The Parish Support Team, recently celebrated their Eco Church Silver Award for Diocesan House over tea and cake together at their office in Easton.
It was an opportunity to reflect on the actions taken so far and to look to how they can continue to “strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
In order to reach the silver standard, many aspects of the grounds around Diocesan House, as well as the building itself had to be considered. A comprehensive survey and plan of the land showed a diversity of plants and wildlife already present (a visit in the next few weeks will evidence the wonderful array of spring bulbs from snowdrops, to aconites and eventually bluebells that carpet the small woodland next to the driveway). However, there is room for improvement and members of the staff team will be looking at some of the recommendations that the staff them themselves may be able to work on together to improve biodiversity.
Some simple actions have had a significant difference: fitting timers to the two wall-mounted water boilers has saved considerable amounts of electricity being wasted overnight. A full decarbonisation plan for Diocesan house is under development which will investigate all aspects of energy reduction with a short term focus on completing the LED lighting upgrade and improving the heating controls.
Carbon Literacy training is planned for all staff in the coming year to help all to be aware of the necessity to lesson our carbon footprint and ways in which to do this both in our working and personally.
Tim Sweeting, Diocesan Secretary, said: “Our purpose as a team is to support the local mission and ministry of the Church of England, and these environmental improvements are part of our wider efforts to assist our churches, schools and chaplaincies to lead in this area for the good of everyone in our local communities.”
Barbara Bryant, Diocesan Environment Officer, said: “This is an encouraging step on our way to enabling the Parish Support Team, in partnership with many across our parishes, to achieve Eco Diocese Silver and place the fifth mark of mission at the heart of our vision to be transformed by Christ, prayerfully, pastorally and prophetically.”
Have you started your Eco Church journey yet? Register as an Eco Church or find out more at: https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/
Sign-up for our Eco Newsletter here
Join the conversation on our Facebook group here
Watch the message from Bishop Graham here
For any further help, contact barbara.bryant@dioceseofnorwich.org