Fr Patrick writes… On 13 March we had an event in Birmingham Diocese to celebrate our attainment of a Bronze level Eco Diocese award. The Eco Church and Eco Diocese accreditations are administered by the environmental group A Rocha UK and the diocese has been seeking Eco Diocese accreditation since the award was launched in September 2016. As “Bishop’s Adviser for the Environment” I have been involved in all this, and I am very grateful to the many people who have contributed to this diocesan wide effort.
Eco Diocese awards are mainly about what proportion of the parishes in the diocese have received an Eco Church accreditation. In Birmingham we needed 10 parishes to get to this level, and this was signed off by A Rocha UK in November 2018. We were the third diocese, after Salisbury and Guildford to gain the award.
It was very exciting to receive the award! We invited representatives from the 10 parishes. Rich Bee from A Rocha UK came to present the award. Both Bishops, both Archdeacons and the Diocesan Secretary all turned out. Bishop David received the award from Rich Bee, and lots of photos were taken. Then the next day we did it all again! This time in front of all the clergy gathered for a Bishop’s Study Day on the environment. We are now looking for a further 10 churches to get an Eco Church accreditation so that the Diocese can move up to Silver.
I am especially delighted that led by Mike Parkes, Churchwarden, St Mary’s Lapworth has now registered with Eco Church and is working its way towards an accreditation. Mike has written about this in the parish magazine. At one stage we were a bit pessimistic about our chances because we are not about to install double glassing or roof insulation in a grade one listed building! However, I have now discovered that having a listed building absolves you from many of the most difficult requirements for an award, so we still have a good chance!
Solving environmental problems requires a worldwide cooperation of a kind never seen before. Much of the action happens in United Nations agreements. However, I think there is an important role for more local and personal initiatives, and I am glad that Eco church gives us some attainable ways of make our own small contribution towards the global solution.