Eco Comment – Our Quest for Silver

Two years ago the Eco Group at Wakefield Cathedral was created as a response to the push for all Church of England cathedrals and churches to be net zero carbon by 2030. A route map was approved by General Synod in July 2022 and since then we have all been walking along that path.  

The Eco Comment became a weekly part of the Cathedral Catch-up November 2nd and that week featured information about COP 27 which was about to start in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. For me it was the start of two years of researching and learning about so many aspects of what ‘being green’ meant and how we might reach this nirvana of ‘net zero’. A fascinating journey which I hope you, our readers, have enjoyed and hopefully learnt from.  

We were subsequently able to achieve the A Rocha Eco Church Bronze award and are now looking seriously at the criteria for the silver award.  

The survey has presented us in the Eco Group with a number of problems to overcome and is the reason behind this Eco Comment being different to previous offerings. 

 We are very much in need of feedback. 

Each week I have looked to see what was in the news regarding environmental issues or search out seasonal offerings that I thought might be of interest and/or relevant to our daily lives. I have commented previously on how surprising it can be that there’s always been a subject that is new, or something that I’ve written about before but can be given a new slant with more up-to-date information. However, in that two years we haven’t given you, the readers, an opportunity for response. That is now about to change. 

In order to answer so many of the questions in the A Rocha survey with regards the following, we need your input, particularly in the areas of:

1. Community and Global Engagement  

1. Life Style 

A number of you have replied to our Eco Group: Environmental Lifestyle Survey which has been in the cathedral as a paper-based survey and online as an addendum to the last few Eco Comments on Wakefield Cathedral Catch-up. These have provided us with an overview as to how climate change and environmental issues affect you but we now need more detailed answers. 

Inevitably we will also be required to evidence our responses. In September Ripon Cathedral hosted a display during Creationtide, of their journey to date on the A Rocha Eco Church journey. Wakefield and Bradford Cathedrals, along with all the churches in the diocese, had an opportunity to demonstrate in words and photographs their endeavours – plus citing the highs and lows of the journeys. The pinnacle of this exhibition had to be the heady achievement of St Mary’s Church, Embsay with Eastby, the first church in the diocese to be the proud holders of the Gold Award. Their display gave a real insight into their journey, but also how the church and its communities had worked together with a common focus. 

The A Rocha questions are not difficult to answer and can probably be answered in the affirmative if you’re willing to take the time to help us.  

The first question for this week is this: 

Do any of you audit your individual or household carbon footprints? 

If you need help answering this, A Rocha provide this resource that would help you respond, and this one as well.

The second question is possibly more difficult. 

‘Our church recognises that personal choices about how we use our money – including banking, pensions, and investing – have a significant impact on climate and nature.’ 

Again there are resources here, here and here to help you. 

We in the Eco Group look forward to hearing from those of you who feel able to respond. I’m also going to say that if anyone would like to contribute some words to the Eco Comment, please get in touch. I’m sure that another voice would make a welcome change. If not, I’ll keep finding subjects to keep us informed. 

Susan Morgan
Eco Group