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Top stories over 28 days to March 10th

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The most popular stories on Changing More Than Lightbulbs over the last 28 days have been:

If there are stories you’d like to see reported on the website, please let us know. Changing More Than Lightbulbs welcomes guest contributors – or, if you don’t want to write it yourself, you can send info about the story and if it looks interesting, we will research it a bit and then write it up.

Top Stories Jan 4-18

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Over the last 2 weeks 1403 visitors read posts on Changing More Than Lightbulbs.

Top stories over last 2 weeks:

Green jobs alliance inspiration

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I’ve come across two very interesting websites: Otesha UK and East London Green Jobs Alliance.

Green Jobs and Justice

Here’s an interesting blog about Green Jobs and Justice by a Co-Director of the Otesha Project UK

Between them, these two groups are organising green job training schemes in East London, working with local colleges, trades unions and businesses which are offering placements to trainees.

As far as I know, nothing like this is happening in Calderdale. Why not? There’s a crying need for jobs in the area, particularly for young people, and there’s plenty of need for green work to be done in all kinds of sectors like home and businesses’ energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy generation, waste reduction and prevention, cradle to cradle production cycles etc. Calderdale College is opening a Sustainable Environmental Technology Centre in September 2013, so there will soon be young people with green skills – and looking for work.

18 per cent of Calderdale households are on the edge of poverty

18per cent of households in Calderdale are on the edge of poverty, according to  Experian-calculated data in the Guardian. This means if the economy gets any worse, 18 per cent of Calderdale households would be forced into poverty.
UK ON THE EDGE INDEX – Calderdale:
  • 18% are on the edge of poverty – 15,624 households
  • Calderdale is ranked 116 in the UK out of 424
  • This is is how the community breaks down
    • Often indebted families living in low rise estates: 1,372 households, 1.5%
    • Older families in low value housing in traditional industrial areas: 2,431, 2.7%
    • Low income families occupying poor quality older terraces: 6,158, 7%
    • South Asian communities experiencing social deprivation: 3,275, 3.7%
How this index is calculated:
The index, created by Experian Mosaic, measures those suffering high levels of financial stress and finding it difficult to cope within their current income – they are the most vulnerable to poverty if their situation worsens.