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Green Discussions:
How Can We Build Back Better?
31st July 2020 at 6-7pm – Free Ticketed Virtual Discussion + Q&A
In Genesis God gave humans a responsibility: to look after the Earth on God’s behalf, to enjoy it and rule it in the way that God would.
Psalm 24:1: “The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it”
The covid19 lockdown has provided us a glimpse of the benefits of how an improved natural environment affects our own wellbeing. Globally, many comments have been made on social media from societies in lockdown about how much better the environment has been – from the reduction in litter to the birds singing and the clear skies. Below is an example of one of the many posts and comments where our community in Runnymede Borough have recognised our newfound harmonising with nature.
With the improvement in our natural environment, University College London found there was an initial overall improvement in our society’s mental wellbeing. (Ref: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/apr/stress-over-covid-19-keeping-fewer-people-night ). How can we ensure this continues to be our new normal as we continue with the shadow of the pandemic plus the economic downturn? (Ref: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-53092833).
In this final session, our agenda is to discuss and find potential solutions for how our economic and environmental sustainability can evolve together without losing our newfound awareness of our natural world. Come join us to discuss:
- How can we retain the positives of an improved environment alongside rising demands to return to our disposable society?
- How do we enable people to travel via low carbon means when many are concerned about the safety of using public transport?
- How can our towns better support our communities in the new ways that we shop, work and interact?
- How can businesses evolve so that general waste is reduced and businesses are made to be responsible for own their own single-use / disposable packaging?
(Read up on the current packaging responsibilities: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/packaging-producer-responsibilities)
Runnymede Borough, like some other boroughs in the UK, is upgrading their tired looking towns and cities, and have an opportunity to recreate how our societies interact with each other and how we interact with our natural environment.
Come join our discussion with Runnymede Borough Councillors and Climate-Change specialists to gain ideas and create a collaboration amongst all stakeholders to improve the way we integrate with our environment. We hope to nurture collaboration between all stakeholders in Runnymede Borough and beyond and hope sustainability champions will come forward across different sectors to continue to inspire, encourage and lead to make our borough(s) greener and cleaner.
We are pleased to have attending this event the following RBC councillors:
- Cllr Don Whyte
- Cllr Isabel Mullens
- Cllr Mark Adams
- Cllr Michael Brieley
- Cllr Robert King
- Cllr Sylvia Whyte
We also have 2 climate change specialist:
- Dr. Jennifer Rudd MChem MRSC
Dr. Rudd is a Research Officer at Swansea University. She has a background in chemistry and has worked on next generation solar panels, water splitting catalysts and turning carbon dioxide into valuable products. To respond to the climate emergency we live in she’s started asking the question “Can we teach climate change in a way the effects behavioural change?” To answer that question she now leads the You and CO2 (youandco2.org) cross-curricular education programme.
- Dr Marianne Brett
Dr Brett is an Earth Scientist committed to using the latest research to assist industry, the public and regulators to move towards a more sustainable future. She is an environmental consultant in policy making and has been involved in geo-environmental projects, including diverse projects within industry such as highways improvements, classifying unusual and problematic waste streams, and assisting in development and testing of industry best practice tools. Dr Brett continues to advocate for swift changes in legislation and practices to remediate pollution and inequality to move towards a sustainable and hopeful future for all.
This is a free virtual ticketed event with a limited number of places available. Please register below if you would like to attend.
If you want to leave a question for this discussion, please submit your question via our question form. Click here to access
To connect with us:
@StJohnsEcoChurch https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsEcoChurch
@StJohnsEcoChurch https://www.instagram.com/stjohnsecochurch/
Email: StJohnsEghamEcoChurch@gmail.com
