Christian
Ecology Link
• Recycled paper is much improved in quality. Try it! •Manilla (brown) envelopes are cheaper, often recycled, & involve less bleaching than white envelopes. • Use envelope re-use labels. • Use scrap paper, printed on one side, for writing notes, hard copies of emails, drawing & painting. •Buy wood for building work, fittings and furniture from sustainably managed forests.
(b) Does your church avoid disposable products and those with excess packaging? Save cartons and boxes for use by schools, playgroups, youth groups and Sunday SchoolsUse glass bottles and china cups and plates rather than disposable ones; re-use glass containers, e.g. making jams for church functions; jars for storing nails, etc.
• Low energy light bulbs cost more initially, but last up to 8 times longer and use one fifth of the electricity used by ordinary bulbs.• Loft, roof and cavity wall insulation reduces heat loss and pollution from fossil fuel burning.• Schedule choir practice, flowerarranging, or cleaning for Saturdays or Mondays when the church is warm anyway.• Switch the church electricity supply to clean, renewable energy. Send for details of CEL's climate change campaign - Operation Noah. Visit www.christian-ecology.org.uk/ noah
• Organise a LOAF meal at your church where all the food is locally produced, Organically grown, Animal friendly and fairly traded. Use your LOAF! •Encouraging the provision of vegetarian dishes and free range and organically grown produce is good for people,animals, plants and wiildlife.•Try to buy locally, to bring trade to local retailers and growers, which reduces the number of 'food miles' (and thereby the cost and pollution caused by transporting food over long distances). •Encourage the provision of herb and fruit teas.•Ask your church catering helpers to supply Traidcraft tea and coffee, or Cafe Direct. This ensures the growers receive a fair price for their product. Look for the Fair Trade mark.
(b) Does your church use environment friendly cleaning products?
Although a little more expensive, they are now widely available. In general avoid chlorine-based bleaches, phosphate-based detergents and any cleaners not 100% biodegradable.Use recycled toilet paper, tissues and kitchen rolls, readily available from suppliers such as Traidcraft and most supermarkets. Try to use LESS cleaner and detergent: they all have some impact.
• Where possible, use words in your services which portray nature, and peopleof all sorts, as God's beloved creation
• Choose hymns that do not reinforce the theology of human domination over nature, but emphasise stewardship, care for God's creation and the joy of nature
(b) Do you arrange regular environmental acts of worship?
•The first Sunday in October is Animal Welfare Sunday. Harvest, Easter, Rogation Christmas, Lent and Advent all offer special opportunities to reflect the importance of nature to us, and tp God. See CEL's Harvest Service.•Creation Time' takes place from September 1st to the second Sunday of October. Worship resources are available from http://www.ecen.org
• Worship can be enhanced by incorporating symbolic acts such as tree planting, using local water, soil, rocks, timber, and organic bread or wafers and wine.• Outdoor services can help oursense of being close to the earth and to God.
(c) Have you or your minister read books or articles recently on views of environmental issues?
• Many past and contemporary writers have valuable insights into the nature of our relationship with God and the earth.• There are many books now available on Christian theology and ecology. See CEL's 'Sources' leaflet and 'Theology Book List.'
(d) Does our responsibility for world feature in the regular and teaching of your church?
• Sunday School and other teaching materials and ideas are available from many organisations.• invite members of CEL and environmental organisations to come speak at services or meetings.• Encourage your church to become a local church member of CEL or enquire about our free ChurchLink newsletter.
(a) Does your church relate positively to the local community?
• Buildings and land can be shared for local events, encouraging social participation and reducing barriers of isolation and loneliness.
• Small Christian cells and groups, meeting in people's homes, help people share their ideas and reach out to the community.
(b) Is your church readily accessible?
• Make it possible for disabled
people to have access to the church. Ramps, handrails, audio-loop systems,
disabled toilets, etc. can be provided. (For
information contact Church Action on Disability, 50 Scrutton Street, London
EC2A 4PH.)
• How welcoming does your church appear
to people? Perpetually closed doors give the impression of withdrawal
from the world.
(c) Is your church involved with local environmental
initiatives?
• Forge links with local environmental
groups, the Loca1 Authority ' ssustainability network, and with other
groups interested in environmental concerns.
• Publicise local events such as recycling
collections, farmers' markets, or conservation events in your magazine
or church notices.
• Involve young people in the parish,
Sunday School, local schools, youth groups and uniformed organisations
in environmental projects.
(d) If your church has an outreach. or justice and peace group, does it include care for the local environment in its work?
(a) Does your church have arrangements to recycle its waste, or on site recycling facilities?
• Some churches have recycling collection points in their grounds.
• Funding for local recycling projects could come from a landfill site tax credit scheme in your area. Visit www.ltcs.org.uk for more information.
(b) Does your church encourage
carsharing or walking and cycling to church,
* Arrange a local Car Free Sunday.
(c) Are your church grounds
managed sustainably? Is there an area set aside for wildlife?
• If your church has no grounds,
why not rent an allotment as a communal enterprise, and grow organic vegetables
for your harvest festival!
• Plant trees on your grounds or in
the neighbourhood.
• Support A Rocha's 'Creation Sunday'
in June. Details and Pack: A Rocha, 13 Avenue Road, Southall 1JB1 3BL.
• For details on managing churchyards
for wildlife, contact the Church & Conservation Project, National
Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwicks CV8 2U.
Does your church make contact with the local council, MP or MEP on issues concerning the environment?
• Politicians need to be reminded of issues which concern us; letters to local papers can also highlight environmental issues.
• Monitor changes in your own environment, e.g. tree and hedgerow loss, dumping of waste, etc. - and make such issues known!
• Support the campaigns of other appropriate environmental pressure groups, both Christian and secular.
(a) Does your church support the work of aid and development agencies which care for both people and the earth?
(b) Is church income invested
in ethical funds?
Avoid allowing it to be used to
finance activities of which you do not approve.
(c) Do you discern the
'signs of the times' in terms of ecological change?
List the social, political, economic,
ecological and technological changes that you are aware of from the last
15 years. How have these affected your own lifestyle, and that of fellow
church members and workers? God's purposes are revealed in such moments!