30th December 2022
12 Days of Hope
Reintroducing previously native species such as the beaver. Beavers are useful members of our natural ecosystem especially in shaping and managing rivers and preventing flooding. Beavers, hunted to extinction 400 years ago, have been reintroduced into the wild in about 20 locations across the UK.
29th December 2022
12 Days of Hope
Rewilding allows nature to re-establish itself in our land and marine landscapes in ways that improves the health of the environment and our health as part of the ecosystem. There are over 80 such projects in the UK. The following website shows the impact rewilding can have.
https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/explore-rewilding/what-is-rewilding/rewilding-the-uplands
28th December 2022
12 days of hope
Subsidised public transport encourages people to change the way they travel and reduces the number of vehicles on the roads. The UK Government is trialing a £2 fare cap on a large number of routes across the country. This will be in place January 1st to the end of March. This link list which routes are covered. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/2-bus-fare-cap
In London bus and tram fares are capped at £1.65 for journeys made within one hour and £4.95 as a daily cap.
27th December 2022
12 days of hope.
Ten plus years ago we bought 6 solar panels which have paid for themselves (income earned from generation against capital cost) plus when the sun is shining we have free electricity. We wait for a sunny day before running the washing machine – yesterday we cleared a backlog with two loads and hung out the washing in the south facing bedroom where solar gain aided the drying.
Solar panels, domestic and commercial, are part of the achievable renewal energy revolution.
26th December 2022
12 days of hope.
Today’s Guardian reported on the rewilding of Swindale Beck: ‘For Schofield, an ecologist who is senior site manager at the RSPB in Haweswater, restoring the natural process to the beck was emotional work. “The stream as it was just looked like a canal, with stone banks and levees built up as time passed from years of dredging and dumping material on the sides. So we had to be quite interventionist ourselves, using diggers, creating a channel, removing spoil. For many conservation projects you do not see the results for a very long time, but with this one, we completed it on a Friday. It rained all weekend and on the Monday when we went to look at the beck, there was just this completely restored river, that curved and meandered and looked like it had been there for ever. It was a really powerfully emotional moment.” Within about three months, the rewards continued as salmon began spawning again in the gravel bed, made possible by the slowing down of the stream and the creation of still pools and shallows. Schofield said the restoration had improved numbers of common sandpiper, kingfishers, dippers and grey herons and increased the diversity of invertebrates in the stream.’
Similar rewilding projects are happening across the country including our nearby Beverley Brook. It’s name means beaver meadows indicating who used to inhabit its waters.
Vulnerability
One small light
One new born infant
Lacking protection
Seeking love –
Can we care for him?
Vulnerable world
1.5 degrees –
Do we care enough?
Like the last few years, this year has been overshadowed by the ongoing climate crisis. The oddly shaped seasons with an early spring and a long warm autumn and in between a heat melting summer – not just here but across the world. Amazingly the trees and plants that seemed dead during the drought, have bounced back with new growth and new blooms well into November. I am not sure that the birds and insects have been as resilient.
This nativity picture spoke to me of vulnerability, and I feel that the world is in a similarly vulnerable state. It seems that it won’t take much in terms of a temperature rise, to trigger a series of tragedies – disappearing glaciers and ice caps, floods and rising sea levels, burnt out summers, crop failures, hunger and drought. Will we humans look on bemused, and simply fail to act?
In this nativity scene, the onlookers are in awe of this new life, worshipping this gift. They are looking on with love and compassion, and each in their own way will change their lives to care for that new life that lies before them. They will keep a flame of hope alight, not knowing what blaze of glory it will ignite.
Have a happy Christmas filled with love and awe for all that is good in the world. And may 2023 be a year of hope and transformation, a year in which we rise to the challenge of averting the worst of climate crisis, a year in which peace and joy and sufficiency will be our reward.
24th December 2022
God in
the beginning
creating fullness
out of nothingness.
God in
the breath
animating life forms
made out of mud.
God in
the garden,
conversing and delegating –
sharing the venture.
God in
the pillar of fire – and the pillar of cloud –
leading the people
from the past to the future.
God in
the mouths of prophets,
calling for renewal
in place of impoverishment.
God in
the flesh,
conceived in a womb,
born as child.
God now in
bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh,
our intimate companion.
God in
our mess,
sharing our food, sharing our pain,
living in reality
our God-given life.
God in
God’s world,
the way of renewal,
and the means to rebuild.
God in
the word,
the beginning, the middle,
the end.
23rd December 2022
‘It’s a lifeline’ reported Euronews as it wrote about the colourful letters and postcards that help climate protesters cope with imprisonment here in the UK.
Being part of a supportive community helps people be stronger and happier. It helps us be both givers and receivers. It makes for a better world.
24th December 2022
Christmas is often a time when we have more to recycle and possibly a reduced collection service. Both recycling bins and recycling lorries have a limited capacity in terms of volume. Now is a good time to see your recycling box as a Tetris puzzle. By careful stacking, interlacing and flattening, how much can you fit it?
December 2022
The census at Bethlehem by Peter Bruegel the younger 1605-1610
This is the day before Christmas. For some who are skating, spinning tops, fighting with snowballs or supping beer in the impromptu tavern set up in the hollow of a tree trunk, the holiday has already started. Others are still working. Two men improbably are building a house. For others the ‘shopping’ still has to be completed: sacks of corn and barrels are being loaded and despatched. A couple are carrying there stuff home in two large baskets. Food is being prepared. Two pigs are being butchered – one is blocking the inn door. The inn itself has been taken over by officials who are collecting taxes.
Does this feel like your Christmas Eve?
Nevertheless the Christmas mystery is slipping into the scene. Mary and Joseph are arriving, Mary grasping a wicker basket and sat on a donkey. Whether we are ready or not, God always finds a way into our Christmas.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1:9,10
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’
Matthew 1:23
The Green Tau 