Time to change our behaviour

SOME of us from Greener Henley attended a very interesting lecture at The Henley College the other morning given by two members of the research team at the Walker Institute, Reading University’s Interdisciplinary Climate Research Centre.

The lecture for students studying environmental sciences, geography and related subjects was an explanation of the kinds of projects that the institute does, especially with research to support countries in the southern hemisphere which don’t have the research facilities we have.

I am still trying to digest all the important issues raised but one fact that hit home was the environmental rankings of 180 countries.

Britain was 18th highest for emissions of carbon dioxide and 58th for climate change vulnerability. By comparison, Pakistan ranked 30th for carbon emissions but eighth for climate change vulnerability.

The data was collected in 2019 since when we have had the catastrophic floods in Pakistan, which clearly demonstrates that how we live here affects the lives of people and countries that are doing far less harm than we are.

We have no excuses for our over-consumption and the resulting carbon emissions and pollution — it is time to change our behaviour.

To a certain extent, this was the theme of the addresses given by speakers at the recent “Green tactics for Henley businesses” seminar hosted by Greener Henley’s business group.

We heard from local companies from a range of sectors, many of which gave good examples of how they have changed their business practices, for example, going paperless, using and encouraging customers to use refills and changing to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Did you know that the hairdresser Salon of Chi recycles hair and offers to refill for hair products, thereby saving single-use plastic?

Mark Chapman, of the Zero Carbon Forum, who advises companies how to cut their carbon and their costs, described himself as a “survivalist”.

He said that consumers expected businesses to solve the climate crisis, not the politicians.

Businesses working together and wanting us all to survive would do more because of their longer-term thinking as opposed to politicians who generally thought short-term and certainly not as far as the end of the century or even 2050 (just 28 years away).

Town councillor Ian Reissmann shared a comprehensive list of things the town council had done to reduce Henley’s carbon footprint, which covered a wide variety of day-of-day activities.

If you missed the council’s stall at Henley’s Great Big Green Fair you can go into the town hall and see, on the opposite wall to the information office, posters explaining the work the council has done.

It really is impressive what the council has achieved with its climate emergency working group, transport strategy group and parks department (and not a lot of people know that.)

Talking of cutting costs, Greener Henley’s next general meeting will be about energy — simple tips we can all follow to lower our energy use and reduce our bills.

Anyone is welcome to attend this listen and share session. It will be held at King’s Arms Barn on Tuesday (October 18) at 7.30pm. For more information, visit https://greenerhenley.org.uk

Finally, thank you to everyone who helped to make Henley’s Great Big Green Week a success. If you visited the fair on the Saturday, wasn’t it great?

It was lovely to see schoolchildren involved and it was good to have some of our local independent traders present.

Local community groups, the Mayor, councillors and other environmental groups all added to the positive message that we can make a difference by working together.

During the week so many different parts of the community helped to show that Henley does care about the climate and our environment.

To the library staff, the shops and businesses with their window displays and special green menus and the participants in all the events during the week, you were great.

We are also very grateful to the people who gave us financial support — the Tony Lane Foundation, Henley Town Council, Thamesfield Youth Association, Henley Royal Regatta, Mercers solicitors, Hobbs of Henley and Oxfordshire County Council. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Diana Barnett