In September 2019, in the light of the climate and loss of biodiversity crises, Christ Church launched an “Eco -Group”, with the aim of examining our own responsibilities in this area. By working towards the A Rocha Eco-Church awards, we are looking at all aspects of church life, from the way we use our buildings and grounds to the worship and teaching and our individual lifestyles. Through regular input into Church meeting and items in our monthly magazine, Comment, these issues are kept in the foreground of our thinking. The most recent four articles in Comment can be found below.
JUNE 2023 - We have now been awarded the A Rocha Bronze Award - Certificate here
Item from May 2026
Greener finances
Maybe it is something about being British, but we tend to be very reticent about talking about money. But how we save, invest and spend our money – both as a church and as individuals - is part of our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation.
So I was happy to attend an online training session recently given to a meeting of BUEN (the Baptist Union Environmental Network) by the JustMoney Movement. “We have” they say, “a vision of a world where money is used to shape a fairer, greener future”, and they aim to help Christians explore ethical issues surrounding their finances.
Do we actually know how our banks are using our money? We probably should.
In the 10 years since the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, the world’s top 60 private-sector banks poured $7.9 trillion into the fossil fuel industry as well as financing companies involved in deforestation and plastic pollution that are damaging nature and contributing to the climate crisis – but are we, their customers, aware of that? JustMoney offer resources which give us the opportunity to compare the high street banks with which, no doubt, many of us bank, in terms of their ethical and environmental credentials. (Bank.Green, for example, easily found online, gives helpful rankings.) Do explore the JustMoney Movement website for more information.
And then there is the question of how we spend our money. Greener purchasing is not just about what we buy, but how much we buy, and includes a commitment to reduce waste. Do we all know the mantra by now? Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, Repair, Recycle. And when we do need to buy something, do we think about the potential environmental or human cost of its production or how long it is likely to last? This is undoubtedly difficult in the reality of our retail environment, where obsolescence is sometimes built into household appliances or tech products and finding the lowest price is often (understandably for many) the most important thing to consumers. I noticed this week a certain high street store in Ipswich selling a good, cotton T-shirt for a mere £3. This cannot possibly reflect the true cost of the production of this item – materials, labour, transport, environmental effect - but certainly makes it a very appealing buy. Indeed, one could be tempted to buy two! Walter Brueggemann, theologian, said, “Money and possessions belong to God and are held in trust by human persons in community. Money and possessions must be managed in the practice of justice, that is, for the good of the entire community.”
Eco-Tip for May: If you can afford to leave some of your lawn unmown for the next few months, it will be of great benefit to many invertebrates including beetles, worms, caterpillars, moths, butterflies and bees – and the birds who might feed on them.
Item from April 2026
Can the country afford the cost of transitioning to a low carbon economy?
A popular argument against measures to combat climate change – replacing our dependence on fossil fuels with renewables, for example – is that the costs are just too great and would adversely affect our economy. But a report published by the Climate Change Committee on 11th March, refutes this argument, concluding that achieving Net Zero is a more cost-effective path for the UK economy than continued reliance on fossil fuels.
So what is the Climate Change Committee? It is an independent, statutory body, established under the Climate Change Act 2008, to provide advice to the government on reducing emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Nigel Topping, Chair of the Climate Change Committee, said “There has been a lot of public interest in the cost of transitioning to a low carbon economy. Going through an economic transition is exciting, but a sense of uncertainty about the future is completely reasonable. As such, it’s important that decision makers and commentators are using accurate information to inform debates. “
In all scenarios tested by the CCC, achieving Net Zero was found to be more advantageous for the UK economy than continued dependence on fossil fuels, bringing not only a net economic benefit to society but also greater health and well-being. Among its key findings are that, for every pound spent on progress to Net Zero, the benefits outweigh this cost by between 2.2 and 4.1 times. There is significant cost saving through avoiding the damage from severe, weather-related events; this saving alone is estimated at between £40 billion and £130 billion in 2050.
Current world events are also emphasising the dangers from being reliant on foreign fossil fuels. The CCC found that the cost of achieving Net Zero by 2050 is actually less than the total additional cost of a single fossil fuel price spike of the magnitude of that in 2022, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We do need clean, reliable, domestic energy.
So the question is not so much can we afford the transition to green energy but can we afford not to?
Item from February 2026
As Storm Goretti barely affected us here in Suffolk, it is easy to forget that, in Cornwall in particular, there is still much to do to clear up the aftermath. On St Michael’s Mount, a place many of us will have visited, 80% of trees were uprooted and similar damage was caused throughout the county. It is well established that severe weather events such as this are to be expected in our warming climate and sadly the damage they cause further depletes the environment. A significant loss of trees, for example, results in loss of habitat and therefore biodiversity as well as the capacity of those trees to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The last three years were the world's warmest ever recorded, bringing the planet closer to breaching international climate targets. The global average temperature in 2025 was more than 1.4C above "pre-industrial" levels of the late 1800s. 1.4C may not sound much but this is an average and therefore masks the greater extremes of temperature that many places are experiencing.
Meanwhile, in the face of the geo-political turmoil in the world at present, climate matters seem to have slipped down the agendas of world leaders. However, this definitely does not mean that we should lose heart - thankfully, there are many examples of progress, innovation and real stories of people restoring our planet.
Here are just a few good-news examples. Green sea turtles have officially been reclassified from “endangered” to “least concern” thanks to decades of marine conservation. This year, for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal. A new study from the University of Surrey named solar energy the cheapest source of power, outranking coal and gas as well as other renewables. Aerial photos are revealing a huge and rapid spread of wind and solar projects in China. On a smaller scale, many residents in central Athens are looking after beehives on the rooftops of their apartment buildings and, more locally, at the Martlesham Wilds Nature Reserve the Suffolk Wildlife Trust are working successfully to restore habitats to allow nature to recover and re-establish.
Yes, we need commitment and action by the big and powerful, but many small, local actions can also produce very meaningful change. We can all be a part of that.
Eco-Tip for February
Can you manage a whole month without using cling film? It is produced, using vast amounts of energy, from petroleum and natural gas and does not break down after use, creating dangerous micro-plastics. Cover food instead with a plate or clean tea-towel or store in an air-tight Tupperware type box. (Clingfilm can be useful in a medical emergency for burns and scalds so it is handy to have some nearby but put it to the back of the cupboard!)
Item from December 2025/January 2026
How green is your Christmas?
This month’s article consists entirely of some “eco-tips” for December and Christmas. Some are more realistic than others, maybe some will have no relevance to you at all, but perhaps there is something here that is helpful and achievable or at least makes us think!
- Turn off your Christmas lights when you're not in/overnight.
- Go green with your gift wrapping. In the UK we use 108 million rolls of wrapping paper at Christmas. Can you re-use any or replace with reusable fabric?
- Ditch the traditional Sellotape, which is plastic. Sellotape now produce Sellotape Zero, which is plastic free and biodegradable or use sticky brown paper tape.
- Make gift tags from the previous year’s Christmas cards.
- Avoid paper and cards that are shiny or have glitter on as these cannot be recycled.
- Most of us have decorations which we enjoy bringing out year after year and it is good to re-use decorations for as long as we can. But if you want something new, try not to buy plastic but use natural things such as greenery, pinecones or dried orange slices.
- A scary amount of food waste is created at Christmas, equivalent to 4.2 million plates of Christmas dinner going straight into the bin! Cut food waste by planning ahead and being realistic about what you need. If you have leftovers, most can be frozen.
- Shop locally whenever you can.
- Try to avoid buying perishable food or flowers that have been flown from far away. (Difficult when supermarket labels do not give us this information!)
- Most Christmas crackers are not recyclable and the toys inside are often made of plastic that is thrown away very quickly. (Do we really need them?)
And have a very happy Christmas and New Year!