ecology
In June 2009, Christ Church Morningside registered as an Eco-Congregation, which required us to conduct an audit of our practices as an organization and the impact they have on the environment. The way we conducted our audit involved the whole congregation in a short slot at our annual general meeting and in an hour long discussion after one of our Sunday services, as well as calling on each of the committees by which we organize ourselves to answer questions about how they work and what they would like to see happen. As a result of the audit, we know our strengths and weaknesses in this area, and have set priorities for where we would like to make progress over the next year. We have included praise of creation and concern for the environment in our preaching, teaching, and prayers for some time now, and so many of our future plans have a practical bent.
compost bin
Our first priority for the future is in energy use. So far, we have asked the Energy Saving Trust to inspect our premises and give us advice about where we should make changes. We have already agreed a plan to implement some of their suggestions. Our second priority, in line with the concerns of the congregation, is to try to reduce the number of car journeys made to our services and events. We are currently planning how to achieve this, with activities beginning in September. Our third priority is to set up a programme of magazine articles and events that help us to learn individually and as a congregation how we can reduce the harm we do to the environment. Finally, we wish to make sure that we have chosen suppliers in a reasonable balance between ethics and cost, and to have a financial strategy in place for any changes we need to make.
In addition to these major tasks, we are also doing some smaller things as the opportunity arises. For instance, we discovered by running a public session about composting that we share a joint love of fruit trees with Transition Edinburgh South’s gardening group, and hope to do something demonstrating this around Harvest.