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Christian Ecology Link
Day Conference 2012

Bristol

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Old School Rooms, St Michael’s Church,
Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8PD  
adjacent to Bristol Parkway station
Bristol

Treasure in the field -
Spiritual Capital and Sustainable Living

Jonathon Porritt -
Founder of Forum for the Future

Tim Gorringe -
Professor of Theology, Exeter University

Workshops: (more details below) led by

Cost: £15 (£10 before end of January). CEL members £10. 
Only £5 for young people under 25

Booking Form: (Download)

How to get there:  (more details below)

Poster: (LINK)

Programme: (more details below)

Enquiries: 0845 459 8460 or bookings@christian-ecology.org.uk
www.christian-ecology.org.uk/treasure

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Treasure in the Field: Spiritual Capital and Sustainable Living
Saturday 10 March, Old School Rooms, St Michael’s Church, Stoke Gifford. BS34 8PD

Workshops: Alternative ways of living leading to a sustainable future for our ravaged world.

Each workshop will run twice. Please sign up on the lists as soon as you arrive at the conference.

Workshop leaders and themes

Tim Gorringe -- Professor of Theology at Exeter University
‘An exploration of economics’ – contradiction of infinite growth on a finite planet and transition town thinking.

Chris Sunderland -- EarthAbbey
‘The contemplative heart of environmental activism’. For the activist, it can sometimes feel like there is a lot to do and too little time.  Consider reconnecting with the ‘treasure' within, so as to find the resources we need to keep on keeping on.

Jeremy Williams – Breathe
 ‘Consumer Detox’. Vital to any hope of a sustainable future is a radical change in our consumerist culture.

Edward Echlin -- Hon. Fellow in Theology, Leeds Trinity; and Sarum -
‘Farming for earth, climate and people’. Small scale, biodiverse, organic food production is not only the best way food growing preserves soil and stabilises climate, it is also the most productive method of food production

Marl Letcher - Climate Works and Operation Noah
‘Low-carbon living’ in an overall context of faith.

Jonathan Essex  -- Co-founder ‘Green House’ think tank and borough councillor
‘A new art of the possible’. Can democracy deliver sustainability?  It's not exactly been a 'friend of the earth', but at the moment it needs all the friends it can get.  In fact there is a different kind of politics.  If you're not into campaigning this workshop will make you think again; if you are, it could change your reasons.
Jonathan is one of the founding group of the political think tank Green House, a borough councillor, recent parliamentary candidate and long-time CEL member.  When not on the stump he is Sustainable Construction Manager for sustainability charity BioRegional, and a trustee of his local Council for Voluntary Services.

Guest poet: Clare Best - Clare Best’s poems are widely published in magazines and journals. Treasure Ground (HappenStance, 2009), collects poems resulting from her innovative residency at Woodlands organic farm on the Lincolnshire fens––a landscape of wide spaces and colossal skies. The main aims of the residency were to help reconnect the community with the rural landscape, and revitalise cultural aspects of farming. Clare spent two years coming and going from Woodlands, running various community writing projects, and writing poems which were distributed in the vegetable and fruit boxes delivered to 2,000 customers. The residency proved to be an extraordinary and inspirational experience.

Clare’s first full collection, Excisions, appeared from Waterloo Press in September 2011. She lives in Lewes, Sussex, and teaches creative writing for the Open University and Brighton University. www.clarebest.co.uk

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Treasure in the Field: Spiritual Capital and Sustainable Living
Saturday 10 March, Old School Rooms, St Michael’s Church, Stoke Gifford, BS34 8PD

Programme:

What shared meanings, values, and ultimate purposes do Christians bring to the theme of spiritual capital? Come to listen and contribute.

10.00           Doors open
11.00           Welcome and worship
11.10           Keynote talk from Jonathon Porritt
                   Response from Tim Gorringe and Paul Bodenham (CEL chairman)
                   Discussion chaired by Ellen Teague (Columbans)
1pm             Lunch (Please bring your own. Drinks available, but bring own mugs please.)
2pm             Workshops – Session One
3pm             Tea Break
3.30             Workshops – Session Two
4.30             Final thoughts in plenary session
4.45             Worship
5pm             Close

Jonathon Porritt is a CEL patron. He is co-founder of Forum for the Future and co-director of the Prince of Wales’ Business and Sustainability Programme. He was chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission between 2000 and 2009.

Tim Gorringe is St Luke’s Professor of Theological Studies, Exeter University. His most recent books are The Common Good and the Global Emergency (CUP 2011). He is at present working on a two year research project on the values which underpin constructive social change, focusing on the Transition Town Movement

Paul Bodenham is Chair of CEL and on the Board of Operation Noah.

Ellen Teague is chairing the morning session. She is a London-based freelance Catholic journalist who writes and campaigns on Justice, Peace and Ecology issues. She is a member of the Faith and Justice Team of the Columban Missionary Society in Britain and edits their newsletter, Vocation for Justice.

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Treasure in the Field: Spiritual Capital and Sustainable Living
Saturday 10 March, Old School Rooms, St Michael’s Church, Stoke Gifford, BS34 8PD

How to get there

How to get there by train: Bristol Parkway station is a few minutes walk from the conference venue. Come out of Bristol Parkway station into the car park. Walk to the left, past the bus stops, to the second zebra crossing. Cross here. Continue in the same direction for a few yards. Go through white gate on your right (signposted ‘St Michael’s Church’). Walk along the path through the churchyard and past St Michael’s Church. Cross the green to the Old School Rooms which act as the church hall. This takes about five minutes.
How to get there by car:  If coming by car it will be best to park in the station car park. It’s a few pounds for the day. There is little parking around the church itself (about 6 spaces immediately outside the Old School Rooms – best kept for disabled, and also a few more around the green).