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Ecological Task group
The Council of Assembly in November 2006 set up an ecologically focused task group, under the direction of the Assembly Executive Secretary, to investigate and develop a Biblical response to the deepening ecological problems threatening our earth and our communities. The group will seek to provide congregations with practical guidelines, examine ways by which our Church may help reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and develop a Declaration of the Care of Creation to be taken to the next Assembly.
Reports:
Sustainable buildings
Guidelines for Sustainable building development
Scientific evidence for global environmental change by Kevin Tate.
Websites:
Some Website sources: These are simply an introduction to some of the large body of information available, and are not meant to cover the field.
www.ipcc.ch
The most authoritative source is the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, which provides access to the most up to date and authoritative global assessment of climate change and why and how we can respond.
www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange
This provides the recently released Plan of Action for NZ's climate change solutions.
www.carboNZero.co.nz
This is likely to become progressively less useful as the recently announced emissions trading scheme emerges. However in the meantime it allows all of us to take responsibility for our own emissions (things we can do etc) and, if we are traveling abroad, to offset our emissions and benefit the NZ environment.
http://www.rsnz.org/events/ipcc4/
For a Powerpoint presentation of a Royal Society of New Zealand sponsored "Climate Workshop" held in Wellington (NZ) on May 25, 2007, on the implications for NZ of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
http://www.niwascience.co.nz/ncc
The National Climate Centre (NCC) provides regular public information on current climate conditions across New Zealand including soil moisture and river flows, and outlooks for coming seasons. Scientists at the Centre keep track of global influences on New Zealand's climate, particularly the El Niño–La Niña cycle and sea surface temperatures. Our goal is to help New Zealanders manage for climate variations, including droughts. Our climate predictions will not be perfect. However, when coupled with past climate information and current data, they can help users manage climate-related risks, make better decisions, and reduce losses.
http://www.ukcip.org.uk/resources/climate_digest.asp
The UKCIP Climate Digest offers summaries of the research concerned with climate change science, impacts and adaptation, taken from scientific journals.
www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday/Issues_Houghton.php
The Cambridge based Faraday Institute has a paper by Sir John Houghton
Sustainable building development and green buildings
www.buildinggreen.com
www.nzgbcservices.org.nz
www.gbcaus.org
www.christian-ecology.org.uk has an example of an environmental audit for churches.