striving to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of earth
Greta Thunberg, Immy Lucas, Elizabeth Farrell, Andrea Sanders, James Whitlowdelano, Manuela Brown, Bea Johnson, and the Bishop of Salisbury the Right Revd Nichols Holtham all have one thing in common – raising awareness of climate change and leading us in how we can help care for our world. It is clear that Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today and will impact on every aspect of human life and on the natural environment.
The diocesan Environment policy and strategic aims states:
“We believe that care for God’s creation is fundamental to Christian faith and action. As stewards of God’s gift, we recognise that each of us has a responsibility to ensure that this remains a sustainable world and that we have a responsibility to respond to the social injustice visited on many of the world’s poorest people as a result of climate change.
To this end we affirm the 5th Mark of Mission agreed at the 1988 Lambeth Conference which asks all churches to ‘strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of earth’ as central to our work and mission”
So how can we help care for and preserve our planet for our children and grandchildren?
Here are a few simple ideas to get us started:
Buy Local: From clothes to food, the closer to home these products are made and bought, the less carbon is created with their transportation. Buying locally produced food supports our local farmers which has the added benefit of our supporting the local economy.
Buy Fairtrade: Society over the last century has enabled, even encouraged, compromise on products at the expense of the farmers, fishermen and workers. By supporting Fairtrade, we are practicing good environmental stewardship helping income sustainability, empower the product producers, and support individual and community well-being.
Use Less Paper, Recycle More: In today’s society we communicate, shop and do our banking online. We can so easily go a whole day without using even a piece of paper. The less paper we use, the less paper needs to be produced and the less trees that will be cut down to produce the paper. According to the EPA, we can save 17 mature trees by recycling one short ton (0.91t) of paper.
If it is essential for us to use paper, we can still make a difference by recycling the paper you do use. Today, more than 40 percent of solid waste is paper and paper products. It takes less energy to create paper through recycled and used sheets than by creating ‘virgin’ paper.
Recycling is easy and one of the best ways to live green
Cut Down on Energy in Your Home: There are a lot of ways to cut back on the energy we use in our home, and most of them will lead to reducing your energy bills.
What we can do:
- Lowering your thermostat in the winter and raising it in the summer.
- Turn off your TV, don’t leave it on standby
- Switch your light bulbs for LED
- Unplug appliances when they aren’t being used
- wash all possible clothes on cold (according to The Worldwatch Institute, 85 percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes goes to heating the water)
- Use a drying rack or clothesline instead of a tumble dryer.
For more helpful hints and ideas, follow the link below:
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/home-energy-efficiency/energy-saving-quick-wins