Video about two Scottish eco-congregations

This video is from 2009 and features Arbroath Old and Abbey Church and Westray Church:

Why your church should register as an Eco-Congregation

Having spoken to a lot of different churches over the past few months I have found some who are actively involved in environmental work, but who are not registered as eco-congregations. The two reasons I hear most often are:

1. We are not doing enough to be counted as an eco-congregation.
2. We are doing fine on our own and don't feel any need to join.

I would like to address these points and explain why your church should be registering as an eco-congregation:

1. We are not doing enough to be counted as an eco-congregation.
I think this is the result of confusion between registration as an eco-congregation and achieving the Eco-Congregation award. The Eco-Congregation Award does require a level of achievement but registering as an eco congregation requires none. Registration is a statement of intent (that you will reduce your carbon footprint by 5% per year for three years and undertake a basic environmental audit). Congregations registering have usually done nothing before registering. Often those who say they are "not doing enough" are often doing rather a lot without realising it.

2. We are doing fine on our own and don't feel the need to join.
Well resourced congregations with knowledgeable people in the pews find it quite easy to engage with environmental and climate change issues. Many have done considerable work on improving heating systems and reducing their carbon footprint. Its understandable that some of these would not gain anything for themselves from registering as eco-congregations, but by registering they will help other, less able, congregations. When we go to the government, or other funders, for financial support they want to see that we have widespread endorsement from church congregations across all areas of the country and all denominations. By registering as an eco-congregation you can help us to leverage money and practical support for churches that are not as able as yours. By identifiying with the Eco-Congregation movement you make it stronger even if you gain very little for yourselves.

Registration is free. All you have to do is go here and follow the instructions:
www.ecocongregationscotland.org/register

Registration helps you, helps other churches and helps people living in countries affected by climate change.

Gordon Hudson

Eco-Congregation Scotland Launches New Web Site

Eco-Congregation Scotland has launched a new web site to provide resources for eco-congregations, local networks and the wider church. The new site has a very flexible structure and is being constantly updated. It also has a new address (although all visitors to the old address will be automatically redirected):

http://www.ecocongregationscotland.org

This is just part of our online presence.

You can interact with us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eco-Congregation-Scotland/142961385741989
and on Twitter (where we also post links to any news items from our web site and blog):
http://twitter.com/ecocongregation

Then we have our blog here (which carries articles of general interest and has also been redesigned):
http://ecocongregationscotland.blogspot.com/

and our resource called "reducing spending in churches" which is a repository of useful information on energy management and related topics:
http://church-cost-reduction.posterous.com/

We hope you find these useful and would welcome your feedback.

10th Anniversary of EcoCongregation Scotland @ Annual Gathering 2011

We would like to invite you to celebrate with us the 10th Anniversary of Eco-Congregation Scotland at the Annual Gathering 2011, which will also include the charity’s first AGM. The Gathering will take place on 5th March 2011, 10am – 3.30pm, at Bridge of Allan Parish Church Halls, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4QJ.

We are very pleased to welcome Kathy Galloway, Head of Christian Aid Scotland, to preach at the Celebration Service. The programme of the day will focus on ‘Our daily Bread’ and look at issues of sustainable living. As usual, a variety of interesting and challenging workshops will be part of the programme.

Register now to participate in the event, by contacting us at scotland@ecocongregation.org.uk or the address below before 16 February 2011.

While everyone is warmly invited to attend the AGM, only charity members of Eco-Congregation Scotland are able to vote. You can register as member of the charity by filling in the form attached to the invitation and sending it back to us. We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Gathering!


If you have any news about eco-congregations or would like to display a poster in about the 10th Anniversary in your church halls and other appropriate places please email  Anikó Schütz or phone the Climate Change project at  0131 240 2274

THE FLOATING ICEBERG’S SONG

We shall be posting from time to time poems that are dealing with the environment and with our responsibilities in the care of creation. Please let me know if you have any poems that you would like to submit.

We are indebted to Tessa Ransford for suggesting this wonderful poem .  Not Just Moonshine, Luath Press, is Tessa's new and selected poems from four decades published in 2008. The book can be found at selected bookstores. You can find more information about Tessa on her  website. .

THE FLOATING ICEBERG’S SONG


(news report: an iceberg the size of Hong Kong floats past the African coast)

Ahoy there, ahoy!

moored to Antarctica
over aeons
the rope broke and I drifted
away

no race round the world
I drip my ice-locked time
as I sail and melt

soon I’ll swim in the Mediterranean
and block the Suez canal

my waters will flow as judgement
a mighty stream in the desert

ahoy there in the shopping aisles
and the shipping lanes

don’t you see now

the planet floats like the Titanic in space
and can sink, can be utterly wrecked


Unpublished

Tessa Ransford

Manager for Eco-congregation/Job Advert

EcoCongregations scotnad is looking for a full time manager's position.

Help eco-congregations make a big difference by providing inspired leadership and sound business sense!
Objectives of the post:

• Helping create greener congregations
• Ensure we deliver on our charitable objectives – including reducing our carbon footprint and achieving Scottish Government climate change targets
• Help make us more commercially sound
• Increase income from church denominations, related funds and congregations
• Set up a supporters scheme to optimise support and raise awareness

 

Eco-Congregation Scotland is a growing movement of over 250 churches across Scotland – both small and large, Protestant and Catholic. Together we’re working to help care for the earth. And as an ecumenical charity, we help eco-congregations understand environmental issues, so that they can in turn take practical action and a spiritual response. No small task, we’re looking for an experienced manager who can really help us grow.

Particulars of the post:

• You’ll have experience of working in the third sector
•  You will be passionate about the environment and our cause
•  You will have a proven track record of achieving successful growth
•  You will be an inspired people manager 

To obtain further information please call 0131 240 2249 (24 hour answering service) or email recruitment@cofscotland.org.uk.

 

Closing date: 22 October 2010. 
Find out more about Eco-Congregation Scotland at: http://www.ecocongregation.org/scotland/ .
Eco-Congregation Scotland is a Scottish Charity, No. SC041287

Hunterston Coal Fired Power Station

The Scottish Government is currently considering a planning application from Ayrshire Energy to build a new coal fired power station at Hunterston in North Ayrshire. The application refers to the installation of ‘carbon capture and storage’ at the plant but this technology is untried and untested at this scale and is very unlikely to be fitted at the outset. If it were to go ahead the plant would create carbon dioxide emissions at such a scale as to wipe out any savings we are asking congregations to make, probably many times over. This would make a mockery of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Act and the challenge we are setting to congregations. Congregations near the development, such as that at Fairlie are deeply concerned about the proposal.

There is wide opposition to this development; Ian Galloway, the Convener of the Church and Society Council, expressed his opposition to this development You can find out more about the application at the Scottish Government website. Information about local objections to this development can be read here. A number of other groups in membership of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland such as Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth Scotland, RSPB and WWF are strongly opposed to the proposal and have details on their websites, including on line actions. You can find out more information about opposition to the coal station by following the following links Christian Aid, Action for Scotland , RSPB, and the WWF.

The Importance of Biodiversity

We are very fortunate in being able to publish on the blog, this small article by Elizabeth Hay, from Cults Parish Church. Cults has recently won an Eco-Congregations award.

“From so simple a beginning endless forms so beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.”

These are the words of Charles Darwin whose life was celebrated last year. 2010 celebrates these endless forms in the International Year of Bio-Diversity. What is Bio-diversity? It is the whole variety of life on Earth, not just butterflies, birds and plants but also micro-organisms like bacteria and plankton, as well as species we call “pests”. They are all essential pieces of the web of life. Bio-diversity is a basic part of the Earth’s life support systems. We depend on it for fertile soil, fresh water and clean air.

Textile fibres, dyes, building materials, adhesives, oil and rubber all come from biological sources. It is not something you can ignore. It affects all areas of our lives. Fifty percent of pharmaceutical drugs come from plants. Plankton provides almost half the oxygen we breathe. Trees help lock up carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. This reduces the harmful effects of climate change.

Since the early 20th Century almost half the UK’s ancient woodlands have been cut down. When you consider that one oak tree can support up to five hundred species, this leads to a huge loss of bio-diversity. The loss of this variety of life endangers not just our physical bodies but also our spiritual wellbeing. In her book “Silent Spring” Rachel Carson wrote, “There is something infinitely healing in the refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter.” Why are we losing Bio-diversity at such a rate? There are three major reasons. Human population has doubled in the last fifty years and is projected to rise to nine billion by 2050. This puts huge pressure on the earth’s limited resources. Pollution of land, air, oceans and rivers continues to be a problem in almost every country of the world. Thirdly, communities of plants and animals are being destroyed by changes in the way we use land.

At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero our government signed up to halting the loss of Bio-diversity in this country by 2010. This has not happened. In the face of apparently insurmountable problems, what can we as individuals and in communities of faith do? We can, as is often quoted, live simply that others may simply live. What better example of this do we have than Christ himself?


We can look after areas locally such as the familiar places where we walk, cycle, run and exercise our pets. We can learn more about how the natural world works and discover its astonishing beauty and complexity. We can all reduce waste so that valuable places for wildlife are not lost to landfill. We can grow native trees and plants, erect nest boxes for birds and create homes for insects. Be encouraged by Christ’s Parable of the Mustard see where very small beginnings can lead to much greater things. There is much in the Christian and other faiths which honour, respect and care for the sacred mystery of the natural world. All living things are part of the Web of Life and undeniably and inescapably we are part of it. What matters more than the biodiversity of the world upon which we all depend?

Stories needed

We would like to showcase stories form Eco Congregations in their strives to reduce their carbon footprint.

Congregations new to the mouvement, might feel that it is impossible to reduce their carbon footprint but, we know that there is plenty of evidence to show that it is possible to have a year on year reduction. please, if you have a tip on how to reeuce the carbon footprint of your church, post it up in our Church and Society Facebook group page.

Eco Congregation's Impact Overseas

A number of Church of Scotland congregations abroad have responded very favourably to the challenge of reducing their carbon footprint by 5% every year. The Climate Change Project has received the calculators from the churches in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Gibraltar and Valletta in Malta. All of these congregations have made a commitment to reduce their carbon footprint every year by 5% in agreement with the instruction of the 2009 General Assembly.

It is really encouraging to see that Eco-Congregation's work is having an impact on overseas congregations.

Wind Farms for Scotland

The Scotsman is running an article where Scottish people apparently favour wind farms over nuclear technology. EDP ran a survey in YouGov asking about preferred sources of technology and Scottish people favoured wind farms. More than eight out of ten Scots backed offshore wind farms and 69 per cent were in favour of onshore turbines. Similarly, when questioned about different energy sources for producing electricity, 74 per cent said their impression of wind farms was favourable, compared to just 43 per cent for nuclear.

However, the overall position in the UK concerning and active interest in climate change has significantly decreased from 80% in 2006 to 62% in 2010. the results are based on a sample of 4300 adults.

Eco-Congregation Scotland achieves Charity Status

We are pleased to announce that Eco-Congregation Scotland has recently become a charity. This was announced on Saturday March 20th during the Eco-Congregation Scotland Annual Gathering 2010 which took place in Stirling Baptist Church. For more information, please follow this link. Congratulations to the Eco-Congregation Scotland team!

The Scots Kirk in Paris is an Eco-Congregation

The Scots Kirk Paris is a Church of Scotland congregation outside the boundaries of Scotland – one of the fourteen Churches of Scotland in the Presbytery of Europe. Our congregation is not limited to Scots but consists of people of many different nationalities and backgrounds. Some of the congregation are long-term members, having made France their home, whereas others have come to Paris to work or study for a fixed period of time before moving on to work / live elsewhere.
There has been a Church of Scotland in Paris for well over 100 years, most of that time on our current site at 17, rue Bayard. Having suffered damage during the war, the church was rebuilt in the 1950s. Unfortunately, serious structural problems became apparent in the 1980s and after many years of investigating possible solutions to the problem, a project to build a new church was approved and our current building opened its doors in 2002. We are fortunate in that our modern building has been designed to conform to many “green” principles. One of the constraints imposed on us was that a certain proportion of the surface area be devoted to a patio and garden area. So although we are a stone’s throw from the Champs Elysées, we have a small “haven of peace”, undisturbed by the noise of traffic. As you can see from the photo, a robin has found refuge on the bird table installed on a tree in the garden at the back of the patio!

Last year our congregation decided to register as an Eco-congregation with the idea of trying to follow up the Eco-modules and gradually introduce new ideas and small changes into our congregational and private lives. We have a small group of four people who meet a few times a year, check on our progress as Eco-congregation and plan ahead.

What started out as one person's initiative has turned into a collective and conscious effort throughout all levels in our church. The young and not so young, the nature-lovers and city dwellers and the creative and practical people are all doing their part to look after this glorious God given world. How?

1. By reducing energy consumption. Ex: the use of low energy light bulbs, lowering
the overall room temperature by 1 degree, switching off unnecessary lights and
keeping doors shut to avoid heat loss.

2. By making a conscious effort to sort rubbish properly and putting it into the relevant bins.

3. By encouraging the various groups/associations (which use the church to worship or to meet)to buy and use Fair Trade items. All coffee, tea and biscuits served after the service come from Fair Trade producers.

4. By planting flowers, shrubs and by installing a bird feeder to attract birds to this safe haven.

5. By printing and selling small eco-guides (Christmas 2009) and another one planned for Spring.

6. By regularly mentioning the Eco-congregation progress and achievements in our Church newsletter which comes out four times a year.

7. The Scots Kirk's carbon footprint – last year at our church here in Paris we used 19,430 Kilowatt Hours of Electricity (and no gas or oil). We multiplied this figure by 0.5, giving 9715kg of CO2.We would like to try to reduce this total.

8. Our Eco-group has invited Peter Rayner, a Climate Scientist and a member of our congregation, living here in Paris, to come and talk to the congregation about his research into global warming and what it all means, on 11 April.

9. The children of our Young Church will study the eco-module after Easter, starting with Peter’s talk which will be part of our Eco-day in our congregation.

As you can see, we're on our way!

Prayer to help us reflect on our choices in life

I found this prayer particularly useful when considering the choices I must make in my everyday life about the way I use energy. Thank a lot to Rob Nigel for making it available to us.




Choices

Creator God,

Part of the delight
and wonder of life
is that you gave us freedom to make choices.

Sometimes the decisions
we face seem straightforward
our head and our gut
are in tune,
and those we respect
nod in agreement.

Yet God,
Often we find ourselves in a dilemma,
a crossroads,
where the choices we have to make
may influence not just the road
we choose to travel
but the life journeys of others
who are personally and professionally
connected to us.

Informed by our culture, our upbringing
our formation in faith
we wrestle with different voices,
within and around us
in trying to decide.

In truth God,
are we ever free
to decide on our own,
for only ourselves?

At the end of life,
as at the beginning
we need the care and support
of others,
and may have to rely on
the knowledge and expertise
of a specialised few to help
us make decisions.

O God,
Present at our beginning
and our end,
guide us in our decision making.
help us remember that the choices we make
are influenced by,
and effect others,
whatever road we choose.

Amen

Earth be Glad. Programme of St John's Church Edinburgh

We have been showcasing examples of different wasy of being an eco-congregation. here is the contribution of Ben Murray from St John's Church, Edinburgh.

Almost three years ago, a group of volunteers within St John’s Church developed a programme entitled Earth be Glad. At its heart was an online carbon monitoring tool that enabled users to log in and enter their gas and electricity meter readings, in the hope that this simple action would stimulate a greater awareness of home energy use and encourage more energy efficient behaviour. Early results were promising, with significant reductions in the average user’s energy consumption.

But this pilot project struggled to attract more than a fairly small minority of the congregation, and St Johns secured financial support from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund in order to develop the project further. In addition to setting up an improved website and online carbon monitoring tool, the project will work with partner organisations (including Changeworks and the Energy Saving Trust) to provide advice and resources to help members cut their carbon footprints. It is hoped that the project will be able to engage with a significant proportion of the St John’s congregation and ultimately be rolled out within other faith communities.

The development of Earth be Glad is being led by Ben Murray and assisted by Eleanor Harris, who was involved in the original pilot project and has been a member of St John’s Church for some years. Ben has worked as a marine engineer on nuclear submarines, an environmental activist and campaigner with Greenpeace and as a parliamentary policy advisor for the Scottish Green Party. Eleanor was previously co-ordinator of Eco-Congregation Scotland and is web editor for European Christian Environmental Network .

More blog posts will follow over the coming months as the project is developed.

FAQS for Eco-Congregation Scotland

The Eco-Congregation Scotland website has recently updated its FAQS section. Have a look in order to get answers to all of those questions that have been nagging you about climate change.

Radnor Park Church – Heating System

Radnor Park Church Clydebank has reduced their carbon footprint from 41.14 tons of C02 a year to 6.43 tons by joining a district heating system. They used the carbon calculator provided by Eco Congregation scotland to determine their carbon footprint. In the words of S.W. Cameron, the church treasurer,

the experiment has been an unqualified success both environmentally and financially.

This initiated a few years ago when Clydebank Housing Association applied for planning permission to build a Combined Head and Power plant (CHP) adjacent to our Church. The plant was designed to produce electricity and useable heat which would be connected to what is known as a district heating system for the seven blocks of flats close to the Church.

I suppose it was fortuitous that I am chief engineer in a company called Doosan Babcock who design and construct major power plants. I recognised that there was potential for the Church heating to be connected to their outlet pipes and I contacted the Engineering Contractor of the plant to discuss the possibility.

The electricity production part of the CHP plant is relatively conventional in that steam is produced in a boiler to drive a steam turbine which in turn drives a generator. The steam at the outlet from the turbine has to be condensed to liquid so that it can be pumped back to the boiler inlet and the concept is to use water from the ‘district heating’ system as a coolant and at the same time the condensing steam heats up the district cooling water to around 100-120°C. From the layout drawings submitted with the planning application I estimated that there was probably ‘surplus’ heat in the system and we would effectively increase the efficiency of the CHP plant if we could connect into it.

The initial assessment concluded that it was feasible and the Contractor agreed to run a pipe from the CHP plant to the Church boundary whilst we investigated the requirements in detail and obtained quotes for the purchase and installation of the equipment.

The plant was designed to supply domestic heating and we had to determine whether it could also provide heating for the church building and four halls. We worked with the contactor to specify a heat exchanger connected to the district heating ‘ring main’ and connect the outlet from it to our heating system, bypassing the existing oil boiler. At the same time we didn’t want to fully disconnect the oil heating arrangement in case we had problems in the future. Fitting control valves and bypass valves made it a more complicated but it has been very successful although we are at the ‘end of the line’ of the district heating system and whilst this has not been a problem it meant that bthe church heating was a little cooler during the recent cold spell due to the people in the flats having their heating on full.

I must admit that the original driver was cost saving in that we were paying around £7,000 per annum for oil and the estimated cost of connecting to the district heating system was around £3,000 per annum. The capital cost of the heat exchanger and the installation was £11,000 so we reckoned we would get ‘payback’ in 3-4 years. As it happens the tariff has been substantially less than the estimate because we are taking the surplus heat and it has been difficult to measure the flow and temperature. As such we have already recovered the initial capital cost.

Installing the heat exchange system has reduced our carbon footprint dramatically since the oil fired boiler was probably the least ‘carbon friendly’ system you could get. There are obviously emissions from the CHP plant which I do not have the figures for but plants of this type have an efficiency of around 70% compared to 40% for conventional plant and it is claimed that they have the lowest carbon footprint of any heating system. Since we are taking surplus heat which would be generated in any case if we did not have the connection I would claim that we now have zero emissions from the Church heating system

Words from the Rev. Tofiga Falan from Tuvalu

Adrian Shaw, Climate Change Officer at the Church and Society Council was kind enough to provide us with the following link to an interview given by the Reverend Tofiga Falan explaining the situation as his country tries to cope with the effects of climate change. Rev. Falan also speaks of his disspointment at results of the Copenhaguen conference.

Please follow the link to read the full length article.

Climate Change Reception @ the Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office organised a Climate Change reception at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 26th of January. Chloe Clemmons, the SCPO Parliamentary Officer mentioned that the purpose of the reception was to celebrate the Climate Change (Scotland) Act in particular the duty on the Scottish Government to publish a public engagement strategy in 2010, to reaffirm the commitment of the Church of Scotland to tackling climate change and supporting the Scottish Government in meeting the targets and finally, to highlight the role that congregations can play in delivering the targets set out in the Act. The Right Reverend William Hewitt, addressed the attendants, highlighting the role of faith-based organisations in the struggle to reduce CO2 emissions and modify life-styles. A copy of his speech is presented below.

I’m delighted to be here this evening to celebrate Scotland’s climate change legislation, and the role you have played in bringing it about. I’m told it is the strongest piece of climate change legislation in the world and if so then it is something we should be very proud of.

Many of you here were involved in the development of the legislation, both in this parliament and as lobbyists outside parliament. Stewart Stevenson was the Scottish Government Minister who piloted the legislation through parliament; MSPs debated it at length and in great detail and lobbyists from Stop Climate Chaos, of which the Church of Scotland is a member, lobbied tirelessly to strengthen the bill. The strength of the Bill is a testament to all your endeavours.

You have set us the challenge of reducing our emission of greenhouse gases by 42% by 2020 and by 80% by 2050.

These are spectacularly challenging figures. To get near these targets we will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in almost every aspect of our material lives. This will mean changes in the way we travel, in manufacturing, shopping, in our homes and in how we live our lives.

This will not happen automatically and it won’t happen just because the law says it should. It will require the active support, participation and involvement of people and communities across Scotland.

This is why the climate change engagement strategy that the legislation requires is so important. The Scottish Government will have to win over 5 million Scots to the importance of this task and make them believe that climate change is so serious that we have to make these changes.

We believe that people can change their lives to respond to climate change and we are challenging congregations to do just that.

Churches and congregations can help the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government achieve this objective. I say this for a number of reasons.

Those of you who were at The Wave, the march in Glasgow on 5 December organised by Stop Climate Chaos will have seen how many marchers were from church congregations. The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Cardinal Keith o Brien and myself had the privilege of leading the march and of demonstrating our commitment.

I say it because over 230 congregations have now joined Eco-Congregation Scotland, the largest movement of community environment groups in Scotland. These are congregations across the country that are concerned about climate change and are asking ‘what can we do to respond to climate change in our lives and in our communities?’

And I say it because of the commitment that all faith groups are making to care for the earth. At a gathering last year in Windsor Castle organised by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation faith groups from around the world met to reaffirm this commitment. This is a universal theme for all faith groups: the earth is not ours to squander ; we have to care for it and sustain its life and in doing so sustain hope for the future.

The Wave and the Windsor gathering were great events and give us hope.

We were disappointed by the Copenhagen conference and its outcome. It did not deliver the international agreement we were all hoping for. But we must not let this distract us from what we have to do here in Scotland and we must now redouble our efforts. In communities and congregations across Scotland we must embrace this message and take action. We do not have to wait for international negotiations; we can lead by example.

Faith Climate Connect

Adrian Shaw, Climate Change Policy Officer has sent us a link to the Faith Climate connect website. It has really interesting material.