Taking steps to save the planet

This week The Salvation Army joins a movement of organisations in declaring a climate emergency. Major HEATHER POXON, environmental officer for The Salvation Army, explains why it is a pressing issue for the church and charity and what can be done to make a difference for good in perilous times

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

IT’S an emergency. The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland has declared that climate change poses a serious risk locally and globally and must be treated with urgency. The church and charity joins a growing list of citizens, churches, councils, businesses and other organisations across 40 countries which have declared a climate emergency. The movement recognises that urgent action is required to reduce emissions and to address climate change impacts, insisting that people around the world ‘have a fundamental human right to clean, healthy and adequate air, water, land, food, education, healthcare and shelter’.

Major Heather Poxon, environmental officer for The Salvation Army in the UK and Republic of Ireland, says that the announcement, which went out on World Environment Day (Monday 5 June), aims to reinforce the message that the world is facing a climate crisis.

‘This is not a game,’ she says. ‘This is important. We need to act now. Hopefully the announcement will bring more engagement and make this a priority.’

Heather describes her role in The Salvation Army.

‘We have someone else who looks after the sustainability of our buildings and tries to bring down our carbon footprint from all our properties – that’s the hardware side. My side is the heart side. It’s looking at The

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Church leaders fronted the march to parliament

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Salvation Army’s teaching, encouraging and providing resources for people who are already interested in caring for creation, and raising awareness that we need to “tread softly”.’

‘Tread softly’ is a phrase that Heather likes to use when speaking about The Salvation Army’s work in caring for creation, embodying the idea that people need to be careful with how their lifestyles affect the planet.

‘We are a Christian organisation,’ Heather explains. ‘This world belongs to God, it doesn’t belong to us and we have a responsibility to love the world as much as God loves the world.

‘It’s a justice issue as well. Those who are creating the emissions are creating issues for the most vulnerable people, those on the receiving end of the crisis of global warming, who are fleeing their homes and are struggling with droughts, floods, landslides and fires. We have a responsibility before God to act justly and do the right thing.’

She admits that the Church is late in adopting the agenda, but that it is still important to show up.

‘For some reason, in the past, we haven’t linked caring for creation with our faith. In the Genesis story, God creates the world, then he creates mankind in his own image and says this world is for us to look after. For decades, we Christians have understood that as a stewardship role, but we haven’t acted like it. We’ve trampled on the Earth and used it as if it’s our own to just abuse. We’ve forgotten that this is our home and, if we abuse our home, we won’t have one.

‘Now we are too late, but we have to mitigate as much as we can the effects of global warming. I say “mitigate” because we’re not going to stop this. The effects are already rolling, and we have to build our resilience to cope with what’s coming.

It’s important that as a Church, we wake up, raise our voice and get on the front line – which is why we were outside parliament recently, making noise and making our presence felt. It was the right thing to do.’

Heather is referring to The Salvation Army’s participation in a protest called No Faith in Fossil Fuels. Some 1,000 Christians gathered for a church service and a march to parliament to call on the UK government to end its investment in fossil fuels.

For Heather and other Christians, faith is a source of encouragement and a motivation to act.

She says: ‘God is a God of hope, and he still has this world in his hands. So we have to believe that there is redemption available. But God wants to work with us to redeem this world.

‘He has given us this responsibility and we need to take it seriously. He may work miracles, but that’s his prerogative. We have to do our bit.’

Across The Salvation Army, many congregations and individuals are doing their bit. Heather has recently introduced an initiative called Heard About the Third? It was inspired by the outcome of the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, whose aim is to protect 30 per cent of land and oceans by 2030.

‘I was keen to make that pledge doable for individuals,’ says Heather. ‘So we’ve produced wildflower seeds with the “tread softly” message on the back, and are encouraging people to keep a third of their garden or window boxes for the wild. Plant the seeds, leave them for the worms and squirrels and birds. That way, you’re doing your bit for the third, the 30 per cent in your patch.’

A number of Salvation Army churches have also signed up to be Eco Churches.

‘It’s a scheme that comes under A Rocha, an international Christian environmental organisation,’ explains Heather. ‘In the UK, they provide a survey that a church can sign up to do, and it looks at how you use your land and buildings, at your lifestyle, your teaching and your community engagement. Then you get graded and get a bronze, silver or gold award, depending on how environmentally friendly you are.’ project in Stornoway that is bringing the community together.

The Salvation Army church in Watford is also doing its bit. It has bought an allotment, which is visited every week by children from a primary school.

Though good work is being done, she warns that there is ‘still a feeling that we can kick this can down the road a bit’. She is passionate about getting the message out that we cannot delay in tackling climate change.

We need to tread softly

‘The kids learn about how to grow carrots and pick apples, how to make a compost heap and how to dig the ground,’ says Heather. ‘A lot of these children are from the inner city, they’re not from wealthy backgrounds and may not have ever been on a farm or done much with the soil. They’re getting their hands muddy and loving it. The hope is that it’s building a love and appreciation for creation, which they then share with their families and which motivates them throughout their lives to care for the world.’

Heather also mentions community wardrobes that are working to redress the negative impact of the clothing industry. Then there is a vegetable growing

‘We need to invest in doing things now. One of the challenges is that there is a reluctance to invest in something where we may never see a return. But we need to change that mindset and invest in looking after creation, because if we don’t, things are only going to get more expensive and life is only going to get harder.

‘We’re hardwired to respond to risk that we feel, and while we weren’t feeling the warming world, we didn’t do anything. But that’s starting to change, because we are beginning to feel. Food costs are going up, energy prices are going up and this is going to be the hottest summer yet.

‘We need to tread softly and reduce our waste, the amount that we buy and the energy that we use. We’ve been trampling and we need to start tiptoeing.’

Despite the challenges, Heather loves encouraging people to be more engaged in caring for the environment, and she is not despairing. ‘We’ve got the opportunity to change,’ she says, ‘so there’s hope.’