Budweiser has teamed up with musician and environmental advocate Professor Green for Earth Day 2021 to raise awareness of the simple changes everyone can make to lead a greener life.
Taking place on April 22 every year, Earth Day is an internationally-recognised day of environmental awareness which aims to drive action and change. This year, Budweiser has singled out Manchester for praise for its sustainability work, as the city works towards its goal of becoming a net zero carbon city.
It comes as research by the brewery has uncovered a sense of “green guilt” in Manchester, meaning people are aware of the damaging affects their actions are having on the environment but are unsure how to help.
Budweiser’s study of 2,000 people has shown 47% of people living in Manchester feel guilty for not doing enough for the environment – with 41% having felt guilty for turning the heating on, and food waste being a major concern for them too.
In response, Budweiser and Professor Green have devised the “Pro Green Guide” containing practical ideas to incorporate into our lives and inspire better choices.
Make responsible choices regarding sustainable meat and fish
Be aware of packaging, say no to plastic and recycling where possible
Buy sustainable products
Fashion:
Go for quality and no quantity when buying clothes
Wash clothes at 30 degrees
At home:
Switch to a green energy provider
Choose appliances with high efficiency ratings
Professor Green – a.k.a. Stephen Manderson – told The Manc how these small changes show how easy it is to make a difference to our perceptions of “green guilt” – but also to reinforce the positive choices that we’re already making.
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“[The guide] is mainly based around all the changes that I implemented in my own life in order to become a little more sustainable.
“It’s really easy to feel like it’s not significant and not going to make a difference because it’s just one person, but if that’s the attitude of everybody there will be no change.”
“I think this is the right way to do things because the worst thing to do is say to someone ‘you’re not doing enough’,” he explains.
“Imagine walking into someone’s life and going ‘right you need to change this this this this and this’, you’re probably going to be met with a ‘f*ck you’, aren’t you?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7-RV4sTry/
So, Professor Green’s partnership with Budweiser is based on a mutual agreement of how important it is to approach huge topics in an accessible way.
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Instead of telling people off and ramming data down necks so much that they lose interest, we should be praising people for the good that they are doing. With positive reinforcement they hope to encourage better choices in the future.
“Nobody’s perfect and it’s not something you can change overnight. I still forget to take my bags to the shops every once in a while, but it’s good to encourage people and show people that there are really small changes that are quite easy to implement,” he says.
“It’s easy to become defeatist and think it’s too little, too late – and it’s scary. You’ve got all these promises being made by governments and our prime minister in the last day in particular, he’s literally just putting lipstick on a pig. He’s dressing things up and it’s crazy.
“We have to be aware of how real this problem is and you have to understand that what someone says isn’t necessarily what’s happening. With the direction the planet is heading it’s important that people stand up and take notice.”
With the campaign slogan reading ‘green by name and green by nature’, Stephen was the perfect partner for Budweiser on the project. But this isn’t the first time Stephen has taken an interest in environmental activism. His awareness has stemmed from his childhood.
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“I grew up a city kid – I grew up in Hackney, just down the road is the London borough of Tower Hamlets where my partner grew up and it’s where I used to spend a lot of time – my dad used to manage a shop. The statistic around there is something like 75% of children have a 5% reduction in lung capacity because of the illegal amount of pollution in the air. It’s terrible,” he explains.
“This is affecting adults as well but it’s affecting kids and having become a father you start to think more about the world that you leave behind.”
But Stephen is hopeful for the younger generations who are the open-minded and more aware ones driving action towards a better future.
Budweiser billboard on the Printworks
Here in Manchester, the city is working hard to become one of the greenest in the world. There are a number of initiatives and schemes like the Council’s ‘Our Manchester Strategy’ which hope to put Manchester on top by 2025.
In 2016, the Council promised it would be a 100% zero-carbon city by 2050 – but has since revised this date to 2038 since they’ve consistently met their targets.
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On the campaign, Stephen says we need to have open and frank conversations on a local community level, as this is where most change occurs.
“The more aware people become the better the decisions they’ll make,” says Stephen. “With the platform that Budweiser has, the platform that I have, the platform that Manchester has – and The Manc – there’s a lot to be done and I think it’s a conversation that we have to keep having.”
“It’s the same with the work I do around mental health, it’s not a conversation we should stop having. It’s not a case of ‘okay everyone’s aware now, we can go back to how things were’, because how things were were not great.”
Sustainability is a hot topic for Budweiser who, since January 2021, have been brewing every can, bottle and keg of their beer using renewable energy from wind and solar sources.
The $1 billion dollar investment into renewables has meant that The Budweiser Brewing Group now generates enough renewable electricity in the UK to power the brewing operations of not only Budweiser but also Bud Light, Stella Artois, Corona and Becks.
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So, what better way to toast Earth Day and our city’s sustainability achievements than with a zero-carbon beer.
Cheers, Manchester!
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Two Trafford towns are set to see dozens of new EV charging points installed imminently
Danny Jones
Two big towns on the border of Greater Manchester and Cheshire are set to see a fresh batch of electric vehicle (EV) charging points installed throughout their streets by Trafford Council very soon.
Local authorities have teamed up with engineering and infrastructure company Amey to roll out a series of new EV charging stations across Trafford, starting with Altrincham and Hale.
Dating all the way back to 2020, the collaboration with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), the brand was tasked with helping improve sustainable travel across the area as the government body’s electric vehicle charging suppliers.
Steady improvements have been made across the 10 boroughs, but this particular update marks one of the biggest network upgrades that the likes of Alty and Hale have seen for some time.
Good news – we are thrilled to announce the installation of our first public EV charge points in collaboration with @TraffordCouncil.
Issuing a statement on Wednesday, 17 September, the firm – which specialises in managing, designing and maintaining complex facilities and transport infrastructure across the country – announced that they will “start the installation of EV charging points in Trafford in the coming weeks.”
It is expected that “up to 100 new public charges” will be integrated throughout the respective town centres and residential streets as the suburbs continues to push towards its sustainability goals.
As per Altrincham Today, Amey account director Anna Gornall said: “We’re excited to launch our first EV charge points in Trafford, working in partnership with Trafford Council (TC) to make electric vehicle charging more accessible to local communities.
“As the UK’s leading provider of energy transition and decarbonisation solutions, we’re well placed to use our existing expertise and resources to support TC in delivering a holistic public EV charging network for local communities.
“We’re helping residents make the switch, so everyone can plug in and power a greener Trafford.”
The country at large has various carbon-free initiatives, including the aspiration of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050; the electoral ward of Trafford itself continues to thrive in this field, having recently won environmental accolades, including 12 ‘Green Flag Awards’ this past July.
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Peter Anderson, Managing Director of Transport Infrastructure at Amey, commented: “This is a pivotal moment in Amey’s energy transition strategy. By leveraging our extensive experience in whole lifecycle asset management, strong partnerships, and innovative solutions, we can deliver value for both our clients and members of the public who will use Amey’s electric vehicle charge points.
“Working with Trafford Council, we are making electric vehicle charging more accessible to local communities and helping residents make the switch to EVs.
“Amey is well-positioned to support emerging opportunities within this landscape, and we are delighted to be working with Trafford and other local authorities to provide the public EV infrastructure needed to achieve the government’s transition to net zero.”
As for Trafford Council, Corporate Director of Place, Richard Roe, went on to add: “We are delighted to be working with Amey on this project to bring more and better charging options to the people of Trafford.
“This is an extension to the current EV charging options in the borough and is great news for committed EV owners and those who are thinking about going electric.”
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (via Amey Ltd)
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Further disruption expected as more bus strikes announced across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Further disruption is expected as even more bus strikes have been announced across Greater Manchester this autumn.
It comes after the strikes set to place this month from 19 to 22 September were announced a couple of weeks back, and now a second round will take place towards the end of this month and going into early October.
In case this is the first you’re hearing of the upcoming industrial action, 2,000 workers who are employed by Stagecoach, Metroline Manchester, and First Bus Rochdale – all of which are firms among those that make up the bus part of the Bee Network – are due to walk out in a co-ordinated strike amid an ongoing pay dispute.
Unite the Union says all the firms are ‘highly profitable’ and it’s therefore ‘disappointing’ that workers are being denied a fair wage.
More strikes have been announced on the Bee Network this month / Credit: TfGM
At Stagecoach, around 1,000 drivers based across the Oldham, Stockport, and Middleton depots have rejected a pay offer of 3.5%, and 1,000 Metroline Manchester members will also do the same after turning down an ‘unsatisfactory’ below-inflation pay offer.
Workers at both Metroline and Stagecoach believe the offer doesn’t address years of low pay they’ve recieved, especially given the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Then, over at First Bus Rochdale, 110 members have rejected this year’s pay offer of 6%, as they feel this does not go far enough to address the fact they’ve had years of being paid less than their counterparts at other companies, and are still the lowest paid in the region.
Stagecoach, Metroline, and First Bus Rochdale, part of First Group PLC, are all firms which have seen a rise in profits in recent years.
2,000 drivers are set to stage strike action over two different periods / Credit: TfGM
The second round of strikes will now take place from from 30 September to 2 October.
Speaking ahead of both sets of upcoming strikes, Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “These companies are very profitable but are putting greed over their hardworking members of staff.
“Further strike action will be extremely disruptive, however this is a dispute entirely of the bus companies’ making and they could solve it easily by coming back with a better deal.
“Our members involved in the dispute have Unite’s complete support.”
Unite Regional Officer, Colin Hayden, added: “The strikes this week as well as the further action we have called will cause travel chaos in Greater Manchester. However, it is entirely the fault of the employers involved, who have failed to address the issue of low pay and reward their staff accordingly.
Hannah Starkie -
23rd April 2021 
