Pilgrim Uniting Church, Adelaide, SA

Press Release: Pilgrim Uniting Church Wins SA First Environmental Awards!

Sunday was a day of celebration at Pilgrim Uniting Church as the community celebrated the presentation of two prestigious Five Leaf Eco-Awards, making them the first church in South Australia to be recognised for their environmental achievements.

The church received the Five Leaf Eco-Awards Basic Certificate and Eco-Worship Awards in recognition of their extensive work for the environment, including their energy efficient lighting, energy audit and efficiency measures, paper use reduction, timers on their hot water urns, their environmental group and environmental guest speakers, environment themed worship and participation in the Season of Creation, providing eco resources for their congregation and their community garden.

Rev Dr Greg Elsdon said of the awards: “It’s wonderful to be encouraged in the work we are doing for God’s Creation and to be connected into a national network of churches working to care for the earth. There’s a lot happening, and it’s exciting to be part of.”

Director of the Five Leaf Eco-Awards, Jessica Morthorpe, travelled to Adelaide for the presentation. She was welcomed by Jeff Telfer from the congregation’s Green Team, who said this was a “landmark moment” for the church.

“It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be here to present these awards,” Ms Morthorpe said. “It’s particularly exciting that this is the first church in South Australia to receive an award,” she added. “Hopefully this will encourage lots of other churches in the area to pursue an award and be recognized for their environmental efforts.”

“Many churches have already done enough to earn Five Leaf Eco-Awards, they just don’t realize it,” she says, “If your community is doing something to be proud of, even if you think you have only done a little, please let us know. We can’t give you an award if we don’t know what you’ve done!”

The Five Leaf Eco-Awards are an ecumenical environmental change initiative for churches and religious organisations founded in 2008 to assist, inspire and reward churches for environmental action. The Five Leaf Eco-Awards are non- competitive, with churches completing task from a list of flexible criteria to earn each certificate. There are currently six awards of varying difficulty available. The Five Leaf Eco-Awards operate nationally and across denominations. More information on the Five Leaf Eco-Awards is available at www.fiveleafecoawards.org

Photo caption: Jeff Telfer (Green Team) and Marelle Harisun (Chair of Church Council) receive the awards from Jessica Morthorpe (centre), Director of the Five Leaf Eco-Awards