Church Wildlife Survey Activity

Christian Ecology Link invites you (or a group at your church) to take part in a simple  churchyard / church ecology survey.  

By doing this you and your group will
   1.   Learn and encourage others to learn a little bit more about
          wildlife – plants and /or animals
   2.   Show to others that wildlife is important
   3.   Send in data so we can compare churchyard wildlife round the
         country.

The questions were written by the Biodiversity Workgroup at the European Christian Environment Network (ECEN) Meeting in August last year and can be accessed by clicking on the link: PDF for printing or WORD

If this is relevant to your situation and church,  please it our and take it to year church and show it to some groups at your church (Sunday School/ Mothers Union/ Coffee Club / a House Group), and see if one of them will take the survey on.     

When you have filled it in, do some or all of the following:

1. Have a discussion about it.
2. Fill the results in online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/KYQCDFK (We will collate the results.)
3. Make a small blog or webpage about the wildlife in your churchyard. Include a paragraph about what you have learned by carrying out the (simple) survey. We guarantee you will learn something!! What were the advantages and what were the difficulties? Send us the URL and we will put a link to it.

Even if you only have a small inner city church, there are likely to be weeds on the pavement outside. If you don’t know the names of the weeds ask a local naturalist, or look at www.ispot.org.uk    

We look forward to your results. Please email Judith Allinson (jallinson@christian-ecology.org.uk) if you have any questions, or if you have suggestions about how the questionnaire or process could be improved.

This tool has been added to the Ideas for Action Churchyard Conservation webpage.

Thank you to Christian Ecology Link for sharing it with us!

Café Conversions at the Annual Gathering

The Annual Gathering on Saturday 20th April in the Grassmarket Community Project building will feature a workshop entitled Café Conversations.  It will be an informal gathering of anyone wishing to share information about their activities with other congregations.

Drawing was borrowed from here.

It is useful opportunity to get fresh ideas for engaging activities and share your experiences with others. This is a useful platform for establishing mentoring contacts to aid work towards Eco-Congregation Awards and to get useful ideas on how to engage your congregation in environmental issues.

We already have people from Award winning congregations signed up to take part. Nan and Mary from Carlops Parish Church have promised to bring along examples of their work to share with everyone. The congregation received their 3rd award, presented to them by the Scottish Government Minister for Environment and Climate Change – Paul Wheelhouse MSP, on the 17th January of this year. You can read about it here. It promises to be an interesting hour!

Please email oanshus@cofscotland.org.uk to register for the Gathering. You can complete the Registration form or simply add the details outlined in the form in an email. We will contact you to confirm we have received your registration.

All Welcome!

Church of England offers smartphone users a free carbon footprint application

A new app from Shrinking the Footprint, the national environmental campaign of the Church of England, offers smartphone users the opportunity to measure and reduce their carbon footprint.

The free Shrinking the Footprint app focuses on energy used at home, in the office and on travel and even allows users to share their progress via Facebook and Twitter. In addition it offers useful information and tips on reducing your impact on the environment and a ‘Thought for the Day’ from the Christian Ecology Link.

The app is currently being trialled by the Eco-Congregation at Chelmsford cathedral. “Having an app that is easy and accessible with instant measurements of our carbon footprint is very exciting,” says Mervyn Marshall, Chair of Chelmsford Cathedral’s Eco Congregation Group. “Chelmsford was the first Cathedral to be awarded Eco- Congregation status in 2009, so we are delighted to be supporting the launch of the app alongside Shrinking the Footprint campaign.”

The app can be downloaded now for free from the Apple App and Google Play Store.

For more information please go the the Shrinking the Footprint website.

Forestry Commission Scotland Community Seedcorn Fund

The Community Seedcorn Fund for April 2013 to March 2014 is now open for applications.

The funding aims to support groups and organisations to encourage and support greater use of woods by people to derive health, well-being and community benefits.

Eligible applicants include community groups, voluntary groups, development trusts, social enterprises, charities, local authorities etc., with objectives supporting the above outcome and objectives. The Community Seedcorn Fund is not available to private individuals.

Community Seedcorn Fund Guidance 2013-14

Community Seedcorn Fund Application Form over 1k 2013-14