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Srishti, one of our volunteers here at SHARE, has been investigating the difference our thermal imaging cameras have been making for people since our first one was donated in 2022.

Thank you to all of our customers who responded to her survey and shared what you’ve been up to, finding and filling draughty gaps, spotting water leaks, checking the performance of new insulation or more. We’re also grateful for your feedback on how we can make these cameras more useful for people, particularly those using them for the first time.

Connected with LCON

More than half of respondents have been using our cameras in conjunction with Low Carbon Oxford North’s excellent Housewarming programme. If you’re wondering where to start with your home, this is a really great resource, backed up by a brilliant local team who can help you with first steps.

Keen to try for yourself?

And if you’re interested to hire one of the thermal cameras for yourself, they’re available here:

We hope you find Srishti’s report useful and, as ever, if you have any questions, do give a shout at hello@shareoxford.org.

With only a month to go until the big day, many of us are thinking about seasonal shopping, whether that’s finding a sparkly jumper for the Christmas party, or buying presents for friends and family. If you’re keen to make your Christmas a bit more sustainable, here are some ideas for all the fun with less environmental impact.

First the bad news…

It’s not just our bank balances and waistbands that can feel the effects of the Christmas season; all that consumption also damages the environment. It creates mountains of waste; in the UK that includes around 365,000 kilometres of unrecyclable wrapping paper (enough to wrap around the equator nine times), 100,000 tonnes of plastic packaging, and 54 million plates of wasted food. And then there’s the impact of the stuff we buy; fast fashion (you can read our article about that here!), toys, novelty gifts, many made with plastic derived from fossil fuels, usually manufactured in China, and transported across the world. According to a coalition of ‘high ambition’ nations trying to reduce plastic pollution, the world will be unable to cope with the volume of plastic waste within a decade, and while it is important to increase recycling and waste management, these will be insufficient without a significant reduction in the manufacture and use of plastic. And if that isn’t enough of an incentive, plastics are widely recognised as a threat to health (human and others), biodiversity, and climate.

Packaging is a significant contributor to the tide of plastic and other waste. While buying online is quick and easy, all those packages have many downsides: vast amounts of resources are used not only to make the goods but also to pack and ship them: 3 billion trees are pulped every year to produce shipping cartons; transport and return of goods is responsible for 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions; and that impact increases if shoppers opt for fast delivery. And even once they reach their intended recipient, many items will be thrown away unused; around £42 million worth of unwanted Christmas presents are sent to landfill every year. If you want to check out more of the facts and figures there is a very comprehensive article here.

Enjoying new traditions

Deck the halls

• Artificial Christmas trees need to be used for at least 12 years to exceed the carbon footprint of a real tree that ends up as wood chips or on a bonfire, or sent to landfill. You can reduce the carbon footprint of a real tree even further by buying one in a pot that you can keep in the garden, or even hire one for the festive season. Many councils (including Oxford) will collect Christmas trees in January.
• Instead of plastic tinsel, look for decorations made of more sustainable material, or make your own:
  • Foliage can look lovely draped on mantelpieces or bannisters, and can be used to make your own wreath.
  • Use old paper (or maybe leftover scraps of wrapping paper!) to make paper chains
  • Add some lovely Christmassy scent to your home with orange slice decorations
  • Make some beautiful paper doves, or try one of the other papercrafts
  • Use our pompom maker to make some festive woollen decorations!
  • Treat your garden birds to a festive seedcake

Gifts

• Shop local: there are lots of independent shops in Oxford, selling everything from clothing and gifts to books and toys. If you’re free on Sunday 1 December, why not pop along to the Green Fair at the Oxford Town Hall, where you can shop for ethically sourced and local gifts.
• If you’re buying tech like smartphones or laptops, consider refurbished rather than new; they are usually cheaper, and will come with a guarantee, sometimes extras like virus protection and if you buy from one of our many local stores, the benefit of being able to pop in if you need help with it.
• Get crafty and make you own presents: if you’re looking for inspiration we have a flower press, sewing machines, a pyrography kit, and lots and lots of tools; we also have a food dehydrator, jam and sugar thermometers, chocolate moulds large pans if you are getting creative in the kitchen!
• Buy recyclable wrapping paper (make sure it doesn’t have any glitter, and is made of paper rather than plastic – can you scrunch it up?), and use paper tape rather than plastic. Or make your own wrapping; you could even borrow one of our sewing machines and make reusable fabric wrappers! Or re-use gift bags you have received.

Food/entertaining

• Buy locally grown food; you’ll be supporting local farmers and other producers, and reducing the carbon footprint of your meals.
• Reduce food waste by planning your meals over the festive season, only buying and cooking what you need, and reusing or freezing leftovers.
• If you’re cooking something you don’t normally have, or for more people than usual, borrow rather than buy kitchen equipment like our fish kettle, large cooking pot, or large colander.
• If you’re having a party, why not borrow some of our party kit? We have a chocolate fountain, a chocolate drinks maker, candy floss makers, bubble machine, a disco light, even a glitter ball. And if you’re looking for something new and sparkly, or a festive jumper, why not try and find one secondhand? Sequins, glitter and synthetic fabrics are terrible for the environment, and you can pick up a unique outfit at a bargain price on sites like ebay, Vinted or thrift.plus.

We’d love to share your ideas too. Are you trying something new this year? Discovered a new store that could become a favourite? Been crafting and created something amazing? Or having a giggle if things didn’t quite turn out as expected? (Ben’s trying making more home-cooked gifts this year and is sure his family will love the jars of “cranberry gel” which didn’t quite set but still taste great!). If you want to share stories or pictures, drop us a line at hello@shareoxford.org

To celebrate Get Online Week, we had a successful second run of Tech Rescue, helping people to either keep their IT running or wipe and donate it to Getting Oxfordshire Online for people in need.

We thought it would be useful to share the sort of things we helped people with. If you’re wondering about volunteering to help others or maybe bring a question to us in future, here’s a flavour of what we’ve been doing.

Software snags

Sophie’s printer had stopped working on WiFi. We found that her Mac’s updated operating system needed her to give permission for an obscurely-named extension to access network devices for it to come back to life.

We helped Elizabeth un-pick Microsoft licensing linked to former work accounts. We discovered that she could move over to Microsoft 365, getting more space and the Office apps for less than the cost of her current subscription to DropBox. We also discussed next year’s end of support for Windows 10 and options for cheap refurbished laptops (such as Stone refurb or Blackmore).

Barbara was having trouble when Windows insisted she moved from the Mail app to Outlook. With a helpful call with her son to get through two-factor authentication, she was all set up on the new app.

Going sloooooooow

We helped Catherine reset her Android tablet to make it as fast as it could be and discussed the limited use and security risks of older devices. Brian also helped her move some ear pads from her broken headphones to some working ones, saving one pair from the bin. We checked the old laptop she’s using for zoom calls, removed as much software as we could to speed it up, agreed it wasn’t worth spending money on a solid state drive, cleared some stuck Windows updates and advised that she gives it an hour for updates to finish before using it if it’s been idle for a few days.

We discussed Chrome OS Flex with David as lightweight system for a laptop which was horribly slow on Windows. We also confirmed that his laptop keyboard had a hard-to-fix fault so provided him with an external one to plug in.

Better luck next time

We weren’t able to help Riccardo repair the key cap on his wireless keyboard but pointed him to eBay to ask a seller for a replacement. We tested his USB hard drive and it worked fine which helped him isolate an issue with it on his computer.

The graphics problem on Christine’s laptop also had us stumped so we recommended our friends at GigaFix who we hoped would recognise the issue and be able to advise if it’s repairable or not. We also struggled with another Elizabeth’s locked tablet, suggesting she went back to Vodafone who she bought it from.

In the quiet time?

Finally, in between visitors, Brian, who volunteered to help out this week, also looked over 25 laptops which were being scrapped by GOO, to double check that all the drives had been removed, ensuring no personal data was heading to the recyclers.

Thank you for the kit!

Thanks to everyone who donated three laptops and a tablet. You can read more about the homes Getting Oxfordshire Online find for them on their impact page. We are happy to take donations of laptops, tablets and phones for GOO any time we’re open on Monday, Thursday or Saturday!

Keen to help?

A big thank you to Brian who offered his time this week. We’re delighted with the response we’ve had from new volunteers and we’re hoping to set this up as a regular service. We’ll announce our next session in a newsletter soon. If you’re not already signed up, here’s the link!

If you want to get involved either running tech rescues here or, for example at your local community centre, please get in touch and we’ll look forward to collaborating with you!

Autumn has arrived (and here’s a lovely article from the BBC on when the season actually starts, meteorologically and astronomically!), so it’s time to embrace the wonderful bounty of seasonal food.

Here in the UK we are blessed with an abundance of seasonal fruit: apples, blackberries, damsons, plums, many available locally. If you’re lucky enough to have access to fruit trees, the Library of Things has some useful bits of kit to help you harvest your crop, including a long-handled fruit picker, and ladders to get to the hard to reach fruit at the top of the tree. If you’ve collected more than you can carry, we also have various buckets, wheelbarrows and festival wagons to transport your haul.

Help with harvesting

If you have more fruit than you can manage, there are several groups across Oxford that can help:

• Abundance Oxford harvest surplus fruit and redistribute it to local communities.
• The Oxford Food Hub collect and distribute all kinds of surplus food.
• Cherwell Collective runs the Harvest@Home initiative, which is helping to support those growing food in the local community. They also coordinate the Waste Innovation Station Hubs.
• You can find other local community action groups here, and if you’d like to find out more about other projects working to make healthy and sustainable food available to everyone in Oxfordshire, check out Good Food Oxford Oxfordshire.

Oxford City Farm were due to hold their Autumn Festival FUNdraiser on 5 October, but unfortunately they have been significantly impacted by the recent floods and have had to cancel the event. They are now crowdfunding to try and provide resilience to future extreme weather, and build back the loss of income both from the loss of the produce and their main fundraising event.

Autumn is also the best time of year to find fruit for free. Blackberries and elderberries have mostly finished for this year, but can be found along many footpaths in the city and beyond.

The Woodland Trust provides some useful advice about foraging safely and legally, as does the Oxford foraging and wild food map. 

Enjoying the fruits of your labours

Everyone has favourite autumn fruit recipes (personally I don’t think you can beat a traditional crumble!); for more ideas check out BBC Good Food for autumn dessert recipes. If you’re feeling adventurous the Woodland Trust has some ideas for things to make with elderberries and blackberries.

Don’t have the right kit? We can help! Borrow a large saucepan and thermometer for making jam, or our dehydrator to make healthy snacks and preserve your fruit for later use. We have two juicers, and two apple presses, one small for use at home, the other for larger groups. You can also borrow equipment from the other Libraries of Things in the county.

Preparing the garden for winter

Autumn is also a busy time for gardeners, and the National Trust has some great tips for things to do. You can borrow lots of gardening tools from the Library of Things. Oxford also has some great community gardens, including Barracks Lane Community Garden, Flo’s in Florence Park, Oxgrow near Abingdon Road, and  the Children’s Allotment in Cricket Road. Check out the community action groups website to find one near you!

We are excited to announce that Oxford will soon be home to a Remakery, a haven for makers, designers, materials entrepreneurs and artists with one thing in common – making objects and art from Oxford’s waste. It’s aimed at those artists and makers who lack space, materials and equipment and are willing to share their skills with others. The founders are looking for volunteers to help launch the movement, especially any digital media experts. Watch this space!

If you want to help, please write to: theremakeryoxford@gmail.com, or you can sign up to their newsletter here.

If you are an artist or maker interested in the movement, please complete this Short Survey

If you are interested in attending a remaking workshop, please complete the Workshop Research Survey  

If you would like to support the cause, they are fundraising through the Oxford Lottery which supports local good causes and offers prizes of up to £25,000. You can support them here:

Sustainable Fashion Week started in Bristol in 2021, to highlight the environmental impact of the industry during London Fashion Week. Since then it has tripled in size, with events now happening across the UK and around the world. This year, Sustainable Fashion Week will take place from 20-29 September.

The Oxford hub is led by Cherwell Collective, who are coordinating a number of events, including the following (find out more and book here):

• An exhibition at Blenheim Palace looking at the Carbon Cost of Fashion (Mon 23-Sat 28 September, 10am – 5pm)
• A runway event showcasing local designers and artists diverting materials from landfill (Tuesday 24 September, 7.30pm – 10pm, Blenheim Palace)
• Clothes swap in collaboration with Tap Social Movement: bring old clothes and swap for new ones, or just come along and buy! (Saturday 28 September, 1pm – 4pm, Botley Taproom, 27 Curtis Industrial Estate, Oxford, OX2 0LX)

As part of the celebrations, we’re running a workshop on fixing holes in your autumn wardrobe (Sunday 29 September, 2pm-4pm, 1 Aristotle Lane, Oxford, OX2 6TP). Email Caroline at repaircafe@shareoxford.org if you’d like to get involved!

What is sustainable fashion, and why does it matter?

We are all buying more clothes: according to the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, the average consumer now buys 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago. And the UK is a big part of that: in 2023, we spent the fourth largest amount on clothing and footwear in the world after the US, China and India, and we are the third largest exporter of used clothing in the world, dumping tonnes of waste on countries like Ghana, UAE and Poland.

• The fashion industry now produces 100 billion garments a year;
• 87% of clothes end up in landfill, despite over 90% being reusable or recyclable;
• The global fashion industry is responsible for more than 2.1 billion tonnes of CO2 every year – more than aviation and shipping combined;
• It is the third most polluting industry after food and construction;
• An average of 80% of ‘fast fashion’ is made of synthetic materials such as polyester, derived from non-renewable crude oil, which do not biodegrade and contribute to the build-up of microplastics in oceans, sea life, and us!
• Every year over 200 million trees are destroyed to be made into textiles for the clothing industry.

Ideas to try at home

Beyond joining in at the events this month, there are lots of new ideas as well as trusted approaches to reduce impact of the clothes we wear. Here are some ideas to try.

Less is more

As anyone who watches programmes like Sort Your Life Out on the BBC will know, clothes are a big part of the clutter that is taking over our homes. Buying less means less clutter, making it easier to keep everything tidy, and enjoy the clothes we have.

It is also possible to rent clothes rather than buy them; Money Saving Expert has put together a guide to some of the best places to hire clothes at a fraction of their sale price.

See how far secondhand has come

The secondhand clothing market has come a long way from jumble sales. Local charity shops are great places to find bargains, while online retailers such as thrift.plus, Vinted, Depop, and of course eBay offer a wider choice of pre-loved clothes. And you can also donate or sell your old clothes, keeping them out of landfill and in circulation. Or head to the Charity Super.Mkt in the Westgate in Oxford to buy or donate clothes.

It’s also worth keeping an eye out for any local clothing swaps near you, like the one being run by the Cherwell Collective on 28 September. Or organise your own with friends!

So you can experience that feeling of finding your next favourite top without the environmental downsides of new clothes, and give someone else the opportunity to fall in love with the dress that you don’t wear anymore.

Show your clothes some love

The impact of fashion on the environment doesn’t stop once the clothing has been bought; how we look after our clothes is also important:

Are we all eating plastic?

Every time we wash clothes made of manmade fibres like polyester, nylon and acrylic – all used extensively in fast fashion – they shed microfibres that end up in our water systems. Half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released into oceans every year, and are now found all over the natural world. This is having a devastating impact on marine life, and could also be damaging our health. It isn’t an easy problem to solve, but there are things we can do (tips from Friends of the Earth):

• Buy clothes made of natural rather than manmade fibres
• Wash clothes less frequently (try spot cleaning!) and at lower temperatures, reduce spin speeds (which will also help them last longer), and fill washing machines to their recommended maximum to minimise friction between garments
• Use a Guppyfriend Washing Bag to catch fibres during washing and prevent them entering the water supply
• Air dry rather than tumble dry so clothes shed less plastic
• Keep clothes for longer, or buy secondhand – clothes shed more plastic in the first few washes, so buying fewer new clothes will mean less impact.

In a lather

The environmental impact of our clothes continues every time we wash them. Not only do many detergents contain harmful chemicals that damage the environment (for example phosphorus that contributes to the growth of algae, and so-called ‘forever chemicals’), most are also sold in plastic bottles that are made of non-renewable materials, do not decompose, and end up in landfill or polluting waterways.

If you want to reduce the environmental impact of your laundry, there are a few options in and around Oxford where you can get refills of laundry detergent, as well as many other products, most of which offer delivery:

• Oxunboxed are based in the Covered Market;
• Tribe Zero Waste have a shop in Faringdon where you can get refills, or use their Oxfordshire delivery service;
• Flo’s Refill Shop at The Place in the Park, in Rymers Lane, Oxford;
• The Village Refill at Yarnton Home and Garden, or with zero-emission delivery via Velocity (who also deliver for us)!
• Wild Honey have stores in Summertown (South Parade), Little Clarendon Street and Magdalen Road

Make do and mend

For many of us, clothing repair skills may be limited to sewing on a button, but you don’t need to be a contender for the Great British Sewing Bee to learn a few techniques that can extend the life of your favourite clothes.

Not sure where to start? Share Oxford is running a workshop at their repair café on Sunday 29 September at Makespace in Aristotle Lane focusing on fixing jeans and jumpers ready for the autumn. You can read about the environmental impact of denim here.

If the repairs are too tricky, or you don’t have time to do them yourself, there are several tailoring services in Oxford who can bring your clothes back to life, including Bespoke Tailoring, Stitch Tailoring, Trinity Clothing Alterations, Oxford Tailoring in St Ebbe’s Street, Oxford, and Jo Lyn Originals.

Banner artwork by Emotional Waterfall Art for Sustainable Fashion Week

Keeping a charity going can often feel like an uphill battle. From securing funds to managing volunteer shortages (not to mention the endless mountain of admin), it’s a miracle to make it past the first year.

Yet, from its roots in Holland to its expanding branches around the globe, the international Repair Café movement has consistently weathered its challenges while remaining at the helm of the repair movement.

We’re thrilled to announce that Repair Café is celebrating its 15th anniversary on October 18th!

To mark this milestone, we’d like to take a quick trip down memory lane, reflecting on how it all began, how it’s lasted and what it looks like today. Plus, keep reading for an exciting way you can join in on the celebrations!

The Origin of Repair Café

Repair Café began as a resourceful concept from Martine Postma (who even wrote a book about it, well worth a read for you Dutch speakers!). She noticed how often we throw away everyday items that just need a little tinkering to fix. This grew two questions: what if we became a culture that fixes instead of chucking and buying new? How drastically would that help the environment?

Enter Repair Café. Martine found her solution by producing a welcoming space where gracious volunteers could offer their time and skills to repair people’s belongings—all while enjoying a good chat (not to mention ample cake and tea!).

And so, with no notion of how significant this would become, the first Repair Café opened its doors in 2009 in Amsterdam, and the rest became history. Now, 15 years later, there are over 2,500 worldwide!

Repair Cafés Today

What’s made Repair Café grow into a multi-national movement and how has it survived?

You.

Like all charities, volunteers are at the heart of what keeps a cause alive. Not just offering your time and knowledge, but bringing a warmth and comradery that attracts even those who don’t need anything fixed and just seek pleasant company. This is the standard for all Repair Cafés, regardless of location. You’ll certainly find these principles in our Oxfordshire Cafés!

At any given Café, your team includes both seasoned and novice repairers, all eager to dive in and share their expertise. Together, they help the community save money while reducing our collective resource consumption.

Typical repairs cover sewing and darning, bicycles, electrical and electronic items, mechanical fixes, and sharpening services. Depending on availability, there may also be IT support, jewellery repairs, leatherwork, and even welding. Be sure to check which services are available when you sign up for your event!

Repair Cafés In Oxfordshire!

Whether volunteering as a repairer or wanting one of your items fixed, if you’re looking for Oxfordshire Repair Cafés, thankfully you won’t have to search far. At SHARE Oxford we hold them monthly, here’s our next one:

Sunday, 15th September, 2-5pm

Makespace, Aristotle Lane, OX2 6TP

We’d love to see you there. For more information and to get started, please visit our Repair page.

Looking for even more? A full list of all the Cafés in Oxfordshire can be found here.

Design Your Group’s Flag!

Do you simply itch to stitch? Repair Café is inviting everyone to create a flag representing your local group. We’d love to see Oxfordshire well represented! The complete string of bunting will be on full display at October’s anniversary party.

Whether you volunteer with us or another group in the county, download the pattern and instructions to get started and join in on the celebration!

If you’d like to drop off your flag at SHARE by Monday 30 September, we’ll send off a parcel to the Repair Café team in the Netherlands in time for their mid-October Repair Café XL in the Hague.

Please email us if you’re keen to make one and we’ll put you in touch with the other flag-makers, as well as making sure you don’t miss our delivery. And, of course, any photos of you with your flags will be welcome for social media!

Here’s to another 15, Repair Café! We’re grateful you exist!

We’re pleased to be partnering with Oxfordshire County Council’s public health team to offer an air quality monitor for hire.

This fascinating bit of kit helps you understand how your day-to-day activity affects air quality in your home. See how much difference your extractor hood makes on particulates when cooking; notice the volatile compounds from aerosol deodorant vs roll-on; check how dusting and vacuuming affects the air or changes when you open the windows, and much more. Read this council guidance for tips on how you can use the monitor as well as other locations in Abingdon, Banbury and Wantage where you can hire a monitor.

Let’s do some citizen science

The council team are asking that you fill in a “before” and “after” survey to help them understand if these monitors are useful and what you learned in the experiment.

Thank you to everyone who’s interested to take part in this pilot. We hope you find this an interesting way to learn more about your home and lifestyle.

Ben enjoyed last week’s talk with Speak up for our Planet, an apolitical online community dedicated to informing and inspiring action on climate change.

He explained a bit about our Library of Things: the story so far, what lessons we’ve learned, and our plans for the future. The audience had great questions on the sort of details that matter if you’re getting going. If you’re wondering about setting something up for your community, we hope this is a useful watch!

Now streaming on YouTube

Read more about the talk on Speak Up for our Planet here.

If you have any questions or want to follow up, do give Ben a shout and he’d be happy to have a chat.

For a quick watch

Thank you to Jane at Speak up for our Planet for chopping out these “quick watches” for some highlights:

Inspiration and change

Key ranges

How people use the library

Understanding our impact

After a successful first five months opening three days a week, we’re on the look out for a paid staff member to manage our Monday shifts.

If you’re interested in the role, please check out the job advert here and get your application to us by the start of July.

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed funds or time to help us get to this point. We’re thrilled by how many more people are visiting and using our service since we’ve opened this third day a week.

Finally, if you are able to help spread the word to make sure this opportunity reaches as many people as possible, particularly those who don’t already know about SHARE Oxford, we would be very grateful.