St Hilary's & St Silas Church

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT – WHY?

All Christians are called to be stewards of God's magnificent creation, and to live sustainably.
The fifth Mark of Mission of the Worldwide Anglican Communion is ‘to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the earth’.

The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. Ps 24.1 (NIV)

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31 (NIV)

Environmental degradation is not simply a scientific or political issue. Greed and exploitation have accompanied and often overshadowed beneficial economic development. Unjust political and social structures have led to displacement of people and to poverty. Over-consumption of resources such as forest clearing or overgrazing has resulted as people struggle to survive. Transformation to wise and sustainable use of the environment is at heart a spiritual matter. Environmental concern is a legitimate and necessary part of a Christian's response to God's loving provision for us from GREEN BY GRACE - a report prepared for the general synod 2004 by the Environment Working Group of the Anglican Church of Australia.

ST HILARY'S ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PRINCIPLES

The following Environmental policy and principles were adopted at the September 2009 Church Council meeting:

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
St Hilary's is committed to show leadership in the way we care for the planet, and to use sparingly the resources over which God has given us stewardship.

Accordingly, we will strive to reduce our environmental impact both as members of the St Hilary's community and as individuals, and to positively influence the wider community, and policy makers, based on a consistent approach to mainstream environmental issues.

PRINCIPLES – we commit to the following principles

1. Understanding / Communication - to encourage a deep and objective understanding of and commitment to the environment amongst our congregations, through provision of education and training.

2. Environmental footprint - to take initiatives to minimize the current and future environmental impact of our activities on the land, air, water and other natural resources (energy use, water use, recycling, purchasing policy etc).

3. Environmentally accountable financial resource use - to ensure that in relation to short and long term capital planning decisions, and to ongoing purchase of goods and services, we take actions to identify and minimise the environmental impacts of such decisions.

4. Public Policy - to participate, where appropriate, in the formulation of sound public policy that meaningfully addresses environmental problems.

WHAT ARE WE DOING AT ST HILARY'S?

WATER SAVINGS:

All toilets are progressively being upgraded to dual flush

You will notice an emphasis on native plantings around the properties.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY:

Insulation has been installed in the ceiling of St. Silas Vicarage, we are in the process of upgrading insulation in the Alfred Street residence and have audited all other properties.

Energy Efficient Lighting has been installed in the Church hall, and we have installed long life energy efficient floods around properties.

Switching Off is the most energy efficient approach to lighting.

A proposal for adopting Green Power across all properties has been costed for presentation to Church Council.

Our office staff actively separate out materials for Recycling.

We separate fluorescent lights for recycling.

WHAT ARE ST HILARY'S PEOPLE DOING AT HOME?

The Peter Corney water harvesting system - the front garden is watered from the house roof, and back garden via pump from garage run-off – maybe he’s selling water on the side!

Don Helmore has water tanks hidden everywhere, a separate tank for the washing machine discharge, and has also installed solar hot water.

Benita and Geoff Buchanan operate solar hot water as well as photovoltaics. This generates excess power, which they feed back to the grid.

Alistair Blakeley is a bit of a green guru with solar hot water, water tanks, a water bladder under the house, and he is right up with developments on LED lighting.

The sunny Caroline Banks is also solar at home, while the Janes have given up swimming at home and converted their pool in to water storage.

If you are interested in Sustainable Building, talk to Peter and Elizabeth Holloway.

Many of us purchase green power (from government accredited wind or solar sources). http://www.greenpower.gov.au/how-greenpower-works.aspx

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Sustainability Victoria at www.sustainability.vic.gov.au is a very comprehensive resource covering water savings, energy efficiency, recycling hints.

Also look at their linked sites www.saveenergy.vic.gov.au and www.resourcesmart.vic.gov.au

Examples are such things as Byte back (environmentally sound disposal of computer etc parts), Battery back, Detox your home (unwanted chemicals, paints etc) - You will also find links to explain the various symbols that are used on plastic packaging, energy ratings etc….

Go deeper with the Intergovernmental panel on climate change at www.ipcc.ch

Check out what the Victorian EPA does at www.epa.vic.gov.au. The student link www.epa.vic.gov.au/students/ has very good information and resources for primary, secondary and tertiary students and teachers.

Review the working of the Australian Anglican Environmental Network www.aaen.org.au

BOM is a globally respected organisation, so get really serious at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Climate Change website www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/

Check out and be staggered by your environmental footprint using Australian Conservation Foundation's Eco-Calculator www.acfonline.org.au/custom_greenhome/calculator.asp or Google "Eco footprint calculator" and choose from any number of calculators.

Support Tear Australia with it’s integrated approach to social justice and environment - see Carbon fast at www.tear.org.au/advocacy/articles/carbonfast