Futureproof Cumbria

Month: July 2023

  • Job: Cold to Cosy Homes | Project Officer

    Job: Cold to Cosy Homes | Project Officer

    Great news – our Cold to Cosy Homes service is being expanded so we can continue to deliver even more free home energy advice across the county, often to vulnerable people living in cold, draughty or damp homes. We’re looking for two Project Officers to join our team to provide home energy advice to a diverse range of clients.

    The successful candidates will help us reach more clients through home visits, telephone or virtual appointments, or at events throughout Cumbria. You’ll use your knowledge of fuel poverty and friendly style to give advice to help make homes warmer and cheaper to heat; and you’ll use your communication skills to maintain and develop relationships with external stakeholders.

    To apply, please email your completed application form to us by 9am on Wednesday 23 August.

    Interviews will be held via Zoom on 30 & 31 August 2023.

    The interview process will also involve one or more tasks relating to the role.

    The important stuff

    • SALARY RANGE: £23,000 to £29,000 (FTE)

    • LOCATION: Flexible working patterns with blended home, site and office (Penrith) work.

    • HOURS: 22.5 – 37.5 hours a week, negotiable hours and days. Core working hours are 10 – 3.

    • START DATE AND DURATION: As soon as possible, fixed term to 31 March 2025 with potential for extension.

    You’ll love working at CAfS

    Working at CAfS comes with great benefits. You’ll be joining a friendly and supportive organisation, and your wellbeing and work:life balance are hugely important to us. As well as flexibility around your working hours and location, you’ll have 22 days of paid annual leave pro rata, plus bank/public holidays. We pay an employer pension contribution of 6% from day one of employment.

    What a job at CAfS offers you…

    • The opportunity to be on the frontline driving action on climate change as part of a respected organisation that is making a difference.

    • Collaboration with dedicated colleagues, communities, local authorities and other organisations who are striving towards the same goal.

    • A dynamic working environment in which we continually innovate to achieve the best outcomes for employees, communities and planet.

    • A consultative working culture where staff are encouraged to contribute to new developments.

    Our work culture and benefits…

    • We are a friendly and supportive team of colleagues and board of trustees

    • We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do.

    • We will provide the equipment you need to do your job.

    • Employee wellbeing is very important to us. We do what we can to help colleagues achieve a great work/life balance.

    • We have a flexible working policy and we use it. Most staff work part time so we are accustomed to managing different work patterns. Staff can also work at home where possible.

    • We invest in learning and development and encourage people to develop their skills and commit time and resources to development.

    Find out even more about the benefits of working at CAfS >

  • What does climate change look like in Cumbria?

    What does climate change look like in Cumbria?

    Whilst mainland Europe is burning in record breaking heatwaves, here in Cumbria it seems to be the usual summer weather – cloud, rain, some spells of sunshine. It’s the conditions that we would normally expect.  

    But whilst it may not feel as though the long term climate is changing in our own backyard, unlike overseas, it is clear from the data derived from monitoring of the day to day weather conditions over many years that it is.   

    The average annual temperature of the UK has increased since 1884 – with 10 of the UK’s hottest years having occurred since 2003.

    Graph showing UK annual average temperature
    Source: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2022/2022-provisionally-warmest-year-on-record-for-uk

     

    Even closer to home, there is evidence of climate change as average annual temperatures in Cumbria are hotting up – see the ‘climate stripes’ graph below.  

     

    Climate stripes for Cumbria

     

    Met Office data recorded at the Keswick climate station since 1961 shows that the maximum yearly average temperature has increased from 12.44 degrees in the period 1961-1990 to 13.24 degrees in the 1991-2020 period. The average yearly rainfall total has increased from 1,470.85 mm in 1961-1990 to 1,575 mm in the 1991-2020 period. Air frost days have declined from 68.14 days per year on average in the period 1961 to 1990 to only 44.58 days in 1991-2020. 

    Evidence of climate change can also be seen in the water temperature of our lakes. A study by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology that focused on four lakes found that four of the five warmest years have occurred since the year 2000.

    The heatwaves in Europe may have been described by some of the media as ‘unusual’ but as we continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, we will experience increasingly extreme, record breaking weather with increasing frequency, hear at home.

    Want to know more about weather vs climate and what you can do? Our climate and carbon literacy courses can help.

  • Our latest newsletter – 20 July 2023

    Our latest newsletter – 20 July 2023

    Read our latest newsletter for details of our Staveley ebike scheme, Cockermouth charity week, a call for thermal imaging volunteers and climate champions and more!

    We send our newsletters every couple of weeks. We’ll let you know about our forthcoming events, webinars, and courses; top tips for cutting your carbon footprint, our services and projects. To get this direct to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter!

    Follow us on social media for
    the most up to date news!

  • Cockermouth businesses supporting CAfS during town’s charity week

    Cockermouth businesses supporting CAfS during town’s charity week

    It’s Cockermouth Charity Week and CAfS are being supported by some wonderful sustainable businesses in the town.  

    The week runs from 17th-22nd July and throughout this period businesses in Cockermouth will be fundraising for their chosen charity. On the Saturday, everyone will be out on the streets to celebrate with stalls, live music and many other events happening in the town. 

    North Lakes Clinic and Health Food Store are supporting us with a promotion on sales of Bare Kind bamboo socks and in Market Place, Goodness and Grain will also be running a raffle with some amazing, sustainable prizes. Skylark Studio have donated a painting which can be won on our stall on Saturday and Oakhurst Garden Centre are running a Vintage afternoon tea and music evening on Friday 21st to fundraise for us. All businesses will be taking donations via our collection tins. 

    On Friday, Oakhurst Garden Centre are hosting a fundraising vintage afternoon tea, with CAfS being one of the beneficiaries. If you can print and display the poster that would be awesome!

    Representatives from CAfS will be in the town on Saturday to celebrate the end of charity week and will be hosting their own pop-up stall outside Sainsbury’s. Come along and see us there, ask any questions about our work or take part in our climate-themed games.  

    You can also pick up a leaflet in any of the businesses supporting us throughout the week to find out more about our work and services.   

    We look forward to seeing you there! 

    If you are a small business in Cumbria who would like to support Cumbria Action for Sustainability through your work, contact our friendly Development Team for a chat at: [email protected] or 01768 593272. You can also find out more about establishing a business partnership with us here.  

  • Home Retrofit Volunteer

    Home Retrofit Volunteer

    Get involved in home retrofit and learn how to use a thermal camera!

    We’ve teamed up with community groups in four areas  – Ambleside; Keswick; Levens and Arnside and Greysouthen, Melbreak, Lorton, Eaglesfield, Bridgefoot and Little Clifton – for a new project all about retrofitting and refurbishing homes to save energy and be more comfortable.

    We’re recruiting volunteers in each of these area to help drive the project. No experience necessary! We’re looking for people to help plan and publicise events, and a group of volunteers to carry out free thermal imaging surveys – full training provided. Our team are also interested to hear from home owners who are carrying out significant low energy retrofit work to their homes, or have already done so – it’s great to have case studies, or for home owners who are considering their own retrofit to be able to talk to others about it.

    Email [email protected] if you are interested in helping with any of these activities. CAfS are really keen to welcome some new people to get involved in the project, so if you are interested or have questions before you decide, do get in touch! Tell your friends if you know someone who might be keen – this is for anyone in these locations, whether you are already a member of these community groups or not.

    Volunteer now!

    This project is funded through the

    Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.

    Thermal Imaging

    • Surveying

    • Appointment admin

    Event Organisation

    • Planning

    • Publicity

    Share your story…

    • Case Studies

    • Talk to fellow home owners

    • Ambleside area

    • Keswick & surrounding villages

    • Greysouthen, Melbreak, Lorton, Eaglesfield, Bridgefoot and Little Clifton

    • Levens and Arnside area

  • Response to Climate Change Committee Report | A call for national leaders to step up

    Response to Climate Change Committee Report | A call for national leaders to step up

    Our CEO, Karen Mitchell, responds to the recent CCC report

    On Monday, the Met Office confirmed that June was the UK’s hottest on record. Days before that, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the independent group which advises the government on emissions targets and reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, released its annual report, saying that their “confidence in the UK meeting its goals from 2030 onwards is now markedly less than a year ago”.

    The 438 page report cites a lack of urgency, and urges the Government to stick to existing commitments and ensure their delivery, with immediate action needed in a range of areas to meet the emissions pathway. They recommend that land-use policies are developed, planning policy radically overhauled and criticise the support for high-carbon developments including the proposed coal mine here in Cumbria, and new oil and gas production. The committee want better public engagement on climate strategy to empower households to make low-carbon choices. Watch a video highlighting the key messages from the report.

    CAfS has been working in this field for 25 years – doggedly building awareness of both the threats we face in this rural county from climate change and the multiple solutions and benefits that acting on its causes can bring. We have at times had very limited funding, few allies and a tiny team. In 2014 there were just six part time staff. Now we have near to 40. We’ve brought organisations of all kinds together, pulled millions of £s into Cumbria and run multiple projects to support individuals, communities and organisations make the transition from high to low carbon living and working. Just last week we were mentioned in a Westminster debate by Tim Farron MP for our work on home energy efficiency.

    We’re particularly proud to have helped to create the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership , a group of diverse organisations from across the county, now working together to plan how we collectively bring Cumbria’s fossil fuel emissions to net zero. As the CCC so clearly points out, we ‘need to act with the utmost urgency’ but whilst there is much that we can all do here to reduce our use of fossil fuels, we are also highly dependent on the right government policies and incentives. So we very much hope that government will respond to the Chair of the CCC, Lord Deben’s plea that it now acts ‘decisively and with ambition’. We’re doing our bit locally for Zero Carbon Cumbria – we need our national leaders to do their bit too.