In Our Nature’s latest updates | Winter 2024/5
As we enter into spring, we wanted to look back on all our exciting achievements from the last few months…
Individuals and communities across the city are learning new skills, making new friends, saving money and reducing carbon and we’re continually updating our website with tips to help you do the same. We’ve also been supporting people to have the biggest impacts locally by providing coaching, workshops, networking opportunities and publishing localised carbon footprints for all of Manchester.
Read on to find out more!
Empowering Manchester’s residents and communities
Did you know, In Our Nature has supported over 70 projects in Manchester so far, saving a whopping 18.5 tonnes of carbon already.
We kicked off 2025 by announcing 10 more projects as part of our Community Support initiative.
Over the coming months, they’ll be taking climate action for the city in all sorts of ways, from planting trees and saving apples to making their homes warmer, mending, upcycling, catching the tram, switching up their meal plans, running to practise and cooking up a storm! Click here to find out more about our current and past Community Support projects.
Let’s take a closer look at some recent project highlights…
We’re sharing recipes, reducing food waste and making sustainable swaps
We’ve been working with plant-based Chef, Ngwafu Tansie, of gwafuvegan to teach young people in Gorton how to cook a variety of delicious and sustainable recipes, including jackfruit curry and lentil dahl. The young people were then given the recipes to recreate at home for their friends families to enjoy.
Want to try out some new delicious recipes? Check out our low carbon cookbook, also available in Urdu and Arabic.
We’re growing local and greening the city
We’ve been facilitating volunteer days with local residents and staff from Morgan Sindall who have been hard at work creating a community allotment at The Message in Sharston. Most recently, volunteers have been planting up the planters they built with flowers which will bloom in the spring, along with seasonal produce. They’ve also planted three fruit trees which will grow a variety of fruit in the next few years.
Take a look at our planters guides for inspiration to help you get growing at home.
We’re staying warm, saving money and using less energy
With our support, Loveworld Volunteer Medical Corps hosted an ‘Introduction to home energy’ workshop for members of their community, facillitated by Groundwork’s Energyworks Team. As part of the session participants learnt how to identify fuel poverty and how best to support their community to reduce their energy bills and live in warmer happier healthier homes.
As a next step, the Energyworks Team will be making some home visits to members of the community to provide more bespoke energy saving advice.
Congratulations to project leads, Lucille and Gloria, for completing their carbon literacy training and becoming qualified carbon literacy trainers!
We’ve also been supporting Withington Assist who recently collaborated with Manchester Care and Repair to host a coffee morning to dispell common myths about heating the home and share practical energy saving tips. Manchester Care and Repair will now be offering home visits for the group as part of this project to install efficient light bulbs, provide draft excluders and bleed radiators; helping people stay warmer in their homes whilst using less energy.
We’re making the most of our stuff and turning old into new
We teamed up with Stitched Up and St Margarets Community Centre to launch Chorlton Park Repair Cafe! Over the past 6 months, over 79 people have attended the monthly Repair Cafes, and 28 items have been repaired, including a hedge trimmer, a coffee machine, a hair straightener and a radio.
Follow Chorlton Park Repair Cafe on Facebook to find out more.
Over in Charlestown, we’ve partnered up with Lakeside CIC to launch the Boggart Hole Repair Cafe! Over the next 3 months, we’ll be running sessions at the Cafe, so come along on the last Saturday of every month from 10am-12pm to get your items repaired.
Follow Boggart Hole Repair Cafe on Facebook to find out more.
We’re finding new ways to explore the city
We teamed up with Bike It Walk It to run a series of cycling confidence sessions to help local women in Cheetham Hill learn how to ride a bike or to improve their confidence on two wheels. Bike It Walk It founder Naz Khan worked with 9 women in Heaton Park teaching basic cycling skills, changing gears, the different parts of the bike and more! After the sessions 100% of the group said they felt more confident on a bike, the sessions improved their mood, and they felt more connected to their local community. The group are still getting together for the weekly cycling sessions and have joined the weekly well-being walks too.
“I enjoy every minute in the project the instructor very friendly and helpful, and the sessions improve my mood make me more relaxed and happier.”
Follow Bike It Walk It’s new Instagram to find out what’s next!
Want to find out how you can make the biggest difference where you live?
We’ve compiled localised carbon data for every single ward in Manchester.
Explore Manchester’s local carbon footprints to find out how your carbon footprint compares to the Manchester average, and other areas across the city, how efficient our homes are and how accessible public transport is in your area. You can also discover the inspiring climate projects that are already happening where you live.
Building a movement
In January, our Steering Group attended a workshop hosted by In Our Nature partner, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, to learn more about their carbon footprints as part of our recently published local carbon footprints.
We also held our first ever Community Champions event last month, enabling individuals delivering projects in their communities to come together and share their experiences. As part of the day, we joined Myco Manchester at the St Margarets Centre to take part in a wormeries workshop and also spoke about some collective solutions to common challenges faced in community work.
This is part of our work to support individuals and communities who are making a difference for our city, we’re planning another event in the coming months where we’ll be inviting even more Community Champions to come along - watch this space!
Everyone who attended found the session valuable and were keen to explore further ways to connect and grow the network.
In Our Nature is going wild!
Come and find us at Manchester Museum’s Wild Exhibition as we showcase some of the brilliant people making a difference for nature and the climate across Manchester.
We’re here to help you take your climate action impact to the next level
Taking a moment for yourself as a climate volunteer might not feel easy, but it can do wonders – not only for yourself and those around you, but for the planet too. Our Learning Hub is an invitation to slow down, spend some time with yourself, and get a fresh perspective so that you can bring your best to your community and our planet. Get bite-sized answers to common questions or go deeper with content in our Conscious Community Library. Because change in our community starts with change within us.
Sharing our learning
You could save up to £65 a year by changing just one setting on your boiler
Your boiler’s flow temperature might be set too high – wasting energy and money. By turning it down, you’ll still stay just as warm and cosy, but you’ll be using less energy.
Check out this simple step by step guide to turn down your boiler’s flow temperature.
Discover some of favourite resources of the season to help you create change:
Learn how to build your own at home wormery with this handy animation from Myco Manchester
Get your hands on some translated participant surveys to reach more of your community
Curious about solar panels? Sow the City’s have shared their advice and learnings from their recent solar installation at Boiler House
Check out these video tutorials for upcycling your wardobe created with VT Creation