ANGLICAN ECOCARE COMMISSION
The Anglican EcoCare Commission is back and keen to “Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth” (Anglican Mark of Mission 5)
The EcoCare Commission operates under a Diocesan Statute and receives funding from Diocesan Council. The A/Director of Advocacy Commissions, Ian Carter AM, provides operational support to the Commission, as he does with the Social Responsibilities Commission. The EcoCare Commission now comprises Dr Sue Taylor (Chair), Professor Peter Newman AO, Barry Healy, and the Revds. Peregrin Campbell-Osgood, Bruce Hyde and Sarah Stapleton.
We meet regularly and our early work has included following through on several Diocesan and General Synod motions with respect to achieving Net Zero in the Diocese. We have met with the Diocesan Secretary and the Operations Manager to move forward with these important matters, with more meetings scheduled.
We have also sent a questionnaire to Parishes to seek to understand what parishes are doing in EcoCare places, as well as what they need to help them. Some parishes in the Diocese have put in place various initiatives like solar panels, community gardens and water tanks, as well as recycling initiatives. Other parishes need more guidance and/or are struggling to afford to do too much. We are looking to running Workshops in the next year, based around a Workshop that was recently run at Beaconsfield Parish.
We joined a panel at the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change Multi-faith Forum in September.
Our website is back and operational and we have sent out reflections and resources for Sustainable September to all Parishes. We will continue to grow our information and resource sharing across a range of areas.
We look forward to an exciting 2024.
Dr Sue Taylor, Chairperson