Eco Church, Net Zero conference
Eco Church
At the ‘Towards Net Zero by 2030’ conference held at Wiveton in June, Bishop Graham talked about the devastation being caused worldwide by climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, which is having the greatest impact on the poorest people in the world. He reminded delegates that the ‘average Christian’ worldwide, is a young black woman, struggling to grow enough food to support her family, and that we in the western world should be working to help her and millions like her, by doing all we can to slow climate change, including using Christian charity websites, such as Tearfund, to campaign for action to combat climate change. He said that the top environmental problems in the western world are: “selfishness; greed and apathy”, which is a stinging rebuke to us all. We need to tread more lightly on the earth and seek to heal our broken planet. To take what we need, rather than what we want. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust spokesperson told conference that 1 in 4 people are doing something to combat biodiversity loss, which was encouraging. People do care. Every bit of action matters, it will make a difference. So let’s all consider carefully what we can do. Can we all: recycle soft plastic wrappers; plan car journeys to take in more than one activity; walk short journeys rather than take the car; shop for locally produced foods; reduce the amount of red meat we eat; consider going vegetarian or vegan; use public transport more. I’m sure there are many other ways you could think of to reduce your carbon footprint. Look on the www.footprint.wwf.org.uk website for other ideas.
Notices
Sunday 18th August & 1st September Café Church is our more informal service starting at 10.30am in St Michael’s. There will be tea, coffee, juice, croissants and muffins, as well as papers to read from 10 o’clock.
Fairtrade Fortnight
Takes place from Monday 9th September – Sunday 22nd September 2024.
St Mary’s and St Michael’s have been awarded a certificate as a Fairtrade Place of Worship by the Fairtrade Foundation. This is part of our Silver Eco Church Award.
We have agreed to buy Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar and, where possible, other things too, such as bananas, chocolate and wine. We now have notice boards in each church telling people about the Fairtrade movement and how it is helping to tackle climate change.
To mark the 30th Anniversary of Fairtrade products being available, we will be supporting the Fairtrade Foundation by celebrating Fair Trade Fortnight in September, as follows:
Sunday 15th September there will be a Fairtrade focussed Café Church where the home baked edibles will be prepared using Fairtrade products.
Saturday 21st September we are having a Coffee Morning and cake/bake sale of Fairtrade edibles in St Michaels 10-12am. We also hope to run a short information video about Fairtrade at the same time. If anyone is willing to bake something for this please let Sue Cripps know. Thank you.
This year, join us in urging everyone to ‘Be the Change’ by buying Fairtrade products and speaking up for fairer trade. If you would like to write to your MP about the need to support Fairtrade or like further information please visit the Fairtrade Foundation website www.fairtrade.org.uk