We know from the Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2023 that almost 9 in 10 (87%) girls agree that we all have a responsibility to save energy and reduce waste to protect the environment. But girls feel there’s too much responsibility placed on young people to solve the climate crisis and would like more action from government and older generations. In response to our members’ concerns, Girlguiding Anglia aspires to minimise its impact on our environment and maximise the effective use of resources.
We aim to:
- Provide a safe and healthful workplace
- Have an environmentally sustainable aware culture, where responsibility is assigned and understood
- Be an environmentally responsible neighbour in our community
- Conserve natural resources by reusing and recycling
- Use, in our own operations, processes that do not adversely affect the environment
- Ensure the responsible use of energy throughout the organisation
- Participate in efforts to improve environmental protection and understanding
Some of this will take longer to achieve but we are working towards these goals.
We have already taken many measures to work towards some of these goals….
- We have been rewilding some areas of the site and planting wildlife friendly plants
- We have planted around 2,000 native saplings
- We also try to use natural materials wherever possible on site and try to limit waste, including using recycled paper for printing and recycled paper toilet rolls.
- Reduced the use of single use plastics wherever possible, including encouraging all groups to bring refillable water bottles and reusable mugs.
- We have installed electric vehicle charging points to encourage greener travel.
- We have signed up to halve our carbon footprint by 2030.
….but others will take longer to achieve. We are writing a One Plant Action Plan to track how far we have come and to help us to plan how we will take this forward. This will shortly be available on our website.
As part of our plan to reduce our carbon footprint we want to reduce heat loss from our buildings and generate energy from renewable sources. We are really pleased to report that we were successful in our application for funding from the Youth Investment Fund refurbishment grant from the Department for Culture Media and Sport. The grant will now fund some exciting that work will be carried out over this winter:
- Solar panels with storage batteries for Hautbois House
- Solar panels with storage batteries for Region Office
- Secondary double glazing at Hautbois House
- Thermal wall liner for externals walls at Hautbois House
- Improved roof insulation at Hautbois House
- Conversion of the showers outside the back of the house to staff showers/WCs/staff areas
The work has started on the solar panels and the thermal lining paper is to be hung over the next 8 weeks or so. The secondary double glazing has been fitted and is already making a difference!
Download the report here.