Today (Monday 22 April) is Earth Day.
The annual event promotes an unwavering commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040.
Earth Day is an opportunity to highlight Newcastle Anglican’s environmental commitment through the Five Marks of Mission.
The fifth mark calls for us to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
Anglican EcoCare Newcastle compared Earth Day to New Year’s Day – a time for celebration and resolutions – and suggested ways we can make simple changes in our everyday lives.
- The ‘Arrrs’ can be a guide: things like avoid, refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose, and recycle. Following these will help you make better choices.
- Refusing and reducing means you’ll bring less into your home. Reusing and repurposing stops new items from being made and old products from being wasted.
- Recycling deals with what is left (now a lesser amount thanks to the first steps) by keeping it within a closed loop system.
There is also the Communion Forest.
This is a global initiative comprising local activities of forest protection, tree growing, and ecosystem restoration undertaken by provinces, dioceses and individual churches across the Anglican Communion to safeguard creation.
The Communion Forest follows three key themes:
To plant is to hope.
To restore is to heal.
To protect is to love.
The Communion Forest is a symbol of our commitment to God’s creation and to the Anglican Marks of Mission.
