Sustainable September
The Revd Julie Baker, Chaplaincy Manager
Hi, my name is Julie Baker and I am the new Chaplaincy Manager at St Bart’s. I have been with the organization for about a month now and have spent this time getting to know the people, services and circumstances of our work here. Part of my role will include regular contributions to the Messenger, so you’ll hear plenty from me as the months come and go.
The theme of this edition is Sustainable September, and I wondered how that might fit with the St Bart’s mission, ‘To provide opportunities, pathways and care to vulnerable people who find themselves without a home.’ With a little bit of research, it became clear that this is a point of considerable overlap.
The urgent imperative to recognise and respond to climate change, as aligned with the Fifth Mark of Mission, ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth,’ perhaps impacts consumers of our services even more than the average Australian. The long, hot summers which are only getting hotter impact homeless people in increasingly dangerous ways. Finding shelter from extreme weather means jumping in the car or sitting under the air conditioner for most of us, but if you live in a tent, there is very little relief from the heat.
The difficulty many of us are having during these times of high living costs in keeping up with utility bills are increasingly impacting people on low incomes who are at real risk of losing their homes as they prioritise the payment of rent against power bills and food costs. When you already have no spare money for luxuries, how do you ‘tighten your belt’ further when the bills go up?
Homelessness is always only part of a story, it is never the whole tale. Work to increase sustainable energy with the intention to tackle climate change also improves the lives of those most vulnerable to homelessness. Solar power on houses which low-income earners rent helps to keep the day-to-day costs down and may assist in keeping people in their homes.
We are all connected, our choices impact on wider society for better or worse. As we are considering our response to the Fifth Mark of Mission this month, we can be assured that the positive changes we make will also contribute to the other four. We are all citizens of the same planet and climate change does not discriminate, just as in Christ, all are one, so it is on this planet, we each have a part to play to take care of it for the benefit of us all.