Silver eco-award presentation – Feb 2018

Silver eco-award presentation – Feb 2018

On Feb 18th, 2018, we were privileged to have a visit from Mary Sweetland, chair of Eco-congregation Scotland, who had come to present our silver eco-award plaque.  The award was made back in September, when we were the first congregation is Scotland to achieve that award.

Our award commended the congregation for:

❖ the clarity of your planning and monitoring of your action plan;
❖ your eco-policy, which we may use as an example for other congregations to consider;
❖ your active involvement in aspects of global living, especially the toilet-twinning;
❖ the active involvement of members of your congregation in the ECS local network and national gathering;
❖ the overall impression of an imaginative and creative church, fully committed to environmental issues.

and gave us the following recommendations for our ongoing “care for creation”, perhaps working towards a gold award:

1. Work towards developing a longer-term sustainable action plan over a number of years, and consider expanding the number of individuals involved in your core group.
2. Consider an event to engage all your church leadership team in discussion of environmental issues.
3. Continue to challenge and support individual members to take action to reduce their environmental impact where possible, and try to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns.
4. Consider carrying out a survey of attitudes, both within and outwith the congregation to discover (among other things) whether your work is having an impact in the community.
5. Consider taking the lead in some community-based environmental action.
6. Continue to explore further practical actions to reduce the environmental footprint of the church buildings.