Balsall Heath Worshippers’ Faith in a Greener Fairer City
Brummie Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and people other faith and none joined together at Balsall Heath Church Centre to celebrate eco-action projects that promote care of creation, focusing on people’s quality of life, wellness, household finances and the local environment in the city.
Funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, GrassRoutes – an initiative of the Birmingham Faith Climate Action Partnership between interfaith and climate group Footsteps, Muslim educational organisation the Hazrat Sultan Bahu Trust, and national sustainability charity Ashden – has supported eco-projects aimed at empowering communities to make change, and shifting power to the community level.
Faith Action on Climate
To date, 11 projects have been funded, building on the key role Birmingham faith organisations played in the pandemic as vaccination and food distribution centres, and the way care for the environment is central to many faiths’ core teachings.
Fanniza Begum of Birmingham Community Support CIC diversified sessions she runs helping women with English language confidence and employability skills, into workshops on food waste and sustainable fashion, and wildlife-themed outdoor crafting and learning for children. She advised participants on how to store food properly and what to do with left-over rice or chapatis; and helped a woman with cancer with altering a dress and a woman with ADHD to use a sewing machine.
‘I don’t want to be one of those organisations where I’m handing something out but not creating the platform’
Fanniza Begum
Women Driving Change
“In many Asian communities, women’s identities and talents are often undervalued. My mission is to change this narrative by helping women recognise their worth, embrace self-care, and unlock their potential to thrive”.
Amandip Sandhu at Guru Nanak Gurdwara (Stratford Road) said: “Politicians talk about Net Zero, but we’ve been talking about sustainability and nature for hundreds of years as part of our faith. Our ten gurus always said look after Mother Nature”. At the Gurdwara, ecology activities and an energy audit were delivered, and environmental charity ecobirmingham held an energy advice drop-in attended by more than 100 people.
At Hodge Hill Church, the eco-project is around enriching use of the church garden, as a place for growing, learning, inter-community connection and spirituality.
Energy Champions Powering Communities
Jason Horner of ecobirmingham, who led on the work at the Gurdwara and held sessions at Adam Mosque in Balsall Heath to train up 25 local ‘energy champions’, said the objective was “empowering the community where they’re at. The whole point was to help them to make the decisions themselves because they now have the knowledge, and it snowballs from there”.
‘So many aspects of energy and climate crisis are interconnected with faith – how we try to be efficient with what we’ve been given, how we try to support those around us’
The eco-projects were presented in a short film screening at Balsall Heath Church Centre during Ramadan, with attendees sharing an iftar meal together afterwards.
Curator and storyteller Zoya Khadija Ahmed offered a reflection on faith and climate: “Most prophets were shepherds, and every spiritual guide has had a relationship with nature and earth. We’re surrounded by concrete and cars, but we still look at the sky”.
Among other GrassRoutes projects were the two day Khalifa’tul Ard: Stewards of the Earth Festival in the Lickey Hills, on the theme ‘Care for the Earth, for others, and for ourselves’; a community day based around learning about worms’ role in composting, at Hope Garden behind Christ Church, Sparkbrook; and DIY, cooking and gardening workshops for Aston University students, led by University chaplain Sam Ewell.
Recognising Ruth’s contribution
Kamran Shezad, Sustainability Lead at the Bahu Trust said: ‘Faith communities are at the heart of communities – we have the networks, we have an organisation, we have a very social expertise, and the funding from Esmée Fairbairn was a way for us to prove it.’ He commended the autonomy and flexibility the Trust granted, allowing groups that aren’t formally constituted to take part.
The celebration event at Balsall Heath Church Centre included a tribute to Footsteps co-founder and first chair of the organisation Ruth Tetlow, who died earlier this year. ‘Ruth was tough and determined, unafraid to be critical but also imaginative, kind and encouraging,’ said Footsteps’ Canon John Nightingale. ‘She knew her theology but was suspicious of great principles laid down from on high. She was much happier with lived experience, bringing people together, particularly women, whose potential had often been unrecognised’.
Writer Josh Neicho, jo*********@****************ge.org and Zoya Ahmed thanks for photos