Sitting here in London Diocesan Synod doesn't seem to be the most likely place to feel fear!
But we're listening to a presentation by Brian Cuthbertson who heads up the Environmental Challenge for the Diocese, so the figures, predictions and possibilities are nothing short of terrifying.
How do I react?
I read plenty on this subject, have preached on it and feel passionately about it - I think! I say, I think, because mostly I choose not to think about it at all. That's one of the most common reactions to fear, isn't it, 'denial' - and it's something I'm a great expert on (pretty convinced it got me through my undergraduate degree!!)...
Denial is one way - another is to think that it's all so beyond me that it's not worth even trying to do the little I/we might be able to do.
Panic is another - that it's all so bad there's no hope to be seen or imagined... this tends to lead to denial anyway...
Some good news: things are genuinely changing in the CofE.
The national church has apparently, a similar carbon footprint to a large national supermarket chain - and has very ambitious targets to reduce this.
London aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its churches by 20% by 2012 and by 80%+ by 2050... and remarkably the last two years have already seen a 10% drop. Things are happening - and churches are being encouraged to think very creatively. One church in the Diocese is about to commission a recently installed biomass heating system. Three parishes have installed solar panels - and many more have done the basic things of changing lightbulbs...
We're determined to pursue this in All Souls.
We're aiming to form a Green Team to help co-ordinate our action - both changes to our buildings and habits and also promotion and awareness of the global impact of the changes that we're living through - and causing.
If you'd like to be part of that team - or would like to find out more... or if you'd like to suggest ways we could change our church lifestyle... let me know!
But we're listening to a presentation by Brian Cuthbertson who heads up the Environmental Challenge for the Diocese, so the figures, predictions and possibilities are nothing short of terrifying.
How do I react?
I read plenty on this subject, have preached on it and feel passionately about it - I think! I say, I think, because mostly I choose not to think about it at all. That's one of the most common reactions to fear, isn't it, 'denial' - and it's something I'm a great expert on (pretty convinced it got me through my undergraduate degree!!)...
Denial is one way - another is to think that it's all so beyond me that it's not worth even trying to do the little I/we might be able to do.
Panic is another - that it's all so bad there's no hope to be seen or imagined... this tends to lead to denial anyway...
Some good news: things are genuinely changing in the CofE.
The national church has apparently, a similar carbon footprint to a large national supermarket chain - and has very ambitious targets to reduce this.
London aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its churches by 20% by 2012 and by 80%+ by 2050... and remarkably the last two years have already seen a 10% drop. Things are happening - and churches are being encouraged to think very creatively. One church in the Diocese is about to commission a recently installed biomass heating system. Three parishes have installed solar panels - and many more have done the basic things of changing lightbulbs...
We're determined to pursue this in All Souls.
We're aiming to form a Green Team to help co-ordinate our action - both changes to our buildings and habits and also promotion and awareness of the global impact of the changes that we're living through - and causing.
If you'd like to be part of that team - or would like to find out more... or if you'd like to suggest ways we could change our church lifestyle... let me know!
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