St Paul's Churchyard, Deptford

Episode 3: Warming, Decarbonising, Celebrating

Listen to episode 3 of the "Imagining Tomorrow" podcast with presenter Emma Newman and access the show notes for the episode, titled "Warming, Decarbonising, Celebrating".
  Published:  02 Feb 2024    |      1 minute read

Episode description

From churches and mosques to gurdwaras and synagogues, thousands of faith buildings across the UK play important roles in their communities. As well as providing a place for worship and community activity like playgroups, many have recently been serving as "warm banks", a space for people who may be struggling to heat their homes to come and warm up. 

But how can these buildings, often huge and sometimes hundreds of years old, afford to provide these critical spaces in times of energy price hikes without relying on climate-wrecking fossil fuels? 

Inspired by talking to an interfaith group in Birmingham, an innovative infra-red heating company in Bristol and a New York Times bestselling science-fiction author, Emma Newman imagines a future in which community groups redesign the function of former shopping malls to create third spaces that repair the fabric of society.

Listen now

 

Do you want to tell Emma about a project or idea linked to this episode? Email [email protected]

Resources

In episode 3 we heard from:

Additional resources about community buildings

Article from Open University about working with Bow Church to expand community activities

A research project looking at community engagement in the use of faith buildings

An Open University course designed to help people to consult with communities on the use of faith buildings

A video about the Halo heater, in which the diagram about bubbles of heat mentioned in the episode can be seen

Join a Friends of the Earth local action group