Caring for God’s earth

Madron Church – Kernow Green Church Award – now a BRONZE award winner 2023!

General Synod voted in February 2020 for the whole of the Church of England to achieve net zero carbon by 2030.  The vote recognised that the global climate emergency is a crisis for God’s creation and a fundamental injustice. To this end, Truro diocese summarised their vision for creation care in 3 priorities: cherish creation, cut carbon, speak up. In his letter to us all, Bishop Hugh said:

‘By cherish creation, we mean that we will encourage and support people to cherish the part of creation that has been entrusted to their care e.g. churchyard…

By cut carbon, we mean that we are committed to reach Net Zero by 2030.

By speak up, we mean that we will speak and act boldly both within and beyond the church to promote the cherishing of creation.’

To do this, we have started on the road of Kernow Green Church Award.

The PCC have made a formal commitment to improving the environmental credentials of our church by endorsing the undertaking of work towards an Eco Church Award, appointed a Creation Care Champion and completed the initial audit of the church. We have now reached the level of Bronze. The diocese hopes that many churches will achieve this by the end of 2023. There are 5 categories covering all aspects of our church life. This is a joint effort and it is expected that many people will be inspired to help us on this journey. Please see the Notice Board in the church porch for more information or ask Bridgit.

Practical Lifestyle tips/advice on caring for God’s earth

Go Green – Go electric – Use an electric heater to heat just one room some of the time – change to a green energy provider –  install an electric shower – buy solar panels – get an electric car or bike

Reduce, re-use, recycle – by buying less and recycling more, we will reduce waste. Almost everything we buy has an environmental impact so by buying less we can reduce that impact. Buy secondhand whenever possible. Repair rather than throw away, find a new home for things eg charity shop, Freecycle. Upcycle – give it a second life. And if all else fails, recycle. There is even a re-use area at the Recycling Centre at St Erth where items can be repaired/re-used.

Fairtrade Fortnight Mon, 9 Sept 2024 – Sun, 22 Sept 2024

 ‘Making the small switch to Fairtrade supports producers in protecting the future of some of our most-loved food and the planet.’ 

 Did you know?

Coffee, bananas and chocolate could soon be much more difficult to buy. Climate change is making crops like these harder and harder to grow. Combined with deeply unfair trade, communities growing these crops are being pushed to the brink. 

 But here’s the good news.   More people choosing Fairtrade means extra income, power and support for those communities. By making the small switch to Fairtrade, we can all support producers in protecting the future of some of our most-loved food and the planet. 

What is Fairtrade?

 Fairtrade is a system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient. For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay. For shoppers it means high quality, ethically produced products.

Choosing Fairtrade means standing with farmers for fairness and equality, against some of the biggest challenges the world faces. It means farmers creating change, from investing in climate friendly farming techniques to developing women in leadership. 

With Fairtrade you change the world a little bit every day. Through simple shopping choices you are showing businesses and governments that you believe in fair and just trade.

 

Calculate your environmental footprint and learn how you can reduce your impact with WWF’s Calculator – footprint.wwf.org.uk

You can minimise your carbon footprint and help the environment in many different ways. Whether at home, work, school, or while you travel, small changes can add up. In brief, to reduce your carbon footprint, you’ll want to do things like reduce the amount of energy you use, eat fewer animal products, shop locally, travel smart, and reduce your waste. 

£££ Is your money being used to fund climate chaos? £££

Many banks restrict financing for coal, oil, and gas but still have a long way to go to phase out support for fossil fuels. Where does your bank fall?

Some of the worst banks in the UK for fossil fuel financing: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds bank, Santander

Some of the best: Nat West – less than 1%

Co-op, Triodos, Nationwide Building Soc – no money is enabling gas, oil or coal extraction 

According to ‘Bankingonclimatechaos’ – ‘In the 5 years since the Paris Agreement, the world’s 60 biggest banks have financed fossil fuels to the tune of $3.8 trillion. Runaway funding for fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure fuels climate chaos and threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions.’

Check it at bank.green – maybe you could change to a greener bank?

 

Donate, reuse, rewear and restyle during #SecondHandSeptember.

Reduce the demand for new clothes and the damage to our planet by taking part in this Oxfam initiative.

 Our planet is in serious trouble and our nation’s addiction to new clothes

is doing more harm than you may think.

 In 2019, Greta Thunberg sparked a wake-up call across the globe demanding drastic change to save our planet and in turn, ourselves. We’re all feeling the effects of the climate emergency, but it is not affecting us all equally. Obvious actions stand out – flying less, driving less, taking more public transport.

 But how about buying fewer new clothes?

 With the global textile industry producing more greenhouse gas emissions than international aviation and shipping combined – it could be a more important change than we think.

FAST FASHION FACTS AND STATISTICs

• The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions. — Morgan McFall-Johnsen (2020)
• Half a million tons of plastic microfibers are dumped into the ocean every year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. — World Economic Forum

 Around 300,000 tonnes of textile waste ends up in household black bins every year, sent to landfill or incinerators. Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing at the end of its life. — House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, 2019

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF FAST FASHION ON GARMENT WORKERS WORLDWIDE?

• A Bangladeshi worker would need to be paid 4.5 times more than the current minimum wage to afford a decent living standard and almost 9x more to support a family.
• Clothes are produced cheaply which often means low wages and poor working conditions for garment workers. With rising labour costs in countries like China and Bangladesh, garment brands are looking to new markets where labour costs are low, often because there is no legal minimum wage because governments are keen not to discourage foreign investment by increasing these costs
• HOW DOES FAST FASHION AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT?  The impact of plastic fibres on the environment cannot be ignored. These tiny particles are polluting the oceans, entering our waterways and contaminating our food chain. However, plastic fibres are not the only environmental issue caused by the fashion industry. Wastewater contaminated with toxic dyes and the use of harmful chemicals also contribute to the industry’s devastating impact on the planet.
• Around 300,000 tonnes of clothing end up in household bins every year, with around 20% going to landfill and 80% incinerated. One report shows evidence that when synthetic textiles are landfilled or incinerated, they can leach harmful microfibres into the environment

REDUCING THE IMPACT OF FAST FASHION

• Extending the average life of clothes by just nine months would save £5 billion in resources used to supply, launder and dispose of clothing. — WRAP research
• If the number of times a garment is worn were doubled on average, Greenhouse gas emissions would be 44% lower — Ellen MacArthur Foundation

(Info from Oxfam GB’s retail team)

THE next clothes sale is a ‘pay what you can’ event.

St Thomas’ Church – Sat 23rd March 2024 – 10.30am to 12 noon (any clothes donations, in advance please)

 

 

The Creation Care scheme scheme aims to encourage households to make changes to care for God’s earth. Wherever households are on their creation care journey, we want to provide ideas for their next steps, and recognise progress that’s made.

 The scheme covers 7 areas of household life:

• Worship and prayer
• Home
• Garden
• Travel
• Food
• Possessions
• Community and global engagement   
• Which level are you?!  Are you ready to challenge yourself? Go to  https://creationcare.org.uk/ to sign up and get your own certificate.

Green burial

Have you thought about how green your burial will be?

 Alison McClintock says:

 As more people seek climate-friendly end-of-life solutions, increasingly popular options include renting a flatpack coffin to reduce your funeral’s carbon footprint

Keeping a lid on your carbon footprint doesn’t stop with your last breath. Your choice of funeral can have a significant environmental impact …

And while the UK’s funeral preferences are currently split 80:20 between cremations and burials, YouGov research finds that almost a third (29%) of people in the UK would choose alternative committal methods if available. Sophia Campbell Shaw founder of Woven Farewell Coffins is one of the UK’s 10 willow coffin makers, and keen to take more environmentally friendly options mainstream. “The funeral sector is one of the most polluting sectors,” she tells Positive News from her base in Devon. “One cremation uses as much energy as a 500-mile car trip and releases a staggering 400 kilos of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.” Traditional burials don’t fare much better: in the US alone, 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde is placed in the ground each year in the form of embalming fluids. And many coffins include metal, plastics and caustic glue, she points out.

So how about rethinking your burial?

A woven coffin, no embalming and burial in a green burial site? Sounds good to me!