Low Carbon Man's challenge to cut emissions by 95 per cent

Sleeping in a tent outside your office, throwing away your car keys and canoeing to the shops may sound like the antics of a mad man but that is exactly what charity worker Ben Clowney has done in a bid to cut his carbon emissions.

Ben Clowney campaigns on climate change as part of his job at Tearfund, and is participating in Tearfund's Carbon Fast for Lent- a forty-day journey through Lent, with a simple energy saving action per day, such as snubbing plastic bags, giving the dishwasher a day off, and checking the house for drafts with a ribbon and buying draught excluders.

But Ben wanted to take it to extremes and become Low Carbon Man, for one week (8-14 Feb), surviving on minimal amounts of carbon- he aims to cut his emissions by a staggering 95 per cent.

No stranger to a challenge, Ben lived on the minimum wage for Lent in 2005, while in 2006 he committed to only buy ethically-produced clothes and in 2007 he ate only Fairtrade food for a fortnight. But becoming Low Carbon Man is his most ambitious challenge yet, says Ben.

Ben's challenge is simple - to cut his carbon emission as much as he possibly can. He will move out of his house, throw away his car keys and live in his tent, pitched in his parking space outside Tearfund's head office.

Even by going to such extremes he will still only be able to cut down to what an average Malawian emits in one month.

Ben Clowney, Campaigns Officer for international relief charity Tearfund, said: "I wanted to take it to extremes to highlight the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, and to protect poor communities around the world who are already suffering from the ravages of climate change.

"Obviously people don't have to sleep in a tent and canoe to the shops to cut their carbon emissions, but the Carbon Fast is a good place to start with lots of easy energy saving ideas."

He will also take the opportunity to visit a wind farm, invite his local MP to a meeting by his tent to lobby for changes to the climate change bill, canoe up the river to Richmond and buy local food from a farmers market. And hopefully get a low carbon date for Valentines Day.

His progress as 'Low Carbon Man' can be followed on MySpace (www.myspace.com/lowcarbonman)

Information on the Carbon Fast is at www.tearfund.org