Grant awarded to support Shropshire climate change charity

Save Our Shropshire will be sharing ideas with consumers about how “saving the planet” can also save money in these fantastically difficult times. "We have seven years left to reduce our emissions to net zero; it’s time to take action." the charity says.

Save Our Shropshire will be running workshops in community centres across Telford and Wrekin borough over 2023 to explain simply why we must prevent the planet from overheating, and how residents can make practical changes to save money. This has been made possible with the support of Telford & Wrekin Council’s Climate Change Fund.

Climate Change Fund

In 2019, Telford & Wrekin Council declared a climate emergency and committed to its operations being carbon neutral by 2030, with an aspiration for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2030 too.

Its Climate Change Fund was created in 2021, and a second round was opened in 2022, to support the community in its efforts to achieve this goal. Applications were invited from local businesses, community groups and schools to fund projects enabling them to reduce their carbon emissions. To date, the council’s Climate Change Fund has awarded more than £335,000 in grants to deliver this work

Many people are aware of the dangers of overheating our planet by emitting harmful gases into the atmosphere. But many find it difficult to make the needed lifestyle changes. Save Our Shropshire belives that saving money could help us change.

Good For Pocket campaign

Save Our Shropshire has outlined three areas in which people can make changes in diet, energy usage and travel in their Good For Pocket campaign.

"Take a simple thing like our diet. Eating beef and lamb farmed overseas is bad for the planet. But if we all changed our diets to become more plant-based, then we could save up to £1,000 per household each year. We could also help local farmers by eating locally sourced food.

"Take energy. If we all had homes that were powered by sunshine and wind, we could get energy at 10-20 % of our current cost – that’s around £ 1,500 per year saving for an average household. Insulating our homes better would dramatically reduce our winter heating bills.

"Consumers should demand renewable energy and better insulation to save themselves money. The insulation industry would get a boost to jobs as well.

"Take travel. We should be switching to electric vehicles as soon as possible. Electric charging could save up to £ 1,000 per year over petrol and diesel. We will then get more charging points to make it more convenient.

"Walking and cycling are also good for our health; so, bike to work! Doing things that are good for our health are also good for the NHS!"

The grant money will aid the climate change charity in reaching more Shropshire residents and helping them in their journey to a greener way of life.

More information is can be found at: https://saveourshropshire.org/good-for-pocket.