A Sutton environmental pioneer is taking his eco-expertise to Merton in a new scheme to try and tackle climate change with projects that have been a success in this borough.

Michael Dees has been working at the Sutton Centre of Environmental Initiatives (CEI) for the past 18 months, but as a Merton resident, he is starting the Sustainable Merton project in his spare time to improve his immediate environment.

The scheme will be a forum for people to discuss, and carry out, ways of reducing global warming. In Sutton, Mr Dees is project manager of the Recycling Champions and is involved in various other schemes at the CEI in Mill Lane, Carshalton.

He said: "The idea behind it is to allow the local community to take control of their own lives and do something about climate change. At the moment, it is just a group of local residents getting together. A lot of people hear about climate change and think they can't do anything about it, but we want to show them they can.

"It is not set up as an organisation yet but we are going to apply for funding and we are hoping that local community groups and businesses get involved. We can all work together to make a difference, most of the energy we use is from the food we eat. If we grow more food locally, we could really reduce the amount of energy we are using. There are lots of little projects like this to get going with."

Sustainable Merton will begin a free screening of former US vice president Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, at the Wimbledon Odeon on February 24. This will be open to all residents, groups and businesses.