We achieved the Eco Church bronze award in spring 2025
We answered a series of questions on how we, as a congregation, are caring for creation and responding to the climate change crisis in the following topic areas:
- Worship and teaching
- Buildings and energy
- Land and nature
- Community and global engagement
- Lifestyle
If you would like to join our Eco-team as we look at what changes we need to make to reach the silver award please do e-mail
[email protected]Whilst we will be looking at ways to minimise the environmental footprint of our church, we’d also like to share some thoughts on how we can all care for creation whilst we’re not at church
- What is your personal carbon footprint?
The St John’s carbon footprint, based on our energy use in 2024, was around 9 tonnes. Might you be willing to have a go at finding your own personal footprint in 5 minutes by answering questions on a website created by the Worldwide Fund for Nature:
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ ? Dave’s personal footprint was 9 tonnes, split relatively equally between the categories of: home, travel, food and ‘stuff’.
- Switching energy provider
In March 2025 we switched St John’s electricity provider to the fully renewably sourced Octopus Energy. If you’re not already using green energy at home, why not look at sites such as
https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/green-energy/ to see whether you can save money and the environment by switching to a green tariff?
- Enjoying nature
As Leyland has expanded over the years, we’ve seen a reduction in land that supports native wildlife making our gardens and other open spaces valuable oases. Could you consider providing a water source for wildlife or buying a ‘bug hotel’ (available online for less than £10)? Could you avoid cutting some or all of your lawn during May (see
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay/) as some long grass and wildflowers benefits wildlife, tackles pollution and can even lock away carbon below ground?
- The food we eat
St John’s has endeavoured to be a Fairtrade church over the years supporting farmers in developing countries receive a fair price for their produce. What other decisions can we make that reduces the environmental impact of the food we eat? Might you consider choosing products that are ‘in season’ and/or produced locally rather than being air-freighted across the globe or picking palm oil containing items certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)?
- Consumer choice
Do you have toys, lamps, clothing, small items of furniture, small kitchen appliances, garden equipment, ornaments, bicycles, CD players, etc. that have stopped working and you’re thinking of binning? An alternative to consider is the Repair Café at
https://www.newdaychurch.uk/serving-our-community/repair-cafe-lostock-hall-south-ribble-new-day-church held on the first Saturday of every month from 10:00 to 12:30.Every time we shop we’re voting with our wallet. When we buy from brands that have a positive impact it’s like voting for a better world. By carefully choosing what we buy, and looking behind the brands, we can choose products that have a positive impact on people, the planet and animals. How about visiting
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ to explore the ethical ratings of over 40,000 products and brands?
- Waste not, want not
Around a third of the food we produce is wasted, often ending up in landfill. Research by the website
https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ shows that if all apples, bananas and potatoes were sold loose instead of in bags sold by weight, we could save 60,000 tonnes of food each year, not to mention the reduction in single use plastic. Is buying ‘loose’ something you could consider and/or composting any unwanted fruit/veg (lidded compost bins can be bought for about £35) for use in your garden?
