CCE Green Team

Stewardship begins at home

John — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:38:32 +0000

It’s the little things that make up a difference.

It is those little changes that we do individually that can make the real difference. I have been reading about people’s experience of using energy saving meters and how they are a brilliant tool to help see how much energy is saved when making those little changes. They are great at measuring the impact of doing things like only filling the kettle with water you need, switching off appliances that would be left on stand-by (or not), or changing to different kinds of bulbs.

There are several devices out there that are easy to use, some of which are below:

http://news.cnet.com/

http://www.homeenergysaving.co.uk/

http://www.maplin.co.uk/

I wonder how much of a difference we make when we see those little changes done by many of us. Maybe you have a similar device at home, or have simply made some changes and saw an impact on your bills. Why not share about it here.

we cans recycle!

John — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:35:06 +0000

Did you know that recycling just 1 aluminium can saves 3 hours T.V. time, (i.e. power used to watch your Television set for 3 hours). Yes, I know, wow, that’s because making the aluminium cans from scratch is a very energy intensive industry, from mining the ore from the earth to smelting and transporting it to the industrial site, heating and refining it in red hot furnances to eventually produce a roll of aluminium sheet used to make cans and other stuff. Folks wouldn’t it be easier if we just recylced the ones we already have? huh.

This has inspired our next CCE Green Event called ”Saving 45,000 hours of TV” (Parents you’ll be thrilled about this). It’s quite simple really, as a Community we are aiming to collect enough cans and aluminium waste to save 45,000 hours of the energy used to power your T.V. set (still doesn’t mean that’s it’s not okay to switch the T.V. off in favour of reading a book, hey but that’s a whole different show), I’ll leave it up to you to work out how many cans/aluminuim waste weight that is.

So what we do is at home during the week is instead of throwing away our aluminium cans and waste, you put in a big box labelled “The Saving 45,000 hours of TV Event” and each Sunday you bring the contents of your box to the Kings Hall and hand it over to someone on the Green Team.

The Green Team will then collate and manage the recycling.

We are looking for some creative groups, perhaps those who like craft and arts, to partner with, who will create a nice colorful picture of a thermoter, whose adjustable mecury rising will help the Community keep track of how well we are doing towards the 45,000 hours goal and hopefully celebrate when we reach 45,000 hours!

We want everyone from all ages accross the Community Spectrum to be involved. God had gifted us with such a beautiful Planet to call home, we should appreciate, respect and take care of it, not for just us, but for us to come.

Carbon Fasting

John — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:53:55 +0000

Whether you are hillwalking, sharing in your cells, helping out with Alpha, or praying walking, there is always a chance to ponder on God’s wonderful creation. And if you do maybe thoughts about simplicity, opportunity, stewardship, jutice, poverty pass through your mind.

I like this initiative from Tear Fund because it means doing simple things each day that will make you think a little, and perhaps even do some of that pondering. They suggest things like removing a lightbulb for a day (OK, not at the top of the stairs!), or consider not buying bottled water, and praying for specific things such as countries round the world making commitments to work on tackling climate change.

Their ‘Daily Actions’ sheet is available here. Have a look and see if you can carbon fast in some way this lent. We would love to hear what you are doing, so come back and leave a comment.

PS If you are looking for a way to explore what the Bible has to say about the environment, click on God’s Green World for a fantastic resource.

Integration - community and climate change

John — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:25:30 +0000

An Invitation

I went to an Eco-Congregation conference last Saturday up in the beautiful town of Dunblane, (which has a wonderfully old cathedral). In my time there I found out that Eco-congregation see community and climate change as integrated, and in fact as much as we tried, they would not concede that they are in fact two distinct things! They have this notion that in order to deal with climate change effectively there has to be a strong element of community involvement.

So, being determined to find out for myself, I am exploring this notion that they are indeed inseparable, and I have already taken some practical steps in getting involved in our local community. I find myself involved in a group here in Newington, called Edinburgh South Energy Efficiency (ESEE). This is a group of very enthusiastic individuals that came together after an inspirational meeting about the Climate Challenge Fund hosted by the Green Party last November.

We intend to come alongside people in the tenement block in Hope Part Terrace with a view to engage them in how they can reduce their carbon footprint. An Expression of Interest has been posted to the Climate Challenge Fund for funding for this project and so the wheels are really in motion.

For me this is exciting because here is an opportunity to get out there and engage with people about an issue that is central to our Christian faith and is already considered important by so many. But I am the only Christian in the group, and I cannot do this alone!

So I would like to invite you to explore this notion with me. I would love to hear what you think and if you want to get involved in the ESEE then let me know.

John

Recycling shoes and computer parts

Renata — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:39:00 +0000

Hi,

I have recntly found useful links which help with recycling old runing shoes (they should be changed every 3-6 months if you use them regularly) and also with old computer parts.

Go to www.recycledrunners.com and www.passitoncomputers.co.uk to check it out!

Renata

Invitation to Talk

John — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:01:50 +0000

Each of us in the Green Team bring with us different passions and I hope that over time as we each put up posts, and you engage with us, that you will come to know us and our passions.

So to get things going I would like to share a little about where I am coming from. I believe that dealing with climate change in a proactive way and loving your neighbour are intricately linked; we cannot do the former successfully without the latter being firmly based in our hearts. It is better to come from a place of love than from fear, and I think that there is too much fear behind climate change. I would prefer to see people mobilised into action from a place of love, that is seen is how we love our neighbours, whether they be in our local community or half way round the world. And when it comes to love we know of an awesome God who is not only about love, but is love. When we turn to Him for answers and directions and He recognises the love in our hearts, well, I am excited to hear about what He is saying to you about climate change.