Related Links

Here are some links to sites of interest to readers of these pages. If you know of more, or would like us to link to your site do Contact Us. If you spot a dead link we would also be grateful if you would let us know. Sage is not responsible for the content of the links below, and does not necessarily agree with all of the positions taken. The links are arranged under the following headings:

Ecohouse Sage is supporting Averil Stedeford in her efforts to turn a run down semi into a house that will be equipped for the 21st century.

The Chiltern Gateway Project is a new project from A Rocha UK that is working in Lewknor, Oxfordshire, and the area around it.

Sage, Oxford's Christian Environmental Group- that's us! Founded in 1990, if you look around this site you will get a pretty good idea of what we do. Yale University in the States have published a Sage Profile giving a summary of Sage and its history. The Sage web site has been archived by the British Library's UK web archiving consortium. They first archived our site on 4th July 2005, and you can see the archived versions at Sage archive! Sage now has a Facebook group. You will need to register to join it, but if you are already a member you can find it at: Sage Facebook Group

Ss Mary and John Churchyard is a project aimed at restoring and managing the once derelict churchyard in Cowley, Oxford. Sage also has a page for the project at Ss Mary & John churchyard

A Rocha UK is the UK section of a now much larger organization (see A Rocha - Christians in Conservation.). Sage members have visited the project in Southall in London on a number of occasions, including Southall 2002.
Amber Links aims to provide an easy-to-use, independent ‘doorway’ linking to the many helpful organisations and websites concerned with positive action on climate change. This is not a "Christian" site, but has a very good special section, Christian Focus, showing what churches are doing.

Christian Ecology Link is an ecumenical UK organisation concerned with taking care of creation. There is a huge amount of useful information on their site, including a calendar of events for the whole UK.

Christian Environmental Consultants. is an independant environmental consultancy which specialises in tailoring solutions to meet clients environmental problems and in supporting major consultancies in providing selected expert services.

Ecocongregation aims to encourage churches to consider environmental issues within a Christian context and enable local churches to make positive contributions in their life and mission. They have extensive resources for greening your church!

Hilfield Project At Hilfield Friary in Dorset, UK, the brothers of the Society of St Francis have established a project which brings together both a commitment to peace and justice between people and also a care for our natural environment.

Quaker Green Action is a network exploring and promoting awareness of the need for a green lifestyle associated with the Religious Society of Friends.

Stop Climate Chaos is a coalition of Christian organizations such as Christian Aid and Tearfund, together with many secular groups. Aim is obvious from the title!

The John Ray Initiative was set up in 1997 by a group of leading UK scientists. They aim to bring together Christian and scientific understanding of the environment.

Asian Rural Institute Rural leaders training centre in Japan, which specialises in teaching Third World rural leaders appropriate technology and organic farming.

Countryside Matters - the site for rural concerns. Lots of useful information from a site co-ordinated by the Rev'd -Terry Brighton (Rural Officer, Salisbury Diocese).

Christian Rural Concern has run ecumenical courses on rural issues since 1986, and aims to spread a Christian understanding of rural and environmental issues.

Farm Crisis Network provides pastoral and practical support to farming people during periods of anxiety, stress and problems relating to both the farm household and the farm business.

Rural Ministry - Canon Glyn Evans, who is the Rural Officer for the Diocese of Oxford, has a section of the Diocese site giving some useful resources on rural issues, and much more.

Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) In 1998 the Anglican bishops gathered at Lambeth expressed their concern that efforts to address environmental issues be given greater visibility and be better coordinated across the Anglican Communion. The Network is an attempt to do just that.

A Rocha - Christians in Conservation. Sage has been strongly linked to A Rocha ever since six of us visited Cruzinha, the A Rocha centre on the Portuguese Algarve in April 1993. Sage members have also visited the projects in France, Lebanon and Southall in London. Eight Sage members made a return visit to Portugal in 2005 (see Portugal 2005). Many Sage members are also members of A Rocha, and we have a lot in common.

Au Sable Institute. American Christian educational institute, "whose mission is to bring healing to the biosphere and the whole of Creation." Puts on a whole variety of courses for college and university students.

Care of Creation. An evangelical organization founded in 2005 in the United States that is seeking to awaken and mobilize the Church to care for God’s creation in the face of an environmental crisis that is already devastating vast areas of the world.

Climate Stewards is the new web site from A Rocha , which enables you to offset the carbon emissions of your travel. Any money you give to Climate Stewards will be spent by A Rocha on projects which are directly managed by one of their 16 national A Rocha teams or by one of their partners.

Creation Care is the website of the Christian Environmental Quarterly published by the Evangelical Environmental Network in the United States.

Nueva Creacion is a Christian Institute for Ecology and Development based in Lima, Peru (they have an English version of their web site).
Professionals International in Christian Environmental Action (PICEA) is a web-based worldwide association of professional Christians in environmental action.

Plateau Perspectives is a Canadian non-profit organization that supports local initiatives in conservation and sustainable development in the Tibetan Plateau region of China. They have an excellent gallery of Bird Photos.

St Aldate's, Oxford Sage was formed in 1990 by a small group of interested people in St. Aldate's. We have now spread into many Oxford churches and some further afield!

St Clement's, Oxford In recent years we have given more presentations and talks at St Clement's than any other church. Their home page shows an outdoor service for Conservation Sunday in 1999. We also celebrated our 10th anniversary there on 3rd September 2000 with a wonderful all-age worship service. We ran a series of Walk with the Creator from there 2004/5. Many thanks to the Rector, Bruce Gillingham!

Keynsham Parish In the early years of Sage, John Samways was Vicar of St. Matthew's, Oxford, and gave us an incredible amount of support. Some years ago he moved to become Rector of Keynsham near Bristol and Bath. John asked Sage if we could lead a weekend in his parish in Summer 2000. It was a great experience, and we provided speakers for six Sunday morning services!! We went back again in 2005 and 2008.

Christian Concern for One World (CCOW) is an ecumenical organisation, operating in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. It believes that justice, peace and the integrity of creation are central to the Gospel.

Fresh Expressions aims to resource a growing movement of fresh expressions of church. Their website was launched by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 16th February 2005. Sage is registered as a Fresh Expression.

Iona Community Sage are very much in tune with the ethos of the Iona Community on a small island off Scotland. We spent one of our holidays there, and have used several of their prayers and songs in our Sage Bible Studies.

Oxford Diocese Most, but not all, Sage members live within the area covered by the Oxford Diocese. Sage is very definitely inter-denominational, but the majority of our members attend Anglican churches.

The Unauthorised Version - a website designed to give Churches a better media voice, which has been developed by the Oxford-based Churches' Media Trust to enable Churches to tell their stories to print and broadcast providers.

Växjö diocese in Sweden and Oxford Diocese twinned in 2003, and Magnus Wåhlin, their environmental secretary wrote Sage an article in Sage Words January 2004 on environmental work in churches in Sweden. We are hoping for future collaboration on environmental issues (note- most of the Växjö web site is in Swedish, but there are English translations of some parts, and you can get an idea of Magnus' work by searching on "Magnus", using their search facility in the bottom right of the home page).

The Forum on Religion and Ecology is an interreligious, multi-cultural, interdisciplinary initiative engaging in scholarly dialogue on the environment. It is sponsored by Yale University in the States. They have published their Sage Profile giving a summary of Sage and its history.

Climate Change and Religion and Ethics- a new web site from Yale University in the States. You can download the report "Americans and Climate Change" (bottom right) from here- there is a section on religious responses in that.

Climate Forum 2002 the historic conference was organised jointly by The John Ray Initiative and the Au Sable Institute. Sage were there! See Forum 2002 Global Climate Change

The National Debate on GM Crops in 2003- see our special page GM debate 2003 for all the details about this important topic.

Alastair Binnie Architecture & Environment are the "green" architects behind Averil Stedeford's Ecohouse project. They can be contacted at 52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU or email projects@ab-arch.co.uk

Berkshire. Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The local wildlife trust that are involved in the management of many nature reserves in our area.

Climate prediction.net experiment has been developed by scientists, many of whom are, at Oxford University to allow a state-of-the-art climate prediction model to be run on home/ school/ work computers. By getting data from thousands of climate models, they can generate the world's largest climate prediction experiment.

The David Steel Sustainable Buildings Award from Oxford City Council aims to recognise leading sustainable building developments in Oxford. Dave Steel was a much loved Sage member who sadly died in November 2006.

Earthwatch Institute (Europe) is based in Oxford, and it promotes the sustainable conservation of our natural resources and cultural heritage by creating partnerships among scientists, the general public, educators, and businesses.

Friends of the Earth in Oxford. Sage member, Karl Wallendszus, is also a member of Oxford Friends of the Earth, and coordinates their web site.

Hurst Water Meadow lies to the south of Dorchester on Thames, between the village and Overy. It is owned and managed by and for local people.

Nappy Tales. Supplies, delivers, collects and launders cotton nappies in the Oxford area. Three main reasons are behind the business: 1) Nappy Tales believe it is better for babies; 2) it is an environmentally sound way of using cotton nappies and; 3) and most importantly, by so doing we look after the environment which we have been given by the good Lord and are responsible to care for.

Orinoco The Oxfordshire Scrapstore. Orinoco is a charity, based in Oxfordshire, that works to promote recycling through education and direct action.

Oxford Botanic Garden, Rose Lane, Oxford. Simply superb! See also the pages on this site about the arboretum at Nuneham Courtney.

OxfordFreecycle is an internet-based scheme where people can offer stuff that they no longer need, for other people to collect for free. You can also post "wanted" messages.

Oxford Urban Wildlife Group runs an extensive programme of events throughout Oxford. For several years Sage has been helping with their work at Boundary Brook Nature Park.

Oxfordshire Climate Alliance is an umbrella group for all those local groups operating in the Oxfordshire area that are working on Climate Change. Sage is pleased to be a member of this new grouping. The Alliance has a Yahoo Group (membership required).

Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum (ONCF) draws together the many interests that touch upon wildlife and landscape in Oxfordshire. It is a partnership of conservation organisations, farming bodies, environmental and recreation interests, as well as local government. They run an excellent weekly email bulletin, which keeps you up to date on all the local events, jobs etc. For more details see ONCF.

Oxford Solar Initiative- local initiative until 2005 to encourage home solar projects, with grants etc available.
St Tiggywinkles, the world famous animal hospital is in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, about 15 miles from Oxford.

Sustainable Wallingford is a group of local residents who aim to make Wallingford more sustainable in the future and to lower our ecological impact.

Thames Valley Energy Centre encourages householders in the Thames Valley to conserve energy by offering advice and access to energy savings grants and initiatives to help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming.

Wheatley-Thame-Freecycle is an internet-based scheme where people can offer stuff that they no longer need, for other people to collect for free. You can also post "wanted" messages.

Woodcote Conservation Group is involved in maintaining and protecting the characteristic environmental features of the south-western end of the Chiltern Hills, and in promoting awareness and appreciation of local plants, creatures and habitats.

www.TheEnvironmentSite.org have fund-raising facilities for the Wildlife Trust, green living tips, an active environmental discussion group, news and much more.

Two sites where you can find lots of information about Oxford are http://www.oxfinder.co.uk/ and http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk/ If you look in the Community section they list a number of places of worship and clubs and societies (including Sage!).

Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies This two year Certificate course provides an opportunity to study rural and environmental issues from a Christian viewpoint. It is a joint initiative of Christian Rural Concern and The John Ray Initiative. See CRES

Eco-Curriculum Reviews from Eco-Justice Ministries in the States, gives a review of the many courses on Green issues that are available in the States.

A new category for the Sage website. If you know of more, preferably of local or Christian environmental interest, then Contact Us

Eco-vicarage Blog - an interesting personal insight from Brian Irvine on the Cucumber Sandwiches website, which is a specialist site for the husbands of female clergy!

CLIMATE CHANGE, DENIAL and the ROLE of FAITH is a personal response by Averil Stedeford to the talk given by George Marshall at the Operation Noah in Oxford conference.

Corporate control of the food chain: the GM link by John Madeley. This was circulated as a Parish mailing by the Oxford Diocese.

SHARING GOD'S PLANET is a 72 page report produced for the Anglican General Synod debate on 17th February 2005. You can buy it for £5-99 plus £2-50 p&p at http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/product.asp?id=2383277 Or you can download it for free at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod/agendas/gs1558.pdf (you will need Acrobat Reader installed to read this file).

"What Next?" Leaflet. The conference steering group for Climate Change: How Christians Respond collaborated to produce an excellent short resource sheet.

Blessed are the Environmentalists, an article about contraction and convergence by Rachel Howell who attends St. Columba's URC in Oxford.

What keeps me awake at night This is a personal reflection on some events in early 2006 by Dr. Kaihsu Tai.
The Glory of Creation a hymn by Denzil Walton written for the second Sunday before Lent - Creation / Environment Sunday in the Old Lectionary.
Revealing Revelation: A Biblical ‘Green-print’ For Our Ecological Future by Oxford Brookes student, Lizzie Rushton, is an interesting article basically comparing the eschatological views of some North American fundamentalists, Margot Hodson, Dave Bookless and Tom Wright. Good read!

Dave Steel- a tribute to one of the founders of Sage who sadly died on Monday 20th November 2006. The David Steel Sustainable Buildings Award from Oxford City Council aims to recognise leading sustainable building developments in Oxford.

The Sage web site has been archived by the British Library's UK web archiving consortium, and you can see it at Sage archive! So far they have archived the site 11 times on: