About Eco Church

Throughout the Church of England, groups and parishes are taking action under the Anglican Church’s Fifth Mark of Mission: to safeguard the integrity of creation. To help us raise our awareness, knowledge and commitment to the climate emergency as a parish, St Mary’s has signed up to the ‘Eco Church’ scheme.

Eco Church is an environmental awards scheme that aims to guide and help churches implement ideas about caring for God’s world through worship, teaching, buildings, personal lifestyles, and community involvement. The awards are a way of measuring achievement and communicating our response to climate change to the wider community. We have recently been awarded a Bronze Eco Church award from A Rocha, and are now working towards the Silver award.  However, awards are only milestones on the road to our true goal: being a carbon neutral church by 2030.

Over the past few years a small working group of church members has been meeting regularly to organise a range of different activies. We’ve organised special climate-services, environmental-quizzes and workshops on sustainability. We’ve also worked with local groups, particularly in Rose Hill, to plant trees, share our mission and pick up litter. We have also arranged an energy audit for three of the church buildings, and created a whatsapp group “St. Mary’s Eco Chat”, which is full of information about current issues, recipes, local news and signposts to e-lectures of interest. But, despite all this, we’d love to continue growing and doing more, so if you’re interested in joining us, please contact iffley.ecochurch@gmail.com.

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Events

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Resources

There’s lots we could all do in our home lives to reduce our impact on the environment. Whether car sharing on your journey to church, replacing old lightbulbs with energy efficient LEDs, or turning your electrical appliances off standby, consider what measures you can take as an individual. Even small steps can make a huge difference. Take a look at the resources below to learn more:

• Individual action on climate change
  • Starting at the beginning…make your own reading and action plan using the Diocese of Oxford Ecohub
    • Find out more about the issues by looking at the Knowledge Zone
    • Top 10 Ways to Reduce your Carbon Footprint
  • Green Homes Grant
• Church action on climate change
  • Think about how St Mary’s Iffley can switch to green energy…
  • or learn more about A Rocha’s concept of Eco Church
• Check in with some local sustabinability organisations in Oxford
  • Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon
  • Low Carbon West Oxford
  • Low Carbon Oxford North
  • Rose Hill community Larder
  • Shop plastic-free at Flo’s Refill Shop
  • Growing food and growing community with Oxford City Farm
  • Good Food Oxford
  • Oxford Martin School has talks on a range of issues of sustainability and climate change
• Campaigns
  • Sign the petition from the Climate Coalition to urge politicians that #TheTimeIsNow to put a cleaner, greener, fairer future at the heart of plans to rebuild a strong economy.
  • Or raise the flag for urgent action with Christian Climate Action

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