The recently released 2,000-page State of the Environment report, commissioned by the Federal Government, found or reiterated:

• Nineteen ecosystems are on the brink of collapse
• There are now more non-native plant species in Australia than native ones
• Australia has lost more species to extinction than any other continent
• All bar one category of environment examined has deteriorated since 2016, and more than half are now in a “poor” state.

We are no longer talking about climate change in a future tense, but are describing the impacts of climate change in real time.

Our micro church in Aintree has been repeatedly moved by these kinds of statistics. And through our neighbourhood not-for-profit organisation, we are seeking to mobilise our community to do something about it.

Over the coming months we are designing our new community garden, located in at the council operated, neighbourhood house in Aintree. We are hoping to establish this community garden to show case rain water harvesting, low water usage, and other sustainable food growing techniques that people can use in their own homes.

We are also planning to use this space to help educate our community about the real time challenges of climate change and the huge carbon footprint modern Australia has.

Through community tree planting days, sustainability and food growing workshops, and guest speakers, we want to inspire a new way of living in the suburbs — a way which is kinder and more sustainable, a way which can reverse the impacts of climate change.

As a micro church we are seeking to spend more time with God in nature, reading the Scriptures — which are filled with garden and plant imagery — as we immerse ourselves in the forest, and along streams, on beaches, and on mountain tops. We know our Creator’s heart is breaking as he looks upon his amazing world and sees the damage and devastation humans have caused here. We know that creation is groaning, burdened by the pressure we are placing on it through the burning of fossil fuels and the throw away culture of single use plastics.

And as a community of faith we know we must act now. We want to listen more intently to what the Spirit of the Creator is saying to us about creation — what our role has been in bringing us to this devastating point, and what we must now do in order to keep in step with what God is doing in restoring the cosmos and bringing healing to the world.

This story is written by Jono Ingram, a Placemaker and Micro Church leader in the community of Aintree, on the western outskirts of Melbourne.