Minds over Matter
Eco Church has 5 dimensions: Worship, Buildings, Land, Community Engagement and Lifestyles. Very often, concerns about Church Buildings dominate our thinking. Old churches present huge challenges: how can they be insulated? Draught proofed? Heated and lit using clean energy? And how can we possibly afford all those actions?
The Church of England has set the massive challenge of reaching carbon zero by 2030. It is a noble ambition and we are trying to map out our journey to get there in St Mary’s starting by measuring our existing carbon footprint. But if you ask me, I would argue that it is the least important of the five dimensions.
The greatest dimension of them all is Lifestyle. Changing our personal lifestyles is essential if we are to love our neighbours as ourselves, to care for God’s creation and to give hope to younger and future generations. But in order to change lifestyles we need to change our hearts and minds: the ways we think; our assumptions and perspectives. The challenge humanity faces is enormous and the solution can only start with us, in our heads. 
At the moment affluent lifestyles and economies simply do not fit on a single, healthy planet. They only exist on our planet on the basis of escalating exploitation and pollution. The most affluent are the worst. Following the SuperBowl in Los Angeles last month no fewer than 140 private jets took off to fly their millionaires back to New York, Florida, Seattle, Texas and further. Millionaires who use their jets to get to any number of sporting events, concerts or restaurants as their fancy takes them. It is the most gross violation of their duty to God and the rest of humanity.
I don’t imagine that any readers of the Parish News are in their league, but there may be some frequent flyers and SUV drivers amongst us and we are still members of the fifth richest nation in the world (albeit with wealth spread increasingly unfairly). Having benefitted from 250 years of fossil fuels, we should take the lead.
So your Eco Church team cordially invite you to fill in their Environmental Lifestyle questionnaire. This will enable us to establish a baseline and in future years will enable us to track our progress. It should be fun to complete and I hope that it will make you think about your legacy as you answer the questions. It is very easy, especially if you can do it on your phones or computers, although paper copies are available.
Then get your friends to do it. The more the merrier. Because we don’t just want to change the lifestyles of our congregation alone. It needs to be our whole parish. Our deanery. Our diocese. People of all faiths and none… the whole world!
That is why it is bigger than our buildings!