Last week, sitting in a little pub in Dorset and about to sip my pint of Doombar, I was approached by the local vicar. He’d officiated at my daughter’s wedding last year and knew I was a Green, although he probably doesn’t know I’m an atheist.
He asked me if I had heard of the Diocese of Salisbury’s initiative called “Carbon Fast”, which aims to encourage parishioners to reduce the carbon footprint of their households but also their churches, by 40 per cent during the 40 days of Lent.
I hadn’t, but looked up the website, which says: “The result? Better stewardship, enhanced worship and witness, and new disciplines for the future. In response to globally recognised ecological concerns, dioceses across the South West are challenging a destructive culture of ease and wastefulness.”