No-one ever asks us!

This story was told in a story circle at the Learning History workshop in February 2008. 

Read a story of how a lone sustainability officer built a campaign to introduce sustainability measures in her Authority. Read how, starting with an inclusive Lunch, one step led to another and the chief exec ended up on his bike!

No-one ever asks us!

a story told in the 'Breaking the Mould' story circle

My innovation is when I was working as a sustainability officer in Wiltshire Authority. And we were going from zero really, and I set up a project called “Less is more” we were trying to reduce energy and water waste in terms of travel and of energy use in the buildings of the authority and also in terms of our purchasing. And I tried to get some champions involved because it was just me and the Authority.

And I started off with the chief executive, but the first thing I have asked him was that we could use his office for me to host a lunchtime meeting for all the PA’s and secretaries and I wanted to ask their views first. So, he was a bit taken about this, but he said yes you can use my office. So in came the PA’s and the secretaries and we have started with them. And they had some brilliant ideas and one of the things for example was a simple thing about car sharing and saying “y’know we ought to be doing this more”.

There used to be a stack of 4 parking spaces right next to the chief executive’s office, right next to the reception where the top-5 head honchos parked and everyone else had to find their own space. So, they said “we should change this and those closest four spaces should be for those who are car sharing”. So, we set this up to start the ball rolling. We had started a few things at a time. So we initiated this and everyone was moaning about it. Then early on in the first week a group of us were going to work and we saw the chief executive running from the back of the car park late and he said, “I am bloody late for a really important meeting and it is your bloody car-share wots at fault”

And everyone loved it and the story went round and so this kind of took off. And lots of other things came out from that: the Leisure center started measuring their energy and water and the amount they saved, they were allowed some of that back for projects they haven’t been able to afford, and they could choose what they did with it. So they are kind of “Less is more” champions kind of happens starting with people who wouldn’t normally asked in the organization for their ideas and then kind of others in different places in the organization.

So our authority started putting its own housing order. And that was really helpful because part of the campaign was going out to the wider community and saying to residence and businesses, “We want you to do this.” And we were able to say: “Look - our secretaries came up with this idea and now the chief executive is changing his behavior. There was a picture of him in the paper on his bike".  So it is just to say that if you start doing it yourself because you are a Local Authority, you are seen to be a community leader and you get dividends by practicing what you preach.

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