Ipswich families get the green habit

The pledges came during the Ipswich ANSWER Green Behaviours project, led by Groundwork East of England in partnership with Ipswich Borough Council. This showed each of the 1,835 households responding could save up to £134 and cut 15 tonnes from their carbon footprint if they stick to their pledges.

Councillor Sandy Martin, the Council's environment portfolio-holder, said: "This is a great response and I want to thank everyone who made pledges.  Almost everyone supports the idea of changing their behaviour and doing something positive for the environment. Our job at the council is to do what we can to help them to do so."

The project aims to raise awareness of energy efficiency and climate change by providing informal advice on how to save money in the home. Cost and carbon savings have been attributed to voluntary pledges such as "I promise to walk or cycle short journeys of under a mile" and "I promise to turn off electrical items rather than leaving them on standby'"to raise awareness and encourage people to make small changes.

The project continues to work with the local community in Ipswich to encourage its wider aim of creating a more informed climate-conscious population. Ipswich ANSWER Green Behaviours will be represented at the Town and Bridge Project's Big Garden Party being held at Maidenhall Community Gardens and the Festival of Green Ideas at the Quakers' Meeting House in Ipswich on Saturday 23rd July.

Please see www.groundwork.org.uk for more information.