St Andrew's Green Page
GREEN TEAM:
Penny Hawley, Dan Bassford, Gavin McEwan (FUGWIG), Cynthia Lustig,
Veronica Phillips, Tessa Wilkinson.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE GREEN GROUP
Sadly, we said goodbye to our Green Champion Annie Cooper, the creator of the Green Team who has left to work on a project in Brazil working on. Our thanks go to Annie for all her hard work, ideas and creativity during her time with us and we wish her lots of future happiness and success.
FUGWIG
we have recently been hedge planting - click here
Fair Trade Fortnight
This year’s Fair Trade Fortnight took place from 28th February to 13th March. Its theme was Cotton and Poverty - fairer trade for cotton growers.
St. Andrew’s had a Fair Trade Service on Sunday 13th March followed by a special Fair Trade after service coffee and biscuits.
We also participated in the Fair Trade endeavour to produce the longest bunting in the world, the purpose of which is to help tell more people about how Fair Trade cotton protects the livelihoods of cotton farmers, and to pressure decision makers to make trader fairer for cotton farmers in West Africa.
Here are some photos of the event - click on a pic to enlarge.
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ACTIONS
“The Heavens are the Lord's, but the Earth He has entrusted to His children” Psalm 115:16
At St Andrew's Fulham Fields we believe that environmental issues and caring for God's creation form part of our church's life and mission in our homes, our church and the wider world.
Living, loving the planet
We can all make positive choices towards One Planet Living (WWF and BioRegional came up with this concept One Living Planet ). To make a difference, here are three things you might like to think about:
1) Reduce your contribution to climate change
Every time fossil fuels (such as coal, oil and gas) are burned in cars, homes or to generate electricity, carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced. In the atmosphere this CO2 acts like a blanket round the Earth, trapping heat and making our weather warmer and less predictable.
To reduce the amount of CO2 you could avoid flying, insulate your home (there are grants to help those that can't afford this here The Warm Front Team), use public transport, or switch to a green energy tariff (you can compare prices on the internet, but be careful as many 'green tariffs' do no more than the law requires - Good Energy Good Energy was ranked greenest supplier by the National Consumer Council).
2) Reduce your waste
Last year Hammersmith and Fulham residents recycled 27% of household waste. This reuses valuable resources and prevents landfill sites from filling up and polluting the land and water.
Good news! You can now include all paper based drinks and liquid food cartons (eg Tetra Paks) in your orange sacks for recycling, along with all paper and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, and all types of food and drink cans (including aerosol cans). At the moment the council will only accept plastic bottles and no other types of plastic. Local recycling information is here LBHF - Rubbish, waste and recycling
3) Shop sustainably
Everything we buy is made and transported using energy. Sometimes we hear that China should stop producing so much CO2 – but we in the west buy the goods these Chinese factories produce! Simply buying less stuff or getting it second hand really helps. Treats like going to the park, museums or river are free and better for the planet than buying stuff.
Buying food that is local and in season is the best option. Eating less meat helps too: calves have to eat 1,300kg of grain to gain just 180kg in weight. Fair trade goods now include breakfast cereals, biscuits, sugar and even footballs, as well as bananas, tea, chocolate and coffee. The fair trade mark means that farmers in poor countries have received a fair price for their products. It also means that community and environmental projects have benefited. Our local co-op, Waitrose, the Oxfam shop on Kings St, Hammersmith, and Traid Craft stock fair trade goods.
More Ideas for Information and Action
Find local volunteering opportunities here Do It Support our local green spaces through Friends of Margravine Cemetery and the London Wetlands Centre Campaign on waste, biodiversity, climate change, food or transport with Friends of the Earth For free, independent and local energy saving advice call the experts on the Act on CO2 helpline 0800 512 012
Learn about the basics of climate change with a fun interactive guide at Energy Saving Trust What the scientists say: climate change myth-busting by the Royal Society “Forget about making poverty history. Climate change will make poverty permanent.” Christian Aid's campaign to stop climate change killing the world's poorest people. Christian Aid
