Change the World Challenge

Hi I am Elaine Henderson I am 21years old. I have been a student at St Elizabeth’s college for 2 years. St Elizabeth’s is a college for young adults with learning difficulties and this term one of our projects has been Change the World Challenge. We designed and made 50 bags using different materials such as felt, fabric pens and paints. We have made colourful and eye catching posters advertising the different challenges and in return for taking on a challenge each person will be given a bag .


During this project we learnt about people who don’t take plastic bags with them when they shop and keep using and buying new ones which is bad for the environment. We also learnt about people filling the kettle with water to make only one cup of tea and using lots of electricity.

With our posters and bags we are going to encourage and hopefully inspire others to take up the challenge and Change the world too !

We are doing this on Monday 14th July at 2.30 at St Elizabeth’s Centre at Much Hadham, Herts.


Best wishes Elaine

Posted by Elaine Henderson - 30.06.2008 Action: Decline plastic bags wherever possible.

Reclaiming foil from butter packaging!

Did you know that you can soak the aluminium foil off the greaseproof paper backing of some butter packaging, such as Yeo Valley, and then recycle it. Some butter wrappers are bonded to plastic (boo) and you can't separate those.
Posted by Gaby - 29.06.2008

Carbon Footprint

Being a Young speaker for We Are What We Do, i believe must set an example for the rest of the people out there, so i have made many changes, the most important being me change on my carbon footprint, a big issue affecting the world media at the moment!

> i have cut out all driving and have converted to other means such as cycling or public transport!
> Walking everywhere ( the benifits of walking are endless)
> Recycling as much a i can!

I have also started doing small things that may bot mean much to may people oyt there but something small could make someones day:

> Polite and helpful (continue to be)
> Let someone else get on the bus before me
> Helping people pag their bags at the locak supermarket.

Small changes x lots of people = BIG CHANGE.

thankyou! =D
Posted by Sohail (Sulli) - 29.06.2008

Plastic Bags

I work in customer services in retail so when someone returns a something and gives back the bag rather than bin it I try to re-use everyone when someone buys something new! Ive also got my work place to sort out the paper from plastic and drink cans to seperate bins :) Dont be scared to tell your boss cause they will enjoy employees getting involved
Posted by Jackie - 27.06.2008 Action: Decline plastic bags wherever possible.

fruit & veg

I now save all the bags inside cereal packets and use them for fruit & veg at the supermarkets. They are so strong they can be used again & again.
And the cashier no longer has to keep 10 rolling apples on the scale!
Posted by Dolly - 27.06.2008 Action: Send us an action

Second Chance

The 1st time I walked into the meeting of our school's Leo Club, I thought it was an absolute joke and ran as far as I could, without looking back. Then a couple of months ago, after 2 years of thinking the Lions and Leos of society were a big bunch of nerds and fake do-gooders, I decided to give Leos another try. How glad I am that I did! The Leos gives me and other teenagers a chance to make positive contributions to the community, which i really appreciate. i recommend to all high-school students to check out there schools Leo club, or start there own if there isnt one.
Posted by jess_skye - 27.06.2008 Action: Join something

Lots of tea

I drink a lot of tea. And Miso soup too. So I use the kettle a lot and used to overfill it a lot too. But now I have officially stopped overfilling the kettle and shall never do it again. I am very proud to have completef Action 38 and I encourage all you avid tea drinkers to do the same.
Posted by jess_skye - 27.06.2008 Action: Don't overfill your kettle

Trim your hedge!

I'd lost touch with our neighbours, who live above us, and it was getting pretty awkward having not spoken for the best part of a year (no particular reason, just hadn't bothered). Decided to spend a bit of time in the front garden for a change, tidying up the hedges. One of the neighbours came back from shopping and it forced us to have a chat, which lead to us having a meal - all problems solved!

I also trimmed the hedge in the back, and now the other neighbours and I chat over the fence. In one week, we've met more people in our street than in two years.

Not a great action, but it's certainly made life less stressful and we don't have to worry about awkward moments passing in the hallway.

Paul
Posted by Paul - 24.06.2008 Action: Give your phone number to 5 people in your street

our flowers

Her first attempt at growing stuff ended in failure when all the little shoots keeled over and died in the unseasonably cold weather of April. Undeterred we planted seeds again and now a few little sunflowers seems to be making it through and some tiny basil leaves have appeared. The geraniums she and her dad planted in the window boxes are flowering. We are having fun in the garden!
Posted by Mrs Eds - 13.06.2008 Action: Grow something with a child

An exhibition about going Green

I have naturally been a green person since I was a child, recycling old boxes to make a barbie house rather than getting one brought (probably because my parents wouldn’t buy me one), using as less electricity as possible etc. Now as the Exhibition Officer at Brent Museum doing an exhibition about being green was easy to programme, especially as council are attempting to give it a big push this year.

It was supposed to be an exhibition about ecology and parks in Brent but it got slightly highjacked as I began to shape it and got Ines from the Environment Policy team in on the act. The result is Greenopaedia which opened to the public on Friday 23rd May and will run until Sunday 2nd November 2008. The idea was to show people how easy it was to be green and what the benefits are to them, such as saving money if you turn off unused lights etc. Having spoken to people it’s amazing how many just don’t realise this or don’t think about it so I really hope the exhibition will highlight this and get people changing their habits. It has the same ethos as We Are What We Do, small changes from a lot of people means a big result. There are also interactives in the exhibition with green lingo/ terms explained and a spot the litter panel – you can begin being green from any age (the younger you start the better actually). I also worked with lots of local groups who are attempting to get make changes for the better and have come across some great ideas and projects and am using Greenopaedia as a way of letting people know how they can get involved with these projects.

The exhibition will tour after it has closed at the museum so I really hope that it will help spread the word and get people making those small but significant changes now!
Posted by Braininabucket - 06.06.2008 Action: Spread the word

living library

wow. i went to the living library in london on saturday (things that tickle our fancy, june). i would highly recommend it to anyone! i rented two 'books' - 'transgender male' and 'witch'. the idea is that you 'loan' a prejudice and learn about it from the horse's mouth. i didn't arrive with lots of preconceptions but i had 30 minutes to talk to both of them and ask them anything i wanted. i came away knowing that witches don't do spells and can be crown court barristers at the same time, and that all a transgender man called kerry (who is 6foot 3 and used to be a fireman) wants is to live a quiet life in the country and be accepted by his village. the whole day blew my mind. i recommend catching the next one if you possibly can,
Posted by Tanis - 04.06.2008 Action: Take time to listen

Sharing journeys

Some while ago, I mentioned that when I was preparing to take some garden refuse to tip, asked neighbours and found they had stuff too, so we all filled my car and saved them the journey; now they ask me an others before they go
Posted by James - 03.06.2008

Decline Plastic bags for good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11 students at St Elizabeths College have been doing Change the World challenge. We think it is important to decline plastic bags because people throw bags away after they use it which makes bad poloution... The poor animals in the world get strangled with plastic bags and sometimes die. It is not good!!!!!! We have decorated 50 re-usable bags using felt and paint and our own designs and we are going to give it to people if they agree to complete one of we are what we do challenges.
Posted by Pralathan Sivagnanam - 02.06.2008 Action: Decline plastic bags wherever possible.

Remember Bags - Tax Disc Holder

DECLINE PLASTIC BAGS and reduce the amount of plastic bag rubbish being dumped on our Land and in the Seas! Buy one of our Tax Disc Holders (Green) with Gold wording:
REMEMBER BAGS, REUSE,REPLACE, "GO NATURAL"
To jog your memory, never arrive at the supermarket checkout again, only to realise your "Bags for Life" are still in the car.
Posted by selina foster - 01.06.2008 Action: Decline plastic bags wherever possible.

Garden Wildlife

How about adding an action to do with helping wildlife in your own garden/ yard or whatever you have. Feeding the birds, planting wildlife friendly plants, creating a safe area for creatures that wander into you patch. This benefits all those creatures around us and gives pleasure to those able to watch them do their stuff close-up and personal and in safety
Posted by Debs - 30.05.2008