The Conservation Foundation has created a number of projects linking Faith to the Environment.

One of the best known was Yews for the Millennium which involved the distribution of young trees propagated from ancient yews estimated to be at least 2000 years old to celebrate the year 2000.  Over 7000 were distributed to representatives of local communities in special services, often held in cathedrals throughout the country. Many of the trees were planted in churchyards.

A Foundation initiative, Sharing Eden – Green teachings from Jews, Christians and Muslims by Natan Levy, Harfiyah Haleem and David Shreeve and edited by Lindsay Swan shows how respect for the environment is at the heart of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.

 

A grant from The Mayor of London enabled faith organisations and faith schools to plant trees throughout London to benefit the biodiversity of their local communities. The Trees for Sacred Spaces were specially chosen for their support of pollinators and qualities that reduce air pollution.
Mental health issues and loneliness are on the increase and through the Green Health initiative we hope to encourage more churches and faith organisations to use their space to establish therapeutic gardens. We’ve made a short film about how the winners of the inaugural Green Health Awards created a garden at St Paul’s Church, Camden Square. Watch Green Health – The Movie here.
Green Health Live 2 took place at Lambeth Palace in June 2019. Read the Church Times report here.
Churchyards contain huge numbers of trees that benefit local communities. The Foundation received  a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to organise two conferences on churchyard trees, one at Liverpool Cathedral and the other at St John’s Waterloo in London, and is developing the interest raised by establishing churchyard tree audits and local management plans so that community tree care schemes and citizen science can be encouraged.

Can you help?

In 2019 the Foundation is planning an audit to see how the Millennium Yews are doing and encourage a new generation to take an interest in ancient trees. If you know of any near where you live, we would be very glad to receive news and a photograph. A few Millennium Yews are still available from Trees Direct, who will donate an amount from each sale to the yew programme.
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