Our vicar, Gareth, is kicking off in a football event as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of the climate crisis, using tbe sport to highlight practical steps that can be taken to reduce our impact on the planet.
Gareth is playing for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Football Team, lacing up their boots on Saturday 21 January. Their opponents will be the ‘Heaven Help Us’ Football Team. Heaven Help Us is a nationwide interfaith community using sport to allow faith communities to positively engage through activity and creates a forum where identities and differences can be celebrated rather than becoming divisive.
During the game and its preparations, the teams will be participating in several ‘green goals’ including taking public transport or walking to the match, eating a vegetarian meal, and bringing their own water bottles and coffee cups.
It is all part of a national campaign which will see more than 80 top football clubs join forces against climate change in the world’s biggest football campaign to protect our world, ‘Green Football Weekend’.
The Green Football Weekend campaign culminates in fixtures to be played across the country on the weekend of 3-5 February. Clubs across the top divisions are battling it out for the coveted Green Football Cup. But unlike other tournaments, it’s fan action that will decide who takes the Cup home, with fans scoring ‘green goals’ for their club by taking climate-friendly actions - from eating a vegetarian meal to turning the thermostat down one degree or taking a shorter shower.
You can find out more information on the Church of England website or from Gareth next time you see him!