Nothing beats the joy of when a plan becomes reality. Especially when those plans have been a long time in the making! On August 24th and 25th the team from Lightforce came to Chartwell Cooperating Church to install 20 solar panels. This project started a long time ago and has been passionately supported by Warwick Silvester, Jack Brinkman, Erica Harris and the late Jock Crawford.

Tied into Sunday’s Service of Creation service, was the introduction of Eco Awards presented by Tim and Anna Cox. The Eco Church awards are an acknowledgement of the actions by members of our parish towards environmental change and improvement.

When Chartwell Cooperating Church worked on the Eco Church self-assessment worksheet, when it came to monitoring their church’s water consumption, they got Heather Kikkert, a water engineer, to carry out an audit of their church’s water consumption. Heather shares some tips for other churches who might also want to audit their water consumption.

Chartwell Cooperating Church is a seasoned traveller on the sustainability journey and as shown from the excerpts below - already has so many stories to share with the Eco Church whānau. Read on to find out more and be inspired to start a creation care initiative at your church!

Soon after Chartwell Cooperating Church joined the Eco Church whānau, they arranged for Paul Murray from Para Kore to come and share about the Para Kore kaupapa and gave an introductory wānanga about zero waste to the church.

‘How can church building projects be more sustainable and low carbon?’ was the question participants explored together in the recent A Rocha Eco Church kōrero on 24 March 2022. Participants from around the motu who are interested or involved in church building projects met together online to discuss experiences and options. The two key presenters were Caitlyn Lee, an architectural graduate working in the sustainable building industry, with experience and training in materials research, and Geoffrey Lee, project manager of Te Korōria - Karori Anglican’s new build project.