Local residents gathered on 17th January at The Plough and Harrow in Harpenden for talks and discussion with local author Judith Leary-Joyce, as part of Sustainable St Albans’ Our Planet Our Future talks series. Judith, who recently published her “Beginner’s Guide to Eco Renovation” and the free booklet “Stay Warm for Less”, described how we can improve our homes so that they perform for our wellbeing and wallets and, crucially, for the climate.
The issue of improving the condition of our homes is rising up the agenda as evidenced by the large attendance and engaged audience. Judith shared inspiring examples of the simpler and more involved measures from draught-proofing to the composition of wall insulation with an empowering, jargon-busting explanation of technical terms and advice on how to get started.
The talk moved into building a strong foundation to manage such a retrofit project and ensure that the home improvement aims are prioritised. Judith’s personal experience demonstrated the importance of nailing down these priorities to ensure that budget constraints or availability of construction materials didn’t compromise her climate conservation objective.
Further group discussions acted as a springboard for attendees to get started or progress existing plans. Those able to attend were left with a positive message that the solutions for improving our homes are already available and there are measures we can all take regardless of the size, age or location of our homes.
Sustainable St Albans outlines many of these solutions on our website and you can also find out more about Judith’s book and download the booklet from her website https://ecorenovationhome.com. “Beginner’s Guide to Eco Renovation” is available from bookshops (£7.99)). Judith is donating all of the author payments from the book to Friends of the Earth.
The next talk in the Our Planet Our Future series is ‘Curious about local eco businesses’ on 21st March.