Zero Hero update

Hi, I’m Annette, and I’m the Zero Hero for the BMMC South Midlands Region. Here’s my August thoughts for our Sustainability Campaign.

Have you been thinking about sustainability since last month? With the cancellation of the Formula 1 race at Imola due to the extreme flooding, and damage to many communities in Italy, and then the forest fires in Canada which have caused many sporting events in the northern USA to be cancelled due to dangerous air quality, it can’t have escaped your notice that climate change is having an impact on the activities we love the most. Humans have a huge impact on the planet, but we have the power to change the way we do things.

So, my first question this month is: What’s in your lunchbox? And to start with, what IS your lunchbox? As we both marshal in our house, we have very cheesy pink-and-blue, his-and-hers insulated lunch bags. Perfect for keeping our lunch and snacks together, and we can pop in a freezer pack for any hot days to make sure everything stays cold.

Secondly, what about your lunch itself? I don’t mean your preference for cheese-and-pickle sandwiches or a love for sausage rolls (no discussions of pork pies, please). We’ve managed to give up using clingfilm or even foil to wrap sandwiches – we use plastic tubs which can be used over and over again. I’ve got a selection of them at home, and yes, we certainly do have a strange collection of lids!

Have you heard about Plastic Free July? This is what first got me started on using less single use plastic in my packed lunch. You can find out more at https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/

There are a whole range of inexpensive food storage options, some of which will keep very secure and leakproof if the contents are my favourite pasta salad, but you could re-use a plastic tub that had a take-away in it. In, fact you could use up any leftovers from last night’s takeaway as your lunch!

We have stopped using single use plastic bottles for drinks. There are a wide range of options for re-usable insulated water bottles and flasks, to keep water or squash cold, and to keep coffee hot! These can range from high end brands to much cheaper unbranded steel bottles. I just can’t make it through the day without a coffee (or two). Non-insulated ones are useful too – and lots of locations now have drinking water refill points so there’s no excuse for getting dehydrated during the day.

I hope to hear that you are finding ways to reduce your impact on the planet whilst enjoying marshalling.

Best wishes, Annette