Caring for God's World
We are working to fulfill God's call for us to be good stewards of this wonderful world that he has created and to change our behaviours to improve the sustainability of our impact as a church and as individuals.
The church is wonderfully situated next to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the Avon Gorge, where there are a number of species which are unique either in the UK or worldwide.
Local Events
Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project events
Saturday 19th June
GORGE-OUS PEREGRINES
Swoop along to the Downs for a special peregrine family event with Ed Drewitt. Through fun games and activities find out what makes super speedy peregrine falcons masters of the skies.
Thursday 8th July
SILKY WAVE WALK
The Avon Gorge is the only English site for the silky wave moth. Spend an evening with Ray Barnett (Bristol Naturalists' Society) and Warren Spencer (Bristol Zoo Gardens) spotting this rare moth and some of the other invertebrates that make the Gorge their home.
Targets
Our main environment targets are:
1. For the congregation to model and lead responsible environmental behaviour with all our neighbours, including acting as a resource and encouragement for other churches and the congregation in improving their sustainability.
We are working with organisations such as A Rocha and Tearfund to increase our awareness of our impact on the world, the effect that we have on other people and how we can change. We have collected links to resources which we've found helpful for learning and acting.
2. Implement a plan with the aim of getting back on track for the achievement of the Church of England target of 10% reduction in carbon footprint every three years, through targeting our power use and any other suitable means available to us
The carbon footprint of the Church building in 2007 was 53.26 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (t CO2e) of which 24.71 t CO2e was from gas usage and 28.55 t CO2e was from electricity usage. In 2008 this went up to a total of 55.90 t CO2e of which 29.07 t CO2e was gas and 26.83 t CO2e was from electricity.
We plan to reduce this by at least 10% every three year period starting with a baseline of 2008. This target is in line with the overall Church of England target. As a commitment to early action, we are buying offsets for the required reduction to achieve the target at the start of each year and planning to achieve physical energy efficiency improvements in the course of the year. The offsets are purchased through Climate Stewards.
We have started by carrying out an audit of all light bulbs in the church building and begining a programme of replacing remaining incandesent bulbs with low energy substitutes. We are encouraging everyone in the church to change their own behaviours to reduce their personal carbon footprint and to offset high carbon activities such as flights.
3. Expand our application of the eco-congregation modules and recommendations across the whole church.
4. Develop the travel plan for the congregation
Here are some
tools to plan your journey to the Church.
Eco-Congregation is an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian faith, and respond in practical action in the church, in the lives of individuals, and in the local and global community.
Eco-congregation have a series of practical modules covering all areas of church life with best practices and challenges to improve the sustainability of the church. The Environment Team has developed plans for all modules with the Christ Church staff and team leaders.
The independently-assessed Eco-congregation Award is designed to affirm good practice in environmental stewardship and help churches witness to the importance of caring for God's creation. We applied to be considered for the award at the end of March 2009 and were granted the award in Autumn 2009.
17th May 09 Environment Sunday
Speaker: Dave Bookless, A
Rocha UK
Environment Studies - Spring 09
Two studies for Homegroups to explore the biblical perspective on our relationship with the environment.