celebrating success

Low carb celebrations!

If you’ve started to have some success in reducing your carbon emissions - don't keep it to yourself - celebrate it!

Top Ten ideas for low carb ways to celebrate:

1. Throw a ‘low carb party’

Food: Encourage your guests to buy some locally sourced foods to share. Don’t forget to toast your success with some local fruit juice, cider, beer or wine. Check out local food/farmers' markets websites for suppliers:

Food Magazine (Devon and Cornwall) – www.food-mag.co.uk
Organic South West (Cornwall & IoS) – www.organicsouthwest.org
Dorset Food Directory (Dorset Food Links) - www.dorsetfooddirectory.org.uk
Delicious Dorset – www.dorsetaonb.org.uk
Direct from Dorset - www.dorsetforyou.com
Devon Food Links – www.devonfoodlinks.org.uk
Somerset Food Links - www.foodlinks.org.uk  
The Visit South West site for farmers markets - www.visitsouthwest.co.uk/Main/farmers_markets/farmers_markets.cfm  
Fresh and Local, a few farmers markets in Gloucestershire & Wiltshire - www.fresh-n-local.co.uk
Bristol Local Food – www.bristollocalfood.co.uk

Entertainment: Make your own music with acoustic instruments (make your own from recycled local materials or look out for fairtrade instruments).

Travel: Try to ensure that people can get to the party by walking, cycling or public transport (then they can safely enjoy the local cider too?!).

2. Bake and share a low carbon cake

Here’s a simple one – bake a cake using locally sourced ingredients like local eggs and flour, combined with fair-trade ingredients like sugar and cocoa. Maybe hold a cake competition? Being offered a slice of home made cake with a fair-trade cuppa for elevenses/afternoon tea is a simple but effective mood enhancer for all!
 

3. Arrange a group walk or bike ride

After all that cake you might fancy a bit of fresh air and exercise. Arrange to get fit together on a group stroll or cycle (or dig out the roller skates). You could plan your route to take in some local 'heritage' or nature along the way.  


4. Create a low carb exhibition

Create an exhibition of photos, paintings, poetry, sculpture, crafts etc to celebrate and share stories about your low carbon successes with others.

5. Plan a low carb picnic

Re-discover local greenspace near you by holding a community picnic there. Bring along a simple traditional ploughman’s lunch of good local bread, cheeses, apples, home made pickle and local apple juice. Get the youngsters to forgo time sitting in front of their TV/game consoles and play some low carbon games outside. 

6. Share some low carb jumper shopping

Hold a sale of second hand jumpers and knit some new ones to sell. Recycling clothes and making hand crafted new ones are lower carb options to sending clothes to landfill or buying clothes made and transported from the other side of the world. If you want to support the economies of the developing world – send any profits raised from your sale to charities like Oxfam. And don't forget wearing a jumper on cold days is a cosy way to help you to keep your heating on low!

7. Hold a tree planting day

Identify some good sites for tree planting (get permission from the land owner) and choose some appropriate native species (bearing in mind some of the climate changes coming our way which will increase temperatures and storm conditions). Late autumn/early winter is a great time to get planting!


8. Arrange a low carb campaign

Survey local people in your community – what are the things that make it difficult for them to go low carbon? It may be lack of local public transport, poorly maintained footpaths & cycleways or poor support for developing renewable energy options. Use your feedback to lobby those who could help.

9. Create a low carb calendar

Work out your own month by month calendar of seasonal low carb activities (like planting seeds for local vegetable growing or launching a walk to school at the beginning of the school year), add some visuals and circulate within your group or local community.

10.  Hold a low carb award scheme

Recognise and celebrate effort and good ideas by developing an award scheme. Offer some low carbon prizes like solar powered torches, wind up radios and water powered clocks. Climate friendly champions deserve public praise!