Great Big Green Week 2023

Pwllheli and Llanaelhaearn

A whole day of activities were organised by members of the Pwllheli and Llanaelhaearn communities, kicking off with a beach clean and picnic supported by Keep Wales Tidy, who provided litter pickers and bags.

Actviities continued at Canolfan y Babell, the community village hall in Llanaelhaearn, where the focus was on plastic pollution. Volunteers showed the film, The Story of Plastic and put together lots of educational displays about the environmental damage caused by plastic.

It was a great opportunity for the community to get together over tea and cake and chat to local artisans who showcased their hand-made products. Guests were offered a tour of the community garden and beehives, also maintained by the community. An art workshop which showed participants how to make artwork out of plastics found on the beach (from a previous clean – they had been cleaned!) was very popular and the day ended with a talking stick, which gave everyone the chance to share how they were feeling about the climate crisis and to share some of the actions that they were already doing, or wanted to do.

Grŵp Gweithredu Hinsawdd Gogledd Orllewin Cymru

Grŵp Gweithredu Hinsawdd Gogledd Orllewin Cymru held an open meeting in Bangor with Councillors across North Wales, to set in motion a plan for working with Councils to help lead the way on the climate and nature emergencies.

The meeting was very well attended and included deep dives into active travel, public tansport, carbon reduction in the public health service and street lighting.

Demands and pledges were developed during the meeting, to evidence public support for action on climate change and to help Coincillors prioritise their plans.

Sir Gar Carmarthenshire Federation of Women’s Institutes

The Public Affairs Sub-Committee hosted a GBGW event, which kicked off with a talk from Roger Middleton, Environmental Engineer, encompassing the basic science and history of Climate Change and “what we can do about it”.  The illuminating talk, backed by scientific research included Energy; Food; Transport and Human Civilisation.

The second talk from Gerry O’Brien from CARE was about the Smarter Energy Service which supports householders to understand their energy bills, including tips on how to understand energy usage and reduce it where possible.

After lunch, Terri Simpson from the Community Wardrobe explained how to reclaim pre-owned apparenl and soft furnishings to make garments for the National Botanic Gardens of Wales as well as for herself. There was a modelling and judging session.

The day was completed with a “Swishing Event” – members had brought along pre-owned garments to be sold.

Feedback from members was excellent!

“I just wanted to say what an excellent day we had on Saturday.  All the speakers were clear, understandable and informative. The topic being so relevant to our lives and concerns.”