St Mary the Virgin held its first Eco Church service where we explored what it means to be an Eco Church on Sunday November 21st, 2021. The anniversary of that first service was marked with a special service on 20 November 2022 at 4.00 pm. Wenden church received its ‘Eco church’ bronze award in June 2022. Wenden church achieved the silver award in late May 2023 thanks to the support of its congregation and EcoWenden.
These are ideas we came up with when we first started to think about becoming an Eco church:
The Church commits to:1set up group to work towards an Ecochurch award
2 include environment issues in our prayers every week/month
3 offer regular Climate Sunday services
4 pray for a specific overseas environmental project
5 encourage more LED lighting in the church and village hall
6 encourage energy efficiency in the village hall and church – “turn it off” signs
7 participate in regular sustainability initiatives eg WWF Earth hour and/ or Carbon Fast for Lent
8 participate in a toilet twinning scheme for both the village hall and church loos and taps
9 keeps congregation informed about impact of climate breakdown on Christian communities overseas
10 encourage everyone to reduce energy use and waste, use food that is LOAF, buy ethically
What we could do as a community – yellow items are ones to vote on ..
Wind turbine installed
Rain water butts
Cycle Racks at the village hall
Encouragement of wildlife: Plant Insect and bee friendly plants and flowers, Plant a meadow, Piles of wood/logs to encourage insects and bugs, Hedgehog boxes, Non-mowed areas of the churchyard, Plant Native trees – fruit and nut trees.
Community support of the RSPB Bird Survey in January each year in the churchyard – this will hopefully show an increase in birdlife in response to green projects
Community Wildlife survey with Essex Wild life trust – plants, trees, bug, animals
- Environment Awareness Event – “green fair”
- Local projects
- Local retailers
- Current ideas
- How, what and where to recycle
- Tree/hedge/shrub planting in the village
- Clean up of Wenden Brook / Stream/ other clean up projects
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- Introduce some native fish/crustations etc (maybe something Patrick Smith can advise on)
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- Village car pool
What we as individuals or households can do :
1 Audit our current carbon footprint- try https://footprint.wwf.org.uk
2 Change what/ how we eat – buy LOAF (locally grown, organic, animal-friendly, Fairtrade)
eat more plants, no red meat
cut down/ avoid single- use plastic
3 Change how we travel – electric car, more public transport, walking, two wheels not four
4 Change our energy use – change to a green supplier, add home insulation, install a heat pump, turn thermostat down
5 Recycle and reuse …everything
6 Purchase ethically and switch to a green pension
7 Reduce your flood risk and heat risk– replace hard surfaces with grass and plants, plant trees, shrubs, grow a mini-meadow, go peat free, ditch the lawnmower, compost your waste
8 Use less water – in kitchen, bathroom, garden
9 Campaign – write to your MP to ask them to prioritise climate issues and wildlife, join a local or national group
10 Experiment with a Carbon fast – see http://www.ecofaithrecovery.org/carbonfast/
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