Not so long ago we were celebrating when the national church made a huge and challenging commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030. This is a deadly serious endeavour to help preserve our precious planet for future generations. Every church needs to do their bit. So how are we doing?
Of course recent times have been hard, with the coronavirus pandemic affecting both what we do and the funds we have to do it with. It has been challenging to make progress, but we have not been sitting still.
The Chapel is now almost a carbon neutral venue! Thanks to the superb services of Bulb we now have 100% green electricity and are paying for gas with carbon off-setting, so they are offsetting the carbon for us. It’s not a perfect solution but it is a move in the right direction until we find new technologies for heating and cooking on site. They have given us a discount code too! So if you’d like to do your bit at home you can use their code to receive £50 off when you join them, and it helps us out as well. Everybody wins, and the planet is better off. Bulb.me/chapel-project-ash-vale (Of course many other green energy providers are available!)
At St Mary’s church we have been looking into eco alternatives, recycling and energy saving, and our wonderful eco champion Lesley has been busy assessing the carbon footprint using special online tools. She is working with Patrick our Treasurer to see how soon we can move over to green energy too. In the meantime we have a golden opportunity to directly off-set our carbon by planting trees—in Uganda!
At Amaha We Uganda, William and his team are busy setting up tree nurseries in key locations. Through their tree planting projects, the team aims to build local knowledge within communities, and empower people to help themselves. Together, local groups will tackle deforestation, protect their homes and crops from erosion and mudslides, and of course they will enjoy the trees providing food and shade, and capturing carbon.
Would you like to help? You can sponsor trees in Uganda to help us to off-set St Mary’s carbon, or to offset your own carbon footprint. You can give a one-off amount or even donate regularly to offset your carbon footprint month by month. More information and contact details for regular giving are available on www.amahaweuganda.org
Carbon neutral by 2030? It’s within reach if we work together!
By Alex Sanderson (Member of Chapel Greens)
