In 2011, 100,000 Scots joined the campaign to make Scotland cleaner and greener. We now need your help to meet our ambitious target of 200,000 volunteers in 2012. Please sign up now - and together we can make a difference.For further information and registration please go here:
If you want a fun day out, between 1 April - 31 May with family, friends, work colleagues or school mates, you’re only a step away – click on the "Register" button to get started or, if you have taken part before, login to your National Spring Clean account and start planning your event now!
Dr Scurlock said Schmallenberg and Bluetongue were able to cross over to Britain from the Continent because the midges, which are thought to be responsible for carrying the disease over the Channel, survived a warm winter. He added drought will also become more common because of climate change.For the full article see here:
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| People & Places activists |
Half of all households in Britain could face water restrictions unless exceptionally heavy and prolonged rain falls by April, water companies and the environment agency have warned.As the rainfall graphs show, Scotland is getting wetter and England and Wales drier:
The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, will hold a crisis meeting of companies, wildlife groups and other river users next week after the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology (CEH) stated that the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972, and the English Midlands and Anglian regions have had their second driest years in nearly a century.
WWF’s Earth Hour is a simple idea that’s quickly turned into a global phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people turning off their lights for one hour, on the same night, all across the planet.Eco-Congregation Scotland says:
But it’s not to save an hour’s electricity. It’s something much bigger. WWF’s Earth Hour is about people coming together to put the focus on this brilliant world we all share – and how we need to protect it. Not just for an hour a year, but every day
We would like all churches to take part in Earth Hour (you don’t need to be an eco-congregation) as a sign to the wider community that care for creation matters. Climate change is a justice issue - our misuse of natural resources has a much greater effect on poor people in developing countries than on us.To download the the Eco-Congregation / WWF - Earth Hour tool kit (PDF file) click here.
Even if your church buildings are usually closed on a Saturday evening, we’d like you to consider holding a short, candle-lit Earth Hour service . By promoting your service through local newspapers, newsletters, posters etc, you can make connections with new people and local organisations.
Research from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture found last year that as temperatures rise, the principal growing regions for cocoa could shrink, especially in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the sources of half the world’s supply. Production could fall off dramatically by 2050, making cocoa less available and more expensive.Peter Gleick, a MacArthur fellow and chief executive of the Pacific Institute, bemoaned the potential decline of the sweet treat last week in an open letter to climate change skeptics in Forbes.
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Eco-Congregation Scotland at the Get on Yer Bike rally on the 11th January 2012 - see blog: http://ecocongregationscotland.blogspot.com/2012/01/eco-congregation-scotland-at-stop.html
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Faith Based Organizations share in the sentiments and actions that will make equity, justice and ethical considerations central to future global negotiations. Alliances with independent bodies that share like minds on our common humanity are a sure way forward to impressing on the polluting nations that there is no substitute to planet earth. All actions must therefore be geared towards strengthening the VOICE for the demands of equity, justice and fair play during future Conference of Parties.To download the full report (pdf file) click here.
GUIDANCE NOTE
REMOVAL OF WASTE FROM PLACES OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP
CHURCHES
By virtue of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 waste arising from premises exempted from section 22(f) of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956(g) (churches etc) is to be treated as household waste.
In plain language this means that waste emanating from Churches and places of religious worship including their associated halls and residencies is household waste.
Schedule 2 of the 1992 Regulations further refine the definitions and identify certain household waste for which a charge may be made.
For the avoidance of doubt waste from Churches and other places of religious worship fall outwith the definitions in Schedule 2.
In consequence there no authority to charge Churches for the removal of the waste that they produce.
This will include items booked as a special uplift.
No charges should be applied for the removal of waste from Churches.
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| Rev Ian Alexander, Rev Tamás Kodácsy, Right Rev David Arnott, Rev Eszter Karsay |
