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Climate Day challenge

The Trust’s Climate Day Challenge, part of the national Climate Week 2012, encouraged staff, service users and carers to work together to help create a sustainable future.

Held at the National Coal Mining Museum, Wakefield, on Monday 12th March 2012, teams were not told what the challenge would be until they arrived on the day. 20 people in four teams from the Trust accepted the challenge “to develop an idea to change a place you know, to make it better for the environment”.

St Swithun’s Community Centre suggested ‘Share my Garden’, in which people wishing to grow their own produce but lacking access to sufficient space could make use of larger gardens belonging to those with land to spare.

Enfield Down put forward the idea of ‘The Environment – Everyone’s Buzziness’. In order to encourage the bumblebee population to thrive and continue their essential pollination role in nature, bee-friendly plants and flowers such as rosemary, chives, raspberries, mint and lavender would be planted to benefit both insects and people.

Barnsley Estates proposed a ‘sustainable growing compound’ for use by staff and service users. By converting part of an existing estates compound into a service user-led sustainable growing area, plants would be grown for the Trust and fruit and vegetables supplied to the on-site café, teaching self-sufficiency and helping to minimise food miles.

The Wakefield Estates team came up with ‘Good as New’, a Trust-wide equipment recycling and repair scheme designed to reduce furniture and equipment disposal, in turn reducing environmental impact and wastage. Using local companies to re-upholster and re-finish furniture will maintain local jobs or potentially create a role within the Trust, whilst minimising the scheme’s carbon footprint.

St Swithun’s Community Team were judged to have come up with the best idea on the day and a fruit tree is to be planted at Fieldhead to acknowledge their winning idea.

Trust Chief Executive Steven Michael, who judged the entries, said:

“Every team took the time to come up with meaningful ideas which can all help to make a difference to our impact on the environment.

“The winning idea of sharing gardens is very simple but could lead to new friendships, shared interests and other social benefits as well as the fulfilling the original environmental brief.

“It is encouraging to see that the enthusiasm and ingenuity of our staff, service users and carers can make an immediate difference to our local community at the same time as tackling the wider issue and effects of climate change.”