Yesterday, was very busy here at the ECEN conference in Milano. We began with breaking up into working groups, covering different areas:
- water
- creation time
- theology
- eco-management
- education
- climate change
- mobility
- biodiversity
I was in the eco-management group, and we shared what is happening in each of out countries. I was pleased to meet Brian Morgan from the Diocese of Europe who is the Diocesan Environment Officer for Europe. There were exciting stories of eco-management schemes from Germany (with their 'Green Cockerel' scheme - rather more stringent criteria that the Eco-congregation model) and rally interesting ways of trying to get others involved.
We heard from the Czech Republic about their journey over the last 10 or so years. From beginning with the theology, they were chanllenged to help churches and schools to do practical things. Now they have 25 solar pv installations, and are acting as consultants for many other projects.
We heard from the Catholic Diocese of Milano, where they have 165 parish environmental reps in a network (out of about 360 parishes), who meet together for encouragement and training. They also have scientific research happening at Milano University on solar powered hydrogen cells, and other projects on the go.
In Bed-boll, Germany, they started in the kitchen by getting 60% of food bought for church needs locally (and thus encouraging the local economy). They then organised training on energy-saving driving (including the Bishop!). The average saving is about 25%, through turning off the engine at red lights, moving to higher gears quickly and ensuring that the tyres are pumped up regularly. Also, they are wanting to talk with car manufactureres about specific requierements for the 12,000 cars that the churches currently purchase throughout German churches (they would like to push the car manufacturers to produce much lower energy-use vehicles). Also, they are developing training for greening up Christian residential centres.
In the afternoon we had a trip into Milano, and after exploring the city for a couple of hours, all the delegates to the conference took part in 'an hour of silence': a demonstration outside the Cathedral. About 80 of us stood in a semi-circle in silence with placards saying things like:
- birth control for cars
- I only want to eat an onion that hasnàt travelled as far as me
- my prince rides a bike
- I want more... more spiritual energy, more co-operative games, more mind travel
- look after the planet, look after yourself
After standing together in silence (which was quite powerful) watching peopleàs varying reactions, we then wandered to the Waldensian Church in Milano, where there were stories from around Europe, for example, the Casa Cares Waldensian guesthouse in Reggello, tuscany, where they are putting up pv panels, using wood for fuel, water filtration system recycling, composting, food production, educating for sustainability among the guests and many other things!
Peter Southcombe from the United Reformed Church in the UK (head of regeneration projects) told us exciting stories of church buildings due for closure becoming the centre of exciting social projects, such as furniture recycling, training, IT centres, and other projects set in train by local churches.
So! There's actually a lot going on! Itàs been really good to hear about so many things going on, surprising to hear about things in the UK that I didnàt know about, and encouraging to hear of all the little things happening all over the place.
