14th January 2022
January is the month for planting raspberry plants – usually known as ‘raspberry canes’. There are two main types, those that produce fruit in the summer and those that fruit in the autumn. They are easy to grow and are suitable for growing in pots – one cane per pot.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/raspberries/grow-your-own
Flooding in the Thames is a threat that comes from both upstream and downstream
12th January 2022
World wide action to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis are aiming to keep global temperature rises to 1.5C. Whilst that is the target spoken about by governments and businesses, Climate Action Tracker, analysing actual actions being taken, predict that we are on track for a global temperature rise of 2.7C (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59220687). This level of temperature rise will lead to a faster melting of ice caps and glaciers, causing sea levels to rise and more extremes bouts of weather, increasing the severity and frequency of floods.
Here in south east England sea levels are projected to rise by approximately 1.4m – a little under a meter if the temperature rise is brought below 1.5C (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/news/2019/uk-sea-level-projections-to-2300). The Met office also predicts that 1 in 10,000-year flood events are likely to occur more than once a year by 2300.
The Thames is tidal all the way up to Teddington Lock. At present the Thames Barrier is raised when ever there is a high tide that threatens to flood London. High tides are caused not just by the movement of the moon, nor by rising global sea levels. They are are also affected by weather systems. For example the height of a tide coming in from the North Sea can be increased by an on shore wind or by a low pressure system over the sea. Rising global temperatures that are causing rising sea levels and more frequent and intense weather systems means that the time will come when the Barrier will no longer be able to hold back an incoming high tide. The Corporation of London is considering plans to tackle this, including increasing the height of the Barrier and raising the height of the walls that bound the Thames – eg along The Embankment – by a further meter. There is debate as to whether this should be with glass so as not to obstruct the view of or from the river.
When the Barrier is raised to slow an incoming high tide, the water that is held back has to go somewhere – that is somewhere in the Thames estuary downstream of the Barrier. There is a flood storage area at Tilbury and on both sides of the Estuary there are area of marshland and farmland where flood waters can flow. These are in between other at risk built-up areas which have their own flood defences. Such provision will need to be reviewed as tide levels rise.
The Thames Barrier is also closed when there is a risk of flooding upstream. The Thames has a large drainage basin that extends all the way up into Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. Heavy and/ or persistent rain anywhere in the area can raise river levels such that places such as Windsor, Thames Ditton, Richmond, Hammersmith risk being flooded. In such circumstances the Barrier can be raised at low tide, to prevent sea waters entering the lower part of the Thames so creating a reservoir where high volumes of water from upstream and be stored until the risk of flooding is lowered. The protection offered by this scheme is not going to be sufficient to cope with predicted rises in water levels due to the climate crisis.
The following map shows areas of London that will lie below the anticipated annual flood level based on the IPCC’s climate change forecasts. (https://sealevel.climatecentral.org/maps/)
Boroughs along the Thames, such as Richmond, are having to develop plans to both limit or avert factors that contribute towards the risk of flooding and to constrain the adverse effects such flooding will cause. In part they will be dependant upon actions take by other people and organisations further upstream. For example, if further a.one the Thames, houses are built on the flood plain, then water that might otherwise be held or absorbed by that flood plain, will instead flow on down stream exacerbating the problem in Richmond. Similarly if surfaces that are currently – eg covered with grass and other vegetation – are replaced by hard surfacing such as tarmac, then again more water will flow more rapidly off the land and into the river. In a similar way areas of woodland are cleared, then less water will held in the land and instead will add to the volume in the river. Conversely recreating water meadows to allow flood waters to accumulate safely up stream, replacing hard surfaces with soft one, and planting trees, can all help reduce the volume and speed with which water drains off the land and into the river. In the Old Deer Park there are plans for the ‘re-wilding ’ of the land allowing formation of seasonal ponds/ lagoons and the growth of water-loving plants that increase the water absorbing capacity of the land. You can read more about this here – http://thames-landscape-strategy.org.uk/what-we-do/rewilding-arcadia/
13th January 2022
It is widely acknowledged that the peaceful protests made by environmental and justice groups, including Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future school strikes, the Climate Action Coalition, the RSPB, Green Peace, Christian Aid etc, have raised public and government awareness of the climate crisis from being a very minor issue to one of the most pressing of the decade. Would we be where we are without such protests? The Government’s new policing bill currently being reviewed by the House of Lords before returning to the House of Commons is designed to severely restrict the right to peaceful protest. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/13/green-activists-urge-labour-to-vote-against-policing-bill-climate-catastrophe
Take time to email your MP and urge them to do all they can to prevent this bill becoming law. https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/why-you-should-be-worried-about-the-new-policing-bill/
11th January 2022
Monday and Tuesday are our local recycling days when the lorries and crew collect paper, & card, food waste, metal, glass and some plastics – as well as unrecycled waste that goes to landfill. It is a job the crew do in all weathers, pulling and lifting boxes and bins into the back of the lorry, and in summer the food waste can be pretty smelly. It is a pretty thankless job: we would all be lost without it, but we are seldom out and about when the crew comes by to say thanks. We used to call them dustbin men, then refuse collectors, but neither of those describe their current role nor the important that role has in tackling climate change and ensuring scarce materials are recycled for future use.
Perhaps we should call them “recyclists”.
10th January 2022
Our cat Hilda is swopping to a new dry food which is a 50/50 mix of animal and insect protein. Cats cannot live on a vegan diet but they can have a diet that is less dependent on meat.
9th January 2022
Eating beans and pulses instead of meat and dairy products is a good way of reducing our carbon footprint. The Ethical Consumer’s Climate Gap Report lists a top ten of things we can do as individuals to reduce our carbon footprint (https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/climate-gap-report) of which the top two are reducing meat consumption by 20% and dairy by 20%.
You can use beans to make soups and stews; you can blitz them to make pasta sauces or use lentils in place of mince for lasagnes; hummus is made from chick peas and you can use other beans to make a variates of other spreads or pates. Chick peas are used in making falafel and split peas for dhal and again you can adapt these recipes for to the beans and pulses. Flour made from dried peas and beans can be used in making pastries and pasta, as well as a variation of a frittata. Soya beans and peas are being used to make alternative milks.
Try the Hodmedod website for lots of recipes – https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/recipes/tagged/vegan
9th January 2022
Isaiah 43:1-7
Thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth–
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
Psalm 29
1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, *
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name; *
worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders; *
the Lord is upon the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; *
the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendour.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; *
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, *
and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire;
the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; *
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe *
and strips the forests bare.
9 And in the temple of the Lord *
all are crying, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; *
the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore.
11 The Lord shall give strength to his people; *
the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.
Acts 8:14-17
When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptise you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Reflection
Last week, Epiphany Sunday, we heard of the glory of God that rises above us when we are in darkness and which draws together the peoples of all nations along with the abundance that the earth has to offer. And we had the image of the star shining down over Bethlehem where God had become incarnate as a human child, attracting the attention and the worship of kings and the offering of gifts on such as scale as to unnerve the then Judean King, Herod.
Today’s psalm looks to the natural world to describe the glory of God. This glory – this weightiness, this honourableness, this splendour, this abundance and dignity (recall how rich the Hebrew word is) – is like the thunder of falling water, the breaking of cedar branches (think of the strength needed and the loud cracking noise), the liveliness of hills and calves, the energy of fire and storms! This description of glory sounds both energising and terrifying. Yet Isaiah also talks about the glory of God. He tells us that we humans are loved by God, that God knows us and calls us by name, and that he has made us for his glory! We should not underestimate how wonderful humanity can be, nor the the power of God’s presence. God knows how risky and dangerous and unpredictable life can be, and therefore God will always be there for us.
The ministry of John the Baptist was equally electrifying and terrifying. A figure standing out in the wilderness challenging people to reflect on the quality, the rightness of their lives, to be honest and own up to their failings, their greed, their apathy. His earnest desire was that they should not be going unprepared when the glory of God would appear in their midst. He doused those who were repentant with water to assure them that their past sins were expunged – but he also warned them of complacency.
‘I may be washing your sins away, he said, but beware that you do reform your lives, because there is one who is coming who will deal not in water but with fire! His will baptise with the Holy Spirit!’
The writer of the gospel then tells us of Jesus’s own baptism. The heavens break open and he is filled with the Holy Spirit and a voice from heaven You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
To be baptised with the Holy Spirit is to filled by – engulfed by – the glory of God. It is to experience that God know us and call us by name. It is to be empowered to live life as God’s children.
The word Greek word translated as open also has the meaning of disclose which is a reminder to us that this is the season of Epiphany. Let us be willing this season to be open to the wonder – even the shock – of the glory of God that is being revealed to us. And to let that glory transform the way we respond both to God, to our neighbour and to the world around us.
7th January 2022
Real (as opposed to plastic) and rootless Christmas trees will probably now be on their way for recycling. Most local authorities provide a collection service, taking the trees to be ‘chipped’ into small pieces which can then be turned into compost or used as a mulch. Sometimes the trees may be put to alternative uses such as securing sand dunes or stabilising river banks. You can recycle them at home, leaving them in a corner of the garden where overtime they will decay and in the meantime may provide a shelter for birds and insects. Or you can speed up the process by chopping off the branches and – once the needles have gone brown – use them as mulch around plants that like an acid soil – eg raspberries.
The trunk you can use to make, or to add to, a log pile for garden wild life. For more nature friendly ideas for the garden see – https://greentau.org/2021/10/04/eco-tips-10/
6th January 2022
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, the celebration of the visit by the wise men to the infant Jesus. Given the large number of traditional foods we have on Christmas Day when the shepherds visited to the Christ Child, we have very few for the Epiphany. The French have their Gateau des Rois which is something I copy in a simpler form – ie a cake made by sandwiching a layer of marzipan, flavoured with madeira, between two rounds of puff pastry. All the constituent parts can be made with plant-based ingredients.
We also mark the day by chalking a blessing over the lintel of our front door – https://greentau.org/2022/01/06/marking-epiphany/
5th January 2022
The Ethical Consumer’s Climate Gap Report highlights the importance of we as individuals making changes now so that we will as a nation be able to achieve net zero by 2030. One area where significant change is needed is our diet. We may not all need to become vegan, but we will all need to reduce our consumption of meat and dairy products. Substituting oat milk and vegan butter in our cooking is an easy option. Use oat milk for custard and white sauces etc. use vegan butter in cakes and pastries.
Bird’s Custard is an egg free custard that was originally developed because Alfred Bird’s wife had an allergy to eggs. Make it with oat milk and it is vegan custard.
The Green Tau 