Greening Southsea was a well advertised meeting and was attended by around 200 people showing that climate change is at the top of the agenda in Southsea. Not surprising as Portsmouth will be deeply affected by the rise in sea levels. I think the sea has to rise around 3 metres for my house to be under water and that is one of the last areas to be affected looking at the Environmental Agency’s website.

Greening Southsea is about how each individual can make small but significant changes to the environment and has already been rolled out around Hampshire and other areas so it is great that Heather Todd has taken the challenge to drive it forward in Southsea. Terina Plowright has been instrumental in starting this up around the country and will be speaking to the Conservative Party conference next week.

At the meeting we had to decide on the top 8 challenges which varied from loft insulation; changing light bulbs to low energy ones; turning off standby and other similar achievable targets. One of the biggest contribution to our carbon footprint is the loss of heat from houses. Apparently it will cost around £150-200 to have the loft insulated but it has to be done professionally to avoid fire risks, freezing of pipes and ineffectiveness.

When people have achieved the targets they put a card in the window to show that they have contributed to making Southsea more environmentally friendly. This is a fantastic way of raising awareness and reducing our carbon football relatively easily. You can find out more at www.greening-campaign.co.uk and I look forward to helping the team to get this project going.