Community benefit society Sustainable Danbury is teaming up with Danbury Parish Council on a wellbeing and eco fair on 27 September which (alongside the wellbeing experts and holistic therapies) will have information on solar panels, heat pumps and more, eco-friendly stalls and representatives from local wildlife, nature and sustainability groups such as the RHS and Love Essex, as well as a children’s eco-superhero competition and birdboxes and more from The Men's Shed. “Find out what’s going on in your neighbourhood and look at opportunities to get involved,” says project manager Joanne Dolman.

Like your fridge, heat pumps are powered by electricity but produce 3-4 units of heat energy for every unit of electricity consumed so they are very efficient. Incidentally they can also be used to cool your house in summer as well (one of the many hidden benefits of heat pumps over boilers). A recent survey, conducted by NESTA has also confirmed that UK consumers are 80% satisfied with their heat pump system, a similar level to those having a gas boiler fitted.

With Climate change leading to more frequent drier and hotter summers, improving the drought resilience of your garden is likely to be well worth the time and money.

Essex is the driest county in Britain and certain parts of Essex are officially classified as semi-arid and in Danbury is certainly feels like that this year. Records show that we have always had periods of dry weather. However the extreme temperatures this year have also compounded the impact on the soil moisture deficit, a measure of the how dry the soil is, which is near to record levels.

The radiation from the sun brings significant energy into the house through windows – whilst this might be useful in colder months it will increase the temperature markedly in summer. To counteract this happening keep curtains and blinds closed during the day especially on the south facing parts of your house but also on the east and west sides in the morning and evening respectively.

Plastic pollution is affecting our environment and water supplies, microplastics in particular. But what exactly are microplastics? What are they doing to our water, and should we be worried?