Introduction by Reverend Chris Brice
Welcome! And welcome especially to Elli Spackova whose energy, commitment and passion for climate change has made this event happen. It is all her own doing and we applaud you for your energy Elli; thank you for keeping this on our agenda. Thank you also to our speaker this evening; Louise Davies from the environmental section of The Vegan Society. St Martin’s and the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Pope the Orthodox Church and all Christians are committed to working with all people of good will to bring an end to human-induced climate change and to making our world which, in our view, is God our creator’s world, of which we are the gardeners. All Christians are committed to making this world sustainable, flourishing and fair for people of all nations and ensuring that those who are polluting the most must do the most, and must take the lead in keeping fossil fuels in the ground and living simply that others may simply live.
And many of us, my wife and I included, led by our children’s example, are eating less and less meat; now only on Saturdays and Sundays. Here at St Martin’s we have converted all our lighting to LEDs, our gas and electricity are supplied by Good Energy – we only use sustainable electricity and the least polluting gas. Even so, it needs a lot of money to keep this church open and we invite you to help us do that by giving generously at the end. In the summer forty cyclists from End Galende, that’s “let’s end it’, no more, stop it”, slept here with bikes en route to Germany to try to close the largest open cast coal mine in Europe. Their flags still fly bravely at the back of the church.
After Elli has played for us there will be a short time for Louise to talk to us, followed by a discussion followed by drinks at the end. Thank you all for being here, enjoy!
