Sustainability September

September is Sustainability Month in Wandsworth, and here's what we at Age UK Wandsworth did to celebrate and raise awareness. 

At Age UK Wandsworth, we work hard to help local residents age well. We recognise that a healthy environment plays a big part in the wellbeing of older people. This was keenly felt during this summer's relentless heatwaves, which affected the physical, social, and mental health of many members of our community. Sustainability Month was a great opportunity for us to revisit our Environmental Pledge and have important conversations about the role Age UK Wandsworth plays in creating a healthier, happier environment for local people. 

One of the actions we took was to organise several environmental-themed activities with our Community Engagement Service. Our Music Melody & Memories singing group for people living with dementia sang an ode to nature with songs such as What a Wonderful World. During one of our Wednesday Coffee Mornings, we invited the local therapeutic horticulture charity Thrive to deliver a talk about their gardening projects and sustainability work. Meanwhile, at our Foodie Fridays art session, we explored what a literally and metaphorically "cooler" world could look like through creative collages made from scrap and recycled paper. 

Sustainability Month was also an opportunity for us as an organisation to look at our own carbon footprint and environmental behaviours with the help of one of our trustees, Shanna. It was encouraging to see that sustainable thinking already shapes much of what we do, whether that's reducing food waste in the kitchen by creating fantastic meals from leftover ingredients, offering repair and upcycling workshops through the Roehampton Community Shed, or running arts and crafts sessions using recycled materials from the South London Work & Play Scrapstore. 

At the same time, we identified areas where we can still improve, such as collecting rainwater to water our garden and finding better ways to manage and reduce waste. Having just come through a summer of repeated heatwaves in London, we have also been talking about how we can support climate adaptation in the borough, and how we are already contributing to it. One example is providing a cool and welcoming space at the Gwynneth Morgan Day Centre during periods of extreme heat. Our Day Centre Deputy Manager Frank even had the opportunity to speak to the Prime Minister Andy Burnham about this work and the importance of protecting vulnerable residents during hot weather when he was invited to visit 10 Downing Street.  

Sustainability Month has been a valuable opportunity to reflect on our environmental impact and the role we can play locally. We look forward to building on these conversations and continuing to make sustainability part of the way we work every day.