Eco Church

Eco Church is an award scheme which helps churches demonstrate that they are caring for God’s earth in a holistic way.
It is run by A Rocha UK (ARUK) – a Christian charity working for the protection and restoration of the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment.

There are five categories that cover different aspects of church life, from worship & teaching to buildings and land and to global engagement and our own lifestyles. The more action you take the more points you gain towards a Bronze, Silver or Gold award.

We at Aenon have started our Eco Church journey and are busy making changes and trying to improve how we ‘do things’.

We were delighted to be awarded our Bronze award in October 2022 and so are now working towards the Silver.

Come back soon and see how we’re doing

August 2022

Eco tips!

– Consider your shopping habits…think about individual items of food – where does it come from? could you have bought it more locally? does it have lots of unnecessary packaging? 

– If you have a garden or a patio, or yard (even very small patch) make it more welcoming for wildlife- for butterflies, bees, hedgehogs etc. 

– Try and cut out using as much single use plastic as you can- buy a water bottle & coffee cup and take them out with you for example.

September 2022

We are currently in the process of applying for a Local Places for Nature starter package to help us create a small garden / raised bed area on the higher area of the rear car-park. If successful, it will contain edible flowering plants, potted fruit shrubs, habitat boxes, and some gardening tools.

Thanks to the small group of volunteers who tend to current flower and grassed area, but this will be a welcome addition as we are in an urban area, and it is a chance for us to give wildlife a helping hand.

The Great Big Green Week event at Aenon took place on Saturday 24th September 2022

The Bug House in the Garden

Garden Bug House

Sowing Wildflower Seeds

October 2022

Local Places for Nature starter package

We are delighted to have been awarded this package which will allow us to make our grounds and garden more eco and wildlife friendly.

November / December 2022

Christmas can be a time of excess in every way. From electricity usage to presents galore, an overload of food, packaging and energy. The festive season takes its toll on the environment, as well as our bodies and bank accounts.

If we’re a little more aware, we can have a lovely time whilst being more mindful of the resources we are using. So why not try some of these ideas?

  • Buy meaningful gifts – experiences, promises, subscriptions or memberships etc. rather than ‘stuff’
  • If you do buy, buy smart:
    • -think ‘green’- made from recycled materials
    • look for handmade gifts
    • look for locally made gifts
    • cook or make something
  • Find alternatives to glittery wrapping paper (which is not recyclable)
  • Likewise with cards – plain paper ones without added bits & glitter
  • Use natural items – greenery (holly, ivy, mistletoe, pinecones etc.) for decorating your home
  • Try and make your own crackers with more useful items
  • Be realistic with the amount of food you buy to avoid wasting it

January 2023

At the start of a new year, many of us look to make changes in our lifestyles and make ‘resolutions’. Some are successful while others fall by the wayside quite soon! We will be putting tips and ideas on here throughout the year- things you can try to do more of, or less of, to get you thinking or to change habits completely- all from an ‘eco’ perspective of course!

We are starting with nature and making more of it in an intentional way. Here are some ideas:

  • Spot winter wildlife. Winter is still a great time to be outdoors and see wildlife. Soak up the seasonal sights on your doorstep or find out what you can see in different parts of the UK here.
  • Walk and Worship. Go for a walk in nature and note all the signs of the season. Use this time to reflect on the changing season and what we can be thankful for.
  • Write about or draw something that inspires you in nature. Try this one as a group activity and share your ideas and reflections.
  • Birdwatch. A great way to begin could be taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch this January (27-29).
  • Visit an outstanding area of beauty in the UK. Many of our Partners in Action offer beautiful surroundings and even retreat days or weekends. Check out The National Trust’s website for your nearest escape to nature too.
  • Get to your nearest green space more often. Time spent enjoying God’s creation will help set your mind and seek the things that are above. Bring your sketch or note book, your Bible, or whatever helps you connect with our heavenly Father. Or perhaps God is inviting you to just bring yourself (with some extra layers!) and simply sit.
  • Bring a friend along! Next time you meet up with a friend, why not suggest an extended or brisk wintery walk together (don’t forget your reusable coffee cups!)
  • Grow your own. What could you grow inside your home, in the garden or even at church? Who can you bless along the way?
  • Plan a Wild Time! Plan something completely wild in nature for later this year. Experience kayaking, wild camping, forest school, forest church… Make it your resolution to really enjoy what nature has to offer this year. Break out of your normal routine and join a volunteer work party or take to the water for wild swimming. Whatever you do – do something different and have fun!

(Source: A Rocha UK )

April 2023

Our new planters (curtesy of the Local Places for Nature grant) are now full of plants. There are herbs (wild majoram, sage, sorrel, comfrey and more); fruits (blackcurrant, redcurrant, strawberries) and even a hop plant!

We hope to see these grow strong and vibrant over the coming months. It will be lovely to see some colour and food for us and passers-by to cut and use.

On the trellis at the front of the church there is a bee/ insect house and if you look high up near the back corner you will see our new bird box. (There’s another around the side of the building too). These are great additions to help support local wildlife as the church is situated in a urban area with not so much greenery.

Thank you to the volunteers to who helped with the work and here’s a few photos of it all!

New planter

New bee house
New bird box
Planting

May 2023

Earth Sunday – Recently we held an Earth Sunday service to coincide with Earth Day 2023. Earth Day has been celebrated worldwide in April since 1970 as an anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement.

 It was lovely to see some new families and children present that morning.  It was a very mixed service with some new songs, facts & figures & information, and then opportunities to reflect individually on what we had heard and seen. Some comments about it were;

“..the service was very interesting, from the segment about the bees, the rivers and forests. I liked the interaction with the congregation, which kept everyone involved.”

“I learnt some interesting facts…I wasn’t aware that the UK had over 200 different species of bees. The general feel across the congregation was good and the children were really interested in everything that was said.”

“The Earth Sunday service reminded us about the urgency of our responsibility for individual action in our lives in this world- God’s amazing creation. We need to be more diligent in every part of our ordinary day to day living…”  

One section was called ‘ACT’ and this is the stage we are at with our Eco church journey. As we want to move on from our bronze award to try and get a silver award we need to take more action on various issues. Just to remind you – there are five categories within Eco Church; Worship and teaching, management of the building, management of the land, community and global engagement and finally, lifestyles.  

Some great ideas and suggestions were generated during that service and we will work to action some of these over the coming months.  Please let us know if you have any other thoughts and ideas within the categories listed above so that we can move forward on this important journey.

August 2023

Food and Eating

The Bible has a lot to say about food and eating. Think of the creation account, in which God gives ‘every green plant for food’, or the imagery of feasting in heaven, or the political challenges of food insecurity in the story of Joseph, as well as the references to food scattered throughout the Psalms and Proverbs.   Food and eating are also deeply rooted in the spiritual practices of the Christian Church, in saying grace for example, in practising hospitality and ‘table fellowship’ and taking communion. At the core of a biblical approach to food is an attitude which deeply considers the food we eat not just as a commodity, but as a good gift from God, connecting us as individuals to a global web of people, culture and ecology. 

-We need to acknowledge the generosity of God (See Genesis 1:29-30).

-We need to connect with others over food – by thanking God for those who produced and prepared the food. Eating together was a characteristic of the early followers of Jesus who ‘broke bread together in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts’ (Acts 2:46).

-Be thoughtful about food. We in the developed world have access to convenient food as a result of developments in food production and distribution. But the knowledge is lacking of where it actually comes from, what it took to grow the ingredients, the web of ecology and cultural traditions that made that food possible, the health impact on our diets, the impacts of food systems on nature and the injustices hidden in those systems. The fault stems from an inability to see beyond our plate.

BUT a biblical response understands that we eat within a context of climate and ecological breakdown and considers the impact of food on the non-human creation.

Norman Wirzba said, ‘Thoughtful eating reminds us that there is no human fellowship without a table, no table without a kitchen, no kitchen without a garden, no garden without viable ecosystems, no ecosystems without the forces productive of life, and no life without its source in God.’

(Taken from ‘A theology of food and eating’, by Hannah Eves, A Rocha UK’s Executive Assistant and Policy Officer.)

September 2023

As we continue to strive towards our silver Eco Church award, a timely campaign that we can involve ourselves in is the Make Polluters Pay being run by Christian Aid. An action day planned for Saturday 23rd September when people across the UK will come together in their local area and call on the UK Prime Minister to make polluters pay for climate-related loss and damage.  Even if we’re not keen on going to a demonstration or holding a discussion, we can make our voices heard by contacting our local MP.  You don’t need to be an expert on the subject- you just need to be motivated by the injustice of ‘Loss and Damage’.

So what is it all about?

The climate crisis is leading to more frequent and severe climate disasters, and they are happening on a scale so large that communities don’t have the resources to adapt, causing them to experience loss and damage. Loss are things which can never be replaced like loss of lives, livelihoods and culture. While damage, such as to homes, roads and schools can be repaired, but it takes resources.   

The most affected communities are in the global south, who have done the least to cause climate change. Those affected by disasters lead the response- they rebuild their homes, plant new crops and make up for lost income. They pay the bill for loss and damage.

Meanwhile, those responsible for the climate crisis like fossil fuel companies, continue to make vast profits from their polluting industry, and turn their back in the damage they’ve caused.  In 2022 the combined total profits of BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total Energies was $159.5 billion.

As fossil fuel companies post record-breaking profits, the rest of the world posts record-breaking climate disasters. So, as the campaign says ‘It’s time to make polluters pay’.

What is the solution and what can we do?

As well as doing all we can to limit our own contribution to temperature rises to minimise future loss and damage, we must ask our local politicians to put pressure on the Prime Minister to urgently make polluters pay.  World governments agreed in 2022 to create the international Loss and Damage Fund, but at the moment, it is empty. Those responsible for the damage now need to pay into the fund.  In doing so, it could allow affected communities to access money to support their recovery. 

So let’s get writing or emailing our MPs here in Swansea and elsewhere to tell Mr Sunak that we need this to happen. You can use some of the text from here or look on our Eco Church notice board where more information is placed.

Prayer – God of love, hope and justice. We give thanks that governments agreed to create a Loss and Damage fund in 2022. We pray for UK leaders.  Bless them with boldness and a heart for justice like yours. May they act humbly and reproachfully by making polluters pay for loss and damage. May you gift them with the skills and opportunities required to ensure the fund enables loss and damage affected communities to repair. And may we all lament for our polluting lifestyles that damage your creation. Amen.

October 2023

Harvest is traditionally the time of year when we think about food and provisions, and we thank God for providing the sun and the rain.  For giving wisdom and knowledge to those who grow and produce our food.  In a general sense, we have so much to be thankful for- food and drink, clothing and comfortable homes, although at the same time, we are increasingly mindful that this is not the same for everyone. As the cost-of-living crisis continues, there are many in the towns and cities across Wales who are struggling to pay for food for their families.  The rise of foodbanks and similar schemes is testament to this.

Meanwhile, extreme weather events like floods, droughts and wildfires are destroying vast areas of land across many parts of the world, and often areas where food is produced. Consequently, crops are being wiped out and people are losing their livelihoods practically overnight.  Thousands will be thrown further into poverty as a result. As we know accelerating climate change is likely to make these kinds of situations more normal and more frequent and adaptations on how and where to grow crops will have to happen.  This has a knock-on effect on us too in the West – food shortages or temporary gaps in the markets force prices to rise, and so we will all experience that.

We need to do all we can both as individuals and collectively to live more simply and thoughtfully and ‘tread lightly’ on the earth. 

February 2024

Lent Vigil for our planet

From the 14th until 24th February, Christians will be gathering in Westminster for 24/7 prayer – bearing witness to the impacts of climate breakdown and praying for our world.

This Lent Vigil is being organised by a coalition of Christian organisations – Christian Climate Action, Tearfund, Christian Aid, CAFOD, Green Christian, Operation Noah, the Salvation Army and A Rocha UK.

Together we will pray for creation, for our global neighbours and for bold climate action from the UK Government.

Prayer is powerful. It can bring transformation, even in the midst of injustice.

Lent offers us a season both to lament the failure to address the climate crisis and the hope of change as we approach the resurrection transformation of Easter.  

Whilst most of us can’t get to London, there are also ways to pray remotely!  You can download the Vigil from home resource sheet to use for yourself to spend time in prayer at home or we can do it as a church. The sheet explains why climate justice is important and why we need action from the UK government. It suggests bible readings and prayers and talking points.

 One copy has been printed and put on our Eco Church notice board in Aenon.  Please read it and let us know if you cannot download or print your own copy and we will do one for you.
Take a look at the Chistian Aid website for all the information and to download the resource: https://www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/climate-change/nfiff-lent-vigil-climate-justice.

March 2024

Checking ourselves!
We are currently actively working towards our Silver Eco Church award and we need your help. 
Changing our personal lifestyles is one of the aspects of Eco Church we are looking to address  and is essential if we’re to worship God with heart, soul and mind. 

So what does that mean? 
It’s not always easy to know where to start and what to do in terms of making changes. We’ve often  included hints and tips in this newsletter on different aspects of our everyday lives that can be altered to make them more sustainable.  
Change shouldn’t be seen as a negative thing (though we so often want to stick with what we know and  are comfortable with, which is completely understandable). 
But the way we currently ‘do’ things and the choices we make are contributing to the climate and nature  crisis. People all around the world (and getting much closer to home all the time) and the natural world itself- our seas, wildlife and animals, food production and landscapes are suffering and we are quickly  reaching a point that scientists predicted we would reach in the 2030s – with average global temperatures rising above the safe and recommended 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

What can I do? 
So, a personal lifestyle audit can help you identify where you are already doing things well and making  good choices and also where you can improve.  
The Creation Care website and tool allows individuals to focus on their home life rather than that of the  corporate decisions of the church. The categories are similar to those of the Eco Church scheme but they have a few additional ones. They are:
– Worship & prayer
– Home
– Garden
– Community & global engagement 
– Travel
– Food
– Possessions

You can take the Creation Care survey alone but churches can also register- and we will register Aenon.  As households participate, the church will see the collective impact of individual choices.  Hopefully as  many of you as possible can take the survey over the coming month or so. 
Go to www.creationcare.org.uk to do it. 
Thank you!

Since 2007,  Earth Hour has been held on a Saturday in March, and this year it falls on the 23rd March.  Usually WWF (World Wildlife Fund) encourage participants to turn off their lights and other non essential electronics for an hour in the evening, but this year, things are ramping up! 
This is because we are at the tipping point with the crises mentioned above, putting at risk our one and only home- the planet! The next seven years are crucial to all our futures and we need step up with efforts to adapt and mitigate. 
This year therefore, it is being branded as the ‘Biggest Hour for Earth’ and WWF are calling on supporters to not only turn lights off, but to also to ‘give an hour for earth’- spending 60 minutes doing something -anything -positive for our planet. 

It’s up to you what that is and when you do it, but it would be great to capture all our individual activities in some way in Aenon… suggestions welcomed! OR we could do a collective activity… again, let us know  your thoughts and suggestions. 

April 2024

Spring cleaning

Often at this time of year we think about spring cleaning and we usually mean our house or garden. But what about our finances? Yes, you did read that correctly! It’s good at any time to take stock of where we are with any investments, savings and current accounts, but have we ever thought about it from an ethical point of view?

This Lent, you are invited to join Christians around the UK who are choosing to align their money with their values by switching from a bank that funds planet-destroying fossil fuels to one that doesn’t. 

The climate crisis isn’t just happening, it’s being funded – sometimes by those of us who are most concerned about caring for God’s creation, and all because we have a bank account with HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest, Chase, Lloyds or another high street bank. 

Banks make their profits by investing in projects, owning shares in other companies, and lending money (with interest). For most banks in the UK, this involves directing a portion of their funds towards companies which are involved in fossil fuel extraction and expansion: the driving cause of climate breakdown. Between 2015 and 2021 banks have pumped over £4.4 trillion into the fossil fuel industry.

The good news is that some green banks are already paving the way. Green banking is the practice of using customer power to support a bank which does not actively contribute to climate breakdown. Plus, giving support to the social and environmental projects green banks often invest in instead.

The Big Bank Switch

(go to https://justmoney.org.uk/the-big-bank-switch/)

The Big Bank Switch campaign is encouraging people to switch their bank account to a green bank on 21 April 2024. Operation Noah, Just Love and JustMoney have partnered with Switch it Green who have made it easy, quick and safe to switch to a trusted, ethical UK bank. Their aim is that many Christians taking this action on the same day will deliver a clear message to bank executives that we have no faith in fossil fuels, pressuring these banks to stop funding climate breakdown.

You can join The Big Bank Switch by making a Fossil Free Pledge

By pledging, you commit to taking meaningful action against harmful fossil fuel-funding by switching your bank account to a green bank during the switch week in late April.

Once you’ve made the pledge, the campaign will be back in touch with you with all resources you’ll need to switch on, or the week after, Switch It Sunday – 21 April.

Why are these Christian organisations launching this campaign? They believe that God’s creation is a gift that we have a duty to care for, and that the wellbeing of creation matters to God. To quote Phoebe Edmonds, a Quaker, ‘I have a deep concern for our global and local community because of my faith, and so could no longer use a bank which didn’t also respect this, or caused intentional harm to others.’

The Big Bank Switch is a partnership between Just Love, JustMoney Movement and Operation Noah, with Switch It Green.

These recommendations should not be considered as ‘financial advice.