GlasGowGreener April update
Welcome to our latest update on GlasGowGreener – Glasgow Life’s sustainability campaign which is designed to help us all play our part in supporting the charity’s climate actions.
World Earth Day
Monday 22 April was World Earth Day. The annual awareness event is a global reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging us to come together, and take action for a healthier planet and brighter future.
Its aims are to raise awareness, inspire change, and foster a deeper connection with nature. It asks the world to unite in efforts to protect the Earth today for the generations to come because together we can make a meaningful impact and create a more sustainable world.
World Athletics has announced the 2024 Indoor World Championships held in Glasgow became the first event to be awarded platinum level recognition against the Athletics for a Better World (ABW) Standard, the evaluation system implemented by World Athletics this year that measures an event’s achievements in sustainable delivery.
The recognition, announced to mark Earth Day, came after a comprehensive evaluation by a team of international sustainability experts of the local organising committee’s approach to the event’s environmental and social impacts.
Over the last year GlasGowGreener has been encouraging everyone to make their own contributions to becoming more sustainable and help protect the planet for future generations.
There have been hints and tips on active travel and how to recycle, upcycle and generally how to think about opportunities to make simple changes that help reduce our impact on the planet.
You might not have thought about it before but the average email “costs” 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide emissions.
According to Mike Berners-Lee, a pioneer of carbon accounting, in his book How Bad are Bananas? that number goes up if it’s a long email that takes more than 10 minutes to write or if there is an image attached.
By the end of 2025, the number of emails sent globally is expected to be more than 375 billion, producing over 150 million tons of carbon.
Mike Berners-Lee estimates the average person’s annual email output produces the same amount of carbon as a 128-mile journey in a small car.
The good news is an email produces just 5% of the carbon emissions of written letters and documents.
The vast majority of emails Glasgow Life sends will be necessary – containing vital information, documents, or images needed for our work on behalf of people in Glasgow – and we all have an important part to play in ensuring this to help us minimise our carbon footprint. Therefore please consider if you need to send every email you might be planning, and if every email you receive needs a response.
Leading by example, this will be the last GlasGowGreener email. Future updates and information on our sustainability efforts and activities will added to the Glasgow Life intranet and the Colleague Information section of the Glasgow Life website.
As always, our thanks go to all colleagues across Glasgow Life who continue to support our Environmental and Sustainability Policy and our charity’s commitment to supporting climate action.