Church initiative on green consumerism a distraction?

I just picked up on another blog - Dorothea's 'Conservengland' a story in yesterdays' Christian Today which reads:

Photo: Standish Woods last weekend

Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the Church of England this week to launch a campaign urging consumers to make drastic cutbacks on their carbon emissions. Eight major companies helped form a powerful new coalition led by Blair, the Church of England and environmental groups to call on households in Britain to cut their carbon emissions by more than one tonne in the next three years....

....Dr Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, said: "The Church of England is officially committed to 'cutting the carbon'. Since the launch of the Church's Shrinking the Footprint campaign more and more congregations are seeing the connection between caring for God's creation and embracing a greener way of life. We are glad to be partners in this common effort because it is true that 'We're in this together'. We are working to engage both with our own members and those of other faiths. One fresh contribution is the publication today of a practical guide for individuals entitled 'How many light bulbs does it take to change a Christian?' "

This is all good news and a welcomed initiative to help consumers use their purchasing power to embolden decision-makers - but it is also a distraction from the need to take action at a Government level - see my recent post re Friends of the Earth (21st April) and their view that only Greens understand and have policies to tackle climate change.

Green consumerism is all very well but what we really need is for us to all consume less - that message keeps getting lost amongst all the glossy info about M&S new 30 degrees wash labels and insurance discounts for greener cars.

I hope that this initiative will lead to more action locally - as blog readers will know I've had contact with the Diocese over their policies (see Label below re Diocese for previous posts) - and am still in correspondence over the Vicarage in Cashes Green - why no greener houses there? I have a meeting with one of the Diocese committees later in May when they will kindly let me talk for 15 mins.

The Church is in a great position to be a real leader in this, I hope this doesn't distract us from what really needs to happen.