In late 2009 Transition Belsize began offering free draughtbusting Workshops to teach residents how to reduce energy bills without having to install expensive double glazing and solid-wall insulation.

Date: 2 November 2010
Time:17:00–20:30
Location: Nottingham Trent University
Registration: http://bookwhen.com/ccweeks2010

A lot has changed since Nottingham and North Tyneside first penned their support for the belief that climate change was happening and that local government can do something about it. Now 392 UK councils have signed up – more than 90% of all British local authorities.

According to a 2006 UN report the meat and dairy industry produces about a fifth of the world’s emissions. That’s partly because cows produce lots of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) during digestion, but also because of the fossil fuels used to produce feed for cattle to eat, to pump water for cattle to drink, to refrigerate meat, to transport refrigerated meat, and finally to sell meat in supermarkets, often in open fridges and freezers.

Jamie Oliver brought the parlous state of UK school food to the public’s attention. Jamie’s media profile forced the government to act where food campaigners had struggled to make headway. National Nutritional Standards, abolished under Margaret Thatcher, were reintroduced in 2007. School caterers were obliged to offer more healthy options. School kitchens, which had become microwaving facilities following compulsory competitive tendering in the 1980s, were rebuilt to permit cooking from raw ingredients. Kitchen staff were trained (or retrained) to cook.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the Russians stopped supplying oil to Cuba and it became the first industrialised society to go through life after oil. As a result, Havana currently produces more than 50% of the fruit and vegetables its residents eat. Could London or Manchester or Birmingham do the same? We won't know until we try, but Middlesbrough Council, who recently joined 10:10, have shown the way.

Energy efficiency is usually seen boring because it’s quite low-tech and mostly invisible. Energy generation by contrast is exciting because it’s about gadgets. But gadget-fixation can lead to classic mistakes like the installation of mini-wind turbines on urban homes – sometimes known as the “eco-bling” approach to CO2 reduction.

Generating clean energy is important, but in the near term the real gains will come from reducing demand through efficiency.

Under EU trade rules you cannot judge tender responses on how environmentally conscious a company is, but you can specify eco goods and this is what you should do as far as possible. So, for example, if you ask the market for paper, then you can’t judge the tender on whether respondents have offered recycled paper. But you can ask for recycled paper.

To truly get to grips with your council's carbon footprint, it's vital to ensure that sustainability is legally embedded into your procurement processes. The experts at Sustainable Procurement Cupboard have put together this guide to help you make it happen:

Staffing

DIY Streets is a Sustrans project to help residents to re-design their own streets affordably, putting people at their heart, and making them safer and more attractive places to live.