Environmental Activity Suggestions for September 2025.
1. Big River Watch:
A fun, free, and easy way to help rivers taking place from the 19th to 25th September!
Anyone can take part in these week-long citizen science surveys that help to build an important picture of river health across the UK and Ireland.
"Our rivers are far from healthy. They're polluted with sewage, plastic, chemicals and nutrients, and just 15% of river stretches in England are in good overall health. To restore them, we need more information about how they're doing. You can help us identify and locate the problems. With the Big River Watch app, you can help us identify the issues, which help us influence policymakers and hold polluters to account".
For information on how to take part click on this link.
2. Great British Beach Clean
Every September thousands of people across the UK head to the coast to take part in the Great British Beach Clean. This year's event is taking place between Friday 19th - Sunday 28th September 2025. Find out how you can get involved and how it helps click on this link.
Environmental Activity Suggestions for July 2025.
Follow some of the suggestions for "Plastic-Free July" - aim for less plastic rather than the unachievable "no plastic" and celebrate anything you manage to do. There are specific ideas from the RHS about what you can do in the garden here. Image Attribution: Felicity (2016–2022). "Making seedling pots from paper rolls". Appropedia. Retrieved 2025-07-12
Environmental Activity Suggestions for April 2025.
Engage with Climate Action Sunderland. This group, which gave an interesting talk at our April monthly meeting and generated lively discussion and questions - highlighting that individual members of Washington Village u3a are keenly interested in environmental matters.
Climate Action Sunderland runs events, liaises with Sunderland City Council as a "critical friend", and signposts opportunities for people to promote sustainable practices. As well as their website they can be found on Facebook.
Of particular interest for April they have an upcoming event at Sunderland Minster on Tuesday 29th April from 7-9pm entitled "What WE CAN DO", further details are available here.
Environmental Activity Suggestions for March 2025
The Great British Spring Clean – 15th to 31st March
Organised by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, this encourages everyone to clean up their community by picking up litter. In Washington we have the Keep Washington Tidy volunteers who you could help. Tel: 07507570087 / 07876453015, email: info@keepwashingtontidy.com Use #LitterHeroes and post a picture to social media of you cleaning up to encourage others to do the same.
Earth Hour – Saturday 22 March 2025, 8:30-9:30pm.
For Earth Hour this year the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) asks us to spend 60 minutes doing something positive for our planet that we’d enjoy - and 'banking' the hour via Earth Hour - Take Part
Suggestions (in addition to switching off non-essential lights and appliances) include:
- turning your leftovers into a delicious zero-waste meal
- investigating how to reduce your water footprint
- having a scavenger hunt with grandchildren for (un)sustainable items that are in your own home.
... there are many more on their site.
Environmental Activity Suggestions for February 2025.
Plant to help bees through winter into spring: provide a source of pollen and nectar for any bees that are active during the winter months.
Suggestions from BBC Gardeners' World Magazine include: Winter aconite, Mahonia, Evergreen clematis, e.g. Clematis 'Freckles', Primrose, Strawberry tree, Willow catkins, Winter-flowering heather, Winter-flowering honeysuckle, Crocus, The perennial wallflower.
Improve the insulation and energy efficiency of your home.
Home Energy Advice North East provides free, personalised advice. “We help households install energy saving home improvements to reduce their energy bills. All our support is impartial and delivered by the experts at Energy Saving Trust.”
Call them free on 0808 175 9345 (office hours) or request a free home visit from one of their experts using their contact form
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for January 2025
Take part in some of Durham Wildlife Trust's events. Examples include "New Year Open Volunteering Day and Traditional Woodland Management" on Saturday 4 January 2025 10:00am - 2:00pm at Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring "Blow away the cobwebs with some hazel coppicing and learn the nature benefits & history of this traditional woodland management technique". Other events can be found from here.
Take part in the annual Big Garden Birdwatch. This runs from 24th–26th January 2025. The added benefit of contributing to this is that you can do this from the comfort of your own home! What do you need to do? (1) Sign up (here), (2) Choose one hour between 24 and 26 January, (3) only record the birds that land in your patch, (4) record the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time, (5) send the results in online or by post.
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for December 2024
Have a woodland walk, go foraging, make some Christmas decorations: A freestanding decoration using (birch) twigs from your garden or park, a vase and existing small decorations you already have.
Wreaths, wall and door décor weave together bendy branches or twigs like hazel, willow or ivy. Use a circular object, like a pot, as a guide or go freehand for a rustic look. Add whatever you have - ribbons, stars, candy canes, etc.
The Woodland Trust (Foraged decorations) have videos to help you do this.
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for November 2024
Take Part in the Great Cable Challenge: The copper in unused cables and extensions in homes around the country is valuable. It can be easily recovered and reused: reducing the need for newly-mined copper. Why not have a clear-out and bring in your surplus cables to our November monthly meeting at The Stella where we'll have a a cable collection point. Or you could take them to local B&Q stores with electric recycling areas, or your local Household Waste Recycling Centre .
Visit "WHAT WE CAN DO" at St George's Harraton on 9th November between 10am and 4pm.
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for October 2024
Visit ecofest a festival of sustainability, aimed at all ages, at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens on Saturday 5 October 2024 from 10am to 3pm
The free day will include arts and crafts activities with textiles and recycled materials. There will also be stalls and stands with information and activities on local growing, cycling and walking, recycling and waste and energy efficiency support.
Visit the "Earth Photo Exhibition 2024" at Wallington which is on until Sunday 3 November: you’ll see an exhibition of the shortlisted and award-winning images from this year’s competition. Further information from Earth Photo Exhibition 2024.
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for September 2024
Visit the Festival of Thrift (Sat-Sun 21-22 September, 9am-5pm, Billingham Town Centre & John Whitehead Park). ”Celebrating its 12th glorious year, this festival is the perfect place for thrifters, creatives, and fun-loving folks to come together and get creative with sustainable living”. More information at: Festival of Thrift.
Celebrate Second Hand September with Oxfam. Reclaim what style stands for. Dress for the world you want to see. Explore slow fashion, sustainable fashion and ethical fashion. Shop and donate second hand. Help create a fairer world. More information at: Oxfam's Second hand September
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for August 2024. Recycling Digital Devices with Sunderland City Council
Have you got a digital device at home that you no longer use or want? From August to the end of October the council is running a scheme to collect these from various drop-off points. All the donated devices will be reconditioned and donated to local people who don't have access to a digital device. Before they are passed on every device will be data sanitised (all data, such as photos and files, will be deleted and removed from the devices).
The devices you can donate include: old mobile phones and smartphones, laptops, chromebooks, tablets, desktop pcs and monitors, power cables and wires, keyboards and mice. They can't accept printers though.
A win-win from donating devices: Currently, 6 million tonnes of e-waste is generated in the UK every year. You'll help reduce this e-waste and your device could help someone in Sunderland build their confidence with using digital devices and the internet. Did you know 1 in 3 people in Sunderland have either never been online or lack basic digital skills?
Where and when to donate devices is listed here.
There are two local local drop-off points for donations in Washington:
• Monday, 12 August to Friday, 16 August, 10am to 1pm: Mickey's Place, Sulgrave, NE37 3BB.
• Friday, 16 August 2024 to Thursday, 31 October: 10am to 1pm: Building Blocks Day Centre, Concord, NE37 2SS.
There are three drop-off points and "talk to an expert" sessions in Washington:
• Friday, 16 August 10am to 1pm Building Blocks Day Centre, Concord, NE37 2SS,
• Sunday, 18 August 2pm to 6pm Mickey's Place, Sulgrave, NE37 3BB, and
• Wednesday, 2 October, 9.30am to 12noon Washington Library, The Galleries, NE38 7RZ.
Environmental Activities - Suggestions for July 2024. Bog Day [not that kind of bog!]
This annual event, in celebration of bogs, fens, swamps & marshes is an opportunity to raise awareness of peatlands – the benefits they provide, the threats they face and the ways we can all help protect them.
What can we do to help make a difference? (1) Follow the Countryside Code (in England and Wales) or the Outdoor Access Code (in Scotland) when out-and-about on your local bog. Stick to the path to help prevent eroding the peat soil, keep dogs on a lead to avoid disturbing local wildlife and livestock and take action to help prevent devastating wildfires on our bogs. (2) Avoid buying peat compost or plants grown in peat soil. Check with your local garden centre to see if their potted plants are in peat; if yes, ask them to supply their plants in peat-free compost. Advice on peat composts and peat-free gardening: When buying plants, look for ones that have been grown and potted in peat-free soil. When buying compost, make sure that it is peat-free. Many ‘multi-purpose’, ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘organic’ composts can contain as much as 70-100% peat. Unless a growing-media product is specifically labelled ‘peat-free’ then it is safest to assume that it may contain peat. Many of the alternatives are sustainable as they involve re-purposing a waste product and they originate from resources which are considered to be renewable. Alternatives to look for include: (i) Local, green compost- home-made or available cheaply from your local council recycling facility. Typically a good source of nutrients with good pH buffering capacity. (ii) Coir fibre is extracted from the husk of coconuts and is mainly imported from Sri Lanka as a waste product. Coir has excellent water holding ability. (iii) Wood products such as bark mulch, wood fibre and wood based ‘biochar’ products which mimic the carbon richness of peat and release nutrients slowly. (iv) Wool compost made from sheep’s wool and bracken
Plastic Free July Try to reduce how much plastic you buy during the month of July. Perhaps focus on just one "single use plastic" that you can use less of whether by buying loose fruit and vegetables or plastic free versions of things you would normally buy. Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.
February 2024 - Coronation Garden for Food and Nature
Something for the green-fingered among you. "HM King Charles made remarkable contributions to the natural world and environmental conservation during his time as Prince of Wales. He first visited a Wildlife Trust nature reserve age 23 and became Patron of The Wildlife Trusts in 1977. Since then he has been a true champion for the natural world for over 50 years.
With Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature we are combining the experience of The Wildlife Trusts, Incredible Edible, Garden Organic and the Women's Institutes, to create a lasting legacy. Our goal is for individuals and communities to pledge to grow fruit and vegetables sustainably, while also helping nature along the way."
For further information go to Coronation Gardens
5th February - 1st June 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition (10am to 4pm)
Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Special Exhibitions Gallery. Free/No booking required.
"See the world through a new lens. Explore the planet’s habitats, from sprawling urban metropolises to the deep polar seas, and meet the creatures that rely on these places. Come face to face with species at risk of extinction as well as those we’ve brought back from the brink. See first-hand how human activities, both good and bad, are shaping the natural world we rely on. The stunning photography will leave you truly inspired by the beauty and diversity of nature and hopefully give you a renewed drive to do what you can to protect it."