Everything you need to know about sustainable Christmas event including making own decorations and growing own tree
From growing your own Christmas tree to making your own environmentally friendly decorations, you can find out how to make your festive season more sustainable at a special city event.
The What We Can Do event at Roker Methodist church will feature a range of workshops including making your own decorations from recycled materials - for which their will be a range of prizes - as well as the opportunity to purchase a Christmas tree which can be transferred to the garden to be grown and used in future years.
Redby Academy pupils will be joined by children and adults alike to also create their own edible decorations.
Whilst there will be a distinctly festive feel to the event there will also be exhibitions on display with advice and products to help us all live more sustainable everyday lives.
Northumbrian Water will also be on hand to speak with people about what is being done to protect our waterways and coastline.
Other speakers will include Sunderland MP Lewis Atkinson, North East mayor Kim McGuiness, and Sunderland City Council’s portfolio holder for the environment, Cllr Lindsey Leonard.
The event is being organised by Climate Action Sunderland Community Interest Company.
Founder Bill Naylor said: “As Christmas approaches our latest free, family friendly ‘What We Can Do’ event centres on how we can make Christmas more sustainable by thinking about our buying, creating less waste and recycling more while at the same time having fun making stuff, listening to some live music and maybe even enabling people to save some money.”
Other speakers and workshops will focus around home insulation and energy efficiency, rewilding your garden, recycling, car sharing, and tree planting.
Bill said: “Real change only starts when ordinary people care enough to make their own voices heard and do something about it themselves.
“With increasingly severe storms, heatwaves and droughts it is beyond argument that our climate and environment is in crisis and it is everyone’s responsibility to do something about it.
“If everyone does something then accumulatively it can make a difference.”
The free event will also feature music from The Sunderland Singers with drinks and food available to purchase.
The What We Can Do event starts tomorrow (November 15) at 10pm and finishes at 1pm.