Environmental Sustainability

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Challenges Canadian Government to stop protecting big oil.   Read more.

Sunshine Coast Environmental Survey

The survey asks people about some contentious environmental issues on the coast, and about environmental risks, generally. It also asks for some background information and a few questions on community involvement and values. This University of B.C. study is offering ten prizes of $100 that will be offered to people who participate by doing a draw.  To take the survey, it can be found on the following website, www.envirochange.ca

The survey is completely anonymous. For those who want to participate in the draw their name and contact info will be separated from the data so that we have no way of connecting responses to the person who gave them.

Public participation is a crucial part of our examination of risks because how people understand these is a key to helping plan for community resilience.

A short article about our survey can be found in the Coast Reporter, and also on their website, here: http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20111016/SECHELT0101/310169998/-1/SECHELT/study-to-examine-coast-environmental-issues

Click the button to the right to read the Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change (pdf format).

   

 GREEN ACCREDITATION FOR ST. HILDA'S

St. Hilda’s by the Sea Anglican Church in Sechelt, B.C. is the first parish in the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster (80 parishes in an area between Hope and Powell River) to receive official Green Accreditation.

The Green Parish Accreditation Program was developed to give recognition to churches that have demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental stewardship.  Churches have one year to document completion of greening actions in the following areas: (1) Energy Conservation; (2) Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; (3) Ground Care and Maintenance; (4) Transportation; (5) Church Communication; (6) Religious Education, (7) Worship and Liturgy; and (8) Environmental Justice.

St Hilda’s environmental steward David Moul oversaw the “greening” process at his church.  He ensured that the recommendations of a 2004 energy audit were implemented.  A green procurement policy was adopted for church supplies requiring price comparison with recycled alternatives and purchase of recycled products available at a cost within five to ten percent of the cost of the equivalent non-recycled product.  The church stopped the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides; and the invasive species of ivy which had been overwhelming the conifers on the property is being removed.

To encourage church users to use alternate forms of transportation Moul had a bicycle rack installed.  As for church communication and education he has an Environmental Stewardship page on the parish website.  Moul also worked extensively on the Diocesan Environmental Atlas.  The Atlas is an interactive map which allows environmental stewards to enter useful community environmental information.  Moul made sure that the atlas had all the sensitive habitat information management (shim) for the Sunshine Coast installed.  He has entered numerous data points with useful links to web pages and it serves as a wonderful educational tool not only for parishioners but for everyone interested in Coastal environmental concerns.  Note: the atlas must be accessed through Internet Explorer at Community Mapping Network.  

The most rewarding aspect of the accreditation program, according to Moul, is the eco-justice initiatives that St. Hilda’s has undertaken.  As Christians, we are to love God and love our neighbour as ourself.  To love God is to love and respect God’s work i.e creation.  Loving one's neighbour is more than loving family and friends.  In Eco-justice terms our neighbours are: those who are affected by climate change.  Our compassion and concern are for those who have been hit the hardest and have had few benefits from the environmental changes occurring, most often the extreme poor  Our neighbours are the future generations.  We must provide them with ecological sustainability and sufficient resources for their well being.  We must change our consumptive and destructive lifestyles.  Our neighbours must also include the rest of creation as we are neighbour to all the variety of life that share the planet. We must care for biodiversity and for the natural systems that maintain life.

To this end St. Hilda’s are signatories of the Earth Charter http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/ and has become the first faith based group to become members of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (SCCA)

 Recently, St. Hilda’s with the support of the SCCA  and Gibsons United Church as partners successfully took a World Water Day motion, concerning the human right to have access to clean drinking water and the need to protect drinking watersheds, to the Town of Gibsons, District Municipality of Sechelt, the Sunshine Coast Regional District, and to the Sechelt Indian Band.

In an effort to support biodiversity they will soon be initiating a campaign with the SCCA to achieve protective status to the glass sponge reef in the waters off Sechelt.  See slide presentation below.

Below is a photo of Rev Michael Batten of St. David's, Vancouver (centre) joining St. Hilda's environmental steward Dave Moul (left) and St. Hilda's priest-in-charge, Neil Fernyhough (right) receiving plaques designating our parishes as the first green accredited ones in the diocese. In the background are Bishop Michael Ingham and societal ministries coordinator David Dranchuk, who made the presentation at our diocesan synod on Saturday, May 23. 

a COMMUNAL VOICE

As you know we each have a personal responsibility to sustain and steward creation.  The Church asks more.  It also promotes a communal voice at the parish, diocesan and national levels.  It asks us as a community to green our buildings, bring environmental prayers and issues into our liturgy and reflections, and to play our part as a church in bringing about transformation towards a just, sustainable future.  See the message from the Global Anglican Congress on the Stewardship of Creation.  http://www.anglicancommunion.org/un/steward_01.html 

cOMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL ATLAS 

The Diocese of New Westminster Parish Community Atlas

In 2006 the Environmental Unit from the Diocesan office in Vancouver hired Quyen Tran (a UBC Geography student) to create and plot information onto a Diocesan parish map.  The base map and the software came from the Community Mapping Network.  The “atlas” as the project became to be known has a wealth of information; all stored in layers. 

Of prime concern to the various parishes is the interactive feature of the atlas.  Designated persons (usually environmental stewards) can enter information onto the atlas that may concern their parish and or the wider community.

As St. Hilda’s environmental steward, I had an opportunity to work closely with Quyen to help debug the website and to suggest additions that were of concern to whole Sunshine Coast community.

Those features were added and now, we have a fantastic tool, within typing reach, on our computers, that we can all use.  Until now, there has never been a single website that covered this amount of detail for the Sunshine Coast.

Click here for instructions on how to use the Atlas: Instructions
Atlas address: Community Mapping Network. 

mEMBERSHIP IN THE sCCA

St. Hilda's is the first faith based community to become a member of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (SCCA)

"The purpose of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association is to preserve the natural biodiversity of the Sunshine Coast Region for the present and future benefit of humanity and all life; specifically to:

1. Conduct research to inventory and describe our remaining natural areas with the goal of identifying land and waters important for the preservation of biodiversity. All information collected will be freely available to the public.
2. Work to retain such lands and waters in a natural state and make them available for the public enjoyment where possible.
   
3. Raise public environmental and conservation awareness by sponsoring educational programs and workshops and by building access infrastructure for low impact recreation."

   In the past this organization has helped preserve marbled murrelet habitat, in old growth forests, in Jervis Inlet and have been at the forefront in lobbying for a coast-wide Local Resource Management Plan (LRMP).  The SCCA is an umbrella organization for 16-18 local environmental and conservation groups including: Ruby Lake Nature Reserve, Sunshine Coast Natural History Society, Sargeant Bay Society, Native Plant Society of B.C., Tetrahedron Alliance, Halfmoon Bay Greenways and Francis Point Marine Park Society.

   For a complete list and to view the SCCA’s mandate go to www.thescca.ca

THE GREENINGSPIRIT WEBSITE LAUNCHED

This is an interactive website for Anglican Churches throughout British Columbia and the Yukon. Individual parishes can log on to post their commitment to environmental stewardship. It's a "work in progress". There is still more material to be added. Your comments and suggestion will be welcomed.

GreeningSpirit was made possible through a grant of $5,000 from Environment Canada (EcoAction Fund) and a grant of $12,000 from the Anglican Initiatives Fund, Diocese of New Westminster. The grant provides for development and ongoing maintenance.

GLASS SPONGES

                          Previous postings:

  View the movie HOME at      http://www.youtube.com/watchv=jqxENMKaeCU

  TED Talk with Naomi Klein;

http://www.ted.com/talks/naomi_klein_addicted_to_risk.html   

  Earth Charter   www.earthcharter.org