Greenbank Church was awarded the Gold Award by Eco-Congregation Scotland in 2022
The Greenbank Eco-Group is structured on three themes: Spiritual Living, Practical Living, and Global Living. To learn more about Eco-Congregation Scotland, and their wider plan, click here. Our group started as a Board group focused on energy saving, before then developing a wider agenda with more emphasis on Christian Stewardship of the Planet. Past initiatives include ‘greening’ the front of the church, setting up an ethical procurement policy (including fairtrade consumables and sustainable products), and ensuring that Church building improvements meet ethical standards (e.g. making sure the new boiler can be converted to burning Hydrogen; insulating buildings).
Having developed ongoing strategic plans, there are regular activities which we organise such as the upkeep of the church garden and planters, and we are constantly adding to our guide to local recycling opportunities.
From time to time we organise special events such as:
* Film Nights – various films with lively discussions afterwards, such as Thank You for the Rain (2017).
* Bike Day – demonstrations of electric and cargo bikes, and bike-fixing clinics.
* Repair Cafés – hosted in conjunction with Repair Café Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Tool Library.
* Speaker Events – such as Patrick Grant on living more sustainably and consuming less.
* Forest Church – twice yearly opportunity for multi-generational outdoor activities.
Congregational Survey and Exhibition
Members were given survey forms on entry to the church and encouraged to visit an exhibition including a computer running energy calculations. Results of the survey were published in various issues of our Church magazine, Connections.