Sustainable Lifestyles
Sustainable Lifestyles
“We all need to make a complete, radical and honest audit of our lifestyles, their impact on the poor and on the planet and ask God to pinpoint where we should start making changes.”
Changing our personal lifestyles is essential if we’re to worship God with heart, soul, mind and strength – and love our neighbours as ourselves. ‘
In his book Planetwise (IVP), Dave Bookless admitted this has been a slow, ongoing process in his own family. But they’ve simply tried to put their faith into practice, and sought to make changes as they’ve become aware of issues. ‘Because we’re a family,’ he said, ‘it’s been a process of joint discussion and decisions, with our children playing a full part – sometimes challenging us to go faster, and at other times reluctant to give up their favourite luxuries.’
As a result of his journey, Dave set up an initiative called Living Lightly, which continues today on the A Rocha UK website. Planet-saving tips are shared on a range of lifestyle issues – from church to workplace and garden to travel.
Here is a website to challenge us to live sustainably as an integral part of our Christian faith:
New Zealand websites to encourage church members to live sustainably:
The Sustainable Living Programme - This Aotearoa-NZ-based community education programme is a practical, fun way to learn and try out actions that reduce your environmental impact at home or in a small business. The website offers eight Future Living Skills (or 'sustainable living') learning guides on:
energy efficiency: cut your power bill
eco-building: solar design and insulation
water use and river protection
organic veges & growing crops at home
waste minimising in your consumer choices
food: healthy choices, shopping & processing
travel options and their carbon impacts
community resilience (which links with emergency preparedness)
How to Save the World by environmental advocate Waveney Warth and award-winning comedian Tim Batt.
Mainstream Green: Making sustainability easy, normal and feel good.
If you run a small business - check out the Sustainable Business Network’s Climate Action Toolbox hosted on business.govt.nz. It offers a simple self-assessment tool to help small businesses get started on the climate action journey. It looks at five areas:
Moving people
Moving goods
Office operations
Site operations and equipment
Designing products.
International programmes to encourage church members live sustainably:
WWF’s My Footprint App - Practical advice on how you can introduce positive changes to your life and a variety of challenges for you to take part in. From cutting down your plastic consumption to eating a plant-based meal; each challenge gives you a new opportunity to do your bit for the planet. Track your progress in reducing your environmental footprint through the app.