Eco Church

Eco Church

What is Eco Church ?

Eco Church is a scheme that helps us to identify how we can care better for God’s earth across the following 5 key areas of Church Life:-

  • Worship and teaching
  • Management of church buildings
  • Management of church land
  • Community and global engagement
  • Lifestyle

As we do more in each area, we build up points towards awards (Bronze, Silver and Gold).  To help us focus more on the environment and work towards gaining the awards, we have established an Eco Group. We have obtained our Bronze award and are now working towards silver.  We meet around once every 6 to 8 weeks and would love to welcome new members.

Find out more at https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/how-eco-church-works/

Churchyard Count on Nature event 2023

We had a great time at St Michael and All Angels Churchyard in Cofton Hackett on 10th June 2023 enjoying the beauty of the site and identifying the local wildlife.  In total, based on records on the day as well as over previous years, we have noted 24 species of trees, 9 species of traditional Worcestershire fruit trees (planted in Fieldson’s Orchard), 25 species of shrubs, 75 flower species, 4 grasses, 8 bird species, and 20 species of lichen; recording-form – 10.06.23. But there are plenty more flora and fauna species still to discover! So if any church member, local resident, or visitor notices something new then try to take a photo of it and let us know what it is – send it to Douglas Allenby at da@landscape-matters.co.uk. Not only will it help expand our knowledge of what nature is on our doorstep but it will also inform the forthcoming landscape management plan for the churchyard.

Creation Care

If you are interested in trying to have a greener lifestyle, Eco Group suggests that you might like to visit https://creationcare.org.uk/ which is a new scheme to help households make changes to care for God’s earth. Alternatively, you could start by looking at the  leaflet

the tips may be difficult to act on during Covid but these are just suggestions.

Carbon Footprint

To help understand the relative impact that each of us has on our changing climate and how we can reduce this, we are encouraging everyone to complete a carbon footprint calculation.  There are various different versions available.  Two examples to try are:-

https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ quick and straightforward from WWF (note does not work in some browsers)

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx more accurate but much more time consuming.

Seasonal fruit an Vegetables

Eating UK grown seasonal fruit and vegetables is a great way of reducing your carbon footprint and is much tastier too.

Click here for a list of fruit and veg in season

Locally grown fruit and vegetables can be purchased at the following Farmers Markets:-

  • Kings Norton – second Saturday of each month – 9:00 to 13:30
  • Moseley – last Saturday of each month – 9:00 to 14:00
  • Droitwich Spa – first Saturday of the month – 9:00 to 14:00

Further Information

Links to some resources that might be of interest:-