Planet Shaftesbury has been forwarded this newsletter. Would anyone like to be our point of contact for this inspiring initiative?
After a great end to 2021 for the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community, we thought we would take this opportunity, at the beginning of 2022, to tell you more about our amazing Ambassadors.
Our Ambassadors (scroll down to view them) are individuals, businesses or groups that don’t serve / use / sell food products, but want to show their support to the campaign to make Dorset the world’s first sustainable palm oil county. They have spread the news of our campaign through a wide range of methods including:
social media (Lizzie at ethical PR Warrior Agency),
blogs (Dorchester BID),
articles (Louise Stevens of Stevens.Earth),
setting up meetings (Gwyn Jones of Association of Sustainability Practitioners; and
lots and lots of introductions (all of the above plus Tammy from Wimborne BID).
In addition, Sustainable Dorset has helped spread news of the project by publishing our November newsletter on their website, DorsetCAN (Climate Action Network) has welcomed us as a member of their network, and Planet Wimborne has offered their support to the campaign. Thank you to you all – we really appreciate all that you do. Please contact me if you or your group would like to become an Ambassador.
So what has happened in January:
We are delighted to announce our 7th school - Piddle Valley First School – has signed up to the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community and are in the process of checking their supply chain. We have provided the email template, and they are using it to ask their lunch provider if there is palm oil in any of their food, and if so, is it sustainable.
The Grosvenor Arms in Shaftesbury and The King’s Arms in Dorchester have written about their involvement in the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community on their website – check out the Grosvenor Arms’ website (scroll down – you can’t miss it!)
Thanks to Mrs Fearn of St Mary’s Catholic First School in Dorchester, I was invited to speak to all of the DASP (Dorchester Area Schools Partnership) first school headteachers. It was a great opportunity to tell them all about the project, and why it is so important to switch from conventional to sustainable palm oil in the children’s hot lunches. I also told them about the great educational resources that are available on the Chester Zoo website, in particular looking at conservation and sustainable palm oil, covering all Key Stages, across the National Curriculum including English, maths, science, art and music. Includes videos, activities, at home, at school, and a teachers’ pack. Further educational resources are available on the Edsentials website with a wider remit around climate change, including protecting natural habitats, weather and climate, as well as plastics. This was part of the COP26 School Resource Pack.
We have worked with all of our pledged champions on their progression, supporting them in asking their suppliers what products / ingredients contain palm oil in, and whether it is sustainable palm oil.
Lastly, the news of our campaign continues to spread through lots of meetings but also a great article in the local Ashley Cross magazine, the Ashley Cross Link. The Guardian newspaper also picked up on the Sustainable Palm Oil Communities project – unfortunately Dorset wasn’t mentioned, but other communities including Oxford, Plymouth and Mochdre, the little village in North Wales were!
We are still trying to get some champions in Poole, Sherborne, Swanage, Wool, Wareham and Lyme Regis so please pass this newsletter onto anyone who might be interested in those areas (or anywhere else in Dorset!)
Number of the month: 1,693. This is the number of students our 7 schools that have pledged to be champions have between them. Five of the seven schools are within the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership.
If you have any questions about joining our campaign and becoming a Champion or an Ambassador, please email me.
Also, if anyone is interested in us running a short webinar or having a virtual coffee morning chat about palm oil, our Dorset project and why sustainable palm oil is so important in reducing carbon emissions, stopping workers being exploited and protecting rainforests and peatlands, please let me know.
Best regards
Lucy
Lucy Cullinane
Operations Director of Efeca
Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community
T: 01305 261050
E: dorsetsustainablecommunity@efeca.com
W: https://www.efeca.com/our-work/dorset-sustainable-community/