Newsletter, February 2007 |
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Contents this month
Sustainable lifestyles event
Most of us with the threat of climate change upon us are concerned
about our future and what effect certain factors will have on our
lifestyles. Sarah Alder attended the SPONGE event ‘Eco Chic
or Eco Geek? The Desirability of Sustainable Homes’ at the
end of January to gain a better understanding of the dialogue,
communication and engagement activities that have taken place to
date.
In a nutshell, a series of focus groups and questionnaires resulted
in the report outlining that home owners are prepared to pay more
to live in a sustainable home, with 92 percent of people surveyed
keen to see sustainability features offered on new homes, and 64
percent suggesting that these should be compulsory. A number of
key actions for both government and house-builders also came out
of the study and it will be interesting to see how everything continues
to progress with the three year project on Building the Market
for Sustainable Lifestyles being delivered by the SPONGE Sustainability
Network.
As climate change hots up as an issue the need for public engagement
around the implications is going to grow. Policy-makers will need
to know how fast the necessary changes can be introduced, while
the public will need to feel able to influence them. In our next
newsletter we hope to focus on how, specifically, we think public
and stakeholder engagement can best help to facilitate positive
public responses.
