Tearfund : Use a Ribbon to find Drafts

Leading relief and development agency Tearfund are urging people to cut their carbon with their Carbon Fast.

They have launched the fast because of the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, and to protect poor communities around the world who are already suffering from the ravages of climate change. The Carbon Fast is a forty-day journey, towards a lighter carbon footprint, with a simple energy saving action per day.

One of the simplest actions in the Carbon Fast is to check your windows and doors for draughts:

Take a ribbon and hold it in front of your window or door. If it flutters - buy a draught excluder.

Other actions in Tearfund’s Carbon Fast include:

* snubbing plastic bags
* giving the dishwasher a day off
* insulating the hot water tank

Participants are asked to begin the Carbon Fast by removing one light bulb from a prominent place in the home and live without it for 40 days - as a constant visual reminder of the need to cut energy. On the final day of the Fast, people are encouraged to replace the missing bulb with an energy-saving bulb. Over its lifetime that one bulb will save 60kg of carbon dioxide per year and up to £60.

Tearfund is helping communities cope with the impacts of climate change right around the globe. Tadesse Dadi, a Tearfund worker in Ethiopia said millions were already being affected: “Climate change may not yet be a problem for people in Europe, but here in Ethiopia its effects are being felt today by millions of ordinary men and women farmers. These poor communities, who have contributed least to climate change, are suffering the most from its effects.”

To take part in Tearfund’s Carbon Fast click on www.tearfund.org or call 0845 355 8355