GREENNESS NEXT TO GODLINESS FOR CHURCH OF ENGLAND

Cremation Discouraged Because of "Greenhouse Gases"

By Christopher Morgan and Sarah Keenlyside

The London Times

July 5, 2004

The Church of England is to embark on a green reformation. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wants to bring environmentalism into every aspect of its work, ranging from ecological burials to powering churches with solar panels.

Clergy are to be asked to discourage cremation because of the greenhouse gases generated, to drive around in electric cars and to urge congregations to wear extra coats to save on heating.

Tomorrow Williams will make a keynote speech outlining the church's growing commitment to green causes and emphasising that humans should no longer see themselves as having "dominion" over the earth. Instead they are its stewards, he will say.

The archbishop has tried to set an example by taking delivery of an environmentally friendly, semi-electric Honda Civic IMA as his chauffeur-driven official car.

As part of the campaign, nine senior bishops recently held a meeting to discuss proposals to encourage "green" funerals.

In the ceremonies, designed by the Arbory Trust charity, the dead are placed in biodegradable cardboard coffins or shrouds, and both corpse and container rot quickly without contaminating the soil. Trees or shrubs are also used instead of gravestones.

"We talk about ashes to ashes and dust to dust so the green burial is a more appropriate interpretation of what is meant," said Claire Foster, the church's environmental co-ordinator.

The church has opened its first green burial site on a 38-acre patch of consecrated ground on a hill west of Cambridge.

Existing graveyards will also be made "greener." At the moment most are a conservationist's nightmare because of their gravestones and intensive manicuring to control grass and weeds. Under the proposals, vicars would be encouraged to let graveyards become wildlife reserves, home to butterflies, bees, foxes and rare plants.

In another initiative, the church has set up eco-workshops across the country, supported by the environment department and the Conservation Foundation. The foundation has also given the church the idea of finding a designer who will create a wardrobe of warm clothes to go to church in. This would save on fuel use, which could be aided by solar panels on south-facing roofs.

David Shreeve, the foundation's director, said: "If you were designing an eco-friendly building today you wouldn't design the sort of buildings the church has. Often there are a very small number of people in a very large building, and that is obviously expensive to heat."