by Rachel Westwood.
Make Christmas Greener
As we welcome Advent and prepare for Christmas, it’s a great opportunity to stop and think about how we can be more environmentally friendly as we celebrate the birth of Christ.
Some ideas to think about are
Decorations - we can look at making our own decorations from recyclable materials such as dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, making paper chains from scrap paper and using foraged materials and what’s in the garden (if you have access to one) to make wreaths. There are lots of ideas and videos on You Tube and TikTok. It would be great to share photos of decorations you’ve made.
Christmas outfits and jumpers. Have a close look at what you’ve already got or could borrow before buying something new. Christmas jumpers for example are often only used once and then ultimately sent to landfill if not passed on or reused.
Advent Calendars - think about a reverse advent calendar: each day of Advent, carry out one act of kindness or put aside a food item to donate to the food bank.
There are more ideas in a new book being promoted by ARocha (the organisers of EcoChurch) -“Dreaming of a Green Christmas”.
We’re getting a copy as part of our environmental resources (arriving very soon) - if anyone would like to borrow it, please let me know.
Where are we Now? |
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We are proud to say that we have achieved the ‘Silver’ award level of the A’Rocha scheme. We intend to build on this and achieve Gold by recycling more, encouraging our church members and other churches to follow environmentally sensitive policies, and looking after our site (the churchyard) to promote ecological diversity and the wellbeing of the natural world. As part of this, we are thrilled to say that we were able to host the YCCN pilgrimage to the Glasgow Climate
Here’s our newly planted native (organic!) Yew hedge and our bee-friendly wildflower area which is showing good results!Summit!
| Recycling: |
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We have “recycling” boxes in the entrance to the Church and Hall where you can leave old mobile phones, stamps, spectacles and printer cartridges! These can often be sold to raise funds for the needy or passed to charities who can use them. We also can help with the recycling of many other things - contact us if you would like to help our Recycling efforts as we do need a new Coordinator!
We also try to feed the birds, encourage native wildflowers to grow in our grounds, and welcome people to use our space to relax - but please do so responsibly and do not leave litter! That’s what the bins and recycling boxes are for.