Green Ideas for the News Letter

[Milims]

Part of my job is the news letter which is distributed throughout the three villages we cover. We are working towards introducing green issues in the next newspaper - but I'm a little uncertain where or how to start. This is a bit of an old fashioned place and I'm conscious that offence could be taken. With this in mind I thought it might be an idea to point out how "green" they already are and how "green" they have always been without realising it - things like making compost, growing their own veg, re-using household items etc, along with a reminder about how it was done when they were children (much older population here) and pointing out how they are doing it now - council recycling bins etc.
I thought about calling it "why did Granny smell of lavender?" and then pointing out why lavender was commonly used etc - although Chris thinks that might casue offence.
So what do you think - any ideas?

[glenniedragon]

How frequent is your newsletter? you could do xmassy things.....packaging, paper recycling, xmas tree recycling, friendlier presents to buy- buy a compost bin for xmas campaign!

kind thoughts
Deb

[red]

I dont care for that title - might annoy grannies....

but yes - you are already green is a good start - not patronising as so many things are (national trust sent me a gift catalogue and there was a section on 'environmental gifts' including wind up torches etc, and a lecture on climate change and how we can all do our bit, I just thought - well you can start by not sending me useless catalogues!!) so yes, a good start... perhaps building on what is already known.

[Andy Hamilton]

I like that title, although if I was a lavender smelling granny I might not.

It is difficult to second guess the readership with these things. I write for a community paper and as its quite an inner city and poor area I decided to go go with the idea that being green saves you money. But I think that is pretty much a universal thing. It it helps you any here is the article...

10 Ways to reduce you utility bills

Colder days and nights are rapidly approaching and although it seems like we have not had a summer this year it looks like we are certainly going to have a winter. Even if you are not environmentally conscious you will no doubt be happy to lower the cost winter and reduce those bills. In the last 6 months my gas and electricity for a two bedroom house has cost less than £70 that’s less than £3 a week, here is how I did it.

1. Close doors, windows and curtains at night. Go around the house and make sure that every door shut you will be surprised at how much warmer it will feel. Obviously an open window will just suck out the heat of the room but did you know that 20% of the heat in the room can be lost just from keeping the curtains open?
2. Wrap up indoors. Instead of turning up your heating up put on a jumper or sit under a blanket or duvet.
3. Have short showers instead of Baths.
4. Put tin foil or silver wrapping paper (£1 a roll from CM2 on church road) behind your radiators. This will help reflect the heat back into the room.
5. Turn off the radiators/heaters that are not in use. I found that my kitchen was hot enough from using the cooker so I turned that radiator off; I don’t sit in my hall or landing so I turned off those radiators and the spare room rarely gets used so the radiator in there is turned off too. With half of the radiators off in the house half the energy is used.
6. Turn everything off. Leaving electrical items on standby or mobile phone chargers plugged in still uses energy. You might as well be throwing money away.
7. Microwave more! If everyone in the country who was going to have a jacket potato microwaved it for 10 minutes instead of putting it in the oven we could close down one power station.
8. Don’t overfill. Only boil enough water in the kettle that you need the same goes for boiling vegetables.
9. Dry clothes on a washing line, radiator or clothes horse. Tumble driers use load of electricity try not to use them at all. It is also worth remembering that if you hang shirts up straight after you have washed them they won’t crease so much so you might not need to use an iron. Thus saving yourself more money.
10. Let your hair dry naturally instead of using a hair dryer. Not only will this save you cash but it is kinder to your hair.

[Annpan]

My granny never smelled od lavender, she mostly smelled of stewed tea and fags , not sure that shows green credentials

I think that red has an idea along the lines of 'look how green you already are' or something.

I like the thought of bringing back make-do-and-mend, which some people can relate to.

Covering topics that don't require an initial outlay, reducing energy consumption and reusing yogurt pots might be good. I don't like the idea of being told, you can be green if you just spend £3000 on solar water heating, it is out of most peoples scope or interests.

[red]

you could invite people to send in a tip - like reusing yogurt pots as plant pots etc...

[Eigon]

"When Recycling was called 'Salvage'" perhaps?

My mum used to collect old newspapers for 'salvage' just after the Second World War, and she and my nan used to do loads of things that then were'thrifty' and now would be called 'green'.

I think it's a great idea to show people how green they already are, especially if they have a tendency to think of green issues as stuff for wierdos.

[Chickenlady]

I love the title - most people, even grannies, have a sense of humour. And I think your approach is spot on, positive rather than preaching. Andy's ideas are excellent, and getting people to send in their tips would be a way of getting your readership involved.

Jane

[Milims]

Ok here goes - how about I call it "Now I know why my Granny smelled of Lavender"

These days you can barely turn the TV on without there being some bloke stomping around a muddy field telling you about carbon foot prints and global warming and extolling the virtues of free range chickens, recycled loft insulation, growing your own veg. and this new “greenâ€

[Stonehead]

Waddya think?

Hmm, wouldn't it be better to ask a few grannies?

You could even call it market research and have a couple of focus groups (complete with free cuppa, biscuit and tea towel with logo).

[Milims]

Cheers Stoney!
And there was me trying to gently break in the twin set and golf club crew!!

Anyway - we already had the focus group and cuppa over the rag rug!! lol

[Millymollymandy]

When my children were wee the only thing that would take the tomato stains out of their t-shirts

It must be too early in the morning because I read that as "when my chickens were wee" - only realised something was wrong when I got to the T-shirt bit!

The article is really good by the way!

[Milims]

Well I've had a re-think on the title - I'm going to go with "How Green Was My Granny"

Thank you all for the positive feed back - I really do appreciate it!

[Muddypause]

I think that's an excellent article, Milims, and the new title is very clever, too.

And I see you're carrying on with traditional humour:

Each time she opened her draws to share the wondrous treasures she kept in there...

[Millymollymandy]

Drawers, please!