Eco Church

St Cuthbert’s awarded Gold Eco Church status

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Making Lorton a Greener Place – Eco Church/Eco Community

A new initiative called Eco Church – Eco Community – has been launched by Lorton Parochial Church Council, with support from the Melbreak Community Steering Group, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Lake District National Park, Christian Aid and Lorton School . The initiative is based on an awards programme run by a charity called A Rocha UK – a Christian charity working Worldwide for the protection and restoration of the natural world. In its simplest form a questionnaire is completed covering 4 key areas:

1. Personal Lifestyles – what we as individuals can change to improve the environment

2. Community events and global engagement – projects we can run collectively to improve our communities green credentials and support other parts of the world

3. Buildings and land – ways we can improve the energy efficiency of our buildings and manage our land to encourage native flora and wildlife

4. Worship and teaching – to feature environmental issues in our services, prayers and communications.

and once the questionnaire is completed a score is given which allocates either a
Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. St Cuthbert’s Church gained the Bronze Award in July 2019 and on 20th November 2020, after an intense period of assessment, we have successfully achieved our Gold Award.

But we see this as a Community-wide Project that will build on the structure of the Eco Church philosophy – To that end the Lorton Vale Eco Project was launched on 13th July with a community event at St Cuthbert’s Church, Lorton. The day kicked off with a fascinating presentation about Climate change and the biggest challenges we face. Everyone then enjoyed a tour of the Churchyard to look at the plants and wildlife already there prior to a community picnic. Afternoon presentations included one from the Cumbria County Council Waste Prevention Officer explaining just what happens to our waste and another thought provoking talk about the work of Christian Aid. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and left with plenty to think about. Here are a few of the highlights:

Principal Environmental problems:

Global warming – leading to climate change, rising sea levels & more extreme weather events

Loss of biodiversity
Waste – particularly plastics

Waste Prevention:

We can all do things to cut down our waste and they all begin with the letter R:

REDUCE
REUSE
RECYCLE

Cumbria County Council has a number of initiatives including:

Food (love food hate waste)
Composting and food waste digesters
Bulky waste
Nappies