By Frances McCandless from NICVA
Published on 13 Jun 2007
On the day that submissions on the Draft Climate Change Bill were closed, NICVA decided to show the film 'An Inconvenient Truth'. The clear message is that this is not a ‘green’ issue. This is an issue for all of us.
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ makes sobering and shocking viewing and after watching the Al Gore documentary the audience of voluntary and community organisations discussed how they can act to make a positive impact on climate change.
In the wake of such a powerful film it would have been all too easy to get overwhelmed with the scale of the problem.
However what emerged from the discussion was an agreement that if each individual and each organisation takes what ever action they can it will make a significant impact.
To paraphrase Al Gore, there is no silver bullet solution to climate change. But there is silver buckshot and all those little pieces of buckshot will add up to something significant.
Video from the event
Even if you couldn't make the event yourself we've produced a short five minute round up of the event to give you a flavour of what happened.
Reaction to the 'Climate Change and You' event
Speaking after the event Terry Waught from Action Renewables said:
"This event was just fantastic! It was a first class question and answer session, chaired by Sue Christie. There was a good audience and judging by the questions, a very interested one too.
Watching Al’s film has certainly renewed my enthusiasm, and I appreciate the opportunity to see it."
Frances McCandless from NICVA said:
"This is not just an event for environmental organisations. Because this is not a ‘green’ issue. This is an issue for all of us. For us as individuals and for us as voluntary and community organisations."
Climate change information
Actions you can take
- Hold a screening of An Inconvenient Truth for your staff, members, users or local community.
- Request your electricity from a renewable source. Christian Aid use www.ecotricity.co.uk
- Switch to low energy light bulbs
- In the NICVA building we have motion sensors on our lights to reduce our energy consumption. If this isn’t an option you can get timers to make sure your lights and other equipment such as photocopiers are turned off when your building/office is closed
- Switch off your computer monitor when you are away from your desk.
- Talk to Bryson House about recycling your waste. www.brysonrecycling.co.uk
- Use recycled paper.
- Try and reduce the amount of paper you use. Do you really need to print out that email or pdf you have downloaded?
- Think about the impact of the services you provide. For example NICVA uses the carbon neutral printers GPS to produce our SCOPE magazine. We also offset the carbon used to distribute SCOPE. We send it to 1300 subscribers and it only cost an additional £7. Find out more on www.carbonneutral.com
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