Cotteridge Meeting wins eco award
Cotteridge has become the first Quaker Meeting to be given a Gold Eco Church award after reducing their carbon footprint by ninety-eight per cent
Cotteridge Meeting has become the first UK Quaker Meeting to be given a Gold Eco Church award. The prize from A Rocha recognises that Cotteridge Quakers have reduced the carbon footprint of their all-electric building ninety-eight per cent over fifteen years, while its CO2 emissions dropped from 26.4 tons in 2014 to 0.6 tons in 2019.
Harriet Martin, convenor of Cotteridge Meeting’s sustainability group, said: ‘From the seventeenth century, Quakers have recognised damaging the earth for human “outward greatness” is unjust to future generations. Nationally Quakers now are calling for net-zero carbon emissions across the country well before 2050. Cotteridge Friends are hopeful their Meeting house will achieve this, generating as much electricity as it uses, within the next year. Accomplishing this nationwide will be far from easy, but would bring huge benefits – decent jobs, better housing, clean air and reduced inequality.’
According to the Meeting, the A Rocha Gold Award is also a recognition of the efforts of individual Friends at Cotteridge to ‘green’ their lifestyles. ‘Many now walk or cycle to Meeting on a Sunday,’ one Friend said. ‘At the monthly shared lunches vegetarian and vegan food is becoming the norm. Friends are now far more likely to be chatting about UK holidays or train journeys than flights abroad.’
Central England Area Meeting, to which Cotteridge Meeting belongs, is currently working towards a Silver Eco Diocese award.
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