Plastic Bag Amnesty
Plastic bags harm the environment. They require oil to produce, contribute to global warming, and are generally only used once before being disposed of, adding to landfill or polluting the environment, sometimes with devastating consequences for wildlife For example see: http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/plastickills.html?gclid=CPHMj8vtxp8CFQYslAodAH9vzg
CAVE held a Plastic Bag Amnesty Day at the Butter Cross in Chippenham – shoppers were asked to swap their plastic bags for re-usable cotton bags. The event was supported by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.
Cotton Bag Design Competition
In conjunction with the Gazette and Herald, CAVE held a competition for local school children to design a logo for our cotton bags, purchased through a grant from the North Wilts District Council. The winner was Ann-Marie Cadell from St. Mary’s RC Primary School in Chippenham, who produced the design below. mihidden1 \lsdu
All the bags were manufactured with Fairtrade cotton and bear the Fairtrade logo on the reverse. This design now appears on more than 600 cotton bags, which are being given away or sold at low cost, the money raised being used to further fund projects in future.
Fairtrade Town Status for Chippenham
CAVE continues to support the campaign to make Chippenham a Fairtrade Town. Our activities have included a Fairtrade Discovery Evening held at St Marys RC Primary School, and a Fairtrade Directory Launch event, held at the Town Hall in Chippenham.
CAVE organises Fairtrade Discovery Evening at St Marys RC Primary School, supported by Chippenham’s Lady Mayor. It ws also supported by local Fairtrade coordinator, and CAVE supporter, Colette Som (second from left).
The Big Climate Connection
Groups all over the country met their MP’s as part of the Big Climate Connection, organised by the umbrella body Stop Climate Chaos (whose members range from WWF and the RSPB to numerous local environmental groups) to press for more action on climate change and to pass on a letter to Chris Huhne.
Supporting Climate Events – The Big Wave
CAVE members join other local Wiltshire groups to demonstrate support for action on climate change, at the WAVE in London.
Thermal Imaging Project
A thermal image is a picture based on heat instead of light. So a thermal image of a house shows warm parts in bright colours (red or yellow) and cold parts in dark colours (blue or black). This shows where the house is loosing heat and so wasting fuel and costing money – perhaps even more importantly contributing to global warming.
With help from Wiltshire Council, and in collaboration with Westlea Housing Association, we have been able to purchase a thermal imaging camera and are engaged in producing images of homes to enable residents to see where they are loosing heat and how they can reduce these losses.
Our first project was Birch Grove in Chippenham, a road of 60 post-war houses. We produced and printed an image of each house and we then held an evening when residents collected their image and, if they like to, discuss it with us and perhaps we can help in pointing out where improvements are possible and where to go for assistance.
With experience gained in Birch Grove we next planned to tackle Kington St Michael village. This village has about 200 houses ranging from 300+ years to 3 years old.
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