Enviro-news
November/December 2007
Welcome to the third Diocesan Environmental e-newsletter which is a combined November and December edition. Don’t forget that if you have any items that you would like to see included, particularly good practice, please send them to Barry Goodwin at barry.goodwin@southwark.anglican.org
Eco-congregation Autumn 2007
Newsletter - out now!!
If you don’t get to see it already then the
newsletter can be downloaded from the Eco-congregation website www.ecocongregation.org/englandwales/downloads/EcoCongAutumnNews.pdf
News from the centre (in
other words Church House)
Research
conducted for the Church of England notes that 64% of respondents believe
they can help curb climate change – not a large sample but encouraging news.
www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr9907.html
Commit Now!
Part of the national response is to encourage
people to make a commitment to save energy at home by registering on the Energy
Saving Trust's website to save up to 20% of their energy use. www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/what_can_i_do_today/support_our_campaign_commit_to_save_your_20
Cutting the Carbon
"Cutting the Carbon" has been launched
in association with the Energy Saving Trust, Ecclesiastical and the Churches
Purchasing Scheme, and Good Energy. This offers practical guidance and
support, in particular aiming to help with the earliest steps the ‘Shrinking
the Footprint’ initiative recommends people take, and builds on the "Measuring
our Footprint" exercise of 2006, which encouraged churches to record and
audit their energy use.
1. Energy Efficiency Information - gives links to simple information, provided by the
EST, on auditing home energy use, guidance on improving energy efficiency, and
how to choose and where to buy energy efficient products.
2. Low energy light bulbs - the Churches Purchasing Scheme now offers a range of
good quality low energy lightbulbs at a discounted rate (www.cpsonline.co.uk).
CPS intends to expand its range of Green products and services so, in addition
to buying your light bulbs from them, please do also let them know what else
you would like from them.
3. Green energy - Good Energy is currently the
Last, but not least, the
Bishop of London’s House of Lords speech in response to the Queen’s speech/Climate Change Bill is now on the 'Shrinking
the Footprint' website. www.shrinkingthefootprint.cofe.anglican.org/cofe_env_speech_nov07.php.
Sustainable
transport
The Governments’ thinking is laid out in this
document which came out not long before the announcement on plans for expansion
at Heathrow – we must all make our own judgement! www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/transportstrategy/pdfsustaintranssystem.pdf
IPCC Report
If you did not already know, a major IPCC climate
change report has just been published: Climate Change 2007, the UNEP IPCC 4th
Assessment Report. It’s incredibly technical but just the charts and figures in
the summary for policy makers make chilling reading. It can be downloaded from
the IPCC website
Climate
Change march
Don’t forget the service and Climate Change march on
December 8th. The service is to be held at St Matthews Church,
Events
and resources
Premier
Radio has just launched an internet ethical shop with a
wide range of ethical goodies ranging from Fairtrade supplies to bin bags and
so on. It can be accessed from Premier's main website www.premier.org.uk
"Hope for Planet
Earth" is a multi-media national tour exploring the effects of
climate change and taking place at various locations in January and February
next year Speakers are from A Rocha, JRI, Share Jesus International and adult
tickets costs £6.
Seewww.hopeforplanetearth.co.uk
Local
events are at
News from the
Parishes
Christ Church,
West Wimbledon have recently been given
a 'highly commended' in the Green Guardian awards for their Eco-Festival back
in June – excellent news!
St
Mildred’s, Addiscombe- Jane Ward has sent in this article from their
parish magazine
Earth Connect Trail
From October 28th until November 10th the Earth Connect Trail was set up in St Mildred’s church for visitors and
members of the congregation to explore. It is an interactive trail in the style of a labyrinth with ten
‘stations’or stopping places along its
route where people were encouraged to experience and reflect on some aspect of
the natural world. It is designed to encourage a broad range of people to explore
their own thoughts and feelings about our relationship with the natural world.
Stations included ’Earth’ where participants were invited to
plant a seed in a pot of compost to take home and think about the miracle of
its growth. The ‘Cityscape and ‘Rubbish Dump’ stations encouraged people to
think about the amount of rubbish our society produces. Participants took a
piece of rubbish from one station to the next and deposited it in a cross made
of cardboard boxes with the words ‘Father Forgive ‘written on the side. They
then wrote a prayer starting with those words. Here are some of the prayers:
‘Father forgive us for being selfish… for forgetting whose
world this is… for being greedy and wasteful.’
Both
children and adults found it interesting, from Millie’s Pre-School children to
Mums and toddlers, up to parishioners in their 90s! The Cubs and
Scouts visited too.
'Very
challenging and thought provoking' was one comment - 'very professionally done'
came from another visitor - 'makes you think'.
Overall it was a thought provoking display.
Our vicar Helen Marshal commented:
‘I think it certainly helped people to think about the issues and
hopefully prompted some action too.’
More
bedtime reading
‘A
Moral Climate: the ethics of global
warming’ Michael S Northcott,
DLT £16.99 (ISBN: 9780232526684)