Next week a series of events will take place in the city to mark Oxford Green Week  This summer festival is an opportunity for members of the local community to explore ways in which they can take action against climate change in and around Oxford.

Some months ago, the Parochial Church Council established a Green Team, led by Tess Blenkinsop and Charlotte Bannister-Parker, to explore ways in which St Mary’s might also seek to reduce its impact on the environment. Thanks to a generous donor, we have been able to commission an energy audit. The report will be considered by the PCC at its meeting next week. 

The consultants have identified three main areas for future work: first, exercising better control of our lighting and heating systems; secondly, exploring the possibility of installing a modest solar array on the roof in consultation with heritage and conservation organisations, as well as the City Council; finally, installing more adequate temperature sensors in different parts of the building. 

Interventions like turning the lights off and reducing the heating when it isn’t required are pretty obvious - we just need to be focussed and persistent in doing something about it. 

In a recent encyclical, Pope Francis wrote about the impact of climate change: 'Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain ... The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now. We need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences’. 

We need to pay attention to these words as a community and as a church. It is time for decisive action. We are finally beginning to realise that when we speak of loving our neighbours as ourselves, a concern for the environment is an integral part of expressing 'a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society’ (Pope Francis).