The annual Christmas Tree Festival will be sparkling from 5 December 2024 until 6 January 2025. Follow the stars and other twinkly things around the cloisters and the Chapter House, where you’ll find this year’s Eco Christmas Tree. You’ll appreciate how imaginatively it has been designed and innovatively built from recycled materials. Even Eartha, our cuddly precious planet icon from last year’s tree, has been repurposed and incorporated into this year’s design. Undulating along its green and fuzzy slopes, the Eco Christmas Tree softly offers images of endangered species and data on biodiversity loss. The display suggests small steps we can all take to protect our natural environment.
The variety of living things on our planet is declining at an alarming rate, mainly due to human activity such as land use and pollution, leading to climate change. Worcestershire Wildlife Trust works locally to protect wildlife in the county through 80 nature reserves, managing 3,000 acres of land for wildlife. It also works with others to help and encourage optimum use of farms, gardens and community green spaces for wildlife. You can find tips on gardening for wildlife on their website.
The World Wildlife Fund lists endangered and critically endangered species. Working to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife, it collaborates with local and global partners in nearly 100 countries. Its efforts focus on species such as tigers, rhinos, whales and marine turtles, whose protection influences and supports the survival of other species, or offers the opportunity to protect whole landscapes or marine areas.
The doughnut economics model explains the planetary and societal boundaries within which an environmentally safe and socially just space can enable humanity to thrive. Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist is worth a look, and it’s not too late to add it to your Christmas list.
Take the Jump is a movement for societal transformation. Its message is “Less Stuff, More Joy”. It signposts six shifts we can all make, or at least try, to protect our earth and live with joy. The Eco Group has borrowed these six shifts to suggest pledges that Christmas Tree Festivalgoers can make. Visitors are invited to place a decoration on the tree and take a sticker to remind them of their chosen eco-pledge.
Enjoy the Christmas Tree Festival and look out for details of an evening with Tom Collins, Worcester’s MP, in the Old Palace on 31 January 2025. We will be reviewing the UK government’s response to climate change and climate justice, following on from the climate crisis debate with Worcester’s prospective parliamentary candidates in December 2023.
Worcester Cathedral Eco Group wishes everyone joy, peace and a sustainable future.
Paul Robert, Eco Group member
In autumn and winter, high pressure weather systems can trap damp conditions close to the ground, leaving us feeling dull and dreary, like the weather. We might wish the weather was more exciting. But a report has recently found that violent weather cost the world two trillion dollars over the past decade.
The United Nations annual climate change conference, COP29, runs from 11-22 November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Some experts, including a former UN secretary general and UN climate chief, have said that the annual climate change conference is “no longer fit for purpose” and that nations should not host it if they do not support the phase out of fossil fuel energy. The president of Azerbaijan told world leaders at the conference that natural gas is “a gift from God” and that he shouldn’t be blamed for bringing it to market.
Many prominent world leaders, including those from the US, India, China and France, are absent from the COP 29 conference, suggesting that climate change may be lower down their agenda, and their priorities lie elsewhere. There is certainly a lot going on in national and global current affairs to distract attention from climate change. News of the re-election of Donald Trump as the next US president, and his appointment of Chris Wright, a climate change sceptic, as his energy secretary, might prompt prayers of “Lord have mercy” from some. During his first term of office, Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and there are fears that he will do so again. Whatever our political leanings, it’s hard to interpret these developments as good news for the future of the planet.
In this context, it’s easy to become despondent. We might conclude that any efforts we make to preserve our natural environment will be futile. If powerful world leaders are apathetic towards committing to the changes that need to be made to slow or halt climate change, if they deny and ignore the mounting evidence of the reality of climate change, what can we do that will actually make any sort of difference?
In her Thought for the Day, broadcast on 12 November 2024, Chine McDonald, referenced the 2021 film Don’t Look Up, a satirical comedy with a serious message. It tells the story of two astronomers who attempt to warn the world of the approach of a comet that threatens to destroy the earth. Inevitably, but frustratingly, no one listens. The film is an allegory of climate change. In Job 35:5: Job is encouraged to “Look up at the heavens and see, gaze at the clouds so high above you”. Although these words are spoken by Elihu, one of Job’s “comforters”, we can interpret them as a call to look beyond the immediate, beyond ourselves. As Chine McDonald said in her broadcast, if our world leaders won’t look up, the least we can do is to look around.
We can’t give in to despondency. We must keep up the momentum of our efforts to do what we can to address climate change. We need to keep on raising awareness in those around us. We should continue to campaign for those in authority to make the changes that need to be made. In fact, it’s more imperative than ever that we do so. We also need to maintain our faith in an omnipotent God, for whom perhaps time is not the linear construct to which we bind ourselves. As God’s hands on earth, we are His partners in striving for justice for those who have done least to contribute to climate change but are most affected by it.
The Eco Group is planning to invite Worcester’s MP, Tom Collins, to an event in the New Year to discuss the UK government’s response to climate change and climate justice. This will be a follow up to the climate crisis debate with Worcester’s prospective parliamentary candidates in December 2023.
Paul Robert, Eco Group member
Church Times Green Church awards, Training and Education Category 26 September 2024
To celebrate green trailblazers and be inspired by them makes it worth the effort.
It’s all too easy to become discouraged and disheartened. We hear and witness evidence of rising global temperatures and sea levels, destruction of natural habitats, poverty and suffering resulting from loss of land and homes, loss of biodiversity and extinction of species. But we can maintain hope that the efforts we make to address the climate crisis do make a difference. Hope is supported by evidence of the impact of our endeavours and those of others.
On Thursday 26 September 2024, Staffan Engström, Clare Harker and I travelled to St John’s Church, Waterloo for the Church Times Green Church Awards. We travelled by electric vehicle (and London Transport) through heavy rain and bright sunshine. It was a long day, but extremely rewarding. The event celebrates and rewards the diverse ways that individuals, church groups and schools across the UK and Ireland are making to counter environmental damage.
Many examples were showcased in seven categories including buildings, congregation and community action, land and nature, green health, training and education, green champion, action on a shoestring.
An impressive range of schemes including innovative recycling and repair projects, the use of sustainable energy sources such as air source heat pumps and solar panels in church and school buildings, community gardens to grow food that can be donated to food banks, wildlife gardens for use by communities beyond the churches and schools that plant and maintain them, reducing food waste and creating areas to promote biodiversity and provide sanctuary. Further details about the awards, the categories, the nominated projects and the winners can be found here.
There were so many worthy projects nominated in every category. The atmosphere was celebratory, joyful and hopeful. Staffan, Clare and I were astonished and humbled when it was announced that Worcester Cathedral had won the Training and Education category award for the Living Gently on the Earth programme. The key is the breadth and depth of impact made. Acknowledgment is due for Staffan’s hard work in coordinating the programme and putting together the application for the award, for Clare’s inspirational ideas and practical solution-focussed approach, for the wise counsel and leadership of Dean Stephen, and for every one of the many individuals who have supported, participated in and delivered the varied elements of the initiative.
Living Gently on the Earth continues to evolve through organic development and a (controlled) explosion of ideas, to deepen and extend its impact, including the Earthwise Family Eco Fair on Saturday 5 October. Please keep an eye on the Cathedral community web pages for further details of upcoming events.
Paul Robert, Eco Group member
Planning and doing our pilgrimage from Worcester Cathedral to St David’s Cathedral over the first 20 days of September has been an extraordinary experience, for us, two unextraordinary people, with profound highs, lows, challenges and encounters.
Here are some headline statistics:
- Distance walked: 226.5 miles
- Height climbed: 29,208 feet (Mount Everest is 29,030 feet)
- Steps taken: 512,426 (Add 20% for Katie)
- Beds slept in: 15 no.
- Grandchildren: 1 no. (Edward Oso Engstrom, 4th Sep ‘24)
- Slips and trips: 2 no. (Katie: bruised knee)
(Staffan: bent hiking pole)
- Money raised: £15,928.75 (Tearfund: £11,060)
(Worcester Cathedral: £4,868.75)
We are so very grateful to all of you for your warm support and very generous donations. We were bowled over by the kindness of so many people: friends from Worcester, friends elsewhere, and the many that we met on the road.
On our journey, we stayed in 3 bed and breakfasts, 3 hotels, 2 farms, 2 youth hostels, 2 cottages, 1 railway carriage (converted), 1 shepherds hut, and 1 hobbit house.
In our modern modes of transport, we have forgotten the traditional way of crossing the landscape as long-distance pilgrims. In the ancient way, your view of the landscape slowly changes as you travel: you see the Malvern Hills ahead of you, then you are on them, looking back to Worcester and forward to the Brecon Beacons; as you walk over days, the Malverns recede and the Beacons loom larger; then you are on the Beacons looking back to the Malverns and forward, and the process continues. We realised through this walk that there are four key lines of sight between Worcester and St David’s Head, covering the whole journey, from Worcester to the Malvern Hills to the Brecon Beacons to the Preseli Hills to St David’s Head. I have shown these lines of sight on the map on the last page of the attached document.
We found that the pilgrimage was a wonderful sharing of an adventure with a purpose together, walking every day and passing through some of the most beautiful landscapes that we have ever seen (and some that we didn't see because of the rain). We loved meeting people on the road, touching base and sharing stories, with probably a hundred or more interesting interactions in all, including sharing the story behind our Pilgrimage for Peace and Nature.
We could not carry much, so with light packs we were more dependent on others’ help, on favours and on kindness, which is probably healthy. These light packs made us wash clothes every day, underwear and t-shirts hanging to dry from our backpacks as we walked.
We faced lots of challenges (see the same document for details), as we variously: got seriously soaked; got lost; had to divert with missing stiles and footbridges; crossed streams and barbed wire fences; feared we would go hungry; were barked at (many times); escaped from charging cattle; avoided angry farmers, dogs, and other cattle; got blisters; fell over; got tired and more… However, overcoming the challenges, however inadequately done, turned out to be a great part of the adventure. I wouldn't change any of them.
Part of the pilgrimage for me turned out to be in the carrying of the pain in my heart about conflicts in the world and about the destruction of nature. St David’s became a place of pilgrimage from 1123 precisely because of such painful conflict, and as we stood silently at St David’s shrine, at the end of our journey, we felt that we were participating with the many pilgrims from the past, touching their real experience with our own.
St David's last words to his followers were: "Be joyful, keep the faith and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do." We don’t have to solve climate change on our own or deliver peace in Ukraine or Gaza. We must just do our part…because the little things, like going on a pilgrimage or reducing our carbon footprints or giving to Tearfund, really do matter.
It isn’t too late to support the excellent charities of Tearfund and Worcester Cathedral’s green spaces by clicking on this link and then making your choice. It would be great to get Worcester Cathedral’s green spaces fund over the £5000 mark… as we are nearly there!
Staffan Engstrom
Lay Canon & Eco Group Member
“Be kind to one another. That’s all there is to life. Be at Peace”. These words are attributed to St Columba, who brought Christianity to Scotland in AD563, arriving at Iona in a coracle from Donegal, Ireland, 100 miles away across the Atlantic.
I’m privileged to have been one of 25 pilgrims who recently spent a week on Iona reflecting on Columba’s legacy. Our pilgrimage is a journey to a special place. The “journey” is ongoing, and the “special place” is our experience of God’s nearness and greatness.
Diana and Brian Gant led the pilgrimage, with reference to Psalm 104 and Ian Bradley’s book, Columba: politician, penitent and pilgrim. Columba engaged in peace, politics, penitence, pilgrimage, prayerfulness, poetry, praise and pastoral presence, in the context of the provisional nature of human structures and institutions. Columba’s involvement and intervention in worldly issues inspires our call to political activism in our unequal and unjust society. Prayer and penitence remind us that we need to forgive ourselves and others as God forgives us. This is a catalyst for the progress of our pilgrimage. The physicality of walking is often important in pilgrimage. It opens us to new ideas and ways of living our faith, enabling us to risk letting go and getting lost, as Columba did when he left Ireland.
George MacLeod, founder of the Iona community, described Iona as a “thin” place, where only tissue paper separates the material from the spiritual. Glynn Richerby shared some reflections of the life and inspirational achievements of George McLeod, and a meditation on the idea of Wild Goose Spirituality. The evident conviviality within our group, reminds us of our need of each other as well as our dependence on God as we pursue our common purpose with meaning and direction.
Alvyn Pettersen facilitated our further reflections on the “thinness” of places and people. Thin places are luminous, indicating an extraordinary quality of light and enlightenment. They highlight the power and presence of God in nature. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, “Earth's crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God, / But only he who sees takes off his shoes; / The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Alvyn reminded us that God minus the world equals God, whereas the world minus God equals nothing. Without God we don’t have our being or our wellbeing. God’s creativity is an ongoing process. It is the beginning of a process that never stops. The moment of creation is now…
So what happens when we return from a thin place to our everyday life? The quotidian can help us see ourselves in a new light, if only we will discern the strangeness of the everyday, of ourselves, as a mirror. Such reflection can enable us to change things for the better. And how does thinness relate to living environmentally? If the world is thin and we exploit it, we dull its voice that says “look at my elegance and how delicate I am, and who made me. I would not exist if God was not creating and sustaining me”. We are invited to treat others and our world with respect, because they are thin.
Throughout our pilgrimage, in addition to our reflections, we participated in daily eucharist and compline services in the small chapel in Bishop’s House, where we stayed, and services at Iona Abbey, facilitated by members of the Iona Community. Iona immersed us in its natural beauty, enabling our appreciation of God. Joyce Watson, priest, photographer and polymath, who has lived on Iona for many years, led a guided nature walk, enabling us to appreciate examples of local flora and fauna. During our brief sojourn on Iona, we were privileged to the sight and sound of many species including dolphins chasing a boat in the Sound of Iona, robins in the gardens, grey herons, gulls, goldfinches, grey lag geese, gannets, curlew, sanderling, house martins, house sparrows, hooded and carrion crows, rooks, rock doves and rock pipits. We experienced lots of weather, including ever changing cloud formations across the expansive skies, rainbows, the warmth of the sun, the freshness of the breezes, the splendour of the rocks, the softness of the white sands and saltiness of the ocean. Our response to our heightened awareness of the formidable power and beauty of God in nature, can only be to “Praise the Lord, my Soul”, the Lord who “wraps Himself in light, as with a garment” (Psalm 104). We take little steps towards God, which are hugely significant in our pilgrimage.
So we meet God in nature, in the wind, rain and sea, in the flowing air, in music, art and in the beauty of creation. The deity is in every leaf, every sight, every sound. Our pilgrimage is to respect each linkage in the web of life.
Paul Robert, Eco Group member and Iona pilgrim
*With thanks to Diana and Brian Gant, Alvyn Pettersen, Glynn Richerby for some of the above content, and to John Vickerman for planning and organising the pilgrimage.
We felt privileged to have Cody Levine, a chartered ecologist from Worcestershire County Council and the Worcestershire Bat Group, come to speak to us about the bats around the cathedral and city and to allow us to experience the bats for ourselves. I had expected that there might be some interest amongst folk in the city, but with International Bat Night being on an August Bank Holiday Saturday weekend, I was hoping that we might get a dozen or so along. In the end the 60 places advertised sold out almost two months ahead, and the Undercroft was jam-packed with interested participants.
Cody’s enthusiasm for bats is infectious, mostly because, in his words, “they are so sweet!”, and they are! He showed us just how important bats are as environmental indicators for our city environment and went into detail with many pictures and videos of the local bat-life. The presentation at this link gives much of the detail about the bats locally and in the UK and Cody shared a wealth of fascinating leaflets and factsheets as well.
I was particularly fascinated with Cody’s explanation of how human lighting schemes cause barriers for bats who are trying to go about their nightly business such as feeding on insects. I had no idea that with their sensitivity to light, our building, street, and pavement lighting schemes cause huge actual barriers to their movements in and around the city. Have you ever noticed how the lights by the river are lower, at pavement level, along a stretch by the cathedral? This is a specific measure introduced through Cody’s team to take the bright lights out of the bat flight zone so that there is an access corridor between the cathedral and its grounds where the bats live, and the river where they feed. It’s a whole new way of looking at the world from a bat’s perspective.
We then took a tour around the grounds, to see and especially to hear the bats using special bat detectors that take the very high frequencies that bats call with and turn them into sounds that we can hear. In the rather fuzzy picture (no flashes) you can see people holding up their detectors to hear the bats. I must admit that with nearly 60 people tramping around, we probably had enough to scare many creatures off!
We saw – or should I say heard – three types of bat in the cathedral grounds: the Common Pipistrelle, which are very small bats with dark brown fur and wingspans of 18-24cm; the Soprano Pipistrelle, which are similar to the Common Pipistrelle but use a slightly higher frequency (hence the ‘Soprano’, I presume); and Brown Long-eared Bats, with strikingly large ears, three quarters the length of the bat's head and body!
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
e-mail: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
A damp, drizzly Thursday in August did not deter a dozen or so doughty individuals and families from participating in our annual wildlife survey. It may however have deterred some species from announcing their presence in the Cathedral environment as readily as they might have done in drier weather.
Participating environmental explorers surveyed the Old Palace Gardens, the West Garden, the Garth and the Guesten gardens behind 15 College Green. At least 25 different species of invertebrates were identified as listed below:
|
Common Name |
Family |
Genus |
Species |
Qty |
|
Comma Butterfly |
Nymphalidae |
Polygonia |
c-album |
1 |
|
Lime Hawk Moth Caterpillar |
Sphingidae |
Mimas |
tiliae |
1 |
|
Marmalade Hoverfly |
Syrphidae |
Episyrphus |
balteatus |
5 |
|
Garden Spider |
Araneidae |
Araneus |
diadematus |
12 |
|
Wolf Spider |
Lycosidae |
Pardosa |
pullata |
1 |
|
Common Pill Woodlouse |
Armadillidiidae |
Armadillidium |
vulgare |
7 |
|
Green Veined White Butterfly |
Pieridae |
Pieris |
napi |
2 |
|
Forest Bug |
Pentatomidae |
Pentatoma |
rufipes |
1 |
|
Crane Fly |
Tipulidae |
- |
- |
2 |
|
Honey Bee |
Apidae |
Apis |
melifera |
2 |
|
Tapered Dronefly |
Syrphidae |
Eristalis |
pertinax |
4 |
|
Thick-Legged Hoverfly |
Syrphidae |
Syritta |
pipiens |
2 |
|
Water Louse |
Asellidae |
Asellus |
aquaticus |
1 |
|
Common Wasp |
Vespidae |
Vespula |
vulgaris |
5 |
|
Carder Bee |
Apidae |
Bombus |
pascuorum |
3 |
|
Buff Tailed Bumblebee |
Apidae |
Bombus |
terrestris |
3 |
|
Common Earthworm |
Lumbricidae |
Lumbricus |
terrestris |
4 |
|
Garden Snail |
Helicidae |
Cornu |
aspersum |
7 |
|
Hawthorn Shield Bug |
Acanthosomatidae |
Acanthosoma |
haemorrhoidale |
1 |
|
Black Garden Ant |
Formicidae |
Lasius |
niger |
8 |
|
White Tailed Bumblebee |
Apidae |
Bombus |
locorum |
1 |
|
Soldier Beetle |
Cantharidae |
- |
- |
1 |
|
Ground Beetle |
Carabidae |
Calathus |
fuscipes |
2 |
|
Brimstone Butterfly |
Pieridae |
Gonepteryx |
rhamni |
1 |
This data is a valuable as part of the nationwide wildlife survey. Monitoring the biodiversity in the cathedral grounds is an important way of encouraging us to increase our engagement with nurturing ‘wild areas’, while at the same time forming a good opportunity to welcome individuals and families to our gardens.
Thank you to Julie, Connor and Lucy from Worcestershire Wildlife Trust who kindly led the survey and provided resources such as field guides and species identification guides, sample containers and magnifying glasses. Thanks also to Jo and Joan from the Cathedral Learning Team, who made ladybirds inside the Cathedral, and to Liz, John Paul and Susie Hoskins for enabling their beautiful gardens to be included in the survey.
Paul Robert, Eco Group member
You may have seen that we have been asking the cathedral community and visitors to participate in our Environmental Lifestyle Audit, which was prepared for us by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute students who visited us from the USA during March and April this year (see the eco-blog dated 24th May 2024 here). The Environmental Lifestyle Audit is aimed at helping people to reflect on their lifestyle and enable them to make positive changes. Why not have a go yourself by clicking here? It takes about 3 minutes….
We have had an encouraging number of responses, and here is what our community is saying to the main questions:
Air travel
57% of respondents do not fly, with 40% flying once or twice a year, and 3% multiple times. The core advice to those flying is to work to convert at least some of the flights made to train journeys, which is at least 10 times less carbon intensive.
Vehicles
8% do not own a vehicle, with 14% owning some kind of hybrid or fully electric vehicle, and 78% owning a diesel or petrol vehicle. The advice to those with vehicles is to consider whether you need one at all (walk, take the bus or train, get an electric bike instead), or whether you could go for an electric vehicle. No vehicle would typically save 5t of CO2, and a fully electric vehicle would save at least 3t. This is one of the best opportunities identified for our community and visitors to reduce their carbon footprints.
Solar Panels
26% of the respondents have solar panels, the remaining 74% can save 1t CO2 per annum and around £500 per year in their electricity bills.
Heating and Insulation
Only 6% have an air source heat pump to heat their home, saving typically 3t CO2 per annum, whereas 88% have loft insulation.
Consumer goods
39% can reduce their carbon footprint by 1-2t per annum by buying new goods such as electronics and clothing less frequently, through repairs, re-use and investing in better quality goods that last longer.
Meat consumption
17% eat no meat, with 61% of those who do eating it 3-5 times per week. By avoiding meat for one or two nights a week, for example through eating fish instead of meat, they can save 1t of CO2 per annum.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
We are very fortunate here at Worcester Cathedral to be rubbing shoulders on a Sunday with some excellent theologians: our David McGlouchlin is one of those, who led us in a stimulating discussion on 6 June 2024 around the knotty subject of hope in these difficult times.
I was a little worried that our turnout from the Eventbrite ticket ‘sales’ wouldn't really reflect the quality of the speaker and weight of the subject matter, but in the end so many extra people turned out that we overflowed the meeting room somewhat! The best thing is to read David’s notes and slides directly, which you can find here (notes) and here (slides), but I will attempt a crude summary below.
He discussed the biblical and theological foundations of hope, particularly from a Christian perspective, exploring how hope arises from an encounter with the living God, as exemplified by Moses' experience with the burning bush and the revelation of God's name. Hope emerges among the oppressed and those who grieve injustice, challenging the silence and repression of the powerful. The prophets and Jesus are voices of hope, offering a critique of the present order and imagining an alternative future shaped by God's promises. David examines various prophetic texts and Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom of God, highlighting how they envision a renewed creation marked by justice, peace, and the inclusion of the marginalised. There is a key role in the bible for poetry, song, and artistic expression in giving voice to prophetic imagination and hope. He concludes by encouraging the practice of "critical dreaming" and discerning signs of hope amidst struggles, to participate in God's liberating work.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
Dominic Lavelle, the MD of Go-Green Experts a local company that specialises in helping organisations to be greener, came to speak at a Living Gently on the Earth session on 23rd May. We really enjoyed Dominic’s enthusiasm and presentation (which you can find here).
Dominic explained to us how wildlife is being damaged by humans’ treatment of the environment, and the development of doughnut economics by Kate Rayworth, showing how humans are exceeding the planet’s natural boundaries in areas such as climate change, nitrogen and phosphorous loading, land conversion, and biodiversity loss.
We traditionally have a linear economy which is not sustainable, taking resources out at the front end (manufacturing) and scrapping them at the end (landfill), whereas a circular economy seeks to re-use goods and materials for the long-term. An example is the batteries of electrical vehicles, which in future are expected to become 98% recyclable.
We can live just as happily – more happily – through a simpler life: we don't need as much ‘stuff’ as we have been led to think that we do; we can share more (e.g. car shares in Worcester with Enterprise CarClub or Hiyacar); we can go to more second hand goods such as through Vinted for clothes, and e-bay for goods; we can avoid disposable products/plastics; we can repair our goods (eg through Worcester’s Repair Café – 2nd Saturday at Unity House Stanley Road); we can buy from circular brands like Patagonia.
He also spoke about Carbon Emissions, and the six ways that we can materially reduce our personal carbon emissions:
- Take the train instead of flying.
- Eat vegetarian.
- Cycle instead of driving.
- Go electric wherever you can (e.g. for cooking etc).
- Heat your home with an Air Source Heat Pump.
- Get an electric car instead of using fossil fuels.
Staffan Engstrom
Lay Canon
It was great to have the four students – McKenzie, Joe, Evan, and John - from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts USA with us for seven weeks this March and April. The goal of the project was to develop an Environmental Lifestyle Audit Tool for Worcester Cathedral’s community, visitors, and the wider city community to promote greener living, highlighting the Cathedral’s historical connection with the River Severn.
The following extract from the report tells the story of why our Cathedral and City exist:
“The City of Worcester has a rich and complex history tied to the Severn River, dating as far back as the Iron Age (1200 BC – 550 BC). Various communities throughout history have used the river for transporting people, goods, and materials. Furthermore, people likely settled in this area due to its proximity to a river crossing, which would have allowed them to easily ford the River Severn (Dalwood, 2003).
“In 43-47 AD, the Romans settled the Worcester area following their invasion of England…. By 680 AD, the Anglo-Saxons established a new settlement by a ford in the River Severn. Worcester's location along this ford placed it within an important travel and trade junction, contributing to much of the city's economic success (Engel, 2007). Worcester flourished during this period, gaining its name and the Cathedral that would become a focal point for religious and cultural life.”
The report points to climate change as a major driver of environmental issues for Worcester – such as flooding – and makes 9 recommendations:
- Implement the online interactive Environmental Lifestyle Audit Tool (ELAT). Try it here.
- Implement the Environmental Lifestyle Tool pamphlet, dedicating one page to the ELAT.
- Move sustainability messaging to a more prominent position on the Cathedral's website.
- Encourage wider staff engagement in sustainability efforts.
- Incorporate the ELAT messaging into the current Cathedral tours.
- Conduct a separate guide-led tour along the River Severn highlighting the Cathedral's relationship with the river and focusing on sustainability and the ELAT.
- Implement a series of informational signs featuring local history, climate change facts, and prompts to engage with the ELAT around the Cathedral grounds.
- Seasonally install a series of signs along the River Severn near the Cathedral promoting climate-conscious behaviour and directing visitors to the ELAT.
- Permanently install a series of signs along the River Severn with the same objectives as the seasonal signs.
Staffan Engstrom
Lay Canon
Try Out Our Environmental Lifestyle Audit Tool
We are pleased to share with you the Environmental Lifestyle Audit Tool that was designed for Worcester Cathedral by students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute to help us to make greener lifestyle choices. It is designed to be quick and easy to use rather than hard work or over-detailed. Please have a go and feedback your thoughts at the end.
To take the interactive Environmental Lifestyle Audit Tool (ELAT), just click here.
At our latest Living Gently on the Earth session on 25 April 2024, Owen Raybould, a dietary health speaker, explored how farming modern processed foods affects the environment, as well as our physical and mental health. Because of this relationship, changes in patterns of human health may act as a barometer for planetary health.
Owen highlighted that 70% of the NHS budget is spent on chronic diseases, including obesity, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune conditions and mental ill health. Owen shared his own story of leaving his local government career in 2010 due to “depression”, before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He was advised he may need a walking stick within ten years, but when he discovered and followed the “Paleo Diet” in 2012, his symptoms resolved, and he remains healthy today.
Owen explained why palaeolithic era foods are more nutritious than neolithic era foods and industrial age ultra-processed foods. The neolithic era was characterised by agriculture, producing foods from grains, pulses and dairy products. Grain-based foods include bread, cereals and pasta, and contain lectins, gliadin and gluten. Pulses include beans, lentils, peas and peanuts and also contain lectins and other antinutrients. Dairy products such as milk, cheese, yoghurt and cream, contain lactose, casein and whey. Ultra-processed foods include biscuits, crisps, frozen pizza, sugary cereals and cereal bars, white bread, added sugar or salt and chemicals such as aspartame, phenylalanine, and monosodium glutamate. Studies have linked some ultra-processed foods to gut inflammation, autoimmune conditions and depression.
Owen discussed intensive mono-crop farming of wheat, corn, soy, sugar and seed oils for processed food products and factory farm feed for livestock. These crops are easy to store and transport, versatile, addictive, and profitable. However, they harm the environment by reducing microbes, biomass fertilizer, such as leaves, minerals and fungal networks in the soil. This can lead to desertification of land, loss of biodiversity, increased greenhouse gas emissions and reduction of fertile land, resulting in social and political upheaval. In contrast, wild plants grow in humus, which holds water, reducing soil erosion and promoting microbial interaction, decaying organic matter, minerals and earthworms. Humus may be the key to food sustainability and carbon sequestration.
Owen also discussed animal farming in the context of climate change and highlighted that animals are part of the ecosystem. Sustainable farming of animals and plants mirrors nature through multi-crop farming, crop rotation, small scale farms, pastured animals, forest gardens and grazing. and community supported agriculture (CSA). Ecological farming yields more food, which is needed to feed to world’s growing population.
Owen then outlined his journey of dietary health coaching since 2012, and foraging for edible plants including nettle, wild chervil, mallow, lemon balm, sorrel, wild garlic, sweet bay leaf, goosegrass, garlic mustard and black mustard. He showed how favourably the nutrient content of nettle compares with spinach. Owen recommends eating a range of whole foods, organically or ecologically farmed where possible, and reducing refined and ultra-processed foods in our diet. Owen leads and facilitates foraging walks in the Bewdley area, which are bookable on Eventbrite or by emailing Owen on bitesizeforaging.com.
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
By sharing experience, we can actively support one another along the way. Staffan Engstrom and I were invited to share Worcester Cathedral’s experience of the Eco Church programme with the worship community at St Leonard’s Church, Beoley, part of the Diocese of Worcester. We shared in two of their morning services on Sunday 21 April 2024.
To structure our thoughts, we used resources from Season of Creation. We explored why creation matters, with reference to the biblical image of “creation straining on tiptoe” and “groaning as in childbirth” in Romans 8: 19-25. Creation is groaning because of our selfishness and the unsustainable actions that harm her. Saint Francis of Assisi understood that the earth is not a resource to be used, but a gift from our Creator. In his Canticle of Creatures (Laudes Creaturarum), a song of praise to God for His creations, St Francis refers to Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire and Sister Mother Earth. How can Mother Earth look after us if we do not look after her?
We read Margaret Atwood’s poem, The Moment, which explores our relationship with and responsibilities towards the natural environment, exploding the myth of ownership.
And yet, we can legitimately hope for, and expect, a better future. To hope in biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but rather groaning, crying, and actively striving for new life amidst the struggles. Just as in childbirth, there is a period of intense pain when new life is coming forth.
Staffan explored the theme of hope in more depth. God’s ultimate purpose and destiny for us is to bring freedom and glory to all Creation. That is why Creation waits in eager anticipation. We have a critical role to play. We cannot sit on the side-lines waiting for God to do everything. We are partners with Him in the process of the healing of Creation. Freedom and glory is about liberation from bondage to the decay of hatred, selfishness, greed, exploiting other creatures, over-use of the planetary resources, now and in the future. We have a clear role in the healing of relationships, tackling injustice and poverty, and taking care of the beautiful planet that sustains us and all the creatures that live on it.
This is why the Church cannot ignore its responsibility to care for Creation. And this is what Eco Church is about. God’s Creation needs us, wants us, anticipates us and groans for us to be and do what God has called us to. We can never be fulfilled as Christians, inside or outside Church, if we participate in exploiting the planet for our own desires, ignoring the call of the oppressed and the poor, because we will also be ignoring our very purpose.
This is not a guilt trip of competitive holiness. We don’t have to be super green and lose our pleasures. It’s the opposite of that. It’s a call to joyfully integrate care for the planet as part of our faith and worship. If we listen, we will hear the call of God – the call of Creation, the call of the trees and the birds and the seas. As Christians, in a spirit of repentance at humanity’s historic abuse of Creation, we will be responding to God’s call to us to bring the freedom and glory of the Children of God to all Creation.
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
When we consider that we are an integral part of our natural environment, our responsibility to do all we can to care for it, protect and sustain it, is clear. With this principle in mind, Worcester Cathedral is committed to actively managing its gardens and grounds.
Head Gardener, David Whelan, with support from the team of gardeners and the Cathedral’s Eco Group, has written a plan detailing how the Cathedral can realise this commitment in practical terms. The A Rocha Eco Church initiative provides a useful framework to structure and prioritise activities that are most likely to be effective.
The plan covers the Cathedral's four main garden areas: the Old Palace, the Dean's Garden, the Choir School Garden, and the Garth, as well as other green spaces including College Yard and College Green. Specific activities in progress include:
- facilitating the development of natural meadows, by selective and periodic mowing (or not mowing) areas of lawn
- nesting boxes for birds and bats
- bug hotels
- hedgehog boxes
- use of selective organic pesticides, eliminating synthetic, harmful non-specific ones
- producing and using compost onsite
- not using peat-based composts
- water butts to collect and re-use rainwater
The volunteer gardeners have created new wildlife habitats including a tailored meadow and a bug hotel between the Guesten and the Chapter House, hedgehog boxes, and bat boxes.
The plan details proposals to improve accessibility and biodiversity in the Old Palace Garden. These include planting new trees on the Old Palace Garden, College Green, Edgar Tower and West End Gardens. There are existing fruit trees including apple, pear, peach, mulberry, loganberry, cherry, grape vine, blackcurrant and redcurrant, with plans to plant more, either singly or in an orchard. A wildlife pond is planned for the Old Palace Garden and wildflower seeds have been spread in areas of the Old Palace Garden and College Green, with plans to spread more this autumn. New benches and refurbishment of the summerhouse will enable people to spend more time in and appreciate the gardens and green spaces around the Cathedral.
Implementation of the plan depends on sufficient and appropriate support for the team of two employed gardeners and five volunteer gardeners, with a proposal to employ an apprentice. Of course, the proposals in the plan also require adequate resourcing, and a number of approaches to securing this are being sought and explored.
In September 2024, Staffan and Katie Engstrom will be walking from Worcester to the ancient pilgrimage site of St Davids, Pembrokeshire, traversing four beautiful parks areas of outstanding natural beauty. Through this endeavour, Staffan and Katie will be raising awareness and funds for peace and sustainable green spaces at Worcester Cathedral. You can support their pilgrimage for peace and nature and read more about their journey at: https://staffanengstrom.co.uk/
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
It was a privilege to have Leisa Taylor come to speak to us on 21st March 2024 about ‘Take the Jump’ which is a ‘joyous people-led’ movement designed to energise people to act to avoid ecological breakdown. Leisa’s core message was that we really can do it through six simple steps, always in the spirit of ‘no-blame, no shame, it’s enough to try.’ The six steps are certainly simple and will really make a difference:
- End clutter - Keep the appliances that you have for 7 years.
- Travel fresh - If you can, don’t have a personal vehicle.
- Eat green - Make your diet plant-based, as locally sourced as possible, with less waste.
- Holiday local - Limit your air travel to once every 3 years.
- Dress retro - Buy up to 3 new items of clothing a year.
- Change the system - Make at least one life shift to ‘nudge the system’ such as: change to a green energy supplier or bank, green your home, or join a peaceful protest.
Leisa spoke to us and facilitated a discussion about the challenges that the steps imply, but notably in such a positive way. The challenge is just to try it for 1, 3, or 6 months, and to take it from there.
The beauty of Take the Jump is that it is so simple, making it plain what each of us can do. But be warned, it takes away so many excuses! By making it simple it makes it harder for people (like me) to debate the points away with abstract excuses or to engage in token acts of greenness, so it encourages honesty. At the same time, the ‘no-blame try it’ approach doesn't allow negative feelings to become an excuse, either.
So, the question for all of us is this: What will you do?
You can view Leisa’s talk here (18 minutes).
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
On 11th March 2024, we will once more be welcoming a research team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts USA, part of a long-standing partnership between the University of Worcester and WPI. Over seven weeks, they will help us develop our engagement with visitors and the community by researching the deeper story of the relevance of the River Severn to the heritage of the cathedral and city, looking both to the past and the future by including an environmental lifestyle tool that connects our heritage with how we live today.
From left to right: Joseph Beauregard from Chelmsford, Massachusetts; Evan Mandel from Houston, Texas; John Steglitz from Thompson, Connecticut; and McKenzie Anderson, originally from New Mexico.
We hope that many of you will meet them during their time here and feel sure that you will welcome the team as they engage in visitor surveys, structured interviews, and focus groups. Jo Wilson and I are coaching and supporting the team on the work.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
On Thursday 22 February 2024, as part of the Living Gently on the Earth series, I spoke about the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Leadership (WEEL) project, which Christian Aid is undertaking with local partners in Sierra Leone.
The WEEL project is part of Christian Aid’s In Their Lifetime (ITL) programme. For two years from June 2022, it aims to test an innovative approach that leverages mobile money technology to strengthen Village Savings and Credit Unions, alongside a wider suite of support for women’s empowerment.
In October 2023, as part of a small group of UK Christian Aid supporters and staff, I visited Christian Aid Sierra Leone and its local project partners SEND (Social Enterprise Development) and RADA (Rehabilitation and Development Agency). We visited four communities to hear first-hand about the difference the WEEL project is making to their lives.
You can find out more about Christian Aid’s In Their Lifetime appeal here and about the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Leadership (WEEL) project here.
Using words of the women and men in the communities we visited, I wrote the following poem to tell the story of their experiences. The Lion Mountains range partially surrounds Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The Cotton Tree was a historic symbol of Freetown.
Moving Lion Mountains
he is storm she is cotton tree there are disputes there are choices sometimes he slaps her
you touch one you touch us all it multiplies ask the one who is crying in the middle of the night
don’t touch me! lef mi bodi!
he is capsicum she is cassava she cannot count money her business makes a loss she cannot speak
we are your mouth we are your money he says
we are more frequent users of money she doesn’t say
he is badger she is bird it’s hard she leaves she returns again he is touched he chooses
there’s training they become a family he for she it multiplies
men are jittery but it’s not for them to be jittery it’s a network it multiplies
women bring it home men throw it away he says
they are rain they are sun now they work side by side closing the gaps
now they fall in love with their lives day by day waiting to see how it goes
storms are over they are very happy about it now there is peace at home
you help one woman you help the community it multiplies
they are guava they are goat she learns a lot a lot she doesn’t need much
a box we save money in the box
money earned loans lent lessons learned money spent cash in cash out
it’s community women and men a spill effect it multiplies
that’s how we go about it
money makes confidence nicer clothes vibrant vibrant
they are village they are union women lead now we speak with one voice as all women
all women not divided by religion or politics or status men give space
amplifying voices it multiplies it changes lives a lot a lot
Leh Wi Go!
Paul Grime
Worcester Cathedral Eco Group member
Staffan Engström and I got up early on Thursday 15 February 2024 to catch a train to London. Fortunately, there were no major delays or disruptions on the rail network for once, and we made it to Parliament Square in good time to participate in the No Faith in Fossil Fuels Lent Vigil for Climate Justice outside the Houses of Parliament.
For ten days from Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), people are taking part in the vigil in Westminster throughout each day and night, as well as in their homes and churches. We chatted to other participants covering the slots either side of ours, as well as passers-by on the pavement. The round-the-clock event has been organised by a coalition of charities including A Rocha UK, Christian Aid, Christian Climate Action, Green Christian, Operation Noah, the Salvation Army and Tearfund.
We took along home-made placards and Eartha, our precious planet mascot (of Christmas Tree Festival fame) which started a few conversations on the train. The purpose of the event is to draw attention to the injustice of climate change i.e. that those who experience the greatest loss and damage from climate change have contributed least to causing it. Organisers and participants in the vigil are calling on governments to commit to climate finance for the people and countries most affected by the crisis, and ensure big polluters contribute their share. We are also calling for a ban on new fossil fuel projects.
Whilst we are all, to some extent, weathering the storm of climate change, we are not all in the same boat. For example, parts of Kenya and Somalia have been experiencing drought and chronic water shortages linked to the climate crisis for years. That is unfair. They don’t have the same resources to deal with the crisis that wealthier nations do. That responsibility lies with countries like the UK, which need to cut emissions and fund climate action at home and abroad, and also with the fossil fuel giants which make vast profits while causing untold damage. Bold action is needed now.
Paul Grime, Worcester Cathedral Eco Group member
I was blown away by the talk given on 25 January by Rev. Robin Parry, our eco spirituality minister, which he called “Between Denial and Despair: Eco-Anxiety: A Christian Approach.”
The room was filled by people from various denominations around the city, including many pastors, ministers, and priests. I realised that this is a topic at the forefront of the minds of many Christian leaders as they seek to help people to balance the worries about climate and other disasters with the day-to-day life of faith of their congregations.
Robin explained how the big story of Jesus, of God working through humanity in the world, helps us to navigate and face the darkness with honesty and hope, leading to action. This is because the fundamentals of Christian living are centred around coping with the despair of crucifixion through the new life of resurrection. Hope stands at the very heart of the Gospel.
Hope does not rule out the possibility of catastrophe, however, there have been times of trouble and distress in the past and there will be in future. But we need neither deny that there is a crisis, nor despair at it, because our Hope is in God and not in humans.
When we pray for God to do something about the ecological and other crises, we are praying for Him to enable humans to act as the hands, feet, and voice of Christ on Earth. The role of people of faith is to do what good we can do in the time that is given to us.
Here is the talk for you to view (in three parts, between the group discussions):
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
It was great to get along to the first ‘Worship in the Garden’ event on the Sunday afternoon of 7th January 2024. I had been really pleased to hear of our eco-spirituality minister Robin Parry’s initiative to start two monthly outside worship events. Worship in the Garden is on the first Sunday of the month at 3pm and Sacred Garden is at 10am on the 3rd Saturday of the month (20th January is the first one).
Robin has said that the vision is to develop a service that focuses on worship of the Creator in creation, with creation, and aware of ourselves as a part of creation. This is fundamental stuff, as we un-learn the fallacy of modernity that we are isolated individuals trying to make our way alone. Don't get me wrong, I love the Cathedral with its heritage, worship, and wonderful architecture, but there is something so important in the re-learning of who we are as part of Creation.
We met in the January cold, praying in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and praying as we looked to North, South, West, and East. We sensed and recognised together the presence, breath and welcome of God in this, a sacred place. We gave thanks and praise, affirming our Faith together, and committed to take care of the environment that is given for us. We heard the scriptures, and Robin spoke on the preciousness of light – spiritual and physical. We spent time in silence, confessed our wrongs and received forgiveness, prayed for the world, and we said the Lord’s Prayer together. It felt like a very Anglican way to pray outside.
Then we spent 20 minutes on what Robin called ‘engaging Creation’, a way of responding to God’s call by attending to the environment by working in a practical, hands-on way. I was tempted to go a sit on my own, but instead joined 3 or 4 others to clear an ancient patio under a tree of brambles and weeds… It turned out to be the best part of the service! There is something special about doing it together, a kind of bonding process.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
On 7 December 2023 more than 120 people filled the Great Hall of the Old Palace for our climate crisis debate, coinciding with the COP28 United Nations Climate Conference, for which the theme was Unite. Act. Deliver.
Our panel members were:
- Mel Allcott for the Liberal Democrat Party
- Marc Bayliss for the Conservative Party
- Tom Collins for Labour Party
- Tor Pingree for the Green Party
The chair was H-J Colston-Inge, Director of the charity Engage with China.
Questions submitted in advance and from the floor covered a wide range of themes:
- The link between capitalism/economic growth and climate change
- How to deal with climate driven migration and those displaced by it
- How to correct our failure to insulate homes and support renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions and improve living standards
- Political policies on global warming
- Whether agricultural technology (Agri Tech) could be part of the solution to the climate crisis, particularly in Worcestershire, with its agricultural heritage
- Whether the biodiversity crisis is an existential threat and what can be done
- How to mitigate and adapt to the increasing risks of flooding and build a greener and more resilient infrastructure
- Whether there should be accountability for climate damage from conflict and military emissions
- Our individual and collective responsibility to make lifestyle changes to combat climate change and how poorer people can be supported to live greener lives
- How to support farmers to engage with rewilding to reduce and prevent flooding
- Electoral reform to address our increasingly divisive politics, ensure voices are heard and environmental policies are implemented nationally as well as locally
- Climate education and climate-related mental ill health in children and young people.
All panel members agreed that the climate crisis is an important priority but there were nuances in approaches and responses. All agreed that there should be accountability for climate damage from conflict and military emissions. At the end of the evening, audience member asked for applause from those who felt more hopeful having listened to the debate. Some applauded but it was “lukewarm”.
Here are some “soundbites” from the debate:
Mel Alcott:
- There is more to do on the green economy to support jobs and the environment.
- Greener authority is the way forward so that most of our energy comes from renewables by 2030.
- Young people need immediate support, including mental health support in schools.
- Refugees should be welcomed in light of labour shortages in the health and care sectors. Cases should be considered individually.
- Home insultation is woefully inadequate and housing associations could do more.
- We need to grow more produce locally rather than import it.
- There should be better infrastructure for electric vehicles.
- Farmers need financial incentives to support rewilding.
Marc Bayliss:
- We need economic growth for health and social care and to meet our aims.
- Economic growth and pollution are not linked and global warming is not an inevitable result of capitalism.
- We can’t sustain unfettered migration because resources are finite.
- The UK is responsible for less than 1% of global emissions, is the 22nd biggest emitter, but has the 6th largest economy. The real challenge is to persuade the big emitters like China and the US.
- The Prime Minister was right to pick more sensible target dates and 2035 is in line with other countries.
- We must do more to invest in green infrastructure, mitigation and flood defences and be more self-reliant. Cross-party consensus should be led by real rather than “armchair” scientists.
- Climate change affects all our lifestyles, so the wealthy should not be singled out
- The UK is a world leader in addressing climate change. We have reduced emissions more that any large, industrialised country. But we need to do more.
Tom Collins:
- Politicians’ influence stops at national level but the climate crisis is a political issue and an existential threat.
- Labour would seek economic growth to make Britain a green energy superpower, investing quickly in renewables and communities to reform things to make them fairer. It’s an opportunity to be leaders, create jobs, money and energy security. It’s exciting and within reach.
- Action on climate change is needed urgently to minimise the need for migration
- Innovation is my jam. Worcester is the birthplace of new things, thriving on independent small businesses. Worcester is not a sleepy city, there are massive opportunities. We are the spark. We are all leaders. Let’s bring change.
- We need to regain our love for nature. Water companies need to be more accountable for river pollution. Loss of biodiversity is an existential threat.
- Climate adaptation is a massive issue. Shifts in weather patterns and complex system changes lead to unpredictable tipping points.
- It’s devastating when people say they have lost faith in politics. Labour have made it policy to look for change. There is great hope.
- The climate crisis can feel huge and overwhelming but it’s a burning issue for children. We need to tackle it quickly and well for our children and for our planet.
Tor Pingree:
- The Green Party is not a single-issue party, but its green policies are strong and important. So much so, they named the party after them!
- The climate crisis is much bigger than politics. It’s not all about money – you can’t eat, drink or breathe money when crops fail.
- The Green Party supports growth in resources like cleaner rivers and air, better crops and environmental stability.
- Efforts to address climate change has been worryingly slow. United action is urgent because it’s an international issue. We can’t wait any longer.
- Why are we heating the streets? Ensuring homes are not leaky is a top priority.
- Agriculture and flooding are relevant for Worcester. Fertiliser and pesticides are polluting rivers, killing fish and decimating biodiversity. 64% of our insects have been lost since 2004. This is hugely important because they are at the bottom of the food chain.
- We need to make carbon more expensive through tax.
- Politicians need to take a step back and ask what we must do to ensure a survivable and prosperous future. Will future generations say that we made good choices? We need to invest in biodiversity and climate change action, or we won’t have a future. The Green Party is ready for that future now.
H-J Colston-Inge:
Chinese proverb: “One generation plants the tree, another gets the shade.”
I am probably a bit simple when it comes to flowers. I noticed years ago that they can have a very positive impact on the favourite women in my life, particularly my wife Katie and my mother. As I have grown older, I have further learned to love the ambience and delicacy provided by the fresh flowers that we have in the Cathedral, how they somehow lift the experience of being present, providing a connection to the beauty of nature.
I had heard that there are issues with making church flowers sustainable but had no idea why it was challenging to achieve, when I had chance to chat with Helen and Mel, Chair and Secretary at the Cathedral’s Flower Guild at the Green Fair, who invited me to come and speak at their upcoming AGM. As I don't know much about flowers, I asked our Precentor John-Paul to come with me (who admitted that he doesn't know much about flowers either) as the Warden of the Flower Guild.
I think it’s fair to say that we learned a lot.
The Flower Guild raise £4-5000 per year to enable the Cathedral to enjoy such beautiful flower displays, which is impressive on its own. It is an art-form, way beyond the simple domestic offerings that I have experienced, because with the scale of the Cathedral the flower presentations must be so much larger in order not to become dwarfed by the building. The introduction of flower foam 60 years ago - before we realised the drawbacks that it presents for the environment - enabled the craft to go down new avenues and making it easier to do. You can make more elaborate arrangements, with flowers at all sorts of angles, and the flowers staying fresh because of the water held by the foam. You don’t have to store and carry lots of heavy water to keep them fresh when you use foam, and you don't need the same amount of storage, or large vases and plinths.
What was especially impressive for me is that the Guild is not complacent. It sees the sustainability issues and is committed to solving them, and at Chapter we understand better how we must work with the Guild to help find a way through. It isn’t easy, and we aren’t there yet, but it is precisely what our society’s sustainability challenge is all about: finding solutions to the environmental problems of the modern age through working together.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
We enjoyed a wonderful talk from our own David McGlouchlin at the recent Living Gently on the Earth event on 26 October. David took us through a white-knuckle ride of Pope Francis' vision for social justice and the environment culminating with his most recent exhortation "Laudate Deum: Praise God", issued on 4 October. I found myself beginning to understand, in a fresh and broadened way, how thoroughly social justice, care for our planet, and the mission of Christians are linked together.
I have summarised my key learning below, but please do read David’s speaking notes here, view his slides here, and see a video of his talk here (apologies for my hand-held recording). Much of the wording below is taken directly from David’s talk.
The focus of Christian social justice teaching for the last 400 years has been on addressing the rights and duties of believers and how they might organise for common good in the world. Francis wants to start an inclusive conversation, one of dialogue, engagement, and discernment. There is no standing back on some pure moral high ground and making clear authoritative doctrinal statements. It’s an invitation for us all to get down and dirty in the complex reality of our contemporary world and the fragility of the complex social, political and economic relationships that underpin it.
The environmental problems of today have ethical and spiritual roots and require solutions that are not only technological but also need a change of mind and heart in humanity. We need a new way of loving, moving from what we want to what God’s world needs. In the life and teaching of Francis of Assisi he proposes we can find an inspiration for an integral ecology which demonstrates the “inseparable bond between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace.”
From St. Francis we may find the attitude of openness to awe and wonder, the language of fraternity and beauty, rather than the language of domination and exploitation. Learning that we are united to all that exists allows a quality of care to well up within us which avoids turning our world into merely an object to be used, manipulated, and controlled. We begin to see the world as not a problem but a mystery to be gratefully and joyfully contemplated.
The six chapters unfold to explore: the symptoms we see; what this means through the eyes of faith; how we have forgotten who we are; how we may find renewal; how we may act; and motivations for change.
David explained how Francis sees the fundamental qualities necessary to face the challenges of the present as relational. This means for men and women to engage convivially and companionably, in a shared project for the common good of the entire planet.
“The scriptures open with a story of God walking with the man and woman at one with all the species of flora and fauna around them. And the vision of the last book of the bible is the same God coming again to dwell among us in a garden city, the New Jerusalem. A garden city for the healing of the nations. May it be so!”
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
email: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
The second annual Big Green Eco Family Fair on Saturday 7 October 2023 was a dizzyingly wonderful day. I was stunned to learn that 6,000 people or more had attended, with 5,500 recorded through the Cathedral’s front door and many more directly through College Hall. We had been pleased with the c.1000 that attended last year, but this was incredible!
The event was officially and beautifully opened by Worcester Cathedral’s Youth Choir in the Chapter House, and in the garden, Transition Worcester Community Garden gave us apple pressing, potted plants and cuttings, apple juice, wildflower bouquets, wood whittling, and fruit and veg as did Walcot Organic Nursery and Roots Family Farm Shop in the Cloister. Outside there was also camp fire story telling for children by The Bramblewood Project, and we enjoyed fascinating edible and medicinal plant identification tours in the Cathedral grounds by local forager Owen Raybould.
We had numerous campaigning and special interest groups present: Greenpeace Worcestershire, Extinction Rebellion Worcestershire, RSPB, Viva: The Vegan Charity, St Richards Hospice, Bromyard Road Methodist Church, Worcester Cathedral Flower Guild, and (of course) Worcester Cathedral Eco Group.
The Repair Café Worcester ran a repair and recycling workshop in the Chapter House (NB: they have repair sessions every second Saturday of the month from 11am-2pm at Unity House on Stanley Road), and Let’s Waste Less supported us in reducing, re-using and recycling advice. Other stalls provided green and recycled items for sale, including Sewn by Steph, and Fairly Traded Goods. Act on Energy provided practical energy conservation advice to householders and small businesses.
The main crowd-pulling star of the show however was the ‘Worth the Weight’ vintage clothes sale in College Hall. Based in Sheffield, ‘Worth the Weight’ was founded in 2018 as a way of fighting fast fashion. The team travels the length and breadth of the country selling tonnes of quality vintage stock every weekend.
As we were setting the Fair up, I was amazed and to be honest, initially not a little concerned, at the enormous amount of vintage clothing that was being rolled through the cloister to College Hall. How on Earth would they sell enough to make it worthwhile? I need not have worried, having filled College Hall with goods, they had done all the preparation needed to fill it with customers as well. I was impressed and feel very happy that Worcester Cathedral can play its role in enabling events like these.
Staffan Engstrom | Lay Canon
We enjoyed a great opportunity on Thursday 28 September 2023 to connect with many of the other green groups around Worcester at the Transition Worcester Community Garden, which is off Waterworks Road near the racecourse. It was organised by our own Clare Harker, Cathedral Eco-Group member who has worked so hard in building links, bringing some real fruit (not to mention the veg!) in relationships and in co-ordination.
We started with a tour of the garden led by Steve Dent and Jon Bodenham including the medicinal herb garden, orchard, pond, many raised beds, and polytunnels. As an engineer, I was very impressed by the amazing office, store, and beehive pontoons which act as flood defences through floating when the river floods the area!
We enjoyed a soup lunch with vegan Uchiki Kuri soup and a Polish smoked sausage legume soup with crusty bread and homemade cake. We then shared about our various activities, hearing from:
- Steve and Jon of the Transition Garden, who have over 50 volunteers building community around gardening. It creates a great atmosphere of friendship and they have even created a public living room where anyone can sit down, have a coffee and a chat, providing real mental health benefits.
- Alan of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust who are hosting structured, facilitated session for new proposals for nature projects on an ongoing basis.
- Paul of Worcester Environmental Group shared how they are working with various groups, including corporates, to engage folk with local wildlife. They have been running a 2 hr walk on the ‘Wild About Worcester Way’.
- Wilder Worcester have held bat evenings at various churches which have really galvanised local interest.
- Worcester Canal Group is establishing a swifts box project and arranged evening walks for looking swifts. Worcester Environmental Group is making the swift boxes.
- Arboretum residents are engaged with bulb planting on Sunday 15th October.
- Rosie Venner of Just Money spoke about the Good Money week coming up where they are looking to run a bank switch campaign towards ethical banking.
- Paul of Christian Aid and the Cathedral spoke about the Talking Climate Justice event held at the Cathedral in July and said that he is shortly off to Sierra Leone for an ‘in my lifetime’ project to support local women in business.
- Worcester Welcomes Refugees. Sue explained that the initiative is developing rapidly. It was set up for Afghan refugees. Ken and Sue have personally befriended a Syrian family over the last 2 years, which has been very rewarding.
- The Repair Café explained how they are meeting on the second Saturday of month at Unity House on Stanley Road, and will also attend the Cathedral’s Eco Fair.
- St Swithins have just spent £2m spent on the building and are now looking for ways for it to be used.
- Transition Worcester have set up a gleaning group for apples.
- Worcester Food Rescue is collecting supermarket surplus and providing it to local charities, including those involved in migrant support. They even have a pet food bank. Orchard workers will be running the Apple press at the Cathedral’s upcoming Eco Fair.
I had the opportunity to share on behalf of the Cathedral regarding our work in Worcester. I spoke about how taking care of nature is the common cause that binds us, and which demands collaboration of the green groups in Worcester. We talked about how we are engaging people through our series of Living Gently on the Earth sessions through training, teaching, encouraging and inspiring. We have been working at greening our land: hedgehogs and bug hotels, rewilding, saving water for re-use, and nature surveys to protect what we have. We are getting going on the huge and challenging task of taking our 1000-year-old Cathedral to net zero. This is a tough objective, but we are developing a plan!
It’s great to be connecting in this way, and especially to see so many of these groups collaborating to participate in the Cathedral’s Eco Fair on Sat 7 Oct. In this way the green groups of the city are coming together to emphasise how important our planet, with it’s ecology and environment, are to everyone who lives on it.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
e-mail: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
The media is awash with articles and documentaries about environmental issues and there can hardly be a person left who is unaware of the vast challenges of climate change. If you want a biological or meteorological or economic or political perspective on various ecological crises then you don’t have to look hard – turn on the radio or TV, or do a Google search, or just pop down to the library. And most of this material is good – indeed, some of it is very good. More than simply interesting, it is essential to educate ourselves on such matters if we are to know how to live wisely in what many refer to as the Anthropocene, the era of earth history defined by human impact on the planet. But . . .
Why should we care about our environment? The assumption behind many, perhaps most, of the articles in the news is that we should care because if our environment suffers then we suffer. And obviously we should try to avoid things that are bad for us. True. And that is a good reason to care. But is it enough?
Perhaps one part of my concern is that we usually frame the discussion in terms of ‘the environment’. By ‘the’ environment we usually mean ‘our’ environment, the natural surroundings and conditions in which we live and on which we depend. But this way of speaking frames matters in terms of us, on the one hand, and our support system (the environment), on the other. It can tend towards being human-centric. While talk of ‘the environment’ has a place, it is not adequate on its own.
Traditionally, Christians have spoken of the ‘Creator’ and the ‘creation’. Creation is everything that is not the Creator. That includes gravity, black holes, mountains, oak trees, woodlice, deer, and human beings – plus anything else in the world you care to mention. Here creation is not something that we can speak of as though we are somehow ‘set apart’ from it, as though it is ‘out there’. On this way of seeing things, you are I are as much a part of creation as a jelly fish or a comet. We all stand together, utterly dependent for our very existence from one moment to the next on the Creator. This puts us in solidarity with all other creatures.
Sadly, the word ‘creature’ has fallen into misuse in modern English. When we speak of ‘creatures’ nowadays we often simply mean animals. In Christian thought, however, ‘creature’ is a word for anything and everything that has been created. My cat Monty is indeed a creature (a very cute one, I must add), but so is an apple tree, so is Mount Everest, and so am I. Creatures are not things other than me. I exist as one thread in a complex web of creatures.
This solidarity of humans and other creatures is captured in Genesis 2, one of the creation stories in the Bible. There God, imagined like a potter, forms a human creature from the soil. There’s a play on words in the Hebrew text that most English-speakers miss. The creature is called ’ādām (human) because it was formed from the ’adāmah (dust) (Genesis 2:7). Perhaps we could say, the creature was called Dusty, because it was made from the dust (or Rocky, because it was made from the rock; or human, because it was made from the humus). The point the ancient Hebrew writer is making is that humans are made from the same stuff as everything else. Like other animals (Genesis 2:19), we are dust, albeit dust with a destiny.
Then, in the same verse, God breathes his breath into the human, and it becomes a living creature (Hebrew: nephesh hayah). The association of breath and life makes sense, even to modern people. We breathe when we are alive and stop when we die. And it’s not only us. Even plants breathe. Now, some Christians have said that that having the divine breath makes humans different to other creatures. Wrong. In the Bible all animals, while they live, have the breath of life from God in them (Psalm 104:29–30), all of them are nephesh hayah, ‘living souls’ (Genesis 1:20–21, 30).
We could go on listing other parallels Genesis draws between humans and other creatures, like receiving the same divine blessing and the same divine commission to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:22, 28), but you get the idea. (There is a distinction in the Bible between humans and other animals – humans alone are created ‘in the image of God’ [Genesis 1:26–27]. That is an important issue to explore, but one for another day.)
In the thought world of Genesis 1, all that God has created is good and blessed. The opening chapter of the Bible drums that point home again and again. Perhaps that’s why another ancient Jewish author prayed to God: ‘For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made, for you would not have made anything if you had hated it’ (Wisdom of Solomon 11:24).
So, this ancient sensibility is one in which human beings stand before the face of God as creatures among other creatures in a single community of creation. We are not set ‘apart’ from the world nor at the centre of the world (we don’t even get one of the seven days of creation to ourselves but share Day 6 with all the other land animals, including slugs). Everything in creation has a place and a value because God created it good. Non-human creatures are not good merely because they are good for us; they are also good in and of themselves and in their own beautiful inter-relations. They are also beautiful in their bespoke relationships with God. This ancient sensibility can fund a kind of monastic eco-spirituality:
“To orient oneself to the non-human, to give one’s conscious attention fully and deeply to a place, an animal, a tree, or a river is already to open oneself to relationship and intimacy with another. It is to see and feel the presence of the Other not as an object, but as a living subject. To experience this Other as part of ‘a larger whole,’ part of a vibrant and complex ecology, and to seek to immerse oneself in that larger whole.”
(Douglas Christie, The Blue Sapphire of the Mind, p. 8)
And perhaps in our new urban worlds, which alienate us to a significant degree from the natural world, this is a sensibility we need to recover if we are to learn to live gently on the earth.
Revd Dr Robin Parry
I vividly remember Michael Brierly, our Cathedral’s Precentor until a couple of years ago, preaching to us passionately about the benefits of holidaying in Europe by taking the train rather than flying. He was preaching about the impact on planet, and as he preached, I found myself sinking lower and lower in my pew, hoping not to be spotted as someone who has flown a lot over the years. Now I hear that John-Paul, our current Precentor, and his family have taken the train to Austria. It got me thinking, is it just a ‘Precentor Thing’ or can taking the train to go on holiday really work?
This summer, we tried taking the train and discovered that it worked very well. We travelled through France to the Swiss and Italian Alps, with the route planning made so much easier using the excellent website The Man in Seat 61. The trains were modern, fast, and efficient, zipping through the French and Italian countryside at up to 300km/h (185mph), giving a sense of connection with the countries that we were travelling through rather than over.
It was not as quick as flying - departing London St Pancras at 12.24pm, arriving the next day in Venice at 17.12pm - but neither was it as stressful, as we allowed the journey to form part of the holiday. We stopped off overnight in London, Paris, and Venice, giving the chance to wander for a few hours and have dinner in these great cities. Once we arrived in Venice, we hired a car locally for a few days to explore the Dolomites, then reverted to the train to travel in Switzerland.
On our return, a friend asked me if I had made the comparison to see how much difference it made to the Carbon footprint of our holiday. I hadn’t then, but I have now, using the super online calculator by Climate Stewards. Here are the calculated outputs for two people travelling the 973 miles to Venice, and back again:
- Flying – 1.9 tCO2
- Driving – 0.5 tCO2
- Train – 0.1 tCO2
So, according to the calculator we reduced our impact by 1.8 tCO2 through using the train to go on holiday. I understand that a typical Briton’s carbon footprint is about 10 tCO2, so this simple change can reduce your personal impact on the environment by 10%! (On the other hand, it is also probably 2-3 times more expensive than flying in cash terms, but surely, it’s worth it?).
So, it isn’t just a ‘Precentor Thing’, then. It can be an anyone thing. I am not saying that I will never fly again, but rather that I am learning that I can make better choices to help the environment, and better consider the bigger impacts of my travel in future. This means living a little differently, taking different choices and adopting different approaches.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Lay Canon and Eco-Group member
e-mail: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
The Cathedral Eco Group jointly hosted this event with Worcester Christian Aid Group, as part of Christian Aid’s national Talking Climate Justice Tour project and Living Gently on the Earth.
Climate injustice refers to the disproportionate impact of climate change on those who have contributed least to it. A short Christian Aid video explains why climate justice is important and how it links to racial justice.
A panel discussion and question and answer session were chaired by Right Reverend Martin Gorick, Bishop of Dudley. The panel members included Alan Dixon, Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Worcester, Paul Jackson, Professor of African Politics and a political economist in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham and Reverend Sue Adeney, Eco Church Lead for the Diocese of Worcester, Associate Priest for Hanley Castle and Hanley Swan and Parish Councillor.
The panel considered:
- Why climate justice is important
- What it means to achieve climate justice
- How we can make a difference.
Alan Dixon spoke of his research on human environmental adaptation. The North has benefited from historical development so should tackle the resulting injustices in the South, particularly the human rights of those affected most by climate change. Farmers in Malawi and Zambia are not short of ideas or creativity but lack the support of infrastructure to change things. A change in power relationships is needed. Decision-making should be led by bottom-up initiatives.
Paul Jackson said not enough is being done to promote climate justice. His work focusses on conflict resolution in Colombia and Sierra Leone. Around 40% of violence is directly linked to access to mineral resources, with much of the rest associated with environmental issues. He advises UK government and UN decision-making groups. Not enough is being done about the power relationships between North and South. Climate Justice means emancipation of people in the South. He cited a UK Foreign Office research project in which non-profit organisations called for more leadership from the Global South. Perspectives on human rights vary, but we don’t have to agree with everything to work effectively with others.
Sue Adeney said the UK is not taking Climate Justice seriously enough. We take credit for reaching zero carbon targets but export the issue by trading with China, which has a bigger carbon footprint. Climate Justice is an existential crisis for us all but small steps matter and are important in giving hope and a sense of achievement. Online support for organisations engaged in tackling the issues is effective. Tesco have been effectively challenged over river pollution from chicken production in the Wye Valley. The Stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (STOPEACOP) movement is lobbying insurance companies not to insure the project.
The panel responded to questions from the floor:
Why are UK politicians not committed to address climate justice?
- It’s multi-level. Small steps can have a positive effect. The Fair-Trade movement built gradually.
- Christian Aid has influence, and its research is taken seriously. Its ‘Impact Review 2021/2022’ is a good source of information.
- There are good MPs with an interest in the issues. Politicians’ assumptions can be challenged, as in the support for wind turbines in Worcestershire.
What about population movement resulting from climate change?
- There is a lack of joined up thinking. Better aid would reduce the need for migration.
- Some countries have as many migrants as settled population. The issues for the South are complex. “Stop the boats” is an oversimplification. There are major drug and gun smuggling channels through container ports.
What can voters do when governments have little interest in issues requiring sustained effort?
- Think of ‘voting’ more broadly. Consider carefully the ethical profile of consumer products, banking and insurance.
- Persistent campaigns can persuade organisations to ‘disinvest’ in companies with a bad record.
Bishop Martin reminded everyone of Psalm 115.16: “God has the heavens while the earth has been entrusted to humankind”.
Participants considered issues further and reported back:
How do faith or moral principles motivate us to act on climate justice?
- Our faith is rooted in the Bible which guides on how to live and how to conserve.
- People are motivated by anger at injustice, whether or not they are Christians. Support for climate justice is not necessarily motivated by faith.
What should the Church be doing in the short, medium and longer term?
- Promote actions people can take individually.
- Sign up for Eco-church.
- Support Christian Aid’s ‘Make the Polluters Pay’ campaign.
- Challenge city and county councils take action.
- Invest in renewable energy.
- Promote guidance on caring for our planet.
- Liturgy could include ‘safeguarding of the earth and the integrity of creation’.
How can we communicate the case for national/international action on climate justice to politicians?
- Difficult because many are sceptical about the integrity of politicians
- But newer or backbench MPs may be more responsive.
- Group communications, meeting MPs at ‘surgeries’ and sending messages regularly are effective.
- Joint action with other groups can be effective.
- Involve younger voices wherever possible. They are the future.
- Communicate with ‘influencers’. ‘Gary Linekers’ maybe more effective than politicians?
- Become a ‘politician’. Join councils and have a say.
- Invite politicians to join our prayers and ask them what we should pray for.
What would make climate justice a top-of-mind issue?
- Children are more aware than older people.
- Share experiences wherever possible e.g. considering the environmental impact of holiday destinations and other consumer choices.
- Trees are unambiguously good. Promote planting. Explain the choice of uncut verges.
What gives you hope in acting on climate justice?
- Younger generations are most impacted but are ready to engage.
- Campaign for voting from 16.
- We can’t afford apathy. We have a moral duty to act.
- Passion generated by campaigns give us hope.
- Action can be an antidote to low mood and poor mental health.
- Join large and small-scale projects which can boost each other. Think global but act local.
- Sustainable construction of new homes.
- Meeting energy bill reductions.
- Promote climate justice as being in everyone’s best interest. Friends of the Earth and other groups identify ‘win-win’ actions such as warmer, healthier homes.
These ideas have been reported back to Christian Aid for the national Talking Climate Justice Tour project.
Paul Grime, Eco Group and Worcester Christian Aid Group member.
We spent a profound evening on 22 June looking at what social justice means for Christians.
Fleur Dorrell spoke about the development of social justice within the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, from the image of God’s world, the breakdown in relationships between humans, and God reaching out to heal humanity leading to the future restoration of all of Creation. If we serve Christ, we serve the poor. Social justice is at the heart of our faith and worship because it is at the heart of Jesus life, death, and resurrection.
David McLoughlin covered the key modern principles of Christian social justice that underlie Christian social teaching, being: the dignity of every human person created in the image of God; human rights respected for the common good rather than the selfish ends of those who rule or of one class; solidarity as a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; subsidiarity of governments to avoid taking over what people acting freely in civil society can do best; doing justice by rendering truthful judgments and sentencing that is appropriate to crime and distributive justice of economic goods; integral human development to overcome poverty and all forms of deprivation; the universal destination of material goods so that private property is used in a way which contributes to the common good, not just its owners private good; the preferential option for the poor where policies, practices and institutional structures in society are established to benefit those who are poor or marginalised; priority of labour over capital where people matter more than things and material wealth; and truth and human freedom in a society that no longer believes in truth.
Vice Dean Stephen Edwards talked to us about the Cathedral’s Vision for Social Action, seeking to be a catalyst for campaigning and raising awareness on the environment and social justice. This means developing a forum or community within the cathedral for social justice, championing and raise awareness in all sorts of ways, to become a safe space for all people.
Jo Wilson took us through all her work for Worcester Cathedral around Modern Slavery and County Lines. The work started in March 2022, generating ideas, and finding partners and funding. Partners included: The Clewer Initiative, Worcester Community Rail Partnership, Platform, Diocese of Worcester, Mothers Union, King’s School. The project used the arts as a tool to engage with young people and challenging them to identify ways to disrupt the County Lines chain, including a short film, called “Which Side of the Tracks” centred in and around Worcester, a series of workshops and teaching resources, and a piece of Forum Theatre based on real life case studies. These were premiered as part of a Schools Day at Worcester Cathedral on Wednesday 29th March.
Barbara Davies took us through the work of Mothers Union on Gender Based Violence (GBV), giving an overview of Mothers Union and its activities in Britain and Ireland. Black Thursdays have involved dressing in black around the world to bring attention to GBV. Similarly, every year in November and December there are 16 days of activism across the world, there is a prayer diary, services, and a ‘wearing their shoes’ initiative to spread the message.
I felt privileged to participate in the debate about social justice and moved to understand how these aspects of social justice, climate, and environment all come together as part of our corporate mission to ‘love your neighbour’.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Lay Canon and Eco-Group member
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
We had a lovely morning on 8 June surveying the wildlife and wildflowers in the Cathedral grounds. We were given great help and expertise from Liz Yorke of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust (WWT), and from members of our congregation, some of whom confess to being ‘nerds’ and ‘boffins’! The weather was glorious, helping to attract visits from some working in the Cathedral Chapter Office who could see the proceedings from their windows.
Liz Yorke of WWT was very pleased to see the progress of ‘no mow’ areas that have been installed over the last year or so, to support wildlife and wildflowers, enabling identification of many species of grasses and insects in those areas which could not have flourished otherwise. You can see them identified on a list here. Many thanks to the great work of our head gardener, Dave!
Nature really does matter. It is a witness to the wonder of the Creation that keeps us alive and well on our tiny planet, when measured on a cosmic scale. In the harsh and hostile environment that is the space of the Universe, either very cold or very hot, filled with deadly radiation or empty and airless (or both), we live on a precious pearl called Earth. We need to treasure it and take care of all that is on it.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:3-4 NIV
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Lay Canon and Eco-Group member
On Sunday 21 May 2023, I completed the Worcester half marathon, to raise awareness and funds for this year’s Christian Aid Week campaign.
We were blessed with a beautiful sunny morning for the event, which started from Worcester Rugby Club. As a warm-up, I cycled to the venue along national cycle route 45, which follows the course of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The half marathon itself traced a wonderfully bucolic route through the Worcestershire villages of Oddingley, Tibberton, Crowle Green, Himbleton, Phepson, Goosehill Green and Shernal Green. It was a privilege to appreciate the early summer loveliness of the natural environment, and to reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy it and benefit from it in so many ways. It was also a reminder of the reason I was participating in the event, and how the climate emergency is already affecting the natural environment for our planet-sharing neighbours not so very far away in our global village.
In Malawi, the climate crisis is having a direct impact on the lives of people like Jen and her husband. Their family’s livelihood depends on the pigeon pea harvest. Pigeon peas are drought-resistant and more resilient than other crops like maize. But the rainfall has become unreliable, there are more storms, flooding, and stronger winds. Recently, cyclone Freddy caused major devastation with loss of crops, homes and mass displacement. The erratic weather is adversely affecting Jen’s profits. To support her family, Jen needs to plant good quality seeds and sell them for the best possible price. In addition to the climate crisis, other factors like the covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine have pushed prices up. Rising costs of food, fuel, fertiliser, school fees and school uniforms are crushing the dreams of families like Jen’s and keeping them in poverty. Jen’s oldest two boys have gained tertiary education places, which is very rare for young people in their rural area. One has a place at a prestigious polytechnic and one at a well-known college, which is featured on one of Malawi’s banknotes. But Jen can only afford to pay for one of her sons’ college courses, so she has had to make a heart-rending choice. Jen desperately needs to earn more, so that her oldest son Mathews can study too. His college place is reserved for a year, so Jen remains hopeful that he’ll be able to start his course later. Jen is resilient, like the pigeon peas, and Christian Aid is working with local partner organisations in Malawi to help farmers like her ensure successful planting and harvesting and to secure the best prices for their produce through cooperatives.
Thank you to everyone who has already supported me and Christian Aid. There is still time to give to the Christian Aid Week campaign here or here.
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
What a privilege it was to attend Prayer in Nature on 27th May, with Rev. Robin Parry, Worcester Cathedral’s Associate Priest responsible for eco-spirituality. The session included eco-spirituality teaching followed by time of practice in the lovely private gardens by the old Guesten.
Rev Robin spoke to us about the importance of attending to what is around us and responding to nature, and thus to God. Praying outside is a way of helping us to realise that we are a part of Creation. Creation is not just an environment that we live in or inhabit, it is everything that God made including us and all the animals, we are all Earthlings. It is about encountering the outside with all our senses, as embodied beings, made of the same dust as all creatures, which is utterly material and yet utterly spiritual at the same time. Fundamentally, it is about restoring our sense of the Earth as a sacred place, inhabited by God.
Robin took us outside and we split up individually to simply ‘attend’ to Creation, by looking, listening, smelling, sensing. I sat under the small ancient gate in the old Guesten wall, where for centuries monks and their guests entered the building. I observed the wildflowers poking through the rusted iron bars, the bindweed wrapping its way up one of the bars, and heard the call of the peregrines overhead, as they circled looking for prey to feed their young. I spent some time in gratitude for all the nature, for how it sustains us.
Robin led us through a ‘Canticle of Creation’, praising God in the phraseology of St Francis for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brothers Wind and Air, Sister Water and more. It felt like a special prayer that all joined in on, and that joined us with everything. We prayed for the World, our Community, our Church, each symbolically laying stones by the pond as we did so. We noticed the bees crawling on the edges of the pond, seeming also to join in our prayers, as they also took a drink.
Afterwards, we went our separate ways to different corners of the garden, to sit and simply be in the presence of God. I sat in an area of long grass, with our magnificent Cathedral overhead. It was a beautiful time of stillness and contemplation.
We sat and chatted in the garden afterwards, Liz having kindly provided drinks and cake, and chatted about our experiences. Everyone had found it to be a profound time of peace and connection. Rev. Robin will be back for more Living Gently on the Earth sessions in September.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon and Eco Group member
This year’s Christian Aid Week campaign focuses on the impact of climate change on farmers in Malawi. Christian Aid is working with local partners to help them plant better seeds, secure fairer prices for their crops and build happier futures for their children. Esther’s story demonstrates the difference that small interventions are making.
Pigeon peas are drought resistant and grown locally. Bread made with pigeon pea flour is nutritious and cheaper than bread made with imported wheat. (You can find pigeon pea recipes here). But selling pigeon peas to unscrupulous vendors is unprofitable. Following the death of her husband in 2019, Esther joined a local cooperative project, the Nandolo Farmers’ Association of Malawi, partnered by Christian Aid. The cooperative sells pigeon peas collectively for a fair price and runs a bakery business with a community oven.
Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed illustrates both the potential for dramatic growth from a small seed, and the power of effective influence from unexpected sources. Mustard was a weed that contaminated planned crops and invaded the eco system. But what the world fails to value can be what makes a positive difference. We might expect justice to grow predictably in neat, tidy rows. But the neat, tidy rows that reflect and normalise unjust systems can be disrupted and transformed. Seeds of justice and joy can erupt through the cultivated landscape of a world wounded by the actions of the privileged.
Esther describes her small but significant agricultural work as a tree. The trunk is the pigeon peas, and the branches are the many ways she supports her family and her community. Esther has grown from a place of grief, loss and exploitation to financial security. She has built up a herd of goats, a tailoring business and supported her daughter Ziwone’s aspiration to start a carpentry business. These branches of Esther’s effort and hope have grown from tiny seeds, dramatically improving the lives of those around her.
Christian Aid’s campaign seeks to hold to account those who have contributed most to the climate emergency. Their profits can repair what's been lost and damaged in so many communities around the world. This should not be controversial. But the decision sits with those with the power to prioritise profit over people. By supporting the campaign, we can help create change in the dry lands of Zimbabwe, the hurricane wreckage of Haiti, the flooded fields of Pakistan and the failing crops of Nicaragua. There is shelter for justice in the branches of such trees. Together, united by hope, we can challenge the status quo and speak truth to power.
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate reminds us that the need is urgent. She says: “We can’t adapt to the loss of our cultures, the loss of our identities, the loss of our histories. We can’t adapt to starvation or to extinction”.
Christian Aid Week offers us an opportunity to grow some of the hidden and unexpected seeds that might already be present within and around us. Whatever seeds of hope we choose to plant this Christian Aid week, it will have an immediate impact on the lives of our sisters and brothers like Esther and her community. Let’s work together for a fairer, more just world. You can give to the Christian Aid Week campaign here or here.
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
Engaging Visitors in Practical Steps for Green Living
Over six weeks in March and April 2023, a team of four engineering students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, worked with Cathedral staff and members of the Eco Group to research attitudes of visitors to the Cathedral towards climate change. The aim of the project was to explore how Worcester Cathedral can better engage visitors in practical steps for green living. The team presented their findings at a Living Gently on the Earth session in the Cathedral Undercroft on 27 April 2023.
The WPI team used Britain Talks Climate which is an evidence-based toolkit designed to support organisations in engaging the public on climate change. The toolkit is based on research that suggest that the population is fractured but not deeply polarised. Climate change has emerged as an issue with the potential to unite people. Building narratives that resonate with a diverse range of values and everyday concerns is critical for deepening and maintaining public engagement in the long term.
Rather than using the questions in the toolkit, the WPI team developed their own bespoke questions to explore Cathedral visitors’ beliefs and attitudes. The team then mapped participants’ responses onto seven categories for segmenting core beliefs about social and political issues generally, and climate change in particular. The team interviewed 64 visitors, who were mostly from the UK, and mostly people in their 60s and 70s. (The team reported that most younger people were in too much of a rush to be interviewed). They also interviewed some of the Cathedral’s own staff. Although the sample was small, the findings have implications for how the Cathedral engages with its visitors. Over 90% of respondents to the survey were engaged on the climate crisis.
The team developed four key messages with associated recommendations for engaging visitors to the Cathedral:
- The large west window depicts scenes and images from the creation story. It combines elements from the Cathedral’s history, architecture and Christianity. This could be incorporated into messages about the climate crisis.
- The Cathedral’s sliver eco church award demonstrates its commitment to and active engagement in climate issues. This builds trust in the Cathedral’s authenticity in trying to address the climate emergency.
- Worcester Cathedral is an historic, iconic building which has played, and continues to play an important role in the life of the city and the county today. This is significant to its visitors.
- Benedictine principles of prayer, work and relationships can be applied to caring for and responsible stewardship of the environment. The principles resonate with messages such as “reduce, recycle and reuse”.
Recommendations
- Signage inside and outside the Cathedral could be improved to highlight the relevance of eco issues and practical steps visitors can take.
- “Eco-locations” in the Cathedral could be added to the current brochure or a new eco brochure could be created. This could, for example, signpost the green men images in the roof of the cloisters near the café.
- Climate issues could be incorporated into visitor information to accompany Cathedral tours.
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
Philip Larkin’s poem The Trees evokes this time of year, when "trees are coming into leaf”, the weather is starting to improve after a seemingly endless winter, and we are encouraged to feel hopeful for what lies ahead. In twelve short lines arranged in three quatrains, the poem presents themes of communication, mortality, cycles of death and life, perseverance and hope. If there is a message for us in the greening of spring, it is “like something almost being said” or what trees “seem to say” rather than an obvious or directly communicated idea.
Most trees have a much longer life span than we do. Oaks can live for a thousand years, and 600 years is not atypical. Although they have a “yearly trick of looking new” as Larkin puts it, trees die eventually. And while we might welcome the greenness of the “recent buds” which “relax and spread”, it is “a kind of grief”. Leaves are ephemeral. By the end of the year, they will be lying on or in the ground dead, continuing the cycle of life.
In the final quatrain, the repetition of ‘s’ and ‘sh’ sounds, suggests wind moving through leaves. We finally discover what the newly leaved trees “seem” to “almost” say, as the last line implores us to “begin afresh, afresh, afresh”.
As Benjamin Franklin said, death (as well as taxes) is one of this world’s certainties (although others have added to the list). Mortality is a condition with which we live our lives. But like trees, our mortality does not prevent us from embracing authentic hope. In fact, it makes it imperative that we do!
The Cathedral’s Eco Group is beginning afresh with a new series of Living Gently on the Earth. These community events, talks and workshops are designed to explore practical and thoughtful approaches to green and just living in a spirit of hopeful action. Beginning on 27 April 2023 with a session on how we can use Worcester Cathedral’s heritage to engage our communities with green living, the series continues with sessions on eco-spirituality, a Christian perspective on hope in the face of eco anxiety and climate grief, discussing and speaking up for climate justice, the impact of human economic activity on the environment, and how to take an environmental lifestyle audit. In the autumn we plan to invite representatives from political parties to present their approaches to climate change and climate justice, to coincide with the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai.
Living Gently events are free and can be booked through Eventbrite. Tickets are not compulsory but will ensure a place and help to give an idea of numbers to expect. Check the Living Gently on the Earth pages for further information.
Paul Grime, Eco Group member
We are still pinching ourselves regarding the EcoChurch Silver award, which has brought my attention on the responsibility that we have to communicate the positive impact that the Church can make. As a direct result of Sarah’s efforts, who runs the Cathedral’s communications, I found recently myself talking to BBC Hereford and Worcester (starts at 2hrs 9 minutes) about what we have done and promoting Eco Church to others.
I am reminded of the parable of the ten minas (Luke 19 v.11-27). We have a responsibility to make a difference and to share the message that we believe makes that difference, and the more that we have been given, the greater our responsibility to do so.
It is a message of hope and reconciliation, that through the active Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Father God is bringing all things together for good, and we his children are invited to come on board the sacred work of transforming the world through love in action. In other words, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the planet and for the people who live on it. We cannot preach life eternal and ignore life present.
I am increasingly understanding how this Gospel message of reconciliation is completely unstoppable. It will prevail. This is not just because God has willed it and will eventually overrule evil, it is that the inevitable impact of love will transform the world and humanity from the inside. This might take thousands of more years to happen, with wars and environmental disasters, and greed and selfishness displayed all over. But happen it inevitably will, for that is the power of the Gospel.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon
We're thrilled to have been picked as one of Co-op UK's Local Community Fund causes this year.
And we're putting the funding to good use, with our rewilding project. This project will provide the Cathedral with a grant to turn an area between the Chapter House and the Guesten into a wildlife habitat, consisting of a wildflower meadow and a large ‘bug hotel’, which will be built by the Cathedral’s Carpenter. The team has been busy working on a prototype recently - and doesn't it look fantastic!
The hotel will also be built with the intention of attracting hedgehogs and small mammals by incorporating hedgehog boxes into the design and the meadow will increase pollinator numbers, which in turn will provide a food source for birds, which all amount to a strong increase in biodiversity.
This area will provide a hot spot for our bug hunts and wildlife auditing process and in doing so an educational resource in just how important areas like this are to a greater and healthier ecosystem, an ecosystem that we all rely upon. We require pollinators for our food and nutritional needs and birds spread seeds, they manage pest numbers and they’ll help fertilise our meadow. Hedgehogs are an important indicator of a healthy and fertile soil, one which holds a good number of worms and insects, so if we manage to attract these mammals, not only will we be helping to increase their much-reduced numbers, but it’ll also be a sure sign that we’re on track!
To find out more about our project and to choose us as your cause, please click here.
Helping to “demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s Earth”.
As you may have seen, we were delighted to be awarded Eco Church Silver in March. A Rocha, who run the award scheme for churches, on receipt of our application asked us for an additional report on the actions we have taken since being awarded Eco Church Bronze a year before. I must say, having written it, I feel very proud of what the EcoGroup has collaborated with many stakeholders of the Cathedral to achieve.
Here is the core of what we wrote, organised by the Eco Church Categories. Please see the eco-blog here for more details, which is frequently referenced by date below.
Worship
- The special Sundays have continued so we are now on an annual cycle, as opposed to it being a one-off.
- Our Creation Sunday service in 2022 was preached by Margot Hodson from the John Ray Initiative. We have had other invited speakers such as Robin Parry of St Martins, Worcester, who will shortly join our team as the Associate Priest responsible for Eco-Sprituality.
- Our church comms includes environmental issues, including the fortnightly e-news and the weekly news sheet. Both these advertise our regular ‘Living Gently on the Earth’ events and other activities such as wildlife surveys etc, including on the eco-blog.
Buildings
An Energy Assessment and Carbon Emissions Report was completed by QODA in April 2022. This identified our carbon footprint, energy use, and the options for addressing our Carbon Footprint. As a result:
- We have developed and adopted a plan and targets for net zero and energy. (Now we need to raise the money to do it).
- We have assessed how we may generate our own renewable energy.
- We now recognise that our ancient buildings (ie Church and Hall) cannot have their energy efficiency ‘improved’ because they are listed, so are ’not applicable’ for insulation and glazing.
We have installed rainwater collection facilities around the ancillary buildings (see eco blog 4th Feb 2023).
Land
- We have birdfeeders that are permanently stocked by the stone-masons yard.
- We have started an annual wildlife and wildflower survey (see eco blog 24th August).
- We have learned that we already have composting facilities in several places and should have scored for that last time.
Community and Global Engagement
- We have written to our local MPs (Robin Walker and Harriet Baldwin) on a number of occasions, met the Worcester city MP, Robin Walker, to discuss the Loss and Damage petition, and had him open the Big Green Fair in October and liaise with the attendees to the Fair (See eco blog 22nd October). Local councillors have spoken to us, especially about transport policy and green travel (see eco blog 15th Nov 22, 2nd part). The eco-blog 25th January 2023 summarises our approach.
- We have been deeply engaged with local environmental organisations (see the eco blog 4th May and 15th November 1st part for the events and the list of participating organisations) where a Worcester Cathedral EcoGroup member led the process of getting the key groups together. This was crucial to the process of getting the very successful Big Green Fair to happen, involving most of these organisations, and more (see eco blog).
- We have held a range of environmental awareness raising events (again, see the eco blog) including, of course, the Big Green Fair, the Living Gently on the Earth (see eco-blog, especially 8th May 2022, 2nd February 2022).
- The Big Green Fair in October 22 was an excellent time for promotion of eco-Church, as was the recent Spring Fair in February 2023. On both occasions our stall majored on Eco Church. The Worcester Diocese have asked us to lead a session on our Eco Church experiences to other churches in the Autumn.
- We have started to be involved with National and Global campaigning, led by an EcoGroup member, who has been champion for Christian Aid’s Loss and Damage work for us. We participated in the second Walk of Witness for CoP 27 with other Worcester Churches on 12th November 2022 (see eco blog 30 Nov 22).
- We didn’t know that some of our toilets are already twinned, those in the Undercroft, so have now taken credit for that!
Lifestyle
We have worked very hard on our lifestyle engagement programme, called “Living Gently on the Earth”, inviting all to participate, with around 10 sessions held over the last year. Funding from the National Lottery’s Community Fund helped us to kick-start this programme. There is a lot in the ecoBlog on this, but highlights are:
- Vegetarian cooking teaching (see 13th June blog)
- Investing your money ethically (see 8th July blog)
- Reducing and acting on waste and plastic (see 13th October blog)
- Growing your own food (see 2nd Nov blog)
- Active Travel (see 15th Nov blog)
- Energy use (see 16th Nov blog)
- Measuring and acting on your carbon footprint (see 2nd Feb 2023 blog). This is the second such session, the first after Lockdown, which will continue annually.
We have worked hard on food matters including promoting the LOAF concept (e.g. see ecoBlog 16th December).
We ran a helpful session on ethical investment of personal savings on 7 May (see 8 July blog).
All the above have been followed through on weekly news sheets on services to advertise them, and in the fortnightly e-news.
Staffan Engstrom, Lay Canon, Worcester Cathedral
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
According to the Met Office, 2022 gave the UK its warmest year on record. All four seasons were in the top ten since 1884, and the ten warmest years have all occurred in the last 20 years. 2022 will be remembered for several other significant weather events including an exceptionally warm start to the New Year, storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin occurring within one week in February, a dry first half of the year, July temperatures exceeding 40˚C for the first time in the UK, and falling as low as minus 17˚C in December.
Maintaining our natural environment in the context of our inexorably evolving climate is a challenge. Worcester Cathedral is, amongst many other things, an iconic historic heritage site. The Old Palace Gardens, sweeping down to the River Severn, are owned and maintained by Worcester Cathedral’s maintenance team. On a sunny final day in January, Dave Whelan, Senior Gardener at Worcester Cathedral guided me on a tour of the grounds and gardens. We met another of the Cathedral’s gardeners, Lucy, who has planted some fragrant Sarcococca, which catch the breeze blowing up from the Severn, enhancing the walk down the steps to the Old Palace Garden. Dave and I talked about projects that contribute to caring for the Cathedral’s natural environment.
The Cathedral’s Eco Group recently proposed using water butts to reuse rainwater to preserve plants through periods of drought. Dave approached Steve Smith, head of Maintenance for a small budget to purchase four 210 litre water butts and re-purpose some that were not in use. These have now been installed to collect rainwater from the downpipes from the roof gutters. When full, the water can be stored to use during dry periods of the year. At our Eco Group meeting on 17 January 2023, Dave spoke of the professional potency that the Eco Group’s backing of such proposals adds to small projects like installing the water butts.
If the water butts project is successful in re-using rainwater, the use of mains water and hosepipes can be avoided, and plant species can be preserved through episodes of drought. This evidence will be useful in supporting larger projects as part of the ongoing landscaping project for the gardens and grounds of the Cathedral and Old Palace.
We may at times feel overwhelmed by the scale of the climate emergency we are facing. However, there are things we can, and should all be doing, and these small steps are essential to build towards the significant changes we need to make.
Paul Grime, Eco Group Member
Professor John Vickerman presented some statistical evidence for the causes and reality of climate change. Deforestation is destroying the earths lungs, resulting the accumulation of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, and global warming.
John demonstrated the use of the WWF Carbon footprint calculator. We can use this to input data about our lifestyle, diet, eating out, food waste, travel, heating, energy use, consumer products, pets and recycling. The average UK footprint is 9 tonnes compared to a world average of 6 tonnes.
There are steps we can all take as responsible climate stewards to reduce our carbon footprint. Some examples include:
- Heat pumps, which use 100% renewable electricity, depending on the construction of the house.
- We can modify our diet. Beef is the most carbon consuming meat.
- We can plant more trees. This is perhaps the most effective way of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Under the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, Worcestershire County Council supplies trees for planting .
Christina Figueres’ book The Future We Choose – The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis, offers practical advice about action we can take to address the climate catastrophe.
As human beings, we have all the inventive skills and technologies needed to reduce our global footprint, prevent global temperatures rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius and preserve the Earth. But to do this requires all peoples and all nations on earth to put conflict aside and cooperate to make radical lifestyle changes quickly to stabilise carbon dioxide concentrations at or below 430 parts per million.
There was a lively discussion about the practicalities of what we can effectively do if the current climate emergency continues on a trajectory to mass extinction. In a spirit of prophecy, we are called to read the signs of the times, to act and pray accordingly, and not to relinquish our hope and faith in what is possible.
The second half of the event was delivered by Energy Tracers, a local community interest company offering advice on saving home energy and saving money. Technology has created the problem of climate change but can also contribute to effective solutions. There was a demonstration of thermal imaging surveys to show how heat escaping from buildings can be identified. The cost of imaging is now much less than it was in the past. UK houses consume around three times more energy for heating that houses in Germany. On average, 30% of the heat is lost through the air (draughts). This should be addressed before insulation. A heat pump costs around £10-11,000 compared to £14,000 for new radiators. Services offered by Energy Tracers include energy tracing and retrofitting.
This was the final event in the second series of Living Gently on the Earth, which has been a great success. We are now thinking about how to extend and continue the initiative, by considering questions such as:
- What areas should we focus on?
- Should we also explore social justice issues?
- When should we hold the sessions?
We would really appreciate your ideas about how to shape the future of Living Gently. Please complete this short survey to contribute your ideas.
Paul Grime, Eco Group Member
We have been engaged in an interesting debate in and around the Eco-Group. The question that we have been thinking about is how and whether to engage with political issues when we consider matters related to the environment and social justice? It is all well and good if everyone agrees, but in the most interesting areas you often find that everyone doesn't agree, so what to do then? Very often we just keep quiet and do our own versions of “Don’t mention the war!” in John Cleese’s words from the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers.
When I do this, I can sometimes sense that great big elephant sitting in the corner of the room, looking at me, as I pretend. Often this is because I don't know how to be as honest as I should be in a constructive way, so its just easier to avoid it. At other times it is because I lack awareness or sensitivity on the perspectives of others.
I was guilty of this just last month. I had felt personally annoyed about the news about the Cumbria Coal Mine, so wrote a polite letter as a private citizen to our MP for West Worcestershire, Harriet Baldwin, to ask her to try to do something about it. Harriet is very good at writing back, but I didn't like the response, so I thoughtlessly copied it round to the Eco Group saying how disappointed I was.
I did this in my crystal-clear black-and-white view that I was right and that she was wrong, but is it ever that simple? No, there are important issues to be understood on the other side, such as jobs and the local economy. Even though I still don't agree, I am convinced that we do need to have these conversations, but that we must do it with respect and sensitivity. It is at the very heart of the teaching of our Lord Jesus that every person is loved and precious, regardless of their political views (etc), and that includes me!
I feel pleased to see how our Cathedral is engaging constructively with Politicians, both local and national. Members of the Eco-Group went to see Worcester’s MP, Robin Walker, to talk about environmental issues who subsequently came to open our Green Fair on 22nd October, we had Councillor Matt Jenkins come to help us on Green Transportation in November, and Eco Group Member Paul attended a Green Party conference to report on their perspectives.
My prayer is that, as a Cathedral Community and starting with me, we learn to have the best open, respectful, and engaging conversations about environmental and social justice issues. As we do this in the right way, we can have a positive impact with each other and the powers that be, and, I believe, will find ourselves living at the very heart of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Staffan Engstrom. Worcester Cathedral Lay Canon and Eco-Group member
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
*Pictured: Robin Walker MP at the Cathedral's Big Green Eco Fair
We have spent a lot of time over this year talking about what we eat and how it affects our health, environment and planet:
- In June, Daren Bale of Collier’s Cookery School taught us how to cook delicious vegetarian food.
- In September, Steve Dent of the Transition Worcester Community Garden demonstrated organic gardening.
- In October, we took trips and held sessions on acting on waste, including food waste.
There has been quite some discussion on a related area, which is how the principles of ‘LOAF’ can make a difference with how and what we eat. LOAF stands for food which is:
- Locally produced,
- Organically grown,
- Animal friendly, and
- Fairly traded.
Locally produced food helps both our community and the planet. We live with a huge amount of choice and often forget that there is an environmental cost to transporting food from around the world and country. Choosing food that is grown locally helps provide better livelihoods to local producers and cuts down on fossil fuel emissions. A good way is to get back to seasonal eating, avoiding purchasing food which is either flown in or grown in artificially heated greenhouses – such as fresh soft fruits in winter.
Organically grown food is about taking better care of the Earth. The pesticides and herbicides that are used to grow our food are causing pollution of our rivers and the loss of species - such as bees which are vital to food production. Better grown food is good for our health and well-being.
Animal friendly food avoids the abuse of animals. Intensive farming methods have been introduced around the world to reduce costs and increase production. However, without appropriate constraints in place, intensive farming causes animal welfare to be neglected, with animals suffering unnecessarily. All of us - whether vegan, vegetarian or meat-eater - can make a difference - for example by choosing to eat less meat and buying higher quality (better welfare) meat.
Fairly traded food is about social justice. Trade needs to be both sustainable and fair, so that workers who produce the food get a fair wage and better working conditions. Buying fair-trade foods avoids exploitation of the poor, whether at home or abroad, so that farmers and producers receive a fair price for their produce and avoiding them being squeezed.
Staffan Engstrom,
Worcester Cathedral Lay Canon and Eco-Group member
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
Worcester Cathedral joined forces with other Worcester churches for an ecumenical Walk of Witness on 12th November, responding to the call of the ‘COP27 Coalition’ for a Global Day of Action for climate justice. Ours was one of at least 38 such walks across the country, from Brighton to Inverness, and in cities and towns across the globe. We visited five central Worcester churches and at each one heard readings, prayers, and reflections for the Climate Emergency.
Canon Brian McGinley, parish priest at St George's Roman Catholic Church opened the prayers, leading on to Hope Church at the Granary, then St Andrew’s Methodist on Pump St, and St Helens’ on the High Street. We stopped at the Guildhall to hand a petition on the urgency of the Climate Emergency to the Mayor of Worcester, Adrian Gregson.
Waving banners and singing songs of praise, we walked between the market stalls of the High Street to the Cathedral, where standing by the trees in College Yard, Vice Dean Stephen Edwards led us in final prayers and reflections.
What is it all about? What difference will it make? Why are they doing it? These are some of the questions in the eyes and on the lips of the citizens of Worcester that watched our procession and prayers which were marked by a spirit joy and hopefulness rather than anger or despair.
The churches of Worcester are united in their conviction that we must make our voices heard in a call for action and justice, both for the developing nations that are increasingly struggling with the consequences of climate change, and for the futures of our children and grandchildren. It is driven by a shared trust in the Creator who made this beautiful world that we live in and by our belief that we have the call of Christ to respond.
The COP27 Coalition is calling for climate justice, through:
- Helping developing countries to find alternative models for economic growth.
- Enabling a just transition to 100% renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels.
- Prioritising public health, food sovereignty, agroecology, and decent living conditions.
- Restoring nature.
- Having rich countries repay climate debts.
- Building global solidarity, peace and justice.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
It was a privilege to have Paul Carrol, project manager at Act on Energy, with us on 13th October to speak about how we can act on the energy use of our buildings – both at home and in the Cathedral. Act on Energy is a charity funded by national and local governments, charities, and partners within the energy sector to provide free and impartial advice to householders and small businesses in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and surrounding local areas. They have access to funding sources for grants to help householders to act in their homes.
People in the UK are facing challenges in rising energy costs and in addressing their carbon footprint. Paul told us that the Government’s perceived ‘£2500 cap’ for household energy is not a cap but an average, so there is no room for energy complacency: if you use more energy, you will have to pay more. It is therefore important for us to take the micro actions now which will help to save energy, carbon emissions and money.
Act on Energy has a Mission for reducing fuel poverty and carbon emissions through providing
information and advice, enabling the transition to zero-carbon, developing green economies, social energy-parity, and health. It is usually best to address the fabric aspects, such as insulation, first, then to go on to addressing green heating systems. Low-cost fabric measures can save a typical home £5-£50 per month, often including draft excluders and radiator reflectors.
Act on Energy do home visits to provide free, unbiased, surveys, and to help with finding competent contractors and grant funding. They helped 4687 households in this way between April and December last year and trained 478 professionals.
We were also very pleased to have Act on Energy with us at the Eco Fair on 22nd October (see the blog here), helping people to see what they can do to reduce their energy use and cost, all helping to save the planet.
The next Living Gently on the Earth session is Measuring Your Carbon Footprint and Acting on it with Professor John Vickerman on Thursday 2 February 2023, 2.30-4pm, looking at how you can measure and act on your carbon footprint. Professor John Vickerman is a scientist and Reader at the Cathedral, with a long association with Worcester Cathedral, who was an early mover in measuring and acting on carbon footprints through lifestyle changes - how you live, travel, and consume. This discussion will look at how you can both simply (and if desired, in detail) measure and act on your carbon footprint.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
We have been privileged to have Worcestershire County Councillor Matt Jenkins lead us on two of our Living Gently on the Earth sessions in November.
Promoting Active Travel in Worcestershire
Clare Harker, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member, has continued to lead the work of connecting the green groups in Worcestershire, by getting them together for another ‘eco-lunch’ on 3 November at the LikeU Community Centre.
Matt Jenkins took the group through the issues of encouraging active travel in the county. It is vital for the county to do its part in reducing global warming emissions, and 33% of Worcestershire’s carbon emissions come from transportation. At the same time, there are substantial further health and environmental benefits from encouraging active travel, through making it easier for people to travel by cycling, walking, and public transport.
Active Travel England has been set up by the Government to ‘make England a great walking and cycling nation’ and has a plan that sets out the actions required to enable cycling and walking. However, Worcestershire County Council has been given a score of 0 out of 4 for its approach to active travel by Active Travel England, and so will attract no additional Government money for investment. Matt took us through the actions that the Council can take to support the change and attract more investment including re-prioritising investment from cars to cycles, encouraging e-bikes, cycle lanes, cycle parking, road safety, and car clubs.
We had a full debate on the limitations and opportunities of public transportation in Worcestershire. We also received updates on progress from Steve Dent and Jon Bodenham of Worcester Community Garden, from Rosie Venner of Just Money (ECCR) on helping us to understand how we can invest ethically, and from Paul Grime of the Eco Group who told us about his half-marathon for Climate Justice. The following organisations were represented:
Worcester Community Garden
Worcester Canal Group
The Bramblewood Project
Arboretum Residents Association
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust
Worcestershire County Council
Worcester City Council
Worcester Cathedral Eco Group
Just Money (Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility)
Worcestershire Welcomes Trust
Many of us were impressed to see Matt arriving cool and in a pristine suit, having come directly from a council meeting on his bicycle. Matt explained that this was possible through use of his e-bike, taking the hard work, sweat and tears out of travelling with a conventional bicycle. It was good to see active travel in actual practice!
Practical Green Travel: Cheaper, Better, Easier
Councillor Matt Jenkins kindly continued the theme of green and active travel on 5th November by taking forward a very practical session on how to take forward a greener lifestyle in how you travel. This session was about how you live a greener life, rather than the political and lobbying aspects covered earlier in the week.
Matt demonstrated how our climate is suffering from climate warming emissions and the impact of pollution on our health. He described the action that we can take through the Transport Hierarchy: Do you need to travel at all? If so, can you cycle or walk? If not possible, can you take public transport? If not, can you use an electric vehicle? Matt demonstrated how Amsterdam has been transformed over the last 40 years through the adoption of Active Travel, creating a better, cleaner, greener and healthier environment. He covered walking, cycling, public transport, electric vehicles, car sharing, car charging, the carbon footprint of different forms of travel, and lobbying for greener travel.
We enjoyed a robust debate about the changes required in greener travel and then moved outside to allow attendees to test out an electric bike on College Green. Over half of the attendees tried it out, and all appeared to enjoy the experience. It was interesting watching each person starting off, with a slight look of surprise as the motor boosted them forward at the press of foot on pedal. E-bikes make active travel much easier.
The next Living Gently on the Earth session is Measuring Your Carbon Footprint and Acting on it with Professor John Vickerman on Thursday 2 February 2023, 2.30-4pm, looking at how you can measure and act on your carbon footprint. Professor John Vickerman is a scientist and Reader at the Cathedral, with a long association with Worcester Cathedral, who was an early mover in measuring and acting on carbon footprints through lifestyle changes - how you live, travel, and consume. This discussion will look at how you can both simply (and if desired, in detail) measure and act on your carbon footprint.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
e-mail: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
15th November 2022
It has been a fascinating Autumn. On 25 September the Living Gently on the Earth series took 20 attendees to a sold-out visit to the Transition Worcester Community Garden, which is an urban teaching, research and community display garden, situated in the heart of Worcester.
They help people to grow, harvest, process, cook and eat more healthy, seasonal food sustainably right where they live. The promotion of biodiversity and wildlife conservation are central to everything that the Community Garden does.
The session was led by Steve Dent (aka The Circus Kitchen Gardener – click the link for masses of great vegetarian recipes) who is an accomplished vegetarian cook and blogger and an organic grower of fruit and vegetables. He is passionate about showing that vegetarian food can be delicious, exciting and nutritious!
We met at midday and Steve took us through how the garden works, and the principles of how they grow food organically with the benefits of healthier living, connection to the Earth, avoiding manufacturing processing, avoiding adverse carbon ‘food miles’, at lower cost that benefits the community. The attendees got involved in preparing the harvested onions and squash, helping Steve prepare a delicious Karalan curry, which was enjoyed by all.
So often these days, we become divorced from what happens to our food. It was great to have the chance to get close to the ‘roots’ of how our food comes to us, and how we can all learn to live more gently on our beautiful Earth.
The next Living Gently on the Earth session is Green Travel: Cheaper, Better, Easier with Councillor Matt Jenkins on Saturday 5 November 2022, 2-4pm. It will be a common-sense session aimed at how to travel greener in the light of the cost-of-living and energy crisis. Many people are just not aware of how well electric cars, bikes and vehicles perform and the session will include the chance to try out electric bikes around College Green.
Staffan Engstrom,
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
A beautiful sunny autumn day drew Worcester’s eco warriors and eco curious to the Cathedral Cloister for the Big Green Eco Family Fair on Saturday 22 October 2022. This is one of the National Lottery funded Living Gently on the Earth series of events about caring for our planet. The Fair was officially opened by Robin Walker MP, following an invitation from the cathedral’s Eco Group, when three of its members met with him in September to discuss Christian Aid’s loss and damage petition (which there is still time to sign: https://www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/climate-change/loss-and-damage-petition#body-webform ) and other climate justice issues.
Robin Walker’s opening speech in the Chapter House at 11am was immediately followed by a drumming demonstration and workshop from drumlove (https://www.facebook.com/people/drumlove/100057682831801/). A short while later, there was more “drumming” or rumbling, as a wheelbarrow load of apples, on its way to the apple press, hit a bump and the apples tumbled down the slope and steps into the cloisters. After that many of the apples were already partially pre-pressed! Thanks to the loan of an apple press from Transition Worcester (https://www.transitionworcester.org.uk/about/) and a local orchard group, again at the invitation of one of the members of the Cathedral’s Eco Group, home grown apples could be pulped and pressed in the Cathedral gardens, and delicious fresh apple juice with no preservatives was enjoyed by many and taken home in recycled containers.
There were also family friendly craft and nature activities, including junk modelling monsters, green products for sale, information and advice for sustainable living, campfire storytelling, and presence from Greenpeace (https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/), Pack it In (see previous blog, 13 October 2022, re zero waste living and https://www.packitin-zerowasteliving.co.uk/), Worcestershire Wildlife Trust (https://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/), Bramblewood Forest School (https://www.thebramblewoodproject.org.uk/children/forestschool/), Bike Worcester (https://bikeworcester.org.uk/), The Woodland Trust (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/), Act On Energy (https://actonenergy.org.uk/) and the Cathedral Eco Group, with information about progress the Cathedral has made and is making towards reducing its environmental impact.
The next Living Gently on the Earth event is Green Travel: Cheaper, Better Easier, with Councillor Matt Jenkins on Saturday 5 November 2022 2-4pm.
a wheelbarrow tripped
and a tipping point was reached
beyond which
unstoppable
apples came tumbling
down the steps and slope
into the cathedral cloisters
where Worcester’s
eco warriors, eco worriers
and eco curious
clustered, cycled
and recycled
greening it
pacing it
Packing It In
making and mending
making amends
wasting nothing.
Zero.
Aspiring to achieve
awards
points to score
net zero
some game
Living gently
in a fragile world -
deadlines, deadlines,
time is short
so never stop
searching
for ideas
for conversation
for coffee
for those apples
for this planet
lost and damaged
green apples
rolling
tumbling
bruising
destined for the press
the apple press?
partially pre-pressed
rumbling
conscience and consciousness
almost drowning
out the drumming
from the Chapter House
reverberating around
the pillars and columns as
some of this generation
and the next
covered their ears
conversation drowned
by drumlove
the drum prophets
prophetic love drumming
forth telling the rain and the flood -
we could all drown
if this continues
but our representative,
acquainted with the press-
the popular and populist press,
the merciless media-
graciously opened the event
even though
they voted ‘No’
in the event
just three days earlier
and there had been chaos in the House
and no one really knew
what was going on
or what was going to happen and
maybe there were bigger fish
in those perilous oceans
but there we were
and here we are
and actually
what could be bigger than the universe –
this earth and everything in it?
And just how urgent is this
climate and environmental emergency exactly?
Exactly.
Paul Grime, October 2022
We have enjoyed some very stimulating sessions for our Living Gently on the Earth series around recycling and waste.
First of all, the wonderful Phillippa Gilfillan of 'Pack It In' from Worcester took us through the implications of ‘Zero Waste Living’ on 29 September, outlining the threats presented by unnecessary packaging to our environment (both ecology and climate), the obstacles and challenges to addressing it within our lifestyle and society, and how to make a real difference without it costing the Earth. Philippa is an ex-schoolteacher, who one day decided to give in her notice to pursue her zero-waste-living passion. She then set up ‘Pack It In’ in the town centre to help people with zero waste living, removing the need for plastics and containers in what we buy (do visit the shop at: Unit 7,8,9, The Gallery, The Shambles, Worcester WR1 2RD). In so doing, Philippa told us that she “found her tribe” and has never looked back. Her talk came across as both kind to people and kind to planet being inspiring, practical, congenial and without projecting guilt or blame.
A week later, we followed up with a visit to Envirosort’s Materials Reclamation Facility, situated at Norton, where Severn Waste Services process all of the green wheelie bin recyclable materials from households in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The visit helped us learn about recycling in the county and seeing how the facility works from the safety of a dedicated viewing platform.
The visit was sold out to attendees from the Cathedral, city, and the wider county, proving to be a fascinating insight into what happens once the bin lorries take your rubbish away. And what an encouragement it was for the attendees to see that our waste is indeed taken care of responsibly and well, through a modern sorting and recycling process. This short video is a great way to see how it works.
One attendee wrote to me afterwards saying: “I found the trip fascinating, and actually learnt quite a bit! Some things I didn’t know, some things I’ve been doing but didn’t need to, and also great to know a lot I was doing right! … I think everyone - adults and children - need to go on this tour!”
Envirosort deals with 105 tonnes per year, it’s clear from what we saw that plastic makes up the majority of this. Rubbish travels along 1.5 miles of conveyor belts where it is sorted, it takes 15 mins to go round the loop, and then round again until it is sorted!
13% of recyclable waste is contaminated - 36 tonnes a day can’t be recycled due to being contaminated by things like dirty nappies, unwashed plastics - all rubbish must be clean and dry. They once found an 8ft python! January sees a huge increase in waste. In the UK we use 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each year, which is almost the distance to the moon. A lot of this wrapping paper can’t be recycled as it’s plastic.
Some tips that we picked up for our personal and collective recycling practice:
- Cardboard boxes can’t be larger than A2 in size, or they will not fit through the sorting machines, even if folded. They should be broken up into smaller pieces.
- Shredded paper can’t go in loose; it needs to be put in a paper envelope.
- We use 7 million disposable coffee cups a day in UK, most of which can’t be recycled. Use a reusable cup and remember it needs to be used at least 100 times to offset the energy to make it - so don’t buy lots of them!
- Plastics are sorted by optical scanners, which analyse colours. You shouldn’t put black plastic in green bins, as the sorting machines can’t see black!
- Any recycling put in plastic bin liners is not sorted, they don’t open the bags so this will NOT be recycled!
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group
ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
A group of 14 people, drawn from both from the Cathedral and the wider local community, enjoyed a “thoroughly rewarding and very friendly afternoon” on 5th August 2022 at the Wildlife (and wildflower) Survey held around the Cathedral grounds, including the Garth (Cloister Garden), the Old Palace Garden and the Dean’s Garden. The event was organised by Meryl Wilson of the Cathedral Eco Group and expertly led by Nick Packham, Senior Engagement Officer at the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, together with Liz Yorke (Engagement Officer) and Heather Pullin.
The group identified bird, insect, and plant life through two national counts including employing a F.I.T. study (Flower, Insect, Time) involving each person choosing an area within a small quadrant and counting the bug life observed in 10 minutes. It was very absorbing! They also identified plant life from small mosses to big trees with the field guides supplied.
One highlight for several attendees was Nick talking to the group (see photo) about the many bees that were busily engaged on the lavender plants in the Garth garden in the centre of the Cloister. Nick demonstrated an incredible knowledge of the types, behaviours and biology of the bees that were found. How many of us who attend the Cathedral regularly are even aware that they are there?
At times, I must admit that I have considered much of the above as trivial or unimportant. Why does all that ecology stuff matter? However, I have begun to learn that it matters a great deal. It matters because it is a beautiful part of the Creation that sustains us, which needs to be nurtured and protected. It matters because our lives have become so consumed with the things that we have made and the things that we do that we have lost sight of our visceral connection to the Earth. It matters because we must give attention to these precious gifts or lose them forever.
The next Living Gently on the Earth session is From Garden to Dish on Sunday 25th September 2022, 12pm. Join us for a visit to Transition Worcester Community Garden with organic vegetarian cooking, support to “make your own lunch” with fresh produce from the garden (voluntary donations welcome). You can book online above or contact Clare Harker on (07746) 657034.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
e-mail:ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
I’m pleased to report that the Lifestyle and Community Team of the Eco Group has been continuing to beaver away at interesting green events and workshops for our Church and the wider community. The Living Gently on the Earth events are free, and you can book and get more details about them all on: worcestercathedral.co.uk/eco.
We have been keen to make the booking online so that a wide range of participants can be involved, but not everyone prefers to (or has access to) do online booking. We completely understand! If you prefer not to use online booking, feel free to advise one of the Eco Team members who will arrange a place for you, or alternatively just turn up on the day and we will usually be able to find room. The people to contact include Canon Stephen Edwards, Staffan Engstrom (mobile 07702 636065), or anyone on Eco Lifestyle and Community Team.
The upcoming events will be announced and advertised more formally in the Autumn, but here is a sneak preview of what we have planned so far. More is on its way!
- Sun 25th Sept 12.00pm – Visit to Worcester Transition Garden – From Garden to Dish
- Thu 29th Sept 2.30pm – How to Live a Less Plastic Life, Phillippa Gillfillan
- Thu 6th Oct 3pm – Visit to Envirosort’s Norton teaching centre (not the Undercroft)
- Thu 13th Oct 2pm – Acting on Home and Building Energy: Save money and the environment - Act On Energy
- Sat 22nd Oct 10am – Eco Family Fair
- Thu 3rd Nov 12pm – Green Transport policy eco lunch at the LikeU, with Matt Jenkins
- Sat 5th Nov 2pm – Green Transport lifestyle in the Undercroft, with Matt Jenkins
The next session is From Garden to Dish on Sunday 25 September 2022, 12pm. Join us for a visit to Transition Worcester Community Garden with organic and vegetarian cooking demonstrations.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
e-mail: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
25th July 2022
Meg Edmonds, local organic farmer, chorister mum and champion of seasonal food and flowers, tells us of her excitement and optimism for a commitment to change that is signalled by bringing flowers, from her farm at Rushwick, into the heart of the Worcestershire community.
I was delighted to be asked to produce the floral displays for Worcester Cathedral last week and particularly to have the opportunity to demonstrate the beauty of the early summer flowers and foliage grown at our farm in Rushwick, just one mile as the crow flies from this very spot.
I first displayed flowers here during the ‘Flower Power Festival’ arranged by the ladies of the Worcester Cathedral Flower Guild in August 2019. It was a turning point for me recognising the sheer joy in the faces of visitors as they were drawn to my garden gathered flowers, the scent of late summer wafting around. Confirming what I had begun to recognise at my farm shop Roots, seeing customers were really wowed by freshly picked seasonal flowers in the same way that I have seen their tastes move towards seasonal, locally produced food over 20 years of running our family business.
I began a conversation with the Worcester Cathedral Flower Guild (WCFG) about the challenges in flower sourcing and arranging, meeting the desires of the Cathedral community for these wonderful displays yet simultaneously we must recognise their environmental cost. We now have information in hand about the extent of environmental damage caused by huge scale commercial production of flowers and foliage, a billion-pound industry, run by corporate giants. The devastating impact of plastics in our watercourses and seas will continue if we carelessly and needlessly use products, such as floral foam, for flower arrangements. Here, at the heart of our community and faith, surely there is an opportunity to address these issues with urgent, immediate effect.
For a number of years, I have taken more of a ‘carrot’ than a ‘stick’ approach, I’m afraid I fear we have run out of time, our climate emergency requires action right now. We all carry a responsibility to do more, even if we actively recycle, reduce waste, compost, use our cars less and so on. My action is to ‘go back to my roots’ no pun intended, but to meet the needs of talented floral designers of the Guild by supporting, encouraging and facilitating access to seasonal flowers and foliage year-round that can be maintained in water-based displays. The ‘mechanics’ are out there, we need to think creatively, help each other and work together, not put our heads in the sand.
The flowers on display in the three urns and one pedestal arrangement were set in a deep bucket of water and supported in a frame of wire mesh. Branches of Beech, Philadelphus, Artichoke, Buxus and Prunus, to name but a few set a backdrop for Delphinium, Digitalis, Antirrhinum, Buddleia, Ammi, Phlox, Achillea, Alchemilla, Astrantia, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Wheat and Oats. There are supporting acts that remain unnamed in this cast of floral fantasy! I was advised by the Guild to ‘go big or go home’ … I hope this was big enough for my first outing and that there will be more opportunities ahead!
I am very grateful to Helen Cook (WCFG) and Ruth Woollacott (Oversley Flowers) for their support in this, my first Cathedral display and of course to the Vergers of Worcester Cathedral and the staff who keep everything looking perfect day in, day out.
Meg is Co-Chair of Flowers from the Farm, a membership organisation of around 1,000 flower farmers from the tip of Scotland to the toe of Cornwall, giving a voice to artisan growers producing seasonal flowers for their local community.
We enjoyed another great Living Gently on the Earth event on Thursday 7th May, with Rosie Venner, Programme Manager for the Ecumenical Council of Corporate Responsibility (ECCR).
ECCR helps Christians connect their faith and their finances for the benefit of the planet and social justice. Eco Group member, Meryl Wilson, introduced the session, explaining how what we do with the money that we have can make a real difference to planet, people, and ecology.
Rosie explained how we could each do a money audit, working out where we spend and invest, and outlined the tools that are available for understanding where the investment is having a beneficial or adverse effect.
Key areas where we can make a difference is by looking at who we bank with and where we let our pensions and investments sit. For pensions, where there is currently £2.7 trillion invested in the UK (that's £2,700,000,000,000) we were directed to the Make My Money Matter website. Pensions can invest in many things that some people consider harmful including tobacco, arms, fossil fuels, gambling and deforestation. They can also choose to invest in more sustainable areas such as renewable energy and transportation, human rights and reforestation. Where is your pension invested?
Banks obviously have a huge involvement in investment amounting to £4.8 trillion (£4,800,000,000,000), but some are often considered more wholesome in their approach than others. A great tool for looking at the ethics and investment profile of banks and building societies is bank.green to get an evaluation of their policies and approach. The ‘Big 4’ banks tend to do less well, with some building societies (eg Co-Op and Nationwide) and regional players tending to do rather better.
Investing is a tricky thing however, and Rosie pointed us to two places to address this, firstly the Good with Money website to understand how money works and what is more ethical, and for independent financial advice that is green to look to the UK Sustainable Investment Finance Association and their directory of members and advisors.
Lastly, Rosie took us through some of the benefits and risks of participating in crowdfunding as a way perhaps of being involved in some of the greenest new technology. As always, though, she advised that we need to get the right investment support, particularly when investing non-trivial sums. ECCR do not provide financial advice, and references to investment products is by way of example only (See the full disclaimer on the website).
The next session is From Garden to Dish on Sunday 25 September 2022, 12.30-2pm. Join us for a visit to Transition Worcester Community Garden with organic and vegetarian cooking demonstrations.
The Living Gently on the Earth events are free, and you can book and get more details about them all on: worcestercathedral.co.uk/eco.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
The latest 'Living Gently on the Earth' event took place in the Undercroft on Thursday 9 June and focused on how to cook delicious vegetarian food. The event was sold out days beforehand, attracting attendees from Birmingham, Tewkesbury, Malvern and locally. The event was led by Daren Bale, a 35-year experienced award-winning Worcestershire chef who prepared a range of dishes and tasters. He was supported by Harriet Wakeford, the owner of Colliers Cookery School, where Daren is a teaching chef.
Daren used a large mirror, angled at 45˚, so that we could all see exactly what he was doing as he talked through each of the steps, occasionally bringing in ‘one I made earlier’ so that we could cover more ground. We saw and tasted courgettes stuffed with red pepper risotto, pasta salad with red pesto, couscous salad with elderflower dressing, amongst others. Watch this space for the full list, the recipes, and a video of the session!
The purpose of this session was to help us to up-skill our cooking abilities, so that we can live healthier, more sustainable lives at lower cost. An incredible amount of the world’s resources are consumed by the amount of meat that we eat, using many times the water, land, and carbon for the same amount of human nutrition. Whereas not everyone is ready to become vegetarian, we can all make progress towards becoming more ‘flexitarian’, where we can learn to eat less meat, appreciating better the meat that we do consume.
I spent much of my life believing that vegetarian food was just not that tasty and that a ‘proper’ meal had to have meat in it. I have learned that vegetarian food is delicious and that it was a lack of understanding about how to cook vegetarian food that was the issue.
The next Living Gently on the Earth session is on Greening your finances: “Putting Your Money Where Your Heart Is” at 7pm, on Thursday 7 July. It will be led by Rosie Venner, Programme Manager for ECCR’s Money Makes Change initiative. Just click on the link above to book your place.
The Living Gently on the Earth events are free, and you can book and get more details about them all on: worcestercathedral.co.uk/eco.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group
I attended the first Living Gently on the Earth event on Saturday 7th May. It was an inspiration. Our Vice-Dean, Stephen Edwards, welcomed the participants, emphasising the importance of kicking off the Cathedral’s programme for greener living by starting with our faith in God, and rooting the discussion in both Science and the Bible.
Dr Martin J Hodson, Operations Director for the John Ray Initiative (JRI), a plant scientist and environmental biologist, took the Science aspect, leading through the multiple challenges that our environment is facing - only one of which is Climate change - and setting out why humanity must respond. Whilst he admitted that there is much to be very concerned about, at the same time there is much that we can do, but we have limited time.
Revd Margot Hodson, Theology and Education Director for JRI, took us through the biblical basis for Creation care, starting in Genesis and walking through both Old and New Testaments to show how the promise of resurrection and redemption is for the whole of Creation, a renewal and liberation of all rather than abandoning the current world in favour of another.
As Christians, we demonstrate this renewed Creation in all that we do as individuals and church in our community and the world. Our task is ultimately the reconciliation of the world and humanity to one another and to God – this includes countries, communities, and governments at all levels. We are ambassadors, “as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor 5v20).
The third session took us through what we and our churches can do and focussed both on our individual impacts – how we eat, travel, consume, and stay warm – and at same time how churches can respond. We spent quite some time looking at the Eco-Church initiative, and its five key elements: Buildings; Land; Worship and Teaching; Global and Community; and Lifestyle.
For the next session, click here: Delicious Vegetarian Food Cooking Demonstration which is taking place on Thursday 9 June 2022, 2.30-4pm in the Undercroft. It is an introduction to cooking vegetarian food with Daren Bale, a dedicated and innovative award-winning Chef.
The Living Gently on the Earth events are free, and you can book and get more details about them all on: worcestercathedral.co.uk/eco.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
e-mail: ecogroup.staffan@worcestercathedral.org.uk
Living Gently on the Earth: How does a faith in God affect how we care for the planet?
Do join us in the first Living Gently on the Earth event: 'How does a faith in God affect how we care for the planet?' with the highly regarded (and local) John Ray Initiative on Saturday 7 May from 10am-1pm. The session will bring scientific, theological, and practical dimensions together to this critical question. Bring sandwiches to stay for a chat and discussion with the speakers over lunch afterwards.
The Living Gently on the Earth events are free, and you can book and get more details about them by clicking here.
Connecting Worcestershire’s Green Groups
It was wonderful to see our Cathedral community doing its part in connecting and developing Worcestershire’s Green agenda. One of our Eco-Group members, Clare Harker, worked tirelessly through pandemic postponements to get 10 of Worcestershire’s environmental groups together for an ‘eco-lunch’ on 21 April at the LikeU Community Centre. This was a great opportunity to hear from Joy Squires about the Environmental Sustainability Strategy for the City of Worcester, to share with each other what each environmental group is doing, and to launch the Cathedral’s series of events for the city and county, called ‘Living Gently on the Earth’. The event was ‘sold out’ with 30 representatives of the following groups attending:
- Worcester Community Garden
- Worcester Canal Group
- The Bramblewood Project
- Worcester Environment Group
- Arboretum Residents Association
- Wilder Worcester
- Worcester Resource Exchange
- Worcester Repair Café
- Worcestershire County Council
- Worcester Cathedral Eco Group
It was a wonderful event, so good to share our enthusiasm for this beautiful planet, and to co-ordinate our activities. We have provisionally pencilled the next one in for 3rd November. You can find the full notes of the event here.
The Vice-Dean, Stephen Edwards, shared the Cathedral’s passion for taking forward the green agenda and shared the work that we are doing. He invited everyone to participate in the Cathedral’s programme of events for greener living called ‘Living Gently on the Earth’.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group
It was encouraging to see the collaboration continuing to build between Worcester Churches at the Worcester Green Churches Network gathering on Monday 21st March, hosted by Worcester Baptist Church, at Sansome Walk, where we were welcomed by Rev Darren Smith.
Our Vice-Dean Stephen Edwards outlined the ongoing work of the Eco Group, including our recent Bronze Eco Church Award. We were all encouraged to hear that the Methodist Church in Evesham have recently been awarded Silver!
Claire Neville, interim Environmental Sustainability Officer, Worcester City Council, outlined Worcester City’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy, including discussion of:
- How the City Council declared a Climate Emergency in July 2019, including the plan to become Net Zero by 2030.
- The insulation grants scheme, targeting low-income households (under £30K).
- Environmental Community Grants of up to £1000.
- More Electric Vehicles Charging Points at St. Martin’s Gate Car Park.
- The plan for enhancing biodiversity in the city.
- The City’s Active Travel fund of £4.5m that is being debated by the Council.
- The City’s Environmental summit being planned towards the end of June.
Lastly, we heard how on Saturday 23rd April there will be an Eco Church Land Workshop, from 9.30am-12.30pm, at Bromyard Road Methodist Church to share ideas for managing church land, including introducing Eco Church. Contact Kathryn Beardshall at kathrynbeardshall@btinternet.com .
It remains important that our Faith Communities rally together to support the vital need for caring for our planet, and by so doing, caring for one another.
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group
We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded the A Rocha UK Bronze Eco Church Award.
Since its formation, the Cathedral Eco Group has been working towards the Eco Church scheme, and this is the first milestone on our journey to becoming an Eco Cathedral.
The overall aim of the Eco Church award scheme is to celebrate the ways that church communities have been engaging with caring for the earth as a key part of our Christian faith.
A Rocha UK (ARUK) is a Christian charity working for the protection and restoration of the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment.
Responding to the biblical mandate to care for the earth, and demonstrating the Christian hope for God’s world, working with churches and Cathedrals through the Eco Church programme.
It has been both inspiring and an absolute pleasure to work with the Cathedral’s Eco Team focussed how we can live greener lifestyles, individually and in community. On this ‘sub-group’ we usually have Clare, Dan, Meryl, Rachael, Susie and Staffan.
We feel grateful for progress on the Cathedral’s ambition to have a wider impact when it comes to the environment, with some exciting developments in progress including a series of workshops and events focused on helping our community to take personal and collective climate action, including a new annual ‘Green Fair’ event on the Cathedral calendar.
Here is what we have been doing so far:
- Clare has organised our first event for Thursday 21st April 2022, on Worcester City Council’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy with Joy Squires, who was until recently the Chair of Worcester City Council’s Environment Committee. More details below... includes lunch and cake!
- Clare has also arranged a visit in September to the Transition Worcester Community Garden with cooking demonstration (more details to come).
- Dan has been looking at introducing the wider series with a specialist on eco-theology. How does a faith in God affect how we care for the planet?
- Meryl is in discussions with some ethical investment organisations, for a session around how we can invest our savings, pensions, and other financial instruments to make a real difference in environmental, social, and ethical ways.
- Rachael is setting up a session on how what we buy impacts the environment with specialist Philippa Gilfillin. Rachael is also leading on the Big Green Fair.
- Staffan has been in touch with a cooking school, for some practically focused vegetarian cooking teach-ins. Staffan is also looking at practical energy saving tips.
- Canon Stephen Edwards has been busily facilitating, opening doors, making contacts, and building bridges to make the work possible.
Worcester City Council’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy with Joy Squires
Thursday 21st April 2022, 12pm to 2pm
LikeU Community Centre in Westbury Street WR1 1NW
As part of an ongoing programme of social events to learn more about the local environment Joy Squires, who was, until recently the Chair of Worcester City Council’s Environment Committee will speak on ‘Environmental Sustainability Strategy for the City of Worcester 2020–2030’ which she was instrumental in developing. Joy currently chairs the Worcester Canal Group and the Corridor Group, so is active in the well-being of our natural infrastructure. Joy has been City Councillor for the Arboretum ward - and will be an enlightening speaker for our group. There will be soup and bread, a hot drink and HOMEMADE CAKE (a feature in these events!) The cost is £6 per person.
Space is limited! Please contact Clare Harker on: clare.harker@tiscali.co.uk
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
I must admit that I was chuffed when Darren, the Cathedral’s Master Mason, let it be known he had just taken the plunge and ordered his first electric car. I have been an electric vehicle enthusiast from when we first took the same plunge two years ago. We decided to sell our diesel and petrol cars and go for one, shared, Hyundai Kona electric car.
We found it much easier to make the change than we feared it might be, and wouldn't go back, because it is a great vehicle, we can travel around as much as we like without feeling guilty, and it is cheap. The issue is much more the fear of the change and of learning new ways of doing things, than the change itself.
As an example, we worried that we wouldn't be able to visit the remote areas that we love because of difficulties charging but have found that charging away is perfectly do-able. We have been to furthest parts of our beloved Pembrokeshire dozens of times, as well as out to the far Scottish Islands such as Mull and Harris. We had to chuckle when we were on Skye last September during the fuel crisis, driving past queues at petrol stations in the knowledge that we could - if needed - chuck a 3-pin plug through the window of where we were staying (see photo).
As we learn together to live gently on the Earth, we will all need to change how we live, because we are in this together. How can we travel better? Here are some ideas:
- Cycle more locally (Have you seen the Cathedral’s cycle racks?).
- Walk when you can.
- Take public transport.
- Fly when it’s essential.
- Invest in an electric car.
It has been a learning experience, but one that we have enjoyed overall with a lot less bumps on the road than we feared (but not literal ones).
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
As we started our ‘Eco-Cathedral pilgrimage’ last year, one of the team took the time and effort to calculate the carbon footprint of our Cathedral. He discovered that our footprint was well over 200T of CO2e per year!
That is how we started the journey of understanding how to achieve our target of net zero for the Cathedral by 2030. We are discovering that, for such an ancient building, constructed before anyone had even heard of the chemical formula ‘CO2‘, this is no simple task.
It started me thinking about my personal carbon footprint. Using the very simple World Wildlife Fund website, I calculated that my carbon footprint was 10.5T. By extension the Cathedral Community carbon footprint, for say 500 congregation and stakeholders, would be well over 5000T! It seems clear from this that we all must participate in making a difference.
The great benefit of using one of these carbon footprint calculators is that they help us to focus on the aspects of our lives that really matter. The WWF website and App provide clear tips on the lifestyle changes that you can make. (Another very good tool, if you are more technically minded, is by Climate Stewards).
Now, you don't have to address your carbon footprint all in one go, since that would be impossible. But you can make a start. Where will your first 10% reduction come from?
Staffan Engstrom, Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group
It was exciting to attend the inaugural session of the Green Churches Network on 24th January 2022, which was jointly introduced by our Vice-Dean Stephen Edwards and Reverend Helen Caine, Superintendent Minister at St Andrew’s Methodist Church. We were welcomed at St George’s Catholic Church Hall by Reverend Canon Brian McGinley.
Stephen introduced three proposed objectives for the Network, these being:
- Increasing awareness in our congregations of the climate crisis
- Encouraging our Churches each to develop their own “Green Plan”
- Actively supporting the City and County Councils in developing further their plans to address the climate crisis.
It is encouraging to have formed an ecumenical community of believers in Worcestershire, gathered to look at how we can join-up our efforts to make a difference for the Climate. We enjoyed participation from multiple churches of Anglicans, Methodists, Roman Catholics, and Baptists, including a number who were also members of Green Christian.
We spent the time sharing progress made, issues faced, and lessons learned. We discussed steps taken in declaring a climate emergency and becoming Eco-Churches, recognising good practices through CAFOD’s Living Simply Awards, running Climate Sunday services, finding low-carbon ways to stay warm in Church, helping adults and children to connect with nature through forest church, and ways that we can help Worcestershire’s local government in their climate ambitions.
I sincerely believe that our Faith community has a great deal to offer the wider world around the Climate Crisis. Amidst the anxiety, despair, and hopelessness that it is often associated with by many people, we share the firm message of Hope that our Faith provides, rooted in action through the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
With all the pressure on energy prices, and with efficient energy use being one of the most critical aspects of managing climate change, it seems a good time to share with you that next week is Big Energy Saving Week 2022 (17-23 January).
During this week, and in response to the current issues within the energy market, Citizens Advice and the Energy Saving Trust are sharing information and advice to help people manage their energy bills this winter. Throughout the campaign, the organisations will share energy advice to people across England and Wales, helping them save money while keeping warm this winter.
There are lots of resources available - from what to do if your energy supplier goes bust - to how to save money through using less energy.
It is a great opportunity for tips to reduce your home energy costs, use and waste, and to find a green supplier.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group member
It was wonderful that our Cathedral declared a Climate Emergency on Climate Sunday on 5th September 2021 and announced that it would work towards becoming an Eco-Cathedral. The Climate Emergency is an important matter for all Christians, and indeed all humanity, to respond to, lying as it does at the heart of our mission to “love your neighbour” by caring for one another and for the very Creation that sustains us.
I am a member of the congregation and community at the Cathedral, active on its ‘Eco Group’ of about a dozen enthusiasts drawn from congregation, Cathedral staff and clergy. Our Residentiary Canon Stephen Edwards formed the group a couple of years ago, as a way of spreading a shared heartfelt passion to translate our Christian Faith into grassroots action, taking care of our beautiful planet for the benefit of future generations.
In spite all the doom-and-gloom that we hear so much of these days about the effects of climate change and environmental destruction, our Christian ethos gives us much encouragement. On the one hand, we know that we have all been part of the destruction of the environment that has happened, and we are sorry for this. At the same time, despite our human failings, our Faith fills us with the sure Hope that God is bringing all things together for good and spurs us on to learn to live in Love, as Jesus showed us, through action.
We ask that you join us in our pilgrimage of change and love, by learning together to Live Gently on the Earth, which is what we hope that this ‘blog’ can help to do.
Staffan Engstrom
Worcester Cathedral Eco-Group