Take Action!

Want to make a difference but don’t know where to start?
We’ve put together a selection of simple but impactful actions you can take TODAY.

Pledge to take action and be one of the 5000

Travel

Walk it / Bike it!

  • Walk or bike to town, work or school. Better for your health and better for the planet!
  • Take part in the WOW – Walk to School Challenge, an easy walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride to school challenge for safer, cleaner streets.

30 people have pledged this action.

Choose train over plane

Taking fewer flights one of the fastest ways to reduce your environmental impact.

When you can, meet virtually, take a train, or skip that long-distance trip altogether.

Find out about taking the train in UK, as well as Europe and further afield.

Explore this Climate Perks scheme for businesses to help employees travel by land or sea and maximize use of video conferencing instead of flying, helping keep carbon emissions in check

Check out Henley Car Club

Consider ‘pay-as-you-go’ car use, with a local scheme that extends throughout the UK

Find out more: Henley Car Club

Food

Eat more veg!

Eating more fruit & veg and less meat & dairy, can significantly lower your environmental impact. Producing plant-based foods generally results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less energy, land, and water, leaving more space for nature

The Climate Change Committee, the Government’s independent advisors, proposes that average meat consumption in the UK declines by 25% by 2040 and dairy by 20% by 2035 and that’s a good rule of thumb to consider.

Reduce Food Waste

Planning your meals and food shopping, cooking with recipes for leftovers, and freezing food are all good ways to reduce food waste.

Composting food scraps, either at home or via your Council collection, is a great way to reduce landfill waste.

Choose local and seasonal

Support local farmers and producers, whilst also reducing transportation needs.

Money

Green My Pension

If you have money that is being invested for you, it may be supporting fossil fuels or deforestation.

  • Explore how green your pension provider is with the Make My Money Matter UK pension provider rankings for 2025

Switch my bank

Making sure your savings are invested in environmentally sustainable businesses can greatly reduce your carbon footprint.

Energy

Get energy savvy

Help yourself to lower energy bills in your home or small business with a free smart meter

Help a business, school or community building in Oxfordshire cut their carbon emissions with a free energy assessment – book one here.

 

Retrofit to save energy and money

Find energy-saving grants and support from Oxfordshire County Council

Explore the wealth of info at the Energy Saving Trust on options to future-proof your property with:

Switch to renewables

Ask your utility company if your home energy comes from oil, coal or gas. If possible, see if you can switch to renewable sources such as wind or solar.

Investigate how to switch supplier and the different tariffs available with the Energy Saving Trust

Fashion

Shop my wardrobe

Re-love the clothes you already have. Explore your wardrobe, put together new outfits and discover things you’ve not worn for a while. Keep wearing old favourites – the item you wear the most usually has the lowest footprint!

Buy preloved over new

Embrace slow fashion – visit Henley’s local charity shops, browse Vinted and Depop, or organise a clothes swap with friends

Stuff We Buy

Reduce, reuse, repair THEN recycle

  • Try a cool-down period before buying – do I really need it?
  • Think twice before throwing things out – can I reuse, share or swap?
  • Visit Henley’s NEW Repair Cafe and have a cuppa and cake whilst fixing!
  • Get answers to your recycling questions and find out what your local Council collection accepts
  • Learn more about what actually happens to our waste locally with this webinar from Henley Rotary on recycling

Pause on Plastic

Think twice before buying items in plastic packaging and prevent plastic waste making its way into the river and out to sea

Refill, not landfill 

Cut down on single-use plastic by choosing to refill for less plastic waste

Visit Willow Basket, Henley’s very own refill shop, or True Food Co-op in Emmer Green – an organic, zero waste, refill, ethical supermarket run by the local community

Nature

Get more wildlife-friendly

Take part in Henley’s NatureSquared by planting 1m2 or more of plants or wildflowers to help create a trail of pollinator pit-stops across green spaces in Henley

Help support bees locally by joining in with Bee Friendly Henley, a joint project between HTC and GH to support bees.

Learn to love weeds

Plants we may think of as weeds are food and habitat for all sorts of wildlife.

If we reduce our chemical use and let the weeds live a little we will increase biodiversity in our outdoor spaces and give nature more of a chance.

Learn more about weeds to begin to see their importance.

Use eco-friendly products

By choosing eco-friendly, you’re helping nature as well as encouraging companies to source and produce their products in a sustainable way. Read the labels and make yourself aware of what’s in the products you are using.

Have a go at making your own cleaning products with ingredients you may already have at home – they’re easy to make, cost-effective and usually more eco-friendly than store-bought cleaning supplies.

Speak Up

Spread the word

Share Greener Henley events and campaigns to your network – your business, school, sports club, church, community group

Keep your eye on our Facebook and Instagram feeds and share or tag our posts where you can

Forward our newsletter to your network and suggest signing up

Speak to the decision makers

Share your thoughts on making Henley safer, cleaner and greener with those in charge.

  • Find out who represents you and get in touch with your local MP or District Councillors directly
  • Contact your Town Councillors and drop them an email

Stay informed

Knowing what is fact or fiction will leave you better equipped to have conversations with your friends, family, colleagues and the people you want to influence

River

Use eco-friendly products

Chemicals in household products can find their way into rivers and ponds, even after passing through water treatment plants. By choosing eco-friendly, you’re helping nature as well as encouraging companies to source and produce their products in a sustainable way. Read the labels and make yourself aware of what’s in the products you are using.

Have a go at making your own cleaning products with ingredients you may already have at home – they’re easy to make, cost-effective and usually more eco-friendly than store-bought cleaning supplies.

Buy eco-friendly refill cleaning products AND avoid single-use plastics at a local refill store like the Willow Basket in Henley or True Food Co-op in Emmer Green

Connect to the river

When we connect with places we learn to value them more. The river is so much more than a commodity for us to use and play sports on or in.

Take a walk along it. Pause, notice what you see, smell and hear. Revisit the same place at different times. What wildlife do you see or hear there, both above and below the water, which plants are growing there?

Take a moment to connect and reflect.

Care for our river

Get along to one of the river cleans in Henley

  • Plasticblitz, organised by Rotary Henley, is an annual river litter pick from Marsh lock to Hambeldon lock, with a citizen science twist!
  • Connect with local Environmental campaigner @lynnelambourne on instagram and find out when you can next take part in one of her river cleans on the Thames
  • Or organise your own – find out how to do it safely here