Judith Russenberger

Green Tau: issue 103

Reshaping how we can talk positively about the climate crisis – part 3: Transport

March 2025

How can we talk about the climate crisis in a way that sounds encouraging?

The climate crisis is an existential threat which is certainly not good news. Its causes and impact are diverse and numerous such that it is hard to pin down ‘This is the cause’ or ‘This is the solution’. It is hard to quantify ‘This is how it will effect you’ and ‘This will be the time table.’

All this makes it difficult to find a way of talking to people about the crisis and how we might respond.

So here are some thoughts that might help.

Clean Air

Switching from fossil fuels to clean energy* to power road vehicles reduces the amount of pollution that goes into the air we breathe. The pollution from petrol and diesel vehicles includes carbon monoxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxide and is released into the environment predominately in places where people living, where people are working, where they go to school, where they are simply walking by. Air pollution causes 28,000 and 36,000 early deaths each year in the UK (figures for 2018). Sustrans estimates that road transport is responsible for 80% of roadside NO2 pollution which is where the legal limits are being broken. (1)

With the growing use of electric vehicles air pollution has fallen …. And without admissions to hospital

In London progressive policies have been put in place to reduce road congestion and more specifically to reduce the air pollution from road vehicles, with the most recent being the expansion of the ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ) to cover all London boroughs in August 2023. Since then pollution from road vehicles across the wool of London has been reduce by 27%. (2) This should lead to a reduction in premature deaths.

Another component of air pollution caused by road vehicles is the fine particulate matter that comes from brake blocks, tyres and even the tarmac. These particles are formed through friction whether that is the brakes slowing the vehicle or the tyres rubbing against the road. Such pollution is known as Non-Exhaust Emissions or NEE. In its report on NNE Defra observed that currently there is no legislation in place to limit this source of air pollution but highlighted possible ways in which such pollution could be reduced, vis: “The Most effective mitigation strategies for NEE are to reduce the overall volume of traffic, lower the speed where traffic is free-flowing (eg trunk roads and motorways), and promote driving behaviour that rescues braking and higher-speed cornering.”(3)

As well as ULEZ, London has also benefitted from the widespread introduction of a reduced speed limit for vehicles – from 30 to 20 mph. “An evaluation of 20mph zones in London, carried out by Imperial College, showed slowing traffic had no net negative impact on exhaust emissions. However, in 20mph zones vehicles moved more smoothly, with fewer accelerations and decelerations, than in 30mph zones. This smoother driving style reduces particulate emissions from tyre and brake wear – which still represents a significant cause of air pollution from zero-emission vehicles.” (4)

Switching to electric vehicles, introducing low emissions zones and reduced speed limits, are all contributing to reducing the air pollution that causes so many premature deaths as well as reducing carbon emissions.

Wellbeing

Active travel includes walking and cycling, and in many cases can replace short car journeys. It can also be combined with the use of public transport (walking to the bus stop or the station) and so replace other longer car journeys. Reducing car journeys reduce carbon emissions and/ or – in terms of electric vehicles – the load on the electric grid. Switching to active travel however also produced significant health benefits (and thus savings for the NHS).

The Health Foundation notes that “Almost 1,800 early deaths per year could be prevented if activity levels for walking and cycling were to match the most active regions in England.” (5) The most active region was London where people walked and cycled an average of 1.2 miles per day. The Department of Transport estimates that inactivity costs the NHS “up to £1 billion each year, with additional indirect costs of £8.2 billion…” The exercise gained through active travel also has benefits for mental wellbeing.

The Department for Transport also reports the following further positive benefits of active travel –

“Increasing active travel will reduce road congestion, particularly at peak times, leading to increased productivity and improved movement of goods and services. Sustrans estimates that congestion costs £10 billion per year in 2009 in urban areas, and that this cost could rise to £22 billion by 2025. Living Streets’ Pedestrian Pound report outlined a range of economic benefits of walking, including that well-planned walking improvements can lead to a 40% increasein shopping footfall.” (6)

Active travel by reducing the amount of road traffic and so reducing air pollution and road congestion, makes for pleasanter local environments – which in itself boosts our sense of wellbeing. .

*eg electricity produced from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/policy-positions/our-position-on-improving-air-quality/

(2) https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/sadiq-khan-ulez-expansion-london-boroughs-biggest-reductions-air-pollution-b1215765.html

(3) https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/1907101151_20190709_Non_Exhaust_Emissions_typeset_Final.pdf

(4) https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/20mph-speed-limit-and-air-pollution

(5) https://www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub/transport/active-travel/health-benefits-of-walking-and-cycling-preventable-early

(6) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/active-travel-local-authority-toolkit/active-travel-local-authority-toolkit

Counting on … Lent 17

27th March 2025

The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, “Tell the people of Israel this: ‘When you enter the land I will give you, let it have a special time of rest, to honour the Lord. You may plant seed in your field for six years, and you may trim your vineyards for six years and bring in their fruits. But during the seventh year, you must let the land rest. This will be a special time to honour the Lord. You must not plant seed in your field or trim your vineyards. You must not cut the crops that grow by themselves after harvest, or gather the grapes from your vines that are not trimmed. The land will have a year of rest. Leviticus 25:1-5

Overworking the land drains it of its nutrients and intensive cultivation damages its fertility. UNESCO warned in 2024 that 90% of the Earth’s soil’s at risk of degradation – yet with appropriate farming practices and care this could be avoided.

“‘’Several practices associated with intensive agriculture, especially tilling, disrupt soil structure. They accelerate surface runoff and soil erosion, loss of organic matter and fertility and disruption in cycles of water, organic carbon and plant nutrients. These practices also have a major negative impact on soil biodiversity.

‘When soil degrades, the processes that take place within it are damaged. This causes a decline in soil health, biodiversity and productivity, leading to issues at all levels of many ecosystems, and resulting in large environmental consequences such as floods and mass migration.’”

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/soil-degradation.html

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-raises-global-alarm-rapid-degradation-soils

Counting on … Lent 16

26th March 2025

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it? For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: “Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.”’ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, ‘Let no one leave any of it over until morning.’ But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them.

Exodus 16: 4, 14-20

Taking only what is sufficient for our needs is the best way of ensuring we don’t damage the future supply of food and resources necessary for daily life. Most of the world’s problems are a result of our over consumption and over polluting of the environment.

Counting on … Lent 15

25th March 2025

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

The fields are devastated, the ground mourns, for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails. Be dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vine-dressers, over the wheat and the barley; for the crops of the field are ruined. The vine withers, the fig tree droops. Pomegranate, palm, and apple— all the trees of the field are dried up; surely, joy withers away among the people.

Joel 1: 5,10-12

If you consume too much, you will find that there is nothing left to enjoy.

Over consumption in a world of limited resources is unsustainable. The Earth Overshoot group calculates that to sustain our current levels of consumption we would need the equivalent of 1.75 earths!!

https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/how-many-earths-or-countries-do-we-need/

Counting on … Lent 14

24th March 2025

When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ John 6:5-14

The feeding of the 5000 occurs in all the gospels and in the Hebrew testament, Elisha feeds a 100 prophets with barley loaves (2 Kings Chapter 4 42). These stories tell us that when we have the desire and will, we can feed everyone with food to spare.

There is enough food to feed the world, even as the total population is still growing. The problem of hunger stems from inequalities in accessing food – poverty, oppression, the impact of wars etc – the power of big businesses in controlling prices, problems of food waste, and ethical questions about growing vast amounts of food to feed to a growing industrialised livestock programme when such food could be fed to people.

God has given us all that we need to eat, but it is we who fail to distribute it fairly.

https://www.ft.com/content/99204d14-a585-4743-ba95-c5fca64cb4a4

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/hunger-global-citizen-festival-advocacy-food/

Third Sunday of Lent

23rd March 2023

Reflection with readings below

God does see the suffering that happens in the world and desires that it should not be so, that it should not continue. In the reading from Exodus, Moses is open to a relationship with God and understands God’s desire that the Israelites be brought out of the place where they are suffering and be released from the oppressive power of the Pharaoh. And Moses agrees to do what is necessary to effect this.

God’s saving work did not stop with the rescue of the Israelites from Egypt, nor was Moses the last person willing to undertake effect God’s will. Ensuring salvation is an ongoing task as in each generation we humans still fail to truly love one another; we still fail to share the Earth’s riches equitably; we still allow hate and envy and greed to distort relationships; we still fail to be open and receptive to the presence and wisdom of God.

Last year I was invited to share in a Passover meal. The words we used came from The Legacies of Resistance: an Anti-Zionist Haggadah for a Liberation Seder, which refreshes the traditional words and thinking to reflect new theological understandings. When speaking of Egypt it used the Hebrew word ‘Mitzyrayim’ which translates literally as “a narrow place”. This is seen as “a metaphor for all

which is in opposition to life, justice, connection and sustainability.” Just as the Passover celebrates how the people of God left Egypt – left the narrow place which confined and imprisoned them – so the Passover celebrates how we all, whether as individuals or as communities, can escape from those narrow places that confine and imprison us.

Moses was open and receptive to seeking God, and willing to enter into a relationship with God. The psalmist too extols the virtues of seeking a close relationship with God. That is what we need to cultivate – indeed that is the enduring message that runs through the scriptures – if we are to escape the ‘narrow places’.

Today’s Gospel reading has an important message that our politicians should embrace! People who succumb to tragedy, whose lives involve suffering, are not more sinful and no less deserving of loving kindness – which is mercy – than anyone else. Rather says Jesus, those who are suffering, those whose lives do not seem to be flourishing, are all the more deserving of loving care so that they can live fruitful lives. People who are struggling because of disabilities, people who are struggling because of a lack of opportunities, people who are struggling because of because they are victims of an intolerant system, people who are struggling because they lack the physical necessities for daily life – they need to be given care and opportunities and the necessary wherewithal so that they can thrive as children of God. And those who have in abundance should be willing to give to those who do not – whether through self motivated generosity or through a just taxation system.

We should not be creating systems that constrict and trap people in ‘narrow places’ whether that is in within social and economic systems of the UK or globally. We need both in just and effective systems that provide aid and development for those who are in need. We need just and effective systems that enable trade and finance to flourish for the equal benefit of all we need just and effective systems that establish and enforce international agreements, ending war and conflict. We also need a culture in which we all act out of generosity, with love and empathy and compassion.

We must, to quote Micah, “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.”

Exodus 3:1-15

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.”

Psalm 63:1-8

1 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.

2 Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *
that I might behold your power and your glory.

3 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *
my lips shall give you praise.

4 So will I bless you as long as I live *
and lift up my hands in your Name.

5 My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,

6 When I remember you upon my bed, *
and meditate on you in the night watches.

7 For you have been my helper, *
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

8 My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them–do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'”

Tending the earth for all

22nd March 2025

Trust in the Lord and be doing good; dwell in the land and be nourished with truth.
Let your delight be in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, and he will bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:3-5

You Lord are the bread of life;

feed us with your wisdom.

Our meat is to do the Father’s will.

guide us in all we do

Whenever we eat or drink

Let it be to the glory of God.

Reading

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Mark 4:3-8

Pause for reflection

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

So may we store water for when and for whoever needs it,

and safeguard those living with the threat of flooding.

As the earth brings forth and sprouts,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So may we harvest what is needed,

sharing the bounty so no one goes hungry.

So shall God’s word be that goes forth; it shall not return empty,
but it shall accomplish that which is purposed
and succeed in the thing for which it is sent.

May we pay attention to God’s word,

following the ways of wisdom that God desires

for the wellbeing of all creation.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

May we protect the fertility of the soil,

not polluting it with chemicals nor stripping it of nourishment.

And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

May we treasure those who tend and farm the land,

paying fair wages and sharing profits.

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations:

May we welcome God’s kingdom with all our being,

following God’s law with hands, hearts and voices.

Based on Isaiah 55:10,11 and 61:11

The Grace

Counting on … Lent 13

21st March 2025

“The sprit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners ….They will be called oaks of righteousness , the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.” Isaiah 61: 1 3b

Again we are reminded of God’s calling that we should care for all those in need so as to create a world that in its flourishing reveals the glory of God. And in truth it is that same glory we see when we look at great oak trees, or ancient woodlands or when we see the first green shoots appearing on a local tree – just as it is when the sick are healed, the oppressed released, the broken hearted restored and the whole world sharing in the good news of God’s spirit.

Counting on … Lent 12

20th March 2025

We have a growing understanding of the many ways in which flora and fauna in the natural world support and aid each other. On the Knepp Estate nature was given free reign to re-wild what had been poor grade farmland. One observation highlighted the importance of brambles in providing a protective barrier around sapling trees that protected them from being grazed and/or being trampled as they sprouted from seeds.

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.” Deuteronomy 24:19-21

Just as in nature, so in God’s kingdom we should not take every last for ourselves, but leave sufficient resources in place to allow others to thrive. It is important to learn how we can live in systems that benefit not just ourselves but everyone.