Here’s a summary of the activities of  our Energy Story interviews plus thanks to all of you who helped make this project happen. Also thank you to Kimi Gill for the fab photos.

 

 

 

Below is a list of all the interviews published with people living or working in Islington with some energy knowledge. The project ran from 2021-22, but of course Islington Faces is still publishing interviews with energy activists, for example Adam Hardy (Feb 2023) Anna Hyde, climate activist (Nov 2023)

JULY 2022
#16 Q: Explain a bit more about how solar hot water works and how does it compare with fossil fuel power gas?
Solar and gas heating engineer Hilton Shaw talks about keeping your system working the best that it can, whatever the weather. TO BE PUBLISHED

APRIL 2022
#15 Q: How do I deal with the plastic waste that comes in to my home from food shopping?
Lindy Sharpe from Transition Highbury and the Islington Environmental Emergency Alliance has ways to help you.

JANUARY 2022
#14 Q: How can I connect with nature in Islington, the London borough with the least green space (and therefore likely to be a place where people have nature detriment disorder).
Hasan Al Islam talks about his journey as an apprentice at Islington Ecology Centre to becoming a landscape gardener. Keeping our environment green, clean and healthy for all life on Earth has a benefit for people and planet.

DECEMBER 2021
#13 Q: How can I invest in Islington’s greener future?
Karl Harder, ethical investment specialist and MD of Abundance Investment talks about climate change, money and the £1 million that Islington Greener Futures 2027 hopes to raise via q five year municipal investment – you can also go direct to https://www.abundanceinvestment.com/invest-now/islington-greener-futures-2027 if you are thinking of investing, anything from £5 up.

OCTOBER 2021
Q: How can I have a deep conversation about the climate crisis?
In the run up to the COP26 meeting Islington Faces hosted two face-to-face afternoons of conversation at the Blackstock Kitchen. Our experts were Ursula Yates (on food), Andrew Myer (on retrofit), Amanda Gowing (on food waste). This was part of a series of events organised by Islington Council, called Greener Futures.

AUGUST 2021
#12 Q: If I’m renting a place which leaks heat, how can I make the rooms warmer and the bills cheaper?
Energy Advice officer Nicola Branch has loads of ideas – plus many stories about enjoying Islington.

#11 Q: What happens in the Home of Sustainable Design shop on Barnsbury Street?
Petko Tashev runs a shop that specialises in circular design and is showcasing new materials that can be composted rather than thrown away (because there’s no such thing as away).

#10 Q: What happens at that vegan butcher on Upper Street?
Danai Davatzis explains more about the plant based choices at Rudy’s Vegan Butcher and Diner. A vegan diet can lower your carbon footprint.

JULY 2021:
#9 Q: What’s an easy way to reduce my carbon footprint?
Answer from Dan Miller, M&S Energy Operations Manager with info about choosing a green energy tariff. So when you pay your electricity bill the money is for renewables not fossil fuels.

#8 Q: Can dirty air from diesel vehicles really kill Londoners?
Answer in this interview with clean air policy maker Oliver Lord who is based in Mildmay.

JUNE 2021
No new interviews published

MAY 2021:
#7 Q: How can I use my cooking skills and prevent food waste?
Was answered by Amanda Gowing, a volunteer chef for The People’s Army and the Manna.

#6 Q: How can I help people and run a no waste kitchen?
Took us to an interview with Hazel Jhugroo and volunteers at The People’s Army.

#5 Q: How do i find out about climate change from a health perspective?
This was answered by Jeane Trend-Hill

APRIL 2021
#4 Q: What books can I read to find out more about the climate crisis?
Interview and a great list of newish titles from Ink@84 book shop co-owner Tessa Shaw

#3 Q: Does climate change effect us all equally? (The answer is no!)
Interview with Jay Adeyemi who set up a Take One Leave One rail with warm clothing during winter 2019-20.

MAR 2021: A busy month of question asking, deep listening and the publication of our first #energystories

#2 Q: What is retrofit? Andrew Myer: deep retrofit guru

#1 Q: What would make you cycle? Questions from Merium. Answers from Adam Hardy, Finsbury Park Neighbourhood

JAN-MAR 2021: The project slowly starts as donors are thanked (and if i haven’t thanked you yet, I still will – spent quite a bit of time lino cutting and printing a thank you card, so I won’t be wasting that!). A special thank you to Islington locals David Nicholls and Pete May for donating books for our super-generous £50 supporters. Nicola has also been doing some research on carbon literacy, carbon counting and Islington council’s vision, Creating a Net Zero Carbon Islington by 2030

NOV-DEC 2020: If you’ve come to this page from Crowdfunder, thank you, and welcome to Islington Faces. For 2021 we are planning a new series of interviews with Islington people – EVERYONE HAS AN ENERGY STORY. Thank you to everyone who helped fund this at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/everyone-has-an-energy-story

BE PART OF ‘EVERYONE HAS AN ENERGY STORY’
Islington Faces is one of 10 projects that have been promised £1,000 in match funding from M&S Energy if we can raise £1,200 on Crowdfunder between 23 November to 20 December 2020. You can look at the other projects on this link https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mandsenergyfund

One minute film: Everyone has an energy story

PROGRESS REPORT: 

THANK YOU all so much. We made it!! I’ll be sending out thanks and your rewards before 21 Jan 2021 – and hopefully sooner than that. But first a little rest, the Xmas holiday. Stay safe and huge thanks, especially to 43 generous supporters which of course includes M&SEnergy with their match fund of £1,000. Thank you!

For a while we were just £40 short of the target and then just £4 away from £1000…. nail biting…

For those of you who love facts and figures, this is how the 3 project slowly got funded.

FULL INFO BELOW: The project needed to reach £1,000 from 30 supporters, within 4 weeks in order to receive match funding of £1,000.

We are so close with just 4 days to go and up to 73% of the target. If we raise just £144 more then M&S Energy will donate £1,000. This means that even a very small donation NOW will help us get there. Thank you. Please go to https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/everyone-has-an-energy-story

Oh wow, a massive leap with just 10 days left – up to 59% of target. Any help would be so great. Thank you

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End of day 1:

 

PROGRESS REPORT – END OF DAY 3. THANK YOU. DO PLS SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

Wow – we’ve made it to 33% by Day 6

21 supporters and 14 days left. Tick tock!

22 supporters and very nearly almost half way: with 11 days left

 

MEDIA COVERAGE
Great piece on our fundraising by City Uni reporter John Abiona in Islington Now, on 6 Dec 2020, see http://islingtonnow.co.uk/environmental-blogger-launches-climate-change-crowdfunder-campaign/

There’s also a piece on published on Islington Gazette: https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/islington-crowdfunder-for-climate-change-project-6658868

SUPPORTERS
“I’m really excited about this new Islington Faces project. People struggle to save money and have warmer homes, often with negative consequences for their health and wellbeing. This initiative aims to support Islington communities by connecting people with energy questions with the people with energy answers locally. We hope it will make a really positive difference.” Paula Vandergert, chair of trustees for Islington Faces

“20 years of research on climate communications has shown me that local voices are both powerful and essential. We don’t identify with economists or scientists, and we don’t trust politicians. We listen to people like us, living in our community who we can identify with. Please support this excellent project to share local stories – it really is the key to change.” George Marshall, founder of Climate Outreach and author of Don’t Even Think About It: Why our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change.

“In the face of the pandemic, I believe Islington Faces is more vital than ever as a means of connecting to our neighbours and community.” Rosemary Brown, from Canonbury

“Islington Faces is a brilliant community initiative which was started by Nicola quite a few years ago now. Islington appears to have a never-ending supply of interesting and fascinating people who Nicola manages to track down so they can tell their stories. The interviews are always entertaining to read and give the reader the opportunity to learn more about their neighbours and our wonderfully interesting and diverse neighbourhood. I was one of the early interviewees and greatly enjoyed my few moments of ‘fame’.” Sue Jandy, from Highbury

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT
WITH ISLINGTON FACES EVERYONE HAS AN ENERGY STORY – we’ll ask locals what confuses or challenges them about getting to zero carbon by 2030. Then we’ll see if we can introduce that person or family, whole street, food bank or cafe regulars to one of the neighbourly energy “experts” who can turn a problem into a solution. Let’s say Meme and her family couldn’t figure out how to stop their home costing so much to heat. We’d then introduce them to the wit and wisdom of Andrew who is an Energy Doctor (yup, real thing).

With 200,000 people living in Islington there’s a good chance that someone here is already doing good things to reduce pollution, cut energy or move us all towards greener ways to travel.  What’s extra nice about this project is that it will involve loads of you sharing your wisdom with interested neighbours. Photos below are scenes from the Inspiring Islington exhibition where readers got to meet interviewees – a wonderful way to build community.