While there is a compelling argument that we shouldn’t need specific days dedicated to cleaning up litter and reducing emissions, there are benefits to having days focused on specific issues.
Often the challenges facing the planet and natural world seem overwhelmingly complex and insurmountable. But just like eating an elephant, tackling challenges one bite at a time can provide the enthusiasm and motivation necessary to make positive impacts.
Dedicated days are also great for sharing new knowledge and projects throughout the community, and here at the Horniman we hope we can spread some of these great ideas and initiatives throughout south east London and beyond.
World Clean-up Day – 20 September
The first up is World Clean-up Day, held on 20 September every year.
The purpose of World Clean-up Day is to organise volunteer-based litter clean-up activities across every country around the world. Since 2018 there have been 114 million volunteers participating in World Clean Up Day across 211 countries and territories.
Have a target
Ideas for what to focus on are endless. One option is to focus on a specific type of waste. The World Clean-up Day project highlights cigarette butts as a pervasive form of pollution, with an estimated 6 trillion produced each year, of which more than half end up in the natural environment.
Having a target of collecting a certain number of cigarette butts off the streets, maybe even making it a competition with friends and relatives, is a simple way to turn it into a challenge.
Focus on an area
Another option is to focus on a specific area. Taking a day to clean up a local green space can really make a difference. While in some areas this might seem a Sisyphean task, this is not usually the case.
In fact, most research shows that, due to people taking behavioural clues from their surroundings, a clean environment reduces the rate of litter dropping – people are much more likely to drop litter in an area that already has large amounts of litter and vice versa.
Once the initial clean-up is done, ongoing maintenance of this clean environment then becomes easier, as littering rates continue to decrease.
Of course, this doesn’t account for pesky foxes rummaging through bins – so focus on areas with no nearby bins to make the biggest impact.
Digital clean-up
For those readers with mobility issues or other barriers to litter picking, another option is to clean up your digital footprint. Digital Clean-up Day is a spin-off of World Clean-up Day highlighting the energy (and resulting energy emissions) used to store the huge volume of unnecessary emails, files, and duplicate photos and videos that make up much of our device storage.
Simply going through and deleting these files can save a significant quantity of emissions. In 2023, over 12.7 million GB was deleted by participants, preventing nearly 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Zero Emissions Day – 21 September
Zero Emissions Day takes place on 21 September, with the aim of encouraging individuals and businesses to go 24-hours while emitting as few greenhouse gases as possible.
This year, Zero Emissions Days falls on a Sunday, which is certainly quite convenient for families with standard working and school hours.
Transport emissions
One of the biggest sources of personal emissions is from transport, so taking the day to stay at home or roaming the local area on foot or by bike is a simple way to eliminate this emissions source.
Energy use at home
Energy usage within the home is another significant contributor to most people’s carbon footprints. If the weather permits, perhaps spend the day outside and away from electrical devices. Keep lights switched off unless absolutely necessary and avoid the use of heating or cooling equipment. For food, consider preparing meals that don’t require cooking, and use ingredients with low associated emissions.
Short and long term actions
Of course, completely eliminating your emissions will be tricky. Your fridge still has to run, and you will still use water and generate some waste. Zero Emissions Day can also be a good time to investigate longer term actions you could take, whether that be small decisions – such as coming up with recipes for one vegetarian dinner every week – or larger investments, such as researching options for solar PV installations on your roof or switching to a heat pump for heating.
World Car Free Day – 22 September
The final day in Sustainable September is World Car Free Day, held on the 22 September every year. World Car Free Day is not just about personal choices around foregoing car use in favour of walking, cycling, and public transport – though that is a part of it!
It is also about raising awareness and lobbying for people friendly streets and a built environment dedicated to people, rather than motor vehicles.
Last year, World Car Free Day was marked in London with around 200 streets being transformed into temporary spaces for social gatherings and play. This initiative supplements the existing network of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), which reduce vehicle access to quiet roads and allow more space for walking and cycling.
In the borough of Lewisham, where the Horniman is located, the proportion of streets with restricted through-traffic is just under 50%, with a further 25% of streets having some measure of traffic calming. This is a good start, but large areas of the borough are excessively car dominated, which can be seen by anyone walking up to the Horniman along the South Circular.
There is much that you can do on and around World Car Free Day to help reduce reliance on motor vehicles, and the resulting environmental, social, and health harms that this reliance causes.
Ditch the Drive
The first is to minimise your own use of cars. Over a quarter of visitors to the Horniman arrive via car, so we encourage all of our visitors where possible to Ditch the Drive and use active or public transport as part of your visit.
Safer and healthier streets
The second is to support community initiatives around safer, healthier streets. This includes supporting the Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme, collaborating with neighbours and the council to create pop-up play areas and parklets on streets, and – if you have children – participate in Walking School Bus projects.
Reduce dependence on cars
The last thing you can do is to get active in supporting policies that reduce car dependence. Do what you can to support public transport, walking, and cycling investments both locally and nationally. Talk to friends, family, colleagues, and neighbours about the importance of reducing car dependence and challenge (in a positive way!) ingrained assumptions about the built environment having to cater to cars.
Whether you choose to participate in any of these events or not, we hope you feel inspired to make improvements in your personal life and local community to reduce emissions, improve air quality, reduce litter on streets, and support the local ecosystem.