On 14^th January, we had a workshop discussion (fuelled by some party food!) to brainstorm New Year’s Resolutions which would be good for the planet.

We sorted them into the categories: Individual, Household, Village/Community, and (Inter)National, before thinking a bit about what could hold us back on implementing them.

Finally we re-sorted them arranged least to most effort and least to most impact – see if you agree!

Low effort but low impact

• Change buying habits for clothes
• Get work to recycle properly
• Use a kindle
• Eat more local food
• Put only the amount of water in the kettle I need to boil
• Consider food boxes from local suppliers to replace supermarket food
• Try to buy food with less packaging
• Make my school get multiple bins
• Use the village shop more – we need it

Low effort but high impact – the sweet spot!

• Continue with the teaching of philosophy which promotes the wisdom of living sustainably
• Use green products
• Reduce packaging from food, return junk mail, refuse receipts
• Wear jumpers at home
• Reduce snack plastic waste
• Be aware of AI and its carbon footprint impact
• Never to buy new clothes (this is an easy one)
• Combined with my resolution for decluttering to buy from charity shops and to recycle more of my clothes, books and tools
• Support national eco organisations (avoid multinational)
• Consider source of ingredients
• Allocate garden areas for sowing wild flowers

High effort but high impact

• Avoid UPF (ultra processed foods) – bad for the planet
• Hold a swish event
• Install a heat pump
• Avoid packaging with mixed paper and plastic
• Find a web browser that doesn’t give an AI summary
• Move money to a more sustainable bank
• Stop Millen Homes – make sure they do plant 200 trees
• Carry out nature recovery tasks: pollinator counts, river water tests
• Get lots of people involved in pollinator counting
• Stop culling seals
• Persuade household to turn thermostat down
• Get a nature reserve for Oakington & Westwick
• Meet with mp again to say more needs to be done for the environment
• Eat more vegan food

High effort but low impact – do other things first

• Don’t eat anything after supper – it’s often junk food
• Watch live TV (lower emissions)

Thinking about what we can do as a community, we also spent some time making plans for SOW for 2026.

“People say think globally, act locally. Well, if you think globally, it is overwhelming and you do not have enough energy left to act locally. Just act locally and see what a difference you can make. It starts with trying to live a more sustainable life in the small decisions we make every day.” (the late Dame Jane Goodall)