April
Community Garden Week 1-7th April 2024
Walk to Work Day 7th April 2024
Earth Day April 22nd 2024
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Lifestyle 3, 14
May
National Gardening Week 1-7th May 2024 run by the RHS
www.rhs.org.uk/get-involved/national-gardening-week
Rogation Sunday 5th May 2024
Christian Aid Week 12th-18th May 2024
www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/christian-aid-week?
Walk to School Week 20th-24th May – this year Day 1 focuses on the magic of nature.
www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-to-school/primary-schools/walk-to-school-week
No Mow May – all month
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Worship and Teaching 1, 2, 3, 4, Lifestyle 3, 14.
June
World Environment Day 5th June 2024
Churches Count on Nature 8th-16th June 2024
www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/bwg_gallery/churches-count-on-nature/
A great week to celebrate and discover the diversity of species in your church yard. Why not get the local community involved as your survey and discover?
Great Big Green Week 8th-16th June 2024
Plastic Free Beauty Day 17th June 2024
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Land 10, Community and Global Engagement 1, 5, 14, 15, 16
Churches Count on Nature and Great Big Green Week provide great opportunities for school assemblies, working alongside other community environmentally minded groups and inviting people into your churchyard or garden.
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January
An idea for January for your church. Get cooking together or host a potluck supper and invite people from your community to join you. Using your LOAF – means cooking with Locally produced, Organically grown, Animal friendly and Fairly traded ingredients.
How easy might it be to find these ingredients in your local shops or supermarket? How affordable are they?
Green Christians have produced a pdf leaflet called “Use Your Loaf” giving you more ideas.
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National Campaigns to link to – Veganuary – all January 2024
Small actions for everyone – check in your local shop or supermarket for L.O.A.F. ingredients – can you request they stock some/some more?
Related ideas – Bake a L.O.A.F loaf for your communion service and include some teaching on how L.O.A.F principles fit with our Christian Faith. Write a prayer or grace for a church or community lunch.
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Lifestyle 10. Community & Global Engagement 5,8, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 Lifestyle 9, 10
Examples of links to community groups- Cubs Chef Activity Badge, Scouts Chef Activity Badge, school RE classes or Food Technology classes, OAP lunch clubs.
IPCC Information -
OTHER IDEAS FOR JANUARY
Looking after birds on our church land
National Campaign to link to – RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 26-28 January 2024
https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Land 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10
Examples of links to community groups- Cubs Environmental Conservation Activity Badge or Naturalist Activity Badge
Big Energy Saving Week 17-23rd January 2024- an annual campaign to address the issues of fuel poverty and energy inefficiency.
Might be time to look at the church heating system, the type of light bulbs used and any double glazing in any of the church properties. Could you encourage your congregations to look at the energy efficiency of their homes or workplaces to see if any adjustments might be made to save energy.
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Buildings.
February
Want your church to be cool?
See the amazing work being undertaken on the Wirral with churches working together. Please do get in touch with them, details on the poster below for Wirral Cool Places of Worship
Lent starts on 14th February.
Why not try our Eco Tips in Lent – it’s a list of easy things we can all do for the environment. You might like to try one for each week of lent. (LINK To ECO Tips Page) You can customise this page with your own church logo.
Or look up Arocha’s Ideas for a Greener Lent .ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/go-green-er-for-lent
OTHER IDEAS FOR FEBRUARY
World Wetlands Day 2nd February 2024
National Nest Box Week 14th – 21st February 2024
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Land 1, 2 Community and Global Engagement 6
Please note that Fairtrade Fortnight has moved to - Monday 9 September – Sunday 22 September 2024
www.fairtrade.org.uk/get-involved/current-campaigns/fairtrade-fortnight/
March
Food Waste Action Week 4-10th March 2024
Global Recycling Day 18th March 2024
UN World Water Day 22nd March 2024
WWF Earth Hour 23rd March 2024, 8.30-9.30 p.m.
Links to Arocha Eco Church Questionnaire – Buildings 31, Lifestyle 6, 7, Buildings 20, 21, 22, 23, Community and Global Engagement 14, 27.
Don’t forget to post on social media, send out press releases and let the Outreach Environment Team know about your environmental actions.