The awards in detail
The Church Times Green Church Award 2007
This Award will be given to:
The winner of one of the eight category awards (below). When the category awards have been decided, the judges will choose the project that they think is the most outstanding. It won’t necessarily be the biggest, but it will be something which, if copied by other churches, might make a significant contribution to environmental sustainability. It is likely, therefore, to be innovative and inspiring.
Prize
An environmental make-over of a building, possibly a vicarage or manse, or a church hall, in order to cut its carbon footprint significantly, to the value of £3000.
About us:
The Church Times is the leading independent Christian weekly in the UK. It was founded in 1863, and covers Anglican affairs and more general Christian news. In recent years it has carried increasing coverage of environmental and justice issues — as well as some great cartoons. For a sample copy, email subs@churchtimes.co.uk
|
 |
The Conservation Foundation
This Award will be given to:
Churches which have developed projects which demonstrate their concern for environmental issues through working with the local community. The award is intended to celebrate ideas which have resulted in action.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
Developing, engaging in and promoting action, e.g.:
- using the church as a centre for environmental action and awareness
- an information point and/or storage facility for environmental projects
- community energy saving
- promoting grants for home insulation
- setting up a community composting
- recycling scheme using the church or its grounds to provide facilities
- transport sharing
- producing a website or email newsletter
- using the church or its property to provide community facilities
- working with other agencies
- working with other faiths
- environmental projects with a social justice dimension (e.g. increasing access to better transport, helping people on low incomes to fit insulation, giving people on low incomes access to local food, setting up cookery classes or lunch clubs sourcing locally)
The judges are looking for:
- projects that genuinely involve the church working with others within its locality
- ideas which others could replicate in their area.
Prize
£500 cash to enhance a church project
About us:
The Conservation Foundation’s Parish Pump Programme aims to provide
positive environmental news and information to individuals active in their
communities. The programme is run in association with the Archbishops’ Council
of the Church of England, but membership is open for anyone of any faith
or none.
www.conservationfoundation.co.uk
|
|
A Rocha UK
This Award will be given to:
- a church project that is about practical care for creation, with benefits for wildlife and their habitats.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- a project based around church-owned space e.g. a churchyard or glebe land
- a project with a local school e.g. school playground
- a project taking responsibility for an area of public space (e.g. a local park)
- a project using privately-owned area (e.g. a garden)
The judges are looking for:
- significant church and/or community involvement
- progress in several
of the following areas:
- Consultation with wildlife organisations/local authorities
- Clear advance planning as to biodiversity improvement and management
- An ongoing management plan, ideally related to local sustainability targets
- Recording of wildlife & plants before, during and after works undertaken
- Involvement of children and young people
- Linking creation-care and worship (e.g. open air services conducted in a ‘wildlife area’)
- congregational involvement (in planning, practical work and use of the area)
- Community involvement (in planning, practical work and use of the area)
Prize
£500 cash.
Garden / wildlife tokens from e.g. C. J. Wildbird Foods, or an original wildlife painting by a professional wildlife artist.
About us
A Rocha UK is about caring for God’s world together, and, along with its international partners runs practical community-based wildlife conservation projects in many countries. In the UK, A Rocha also works with many churches, Bible colleges, and individuals to help inspire and resource care for God’s creation.
|
|
Christian Ecology Link and Operation Noah
This Award will be given to:
- Churches involved in active campaigning on issues which relate to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign could be aimed at their own church, at the local Churches Together, or at the wider local community.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- Campaigning on any issue related to cutting greenhouse gas emissions e.g.
holding workshops to educate people about climate change (showing films, having speakers etc) - lobbying on climate change (locally, regionally, nationally, internationally)
- getting actively involved in local politics e.g. in local council carbon reduction policy making, or being involved with the Local Strategic Partnership
- campaigning for better recycling facilities
- campaigning against airport expansion
- working with energy efficiency advice centres to give people access to grants for insulation and information on energy reduction measures
- actively encouraging people to buy local through provision of information
- encouraging people to change to a green electricity supplier
- campaigning for generation of renewable energy
- campaigning for better public transport
- active promotion of public transport/transport sharing in the community.
The judges are looking for:
- a description of the campaigning work to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. You might give us details such as
- to whom the campaign was aimed
- what changes you hoped to see as a result of the campaign
- how you went about promoting the campaign
- how many people in the church were involved
- whether you worked with any outside agency
- how the campaign was received (e.g. how many people do you think you reached? Did the campaign attract local media interest?)
- whether there is there any evidence that the campaign was effective.
- evidence of the campaign (e.g. copies of any campaign materials, photographs of any activities, copies of any media coverage)
- any results the campaign achieved (e.g. local policies change, issues raised in local media, uptake of energy efficiency measures, numbers of signatures for a petition, any take up of changing to green electricity suppliers).
- people working together, creativity, and impact
- the campaigning to be peaceful and legal.
Prize
£500 cash.
‘Re-Envisioning’: a day’s retreat in the nearest ‘wilderness’ area — led by experienced Christian environmental campaigner Malcolm Carroll.
About us:
Christian Ecology Link (CEL) is an inter-denominational UK Christian
organisation for people concerned about the environment. Operation Noah
is the churches climate change campaign. It is a project of Christian Ecology
Link and the Environmental Issues Network of Churches
Together in Britain and Ireland.
www.christian-ecology.org.uk
www.christian-ecology.org.uk/noah
|
|
Eco-congregation
This Award will be given to:
Churches who show how the commitment to creation care can be expressed creatively in the context of worship and teaching.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- using innovative and creative ideas in worship to bring needs of creation before God
- writing new liturgies, prayers, meditations, hymns/songs
- innovative use of existing liturgies/frameworks for worship
- using the tradition of your church to address this issue (e.g. using existing festivals/times of year/liturgies)
- using the freedom of your worship context to address this issue (perhaps creating a rhythm of life/patterns of worship around the seasons)
- using natural materials in worship or worshipping outside of the church building
- holding special services/meetings/events
- weaving creation into all/many services (or meetings or events)
- writing materials to enable learning in the context of worship e.g. short courses written by the church to address environmental issues used in small groups.
The judges are looking for some of the following:
- details of how the worship has changed to include creation care
- material which enables people to change the way they live/their lifestyles through engagement in worship;
- any evidence that the worship has changed attitudes/behaviours of those participating
- how many people were involved in the process of developing the worship
- any all age worship ideas
- what led your church to move in this direction
- any photos or comments from church members/those attending.
Please be as full as possible in your description of the things with which your church has been involved so that the judges can get a good sense of your work in this area.
Prize:
£500 cash
Work with winning church on further development of their ministry in bringing creation care into the heart of worship. This will be developed with the winning church to suit their particular needs, but may include provision of published resources, publication of new material in an anthology, visit from liturgist/musician, etc.
About us:
Eco-congregation provides a framework to enable churches to weave creation
care into every aspect of church life. Beginning with a church check-up
(a simple audit), providing resources for an action plan, and then
celebrating achievement with an Eco-congregation Award, Eco-congregation
helps churches
to begin the journey of environmental action.
www.ecocongregation.org
|
|
 |
 |
|
Tearfund
and A Rocha “Living Lightly 24:1”
This Award will be given to:
A church providing a simple and motivating way for families and individuals within the congregation to discover how they can help poor people and the planet, by changing their lifestyle, using less energy and reducing their contribution to climate change.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- Providing information about changes that individuals and households can make in response to climate change - eg writing articles in church publications to stimulate action, making publications available to the congregation through a ‘green library'
- Providing a flexible framework to all kinds of people to make the changes - eg congregational questionnaires or challenges set to home groups
- Helping people to work together to
achieve lifestyle changes - eg by giving people a range of possible
actions to take:
- easy steps: using energy-efficient light bulbs / not overfilling kettle / re-using plastic bags / switching off appliances
- intermediate steps: regularly walking/cycling instead of using the car / having a car band A-B / having a condensing boiler / cavity-wall insulation
- more difficult steps: not having a car / switching to green electricity provider / installing solar panel…
- making it easy for people to change particular actions - eg providing recycling at church which helps people recycle items not covered by doorstep recycling, giving away low energy light bulbs, getting rid of plastic cups and using china or paper instead.
The judges are looking for:
- Innovative ideas as to how church members have been encouraged to make such changes
- evidence that individuals/households have made changes
- church mobilisation on a larger scale – eg. how many individuals/households were involved.
Prize
£500 cash
A further prize will be shaped to suit the particular needs of the church, but will include helping the church make the next step in encouraging lifestyle changes, or taking the message out to the local community.
About us
Tearfund is one of the UK’s leading relief and development charities – a movement of evangelical Christians standing with people in poverty, working with local partners in 70 countries.
We believe that climate change hits poor communities hardest and that
together we can obey God’s message and love our neighbour. Visit
www.tearfund.org/derek to find more fun and simple ideas of how you can
encourage your church members to use less energy… for the sake of
the world’s poorest people.
www.tearfund.org
“Living Lightly 24:1” is a lifestyle commitment from A Rocha, based on Psalm 24.1 “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it”. It is resourced by an interactive website:
www.arocha.org.uk
www.livinglightly24-1.org.uk
|
|
Shrinking
the Footprint (The Archbishops’ Council, Church of England)
Marches
Energy Agency
This Award will be given to:
- Churches which have undertaken action to save energy in the church owned buildings and to encourage others to follow their lead.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- changing lighting systems for low energy ones
- monitoring energy usage with the aim of reducing it
- making changes to heating systems to make them more flexible and responsive to need
- installing insulation in church buildings and halls
- dealing with drafts
- installing glazing solutions e.g. secondary or double glazing, or curtains and blinds
- reducing floodlighting to special occasions
- investing in renewable energy projects
- finding most appropriate options for a hard to heat (i.e. solid, older) building
The judges are looking for:
- examples which have proven success e.g. reduced energy consumption and can be replicated by others
- details of equipment and processes which has led to the reduction in energy use
- evidence of the effectiveness of the measures taken
- evidence of the involvement of the congregation in the management of their church building, and efforts to communicate achievements
Prize
£500 cash
Publicity of the success of your actions in order to encourage others to do likewise; consultancy from Marches Energy Agency on advice as to further steps to take in reducing energy consumption.
About us:
Shrinking the Footprint is the Church of England’s campaign to address the issue of climate change. This began with Measuring our Footprint a national audit of parish energy use. www.shrinkingthefootprnt.cofe.anglican.org
Marches Energy Agency is a leading organisation in the search for a sustainable
energy future with a portfolio of innovative and highly successful projects.
Its aim is to explore the alternatives and so to guide the way.
www.mea.org.uk
|
|
Christian Aid
This Award will be given to:
A church that successfully demonstrates the link between poverty in developing countries and the environment and then takes action to cut the carbon.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- running workshops to inform/educate about the global impact of climate change, particularly the effect on the poorest
- churches using resources creatively to bring the global picture home to church and community
- Churches and groups that see the international picture: who recognise the damage that we in the rich countries are doing to the environment and that it is hitting the poorest people in the poorest countries hardest.
The judges are looking for:
A church project or series of activities that:
- focuses on the impact of climate change on the poorest people globally
- makes the links between our actions/lifestyle in the rich parts of the world, and the impact on the rest of the world
- takes regular campaign actions with a global dimension with Christian Aid or another development agency, making the links between trade justice, debt reduction and environment
- seeks to educate both the church community and the local community about these links
- Prays for people in developing counties who are working to combat the effects of climate change
Prize :
£500 cash.
A campaign action kit containing:
50 copies of ‘I Count’s ‘Step-by-Step Guide to Climate
Bliss’ for your congregation
1 Christian Aid Campaign Action pack and related material
A Christian Aid Campaign banner specially made for your church
A copy of ‘An Inconvenient truth’ on DVD
and a speaker from Christian Aid to speak about the campaign at your Sunday
service
About us:
Christian Aid is an agency of the churches in the Britain and Ireland. We work wherever the need is greatest – irrespective of religion or race. Visit us at www.christianaid.org.uk
|
|
Christian Aid
This Award will be given to:
A group of young people (aged under 25yrs) in a church that successfully demonstrates the link between poverty in developing countries and the environment and then takes action to cut the carbon.
Examples of what churches might have been doing:
- Young people discovering the international picture through their activities in church: finding out about the damage that we in the rich countries are doing to the environment and discovering that it is hitting the poorest people in the poorest countries hardest.
- Projects or one off events where the aim has been to educate, communicate and bring about a reduction in the carbon emissions of this country either directly through their own actions, the actions of their group or by encouraging people to lobby business and politicians with Christian Aid or similar organisation.
The judges are looking for:
- Young peoples projects that
- are creative in communicating the devastating consequences of climate change
- challenge others to take actions: campaign and lifestyle actions with Christian Aid or a similar organisation
- ask businesses, government and the public sectors to reduce carbon emissions
- has a lasting impact on the people in their community
A project can be a one-off event, a series of workshops, a piece of art – let your minds run free and make an impact.
Prize
£500 cash.
10 weekend tickets to Greenbelt 2008
About us
Christian Aid is an agency of the churches in Britain and Ireland. We work wherever the need is greatest – irrespective of religion or race. Visit us at www.christianaid.org.uk