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The Rt Rev Dr Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, welcomed more than 60 people to the first Southwark Diocesan Environment conference which took place at St Mildred, Addiscombe, on Saturday 13 October. They came to listen and learn about ways of Shrinking our Carbon Footprint.

They heard that through small changes in our personal behaviours and by being aware of what can be done in our church buildings to make them more environmentally friendly, a real difference can be made to the carbon footprint that the church leaves.

Speakers in the morning included Bishop Tom who highlighted the problems of global warming and spoke of the consultation process undertaken by the Church of England before the publication of the report Sharing God’s Planet. He also talked about the small changes that individuals can make through re-cycling rubbish and switching lights off when not needed. He said that he hoped that parishes would undertake an environmental audit every five years and that examples of good practice could be developed and shared.

David Shreeve of the Conservation Foundation, the Church of England’s Environment Adviser in the Mission and Public Affairs Division, talked about the churches history of working on environmental issues – arguing against those who say the church is only jumping on the bandwagon because this is a populist issue. He also gave several examples of the church working on environmental issues since 1986.

Clare Foster, Church of England, National Policy Adviser on Environmental Issues, gave a theological perspective, saying that concern for the environmental is core Christian business.

Matthew Reed, Church and Community Director for Christian Aid gave a presentation on the global perspective of shrinking our footprint. He highlighted the huge number of people that will be affected by coastal flooding in Africa over the next decades as the impact of climate change takes a hold. He also talked about the large numbers of refugees and acute water shortages which are both predicted in the near future.

Finally, Peter Ainsworth MP, Shadow spokesperson for the Environment, talked about the importance of mainstreaming climate change and that it was of moral, social and economic concern. He also talked about the importance of energy conservation and reducing our desire for material gain.

Six workshops were run in the afternoon covering topics such as becoming a greener church, simple but practical steps to reduce the carbon footprint of our church buildings, the concepts of travel plans and water conservation as well as meditation on the five “spheres” and challenging the consumer lifestyle in policy terms.

The day closed with worship and was such a success that another conference is planned for 2008.

A report of the Conference can be downloaded here

Ends

Diocesan Communications Officer
Tel: 020-7939 9400
Mobile: 07831-694021
Fax: 020-7939 9468