Creation Challenge

The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has been urged not to “jeopardise green education” after threatening to axe a scheme aimed at creating sustainable schools.

The news comes after the government controversially cut the schools rebuilding programme and axed a scheme to create 5,000 green work experience placements. Now the Department for Education looks set to drop the Sustainable School Strategy.

The plan was condemned by People & Planet and Friends of the Earth. Read more

In a message honouring the Day for Creation, 1 September 2010, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I has expressed his hope that the financial and economic crisis experienced by many societies would bring about “a powerful change in direction, to a path of viable and sustainable environmental development.”

Churches from a broad range of countries and traditions will participate with prayers and other activities in the Time for Creation over the next 40 days. Read more

One of the most senior Church of Scotland ministers has written to the Scottish Government, urging it to consider carefully the impact plans for a new power station that will, the Kirk claims, undermine the Scottish Government’s plans to reduce Scotland’s carbon footprint. Read more

Environmental groups have accused the government of going “backwards”, after ministers delayed plans to introduce an Environmental Performance Standard (EPS) for power companies. Read more

The wholeness of creation and the commitment for justice are two biblical insights that have guided ecumenical concern on climate change, say the editors of the latest issue of The Ecumenical Review, published under the title, “Churches Caring for Creation and Climate Justice”. Read more

Bethesda Methodist Church in Cheltenham has been granted its third national Eco-award and become only the 3rd church in England to receive this honour. Since collecting its first award in 2003, followed by a 2nd in 2008 the church has continued to develop its environmental programme and is widely known as an “eco-church”. The independent assessment was carried out by Climate Change & Transition Town campaigner Jerry Barr and Rev Dr Simon Topping – founder and director of the Green Cross Coop. Simon will present the award plaque at a special service on October 10th. (more…)

Churches in India have been urged to promote “earth citizenship” by Vandana Shiva, an Indian environmentalist honoured for placing women and ecology at the heart of development discourse – writes Anto Akkara. Read more

Approaching the boat landing of the fishing village on Viwa Island off the coast of Suva, Fiji, it is hard to imagine a more idyllic setting than this South Pacific paradise filled with one stunning island view after another.

On the hillside overlooking the village sits a memorial church dedicated to the memory of a Methodist translator, John Hunt, who translated the Bible from Greek into Fijian more than 150 years ago and who still is revered by the villagers. Read more

Members of a local community group in Lancaster are celebrating after receiving planning permission to develop 40 new eco-homes, as well as shared indoor and outdoor space and managed business space. Read more

Climate change campaigners can take heart this summer, after what has been a difficult few months, but should not take their eyes off the ball.

Three independent reviews have now clearly supported the science of the Climate Research Unit, based at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, whose email exchanges were illegally released into the media earlier this year. Read more