process if your principal councils choose to use it too. Please therefore write to your local Councillors asking them to pass a motion resolving to use the act. Further information including a sample letter is available at: www.localworks.org.  

Members of WinACC's Science and Technology Advisory Panel (STAP) have published their predictions of what some aspects of life in Winchester could be like in the year 2015, expressed as they might be seen by someone living in that year.  Click here to view the Winchester in 2015 report.

Among the changes that they foresee are that sales of bottled water will have ‘almost dried up’ by 2015; there will have been a great uptake in home insulation – with virtually all houses with cavity walls properly insulated; an increase in youngsters cycling to school; and the demise of 4x4 and Sport Utility Vehicles on Winchester’s streets.