Adamstown Uniting Church wins sustainability award

Adamstown Uniting Church was presented with its third prestigious Five Leaf Eco-Award on Sunday at the conclusion of the four-day sustainability festival, Inspiracy.

The church received the award for its environmental outreach work, including fundraising for UnitingWorld climate projects in the Pacific, working to increase the sustainability of their Pudding Kitchen operations and for the Inspiracy sustainability festival.

Inspiracy 2: A Climate for Change ran from Thursday 17^th to Sunday 20^th of May, at Adamstown and Mereweather Uniting Churches.

The festival included a vast variety of approaches to sustainability, climate change and justice.

The festival included an art installation by Dr. Penny Dunstan titled ‘Dirt, Soil, Earth 2018’ (featuring soils collected in the Upper Hunter Valley from farms and post-mining sites).

A Youth Social Justice Film Competition ran to an audience of over 170 local young people, with winning entries shown on Thursday.

The festival featured a whole day of conversations in environmental theology, including academics and speakers from Melbourne, Sydney, Bellingen and the Pacific.

Inspiracy also featured:

• a keynote by Phil Glendenning, President of the Australian Refugee Council on Working for the Common Good;
• workshops on climate justice, sustainable living and advocacy tools;
• vocal workshops with songwriter Trish Watts, a book and poetry launch,
• spoken word poetry by African born poet Roje Ndayambaje.
• and exquisite music by Luke Vassela, Rachel Collis, and dancing with Berias Masseque and the Afro Fusion Band.

Jessica Morthorpe is the Director of the Five Leaf Eco-Awards. She traveled to Newcastle to attend the event.

“It was just such an amazing experience,” she said.

“It was so awesome to hear about climate and sustainability from so many creative angles and to be able to really connect with the emotional and human impact elements of the climate crisis through art, poetry, video and music.”

“What Rev. Rod Pattenden, Adamstown Uniting and Mereweather Uniting Church have achieved with this conference is wonderful. This won’t end here. This community we have formed, this energy, is going to help us fight for a better future for all creation.”

For more information on the Five Leaf Eco-Awards visit the awards website 

Locals can keep up with happenings at Adamstown Uniting Church here 

Photo: Rev. Rod Pattenden of Adamstown Uniting Church at Inspiracy with artist Dr. Penny Dunstan’s ‘Dirt, Soil, Earth’ installation.

Photo credit: John Cliff