Address given by David Shreeve, Environmental Adviser, Archbishops’ Council on 27 April 2008

It’s Rogation Sunday and we’ve been blessing the bounds on Primrose Hill.  If I had sent this as a text message to friends around the world they would probably be imagining me somewhere deep in the English countryside, miles from anywhere with just a few cottages dotted around the landscape and an ancient church set in a delightful churchyard complete with its ancient yew tree.  Instead of which we are actually close to the centre of a city of some 8 million people and over 4000 Christian churches. If all their congregations had been out today that would have helped London know that people of faith care about the environment.

As the Bishop of Canberra, who is convener of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, says ‘Concern for the Environment should be core-business for Christians’. The Anglican Communion consists of some 70 million people in 164 countries – now that really could be a worldwide force for environmental concern and voice to be reckoned with.

But it is not just Christians – a couple of weeks ago I was with representatives of many faith groups who met in a church in Knightsbridge to begin working together to establish an Interfaith Environment Network for London enabling people of many faiths to join together to work for the environment they all share.

Since setting up The Conservation Foundation 25 years ago I have seen a remarkable development of interest amongst faith groups. It’s almost as if they’ve been rediscovering the environmental roots all their faiths have. And people outside the faiths are looking for an example. Last year the UK’s Environment Agency asked 30 leading environmentalists and scientists to choose their top 50 things they thought could save the planet. Not surprisingly Number 1 in their top 50 came saving energy with the banning of the ‘standby’ facility. Number 3 encouraged more use of solar energy with huge mirrors built in the Sahara that could produce enough power for the whole of Europe’s energy needs.

What was a surprise was Number 2 in the list was a call to leaders of faith organisations to make the planet their priority and to use their influence to remind people of their duty to restore and maintain the ecological balance of the planet. One of the responses said, ‘organised religion of all denominations, PLEASE get your congregations to make caring for the for our rapidly decomposing, landfill site of a planet the utmost priority’. Another agreed adding the suggestion, ‘they need to form a coalition to encourage their followers to set an example to the rest of the population’.

But why should the church be doing this? The environment is after all fraught with campaigns, politics and opposing views. There are those who want a by-pass to take the traffic away, but others do not want it built where they have pleasant countryside. Others want their energy powered by the wind whilst others do not want their favourite views or walks turned into power-stations.

When this Church is opened on a Sunday morning, all are welcome, whatever their views and anyway, as I have been told on several occasions – ‘our Church has enough to do looking after the homeless, the hungry, the lonely, the elderly – you greenies must get in the queue!’

To these I would say that if we get the environment wrong then many of these issues could get far worse and there are now many in the Church who believe the Church should be setting an example by putting its own house in order.

In 2005 the General Synod called for the Church to reduce its environmental footprint which was easier said than done, for no-one knew what the footprint was. One of my first tasks as Environmental Advisor to the Church was to help create the Shrinking the Footprint campaign and its first task was to discover the amount of energy consumed. And so, on World Environmental Day 2006, we launched Measuring our Footprint. And we found that the CofE uses about the same amount of energy as a major supermarket chain if you add together all its 16000 churches, cathedrals, houses, offices and schools – and that doesn’t include transport and the homes of the congregations. In addition to energy used we also need to extend the environmental audit to the buildings and land around them which often provide green lungs and centres for biodiversity.

Hopefully St Mary’s received a copy of For Creed and Creation – a simple guidebook to running a greener church which we produced last year for every church in London. It not only gives details of everything a church can do to make itself greener, but encourages every Church to let the community around it know what it is doing – and why!

Last year I co-wrote a book with Claire Foster called How many lightbulbs does it take to change a Christian? which aimed to help individuals do things that can make a difference to them, their church and their community. We’ve just heard that this is to be published in the States, so maybe the movie may follow!

In July a follow-up will be published called Don’t stop at the lights which is designed to help clergy and church leaders see how environmental issues can be incorporated in the life of the church throughout the Christian year - at Rogationtide and all the festivals and seasons. The Church has the great advantage over other organisations of being able to use its heritage to celebrate God’s creation at any time of the year and make, often ancient customs and traditions, relevant to today’s world and needs.

The Church of England also has the unique position as the Established Church of being able to influence at the highest levels. This country is proud of being one of the first to develop a Climate Bill and the Bishops of London and Liverpool have been very active in debating this in the House of Lords and making amendments to the bill – particularly to ensure that the international perspective will be considered when remembering how the poor of the world are most affected by changes in the climate. No doubt Bishop Richard will tell you more about this when he comes to your special service on 7 May.

There will be many here in this parish for whom poverty is very real and rising food prices will provide them with even greater problems – but for the world’s poor the situation is described as ‘catastrophic’. To cope with today’s life styles, we have created new fruits of the field which are making those outside our bounds hungry and helpless and frightened.

This year the CofE is to join churches throughout Europe and around the world by setting aside part of its year from 1st September to the second Sunday in October for A Time of God’s Creation when every Church is being encouraged to set aside at least one Sunday to put Creation at the centre of their worship and reflection. Here in London there will be a special evening service at St Paul’s Cathedral on 14 September when it is hoped a large number of representatives from London’s churches will come together.

Environmental groups often distance themselves from special days for the environment like Earth Day and World Environment Day because they say every day should be Environment Day, and people in churches say that every Sunday should be an environment Sunday. There is, after all, so much to link the church with the environment – just think of the many uses of water – in the readings we heard earlier, in baptism and in the Eucharist.

Perhaps like us, faiths have been taking the environment for granted for too long and now we see it threatened we are beginning to realize how the environment and its well-being is vital. I congratulate the organizers of this church's series of environmental events and services and hope the initiative proves a great success in involving both members of this congregation and the community.

We need to understand how as individuals we can do something, and when we question whether individual actions can make any difference, if we know that as a congregation this action can be multiplied, our simple efforts are not only multiplied, but we do them because ‘not to’ would be letting others down.

But why should we be celebrating Rogation Sunday? What has blessing and beating the bounds to do with today’s world? We beat the bounds to mark our own bit of the world, but the bounds also enable us to consider what lies beyond. In the 1630s the poet and country parson George Herbert said that beating the bounds should be encouraged for four reasons: A Blessing of God for the fruits of the field; Justice and preservation of bounds; Charity in loving, walking and neighbourly accompanying one another with reconciling of differences at the time if there be any; the relief of the poor.

Today the latest ‘Rich List’ has been published. The rich are getting richer and several on the list have homes in or very near this parish. Meanwhile, this week there has been a summit on world food which heard one expert describe a ‘silent tsunami’ threatening millions around the world with starvation. Land once used for growing food is now producing fuel for motorcars.

There will be many in this parish, like all parishes, for whom poverty is very real and rising food prices will provide them with even greater problems – but for the world’s poor the situation is described as ‘catastrophic’. To cope with today’s life styles, we have created new fruits of the field which are making those outside our bounds hungry and helpless and frightened.

I believe that concern for creation offers the Church a huge opportunity to make it relevant to many in today’s world. There are problems and issues, but I do not want to promote doom and gloom. Environmentalists who want the people of faith to stand on street corners with banners announcing ‘the end is nigh’ do not, I believe understand what faith is about. At a recent event in Oxford linking faith to environmental concern I was asked by some people, ‘But where is the joy?’

We live in an amazing world and there is much we can do to be good stewards and protect it for us and the future. This is a great opportunity for the Church.

Let me finish by a quote from a book Caring for Creation, an ecumenical approach to the environmental crisis written in 1994 by Max Oelschlaeger a professor at the University of North Texas. He wrote:

I think of religion, or more specifically the church – both the public church and congregations of people or fellowships of believers gathered in places of worship, engaging in discourse about their responsibilities to care for creation with the context of their traditions of faith – as being more important in the effort to conserve life on earth than all the politicians and experts put together. The church may be, in fact, our last, best chance.