Eco-Congregation
Scotland

The next meeting of the Dumfries and Galloway Eco-Congregation network will take place on Wednesday 8th September, 7.30pm at St George’s Church in Dumfries (see http://tinyurl.com/32emy39 for location map). The speaker for the evening will be Jonathan Kneeshaw, Project Officer Langholm Initiative, Community Powerdown. He will speak about “Saving Our 5% (CO2)” and will give some ideas about ways in which both churches and individual householders can reduce their carbon footprints. The “5%” comes from the target set by the Church of Scotland for all their churches and it is also one that eco-congregations are encouraged to adopt, in line with the Scottish Government’s targets of 42% by 2020.

This is just the second meeting of the new network – everyone is welcome, so please advertise this meeting to your congregation. Network meetings are open to all and cover a wide range of activity, including speakers and visits to give and share ideas, joint events and providing feedback on Eco-Congregation Scotland developments. Most important of all is getting together with other like-minded folk to encourage and learn from each other.

Welcome to Fernhill and Cathkin Parish Church, 255th eco-congregation!

In February 2010 Eco-Congregation Scotland became a charitable company. This is a big step forward and puts the movement on a secure legal footing for the first time.

It also creates new opportunities and challenges. Can you help by volunteering?

Some members of the former steering group have volunteered to become founding directors and form now the Board of Eco-Congregation Scotland. The first AGM in 2011 must appoint a new Board of directors.

• Directors: We need up to 12 directors to manage the company, so more representatives from eco-congregations would be very welcome to join the Board.

• Treasurer: We need a volunteer with relevant skills and experience to join the Board with responsibility for overseeing our finances.

• Fundraiser: We need a volunteer to lead and support fundraising from all possible sources.

If you would like to know more about how you can help in any of these volunteer jobs please contact us!

The Eco-Congregation Scotland Summer/ Autumn 2010 newsletter is out now.

You can download your copy here (pdf, 3MB)!

As many of you will know, we are in the process of establishing a new network in Fife. At an initial meeting a strong feeling was expressed that churches in the area simply wanted to know more about Eco-Congregation and how they could take action to care better for creation on a whole range of environmental issues. It was therefore decided to hold an event to help explain and involve churches and the wider community. A small group of volunteers from the original meeting nobly volunteered to organise the event and have been working hard ever since!

Now it is over to you! Fife Eco-Congregation Network’s ECO FAIR is taking place on Saturday 18th September, 10 – 12 in the Old Parish Centre, Cupar. We need all the help you can give us to make the day a success. You can download a flier here (doc, 59kb) which can be printed out and displayed in churches and halls, on noticeboards and in shops. We also prepared an article (doc, 47kb) to further highlight the Eco Fair and for you to use, if possible, in your church newsletter, magazine or intimations.

We hope you have all got the date in your diaries, it promises to be a fun and informative day. Please come and support it - and bring your friends and family!

Please note that there has been a venue change for the next Eco-Congregation Perth & Kinross network meeting. It will now take place in the Upper Room, North Church, Perth on Tuesday 7th Sept at 7.30pm.

Agenda items will include discussion of what the aims are for the next year or so; also, as part of the Perth 800 celebrations, there are a number of fruit trees available to plant in community-accessible land in the Perth area. Please email hello@appletreeman.co.uk for further information about this if you can't attend the meeting.

For further questions about the meeting itself, please contact Morag Green at morag_green@yahoo.co.uk.

The next meeting of the West Lothian and Falkirk network will take place on Tuesday 14 September, 7.30pm at St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Linlithgow.

Welcome to Monifieth Parish Church, who registered as 254th eco-congregation!
 
 
 

Creation Time 2010 will be between 1 September and 4 October, to inspire the protection of God's creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles. The theme this year is Creation Flourishing - A time for Celebration and Care, linking into the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.
CTBI (Churches Together in Britain and Irland) are providing an excellent set of resources on their website: www.ctbi.org.uk/creationtime. Resources for Creation Time 2010 include suggestions to help churches, groups and individuals to focus on a creation theme at this time of the year, either on one occasion or over the 5 weeks, sermon notes based on the Lectionary readings for the 5 Sundays, prayers and resources for children's groups and schools. The material is all available as free downloads.

Please help to advertise Creation Time 2010 by downloading the poster here (pdf, 584kb) and displaying it in your church.
 
 
 
 

Welcome to Holy Trinity Church Elgin, 253rd eco-congregation!

After the initial Fife network meeting in May, the subgroup who volunteered to look at putting together an event to promote Eco-Congregation in the area have agreed to hold an “Eco Fair” on Saturday 18th September 2010 in the Old Parish Centre, Cupar.

The Eco Fair will feature stalls relevant to the theme (some still tbc!) including:

* Eco-Congregation Scotland – how to get involved and active!
* Changeworks - find out how to save your 5% (CO2) at church and at home plus information from local, community based carbon saving projects
* Eco Schools – the children will show us the way!
* Fair Trade – products to view and buy and advice about setting up your own FT stall. We also hope to have FT teas and coffees available throughout the morning. *Please let us know if you might be available to help out with this*
* Fife Council Environmental Services – reduce reuse recycle, what goes in which bin and where does it all go?
* Cupar In Bloom – gardening for wildlife
* A Rocha Scotland – an international Christian environmental organisation with plenty of books and resources to help make the link between our Christian faith and environmental action.

The subgroup agreed to undertake a big publicity campaign – we would like to invite congregations from across Fife to come and join us and find out more about caring for God’s creation! The event is open to all from church and community and we will be promoting it through the Eco-congregation Scotland database, denominational circulation and articles in the local press. I will be producing a suggested magazine article for September publications or for inclusion with intimations / church notices etc., which will be sent to you all by the beginning of August.

In the meantime, PLEASE put the date in your diary and help us publicise the event by inviting as many people as you can!

Welcome to Glenrothes St Ninian's Church, who registered as 252 eco-congregation!

Welcome to St Andrew's Roman Catholic Church Dumfries, who registered as 251 eco-congregation!

Welcome to Mearns Coastal Parish Church, who registered as 250 eco-congregation!

Climate change has been described as one of the most serious moral dilemmas of our times. Scotland responded to this challenge by passing the most ambitious climate legislation in the world, but is politics enough to tackle the scale and depth of the problem? Exploring both the psychological causes of climate change and its unjust effects - wherein those who have contributed least to the problem are impacted most severely - this event examines whether we should look to politicians, or to ourselves, to respond to the greatest challenge facing humankind. Join Kathy Galloway from Christian Aid as she discusses these issues with Alastair McIntosh, writer and activist, and Michael Northcott from the University of Edinburgh.

Christian Aid is hosting this event as part of the Festival of Politics on Thursday 19 August at 11am at the Scottish Parliament. The event is free, but ticketed. To reserve tickets, which will incur a booking fee, contact The Hub on 0131 473 2000.

St Andrew's Church Arbroath registered as 249th eco-congregation. Welcome!

The Edinburgh network met on Midsummer evening in the Royal Botanic Garden.

They heard from Zeshan Akhter, Scottish Natural Heritage, about ways to promote biodiversity, both as individuals and congregations.

Later, Heather McHaffie, Network Co-ordinator and Scottish Plants Officer at the Botanic Garden, guided them through parts of the Garden.

A beautiful evening in a beautiful space - hopefully to be repeated next year!

Welcome to Calderbank Parish Church of Scotland, who registered as 248th eco-congregation!