Heatons Climate Action Festival concludes this weekend

Sustainable Living in the Heatons’ online festival, the Heatons Climate Action Festival, concludes this weekend on 19th and 20th September.

The four-day festival, which has attracted a range of speakers including Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, shares with Heatons residents and businesses a range of guidance on how to become more environmentally conscious, such as through reducing plastic and other waste, and making your home more energy efficient.

Seven events will take place online, via Zoom, over the coming weekend.

On Saturday 19th September:

• Planning a Building Project? Make It Green! Join this session to find out how to be ambitious with your next building project but still choose sustainable options. Be inspired by the design ideas behind a Heatons Ecohome. Lots of practical advice from Heatons homeowners that will help you maximise your investment while reducing your long-term energy costs and your carbon footprint.
• Support the Local Fight Against Food Waste. Did you know that 6.6 million tonnes of the UK’s food goes in the bin each year? Find out what Heaton Norris Community Centre and other community groups are cooking, sharing, planting and growing to ensure that food is redistributed locally, and how one of the churches in the Heatons is distributing food that would otherwise go to waste. Join the Q & A to find out what you can do.
• More Fun and More Affordable Than Ever Before: Electric Cars. Find out from Heatons residents how to finance and use an electric car, and understand what impact this choice has on your carbon footprint. This session will explain why a family-sized electric car can now be cheaper overall than a fossil fuel-driven equivalent. Hybrids, Hydrogen, ecoDriving, batteries and the charging network will be discussed too.

On Sunday 20th September:

• Climate Action Ideas from Businesses in the Heatons The panellists involved in this session will discuss some of the inspiring ideas that are circulating among our local businesses and within our community. Stockport Council’s Corporate Director for Place, Mark Glynn, will join local business and community leaders to debate climate actions for safeguarding everyone’s futures.
• Buying Green in the Heatons Join local shop owner Shelley Brown from The Good Life and some of her customers to talk about low waste, sustainable shopping habits. This session will include tips on the benefits and challenges of shopping sustainably, as well as time for your questions.
• Create a Warmer, Energy Efficient Home. Sadly, reducing your energy bills is not quite as simple as putting insulation in your loft. Let us explain how to make the most effective energy-saving investments in your home, including how to plan projects and apply for the brand-new home insulation grants available from the UK government. Learn about People Powered Retrofit.

The festival will conclude with a special What Next? session. Sustainable Living in the Heatons’ three Youth Commissioners will be discussing their climate change recommendations with Stockport MP, Nav Mishra, before sending them to Andy Burnham, ahead of the Greater Manchester Green Summit, starting 21 September.

The four-day festival began on the weekend of 12th and 13th September, and all the discussions and presentations held have now been uploaded to YouTube for on-demand viewing, including the Heatons Youth Climate Commission Takeover, which saw Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, among others, quizzed on behalf of young people in the Heatons on how they will be helping the area achieve its clean green future.