AS the 'Greening Petersfield' campaign moves in to its second week, determined organisers are calling on residents and businesses to keep up the momentum. More and more green logos are appearing in shops and windows across the town. And over the weekend, more than 500 people braved torrential rain to support the campaign's showcase event – the Hampshire Green Fair – at The Sustainability Centre in East Meon. Despite a positive week, Terena Plowright is still encouraging people to take five simple steps to help drive down carbon emissions. She said: "What we are asking people to do is a small number of easy things, but the difference it will make will be phenomenal because people are acting together." The campaign, led by the Sustainability Centre was launched in the town centre last week. It is hoped 60 per cent of homeowners and businesses in the town will show their support by aiming to achieve five of eight energy saving measures: • Change three light bulbs for energy efficient ones; • Turn the heating thermostat down by 1ºC; • Turn off all equipment standbys; • Walk if the journey is less than one mile; • Boil only the amount of water you intend to use; • Wash clothes at 30º; • Top up the loft insulation to a level above the rafters; • Reduce water flushed down the toilet. Mrs Plowright added that as well as support from smaller independent businesses, a number of national chains appeared to be showing an interest. She said: "You can walk around the town and see new posters going up all the time. If this campaign achieves anything, it will be that it is making people stop and think." The positive attitude was mirrored at Sunday's Hampshire green fair, where hundreds ignored the bad weather to learn more about going green. "I can't believe so many people came out in that weather. There were queues of people at the renewable energy stand," Mrs Plowright said. "One woman came up to me and said she was consciously moving house to reduce her car use. "And the band and the morris dancers even waved their fee when they saw what we were trying to achieve." More events are planned next week. On Tuesday, there will be a talk by Andrew Lee, the director of the Sustainable Development Commission, at St Peter's Parish Hall in St Peter's Road, Petersfield, entitled 'Where do we go from here?'. The talk, which is being organised by the Petersfield Christian Ecology Group, starts at 8pm. And on Wednesday, organisers will begin the final count. Campaign leaders will start to tot up the cards in windows around the town to see how Petersfield took to the challenge. To find out more about the campaign, or any of the events, call 0800 512012, quoting code SUS, visit http://www.earth-works-trust.com">www.earth-works-trust.com, or e-mail [email protected]">[email protected].
