Eco Church
Being outward looking means being concerned with the world beyond the church doors.
From inside our wonderfully bright church, with its large clear glass windows, we can see houses and flats, trees and sky.
God's creation is beautiful and full of the possibility of teeming life. Our use of the earth's resources and our failure to respect the environment means that the impact of human activity has often been destructive. Pollution, over-exploitation of the land and wastefulness have led to species extinction and poor living conditions for millions of people. And global warming presents the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced.
The first pages of the Bible are set in a garden. The last pages speak of a glorious city, free of injustice, pain and sorrow. Because our church is set in a garden within one of the world's greatest cities, we have a real opportunity to think practically and creatively about helping in the cause of environmental justice.
Caring for creation is an integral part of loving our neighbours and following God faithfully.
We are a Silver Eco Church and are working towards being a Gold Eco Church.
Our partners
Eco Church is a response to the climate and environmental crises by A Rocha, an international Christian charity. They realised that most churches could use much less energy, and manage their land better to maintain biodiversity. The scheme started in 2015 and several thousand churches have so far joined. To provide encouragement, each church can progress through bronze and silver awards to an ultimate gold award, as they and their congregations undertake more ecofriendly activities and reduce their carbon footprints. St Mary’s has installed efficient boilers, LED lights and more insulation to save energy, and its neighbourhood centre has had a new roof and double glazing. The church roof has a large array of PV solar panels generating up to 20kW.
A Rocha – The Rock in Portuguese – was founded nearly 30 years ago by British people living in Portugal. They were worried about the great damage being done to the natural environment in many parts of that country. Through Christian networks they soon started working in other countries also, mixing teaching and practical projects. In 2020, the Church of England’s governing body – General Synod – decided that all Church properties should become net zero emitters of carbon dioxide by 2030. The ‘Routemap’ to this requires all dioceses to meet targets for most churches to sign up to the Eco Church programme. At St Mary’s we are helping other churches in East London to become part of the scheme.
We also have local partnerships with the Islington Environmental Alliance and the Islington Climate Centre both of which aim to bring people together to take action locally to address the impact of the changing climate.
Eco church events
Eco tips from our eco church group
Discover your carbon footprint
We all have a part to play in working for a better world.
Our lifestyle choices impact our world.
By this, we mean the actions we take in our everyday lives such as shopping choices and fuel consumption, that result in varying levels of greenhouse gases, the cause of climate change. With this knowledge, we can understand better how to lighten our impact on the Earth. As all of us in the St. Mary’s community are part of the solution, we urge church members and visitors to this page to measure your current carbon footprint, compare with others, see how your results change over time, make pledges to work towards in future, and more.
Why not try this personal carbon footprint calculator: footprint.wwf.org.uk