Cynthia Parke

Cynthia Parke - Born 1956, Ipswich, Suffork

My husband and I are retired, and live in Ipswich. I found out about this application from Facebook.  Figuring out what to do has taken quite a bit of conversation as we do need to do quite a lot in order to halve our impact by 2030.  We’re pretty pleased with where we’ve got to as we both feel that we can do something about the issues our grandchildren will face, and we feel it’s our responsibility to think carefully about our decisions.  I’m pleased to be recognised on Better Century as a °Cool Human, but my husband doesn’t really like having information about him online.  Here’s the plan we’ve both committed to.

Our home definitely needs a bit of work, so we’ve committed to installing solar panels and then a heat pump.  The house is already fairly efficient as we’ve been doing a few bits here and there over the years, like loft insulation.  I’m an avid gardener, and I was pleased to see the option of making the garden wildlife friendly, as we’ve made a small wildflower meadow, and have a pond.  We put birdfeeders out and really enjoy the wildlife in our garden.  I had to check but it turns out all our white goods are A+ rated, which means we’ve done those actions as well.  It seems the biggest impact comes from stopping burning gas.  We are a bit nervous about losing the gas heating, but do think it will work OK.

We do like to travel quite a bit.  We need to get across the country to see our children who are spotted around, and we like to get somewhere exotic once or twice a year.  We do need to replace our car in a few years, so after a bit of research, we decided that we could afford an electric car, when that happens.  For the air travel we’re not quite prepared to give up our chance to visit a few more places which are on our bucket list, but have said that we could easily shift to taking some trains to some lovely cities in Europe in a few years time.

We already do quite a lot with our purchasing decisions and definitely don’t throw away stuff if we don’t need to.  I am also a prolific recycler!  I was glad to find out that our local council is doing everything they can to reduce the carbon impact of our local schools, waste collection, community centres and leisure facilities.

I’ve found this whole process quite hard, but it does make me feel hopeful.  If we all made a plan like this, then we could genuinely make a better future.  It doesn’t take sacrificing really – just some careful thought about what to do.  I would encourage anyone else to do this as it does make you feel more hopeful.