Why you need to take action on climate change

Plymouth is already one of the greenest cities in the UK…and that’s official.

Last year, the WWF's report on the ecological footprint of 60 British cities put Plymouth in joint first place with Newport in Wales. The WWF research showed that Plymouth’s residents had the very least impact on the local environment and resources.

So why worry about trying to be greener? Because we’re still living way beyond our means in the South West. If everyone on the planet consumed as much as an average person in the South West, we would need three planet earths to keep us going! (according to a report by Best Foot Forward, one of Europe's leading sustainability consultancies specialising in carbon foot printing.)

What does that really mean? Well, if you like bananas you’ll know that they don’t grow here in the UK but if they did we would need an area about six times as big as Central Park to provide enough bananas for Plymouth alone. For more information check out Plymouth’s Ecofootprint Study.

As a Council we want to encourage city residents and businesses to join us in cutting energy costs, reducing congestion, improving the local environment and tackling fuel poverty in our communities.

Going green isn’t all about climate change. It’s also about creating a sustainable community – that’s a community that is healthy, socially just, productive and living within environmental limits. And surely that’s something we all want?

Take up our top 10 green tips challenge.