Blog
Hymn Poem – New Hundredth
I’ve been in this job long enough to risk tampering even with the most Reformed of hymns: in English, it does however, add ‘people’ where the original language says ‘dwellers’. We need an idiom of interpretation which includes Creation, rather than presumes human supremacy .
Material Focus: Recycle Your Electricals
Material Focus: Recycle Your Electricals campaign and funding opportunities.
Almost all of us have unwanted or broken electricals lying around or have considered binning them. In fact, discarded electricals are the fastest-growing source of waste in the UK – and the world – with over 100,000 tonnes binned every year in the UK and a further 880 million unwanted gadgets gathering dust in our homes. That’s an average of 30 per household!
But unwanted electricals aren’t actually waste. These electricals contain valuable materials like copper, lithium and gold which can be reused and turned into anything from solar panels to life-saving equipment.
Recycle Your Electricals: Humans of Scotland!
Material Focus, an independent not-for-profit organisation, is on a mission to ensure the materials inside our electricals are never wasted. Their nationwide Recycle Your Electricals campaign raises awareness that anything with a plug, battery, or cable can and should always be reused or recycled, and makes it easy by pointing you towards your local drop-off points.
It’s super easy – just bag up your unwanted and broken electricals and pop your postcode into Recycle Your Electricals’ Locator to find one of 27,000 donate, repair, reuse and recycling points across the UK. Together, we can save valuable materials from being lost to landfill!
Material Focus offers a range of communication assets to help communities find their nearest recycling options whilst also helping spread awareness on why electricals should never be binned. This includes digital assets as well as posters, leaflets and banners – which can be found here.
Funding Opportunities
Material Focus doesn’t just raise awareness – they also fund real solutions to make electrical recycling more accessible for everyone across the UK, including Scotland.
Through their Electricals Recycling Fund, they’ve supported over 60 projects from Aberdeen to Dorset, supporting kerbside collection schemes, drop-off points in community centres, schools and libraries, and innovative solutions that make it easier for the UK to repair, reuse or recycle their electricals.
Join us at the April webinar! Sign up to our webinar with Eco-Congregation Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church’s Net Zero Team on Thursday 10th April at 1pm to hear more about how you can get involved in the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, and help promote sustainability within faith-based communities. Please register for the online meeting link here.
Gold for St Ninian’s RC Church
We are thrilled to announce that St Ninian’s RC Church, Dundee, have been awarded our highest accolade, our GOLD award. Bishop Andrew McKenzie presented the congregation with their award at mass this week. St Ninian’s are the 11th congregation in Scotland to receive a Gold award and the very first Catholic Parish to do so.
The congregation has shown a true commitment and outstanding practice in caring for creation. Our assessors were impressed with the work to reduce the carbon footprint of their building and to share their learning. You can read more about their building here: https://localenergy.scot/casestudy/st-ninians-rc-church/CARES at Local Energy Scotland
The assessors also commended them for their support of SCIAF, their cross-generational working, the work on their garden and the integration of creation care into their worship.
Read more about the work of their Eco group here: https://stninianandstclement.org/eco-group/
Congratulations to everyone at St Ninian’s for your incredible achievement.
Bronze Award for Abernethy Parish Church
Congratulations to Abernethy Parish Church, who recently received their Bronze Eco-Congregation Award. They celebrated by hosting an open morning at the church exploring theology and sharing practical tips to encourage individual actions. They also planted some Scottish harebells at the front of their church as part of the celebration.
Our assessors commended the energy and enthusiasm of the Eco-Group who have achieved so much. They were also impressed by the careful and considered way in which changes are being made to church grounds and the switch to greener banking and a greener energy provider.
Well done to everyone involved.
Silver Award for Kilbarchan Parish Church
Congratulations to Kilbarchan Parish Church who were recently presented with their Silver Eco-Congregation Award.
The congregation celebrated during their Sunday service with a beautifully crafted cake.
Mary Sweetland, one the Eco-Congregation award assessors who presented the award said “We were impressed with the communication of green initiatives to the congregation and the wider community, and that they had 'Green Champions' embedded in all the six teams of the Kirk Session, who promote environmental issues across all areas of the church.”
Well done to the eco committee, the green champions and everyone involved in the congregation who contributed to this award.
Warm Connections
Home Energy Advice…another part of living out God’s command to care for creation and love our neighbour?
by Anna and Tom Sibbald, Aberfeldy Parish Church
I feel a real sense of pride - good pride, I hope - that my local church is seen to be relevant in our community through Warm Connections. It’s one logical way of being an Eco Congregation.
The Background Stuff
With our passion for God’s creation (both his people and his planet) as our driver, in 2021 we set up a small home energy advice project. Warm Connections is based in Highland Perthshire, part of Aberfeldy Parish Church and the broader work within our linkage and beyond. We provide people in our area with home energy advice, and support healthier, more affordable and greener living. The support we offer falls into 4 areas:
- No cost and low-cost solutions
- Support with bills
- Advice about funding for home improvements (insulation etc)
- Advice about renewables
We are very much a first step service and will help steer householders towards the local and regional teams who can access national funding, where necessary.
Just received a payment settling my energy debt which had built up because of illness. My heart is lighter.
The Exciting Stuff
What a delight it is to see the worry lines lift, a smile return when an energy debt is paid off through emergency funding, or a pre-payment meter topped up so the heating clicks back on. Such a privilege, but so is the slower walk with someone as they navigate the maze of options and possibilities available to improve the fabric of their home to make it greener, warmer and more affordable. Most of all, we encourage those small things which cost little or nothing; using less is always going to be a winner. Though our main motive is environmental, for others change may be driven by health or financial benefits, or simply a desire to be more comfortable; whatever the motive, helping folk to use less energy in the home and to keep the heat in the house for longer usually benefits all of the above.
Our focus is on reducing carbon emissions and on those vulnerable to fuel poverty. Supporting and caring for people in this way within our communities is another way that we as Christians can love our neighbour, and we are so thankful that our church community has got behind this amazing opportunity. It is a privilege to visit people at home, to encourage, guide and support householders through the many energy challenges which are out there. Finding ways to show that Christians genuinely care is not always easy, and it is a delight to offer this service with absolutely no cost.
Their gentle and participative approach has really motivated me to make more changes to my home, to save energy, be more eco-aware and be warmer in my house
Is it Working?
We think it is. We are delighted when a person suddenly discovers that someone does care and there is help, even for them. We have seen folk make vital steps towards net zero living through the big installs, but perhaps more important are the little savings we can all make through changed habits, and the low-cost adjustments that together add up. Love in this case has legs, arms, a face, a roll of radiator reflector foil and some low energy light bulbs!
“Warm Connections has been fantastic for so many reasons - building relationships, helping people in our community cut their bills and live out their desire to be greener, and enabling us to care for creation - one of the five marks of mission”. Rev Neil Glover, our minister
What About You?
Warm Connections might have worked without our church, but for us it’s so much more because it is part of the church, and anchored in community. With a climate crisis pressing us into action and so much challenge for householders across Scotland struggling with fuel poverty, this feels like urgent, needed and inspiring work. Work that churches everywhere could get stuck into. So, what did it take?
- A supportive church
- A desire to see Christians doing God’s will by encouraging others to care for His creation
- Interest in home energy (which began for us by making our own home more energy efficient)
- A love of people and a joy in sharing with them
It is a privilege and a joy to spend time in people’s homes and at events in the community. In the streets and shops we often see folk whom we have met through Warm Connections, and stop to chat; it feels normal and natural but is all part of Christian witness in our community. If you have read this and feel a nudge from God, we would be very happy to have a conversation, and explore your questions.
Anna and Tom Sibbald advice@warmconnections.net www.warmconnections.net
