Oxford is my world Your – Guide to saving the planet!

LIFESTYLE: Using Your Voice

“Campaigning” can sound serious or time-consuming but what it really means is speaking up for the things you care about. It can be as simple as asking for local food to be stocked in your supermarket, or finding our whether your bank, local councillor or workplace has an environmental policy. You won't be alone: a recent national survey found that over 60% of us see global warming, climate change or dwindling natural resources as the biggest threat to the world's future.

Very Easy

- Ask your local shop or supermarket whether they sell local or environmentally friendly produce, if enough people asked for it they would.
- Find out what your political representatives are doing about natural resource depletion and climate change. Climate change means an uncertain future for us and for our city, so it's up to you to make sure they are taking it seriously.

Fairly Easy

- Sign Downing Street petitions online and suggest environmental actions to our PM. Search petitions for the words “energy”, “environment” or “climate change’.
- Visit ‘Turn up the Heat’ to petition companies and celebrities to make their actions more environmentally friendly.
- Attend one of the monthly Oxfordshire Greenpeace or Oxford Friends of the Earth meetings and find out more about local campaigning on environmental issues.
- If you need an issue to get your teeth into, Ban the bulb are involved in an on-going campaign to phase out and ban incandescent light bulbs and encourage the uptake of energy efficient technologies.

Not Quite So Easy

- Put your savings where your mouth is: find out about your bank's environmental policy and if it's not up to scratch move to one that's better, The Co-operative Bank are known for their strong environmental stance.
- If you have money to invest consult the Ethical Investment Association or the UK Social Investment Forum for information about ‘green’ funds and environmentally conscious financial advice.
- Do you have a passion for green spaces and wildlife? The Campaign to Protect Rural England, Oxfordshire focus on protecting the rural landscape in an environmentally friendly way and supporting local food, energy and communities.
- Climate Outreach & Information Network organises a Local Policy Action Group, which aims to enhance the actions taken on climate change by Oxfordshire's local authorities, both through lobbying and discussion.

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