Lifestyles Audit

Contribution to sustainable development and people’s quality of life:

Greener Futures informs and empowers children to take responsibility for the future of the world that they live in. The website provides material and stimulus to encourage questioning in children and adults about how well we care for our world. It also encourages consideration and discussion about the kind of world we want to be living in now and in the future.

The Greener Futures project also provides local authorities with valuable local data on the lifestyles and surroundings of the people in the communities. Local authorities can use this information to inform policy and research across a wide range of areas, from recycling to crime prevention.

Organisation: Peterborough Environment City Trust

Sector: Charity

Location: Based in Peterborough - Greener Futures is a nation-wide project

Start Date: March 2004 - on-going project

Summary: Greener Futures is an interactive and educational website, currently used by schools across the UK to combine the study of sustainability issues with data entry and analysis. The website comprises 3 sections for Key Stage 1 and 2 children: online lifestyles and surroundings questionnaires; data analysis tools; sustainability games and quizzes.

Through its online questionnaires and database, the website also collects and stores valuable sustainability information. This information can be used by local authorities to inform local policy and research.

Background: An informed community will take responsibility for its local environment. A community that has the tools to take responsibility will be able to act to improve its surroundings, will feel safer, take part in more active and healthier lifestyles and so enhance its quality of life.

Greener Futures offers teachers a structured way to introduce sustainability issues. It helps children to develop research and discussion skills and enables them to take action to reduce their negative environmental impacts.

Greener Futures provides local authorities with accurate information to inform and create policy that relates directly to the people within their communities.

Project results: During the past year, PECT has trained teachers to introduce Greener Futures in their schools. The project co-ordinator also ran workshops for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils in over 60 schools in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire.

Greener Futures has provided these primary schools with a fun and interactive way of teaching sustainability issues in class.

Greener Futures has also collected thousands of data sets from these areas that can be used to inform local travel plans, waste strategies, HECA reports, crime prevention strategies, community strategies and much more.

Keywords: Informing; Empowering

Contact Details:

Hugh Cripps, Operations Manager

Peterborough Environment City Trust

High Street

Fletton

Peterborough

PE2 8DT

Web: www.greenerfutures.com

Further Information: Peterborough Environment City Trust are now able to offer Sustainability Data Reports for local authorities, on the information collected through the Greener Futures online questionnaires.

To find out more information about Greener Futures and Sustainability Data Reports, please contact PECT or visit the 'lifestyles' pages of our website, www.pect.net