Eco Church

At Holy Trinity we believe God has commissioned us to care for the wonderful world that he has given us. One of the ways we are doing this is to join the Eco-church movement, supported by A ROCHA UK. This provides a framework and resources to support us as we take practical steps to 'go green' in all areas of church life. We have just achieved our Silver Eco Church Award for our efforts to care for god's earth in each of the following areas: Worship and Teaching, Buildings and Energy, Land and Nature, Community and Global Engagement, Lifestyle.

Citizen Science - what is it all about?

Citizen science projects in the UK offer numerous opportunities for public involvement in environmental, ecological, and social research. Key initiatives include monitoring nature with the Big Butterfly Count, the Big Garden Birdwatch, Nature’s Calendar, and reporting marine life via the Big Seaweed Search. Other projects focus on recording wildlife, such as the Big Hedgehog Map and iRecord. There is even a project that asks you to record the insects squashed on your number-plate!

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https://earthwatch.org.uk/ is a great place to start!

Things to do and try this month

Here are our top tips for the month to help you embrace your green side:

September

With the long, hot summer coming to an end our energy bills will start to climb again. Check up on your energy provider and make sure that they are a renewable source energy supplier. If not, then look to change if possible as it is quite easy these days. Then look at the tariff you are on, and see whether a cheaper overnight one would suit your lifestyle bearing in mind that you should be cautious about running certain white goods overnight while you are asleep.
Check your indoor smart meter readout if you have one, so that you become familiar with you daily / weekly energy usage and experiment with ways of reducing it. It can also alert you to a problem with your freezer, or a heater having been left switched on by mistake. If you are a homeowner and anticipate staying in your property for the next few years, then it may be worthwhile for you to consider having solar panels fitted on your roof. Although the initial expense is quite high, the savings and payment from exporting your excess power to the grid means that it can pay for itself in 7 years or even less. There are also various grants and special deals available to help with the costs.

You may also want to consider who you bank with and whether you have invested any savings in ethical companies.

Have you looked at the A Rocha website? It is packed full of helpful hints about ways of helping the environment as well as information about some of their latest projects and events, including the T25 project which aims to help a range of declining species, taxonomic groups, and threatened habitats.

Click here to catch up on previous months tips and suggestions

Calculate your Carbon Footprint

DID YOU KNOW?

The average carbon footprint varies by country and lifestyle, but it's around 4 tons per person. In the UK, the average carbon footprint is 12.7 tons per person. Do you know what yours is? To avoid a 2% rise in global temperature, the average global carbon footprint per year needs to drop by under 2 tons by 2050.