Advent 2o23
During Advent I plan to post each day an idea or project that would help tackle the climate crisis and improve the quality of life. Hopefully each will reveal a window of opportunity.
Author: Judith Russenberger
Environmentalist and theologian, with husband and three grown up children plus one cat, living in London SW14.
I enjoy running and drinking coffee - ideally with a friend or a book.
Counting on … day 1.223
24th November 2023
Black Friday seems a good day to reflect on what it might mean to be a good consumer. Certainly shopping ethically – https://greentau.org/2023/11/07/counting-on-day-1-210/ – but maybe also consuming more slowly. How often do we need a new dress or new duvet set? Maybe consuming more locally so that we support the local economy – buying from the local bookshop not Amazon, the local green grocer not Tesco’s. Maybe for some of us it means consuming less. Maybe it means campaigning so that others can afford to consume more so as to live in comfort.
For more thoughts – “Sustainable production and consumption must therefore replace undifferentiated economic growth as the goal of 21st-century political economy. And making the case for this means challenging the belief that sustainable consumption will always involve sacrifice, rather than improve wellbeing.”
Read the full article here –
Counting on … day 1.222
23rd November 2023
This Friday is Black Friday – a widely advertised event that lasts at least for a week! – when retailers encourage us spend more on so called ‘bargains’. It seems as if the whole purpose of human existence is to shop. But shopping for the sake of shopping – consumerism for the sake of consumerism – is highly destructive of the environment and undermines the essence of being human which is about relationship with our neighbours.
The following extract comes from a pertinent Guardian report: “It’s forecast that this month and next, a record £9.5bn will be blown on advertising, more than the UK government spends on prisons in a year. This is the philosophy of “spending like there’s no tomorrow” – literally, given the climate crisis.
Black Friday.” (1)
But it doesn’t have to be this way and we can be part of the transformation. Make this Friday a Buy Nothing Day! Display a Buy Nothing poster on your garden gate, front window etc. For more info and posters visit http://buynothingday.co.uk/
This article from a few years ago focuses on the huge amount of waste that Black Friday and Cyber Monday produce – https://greentau.org/2021/11/29/green-tau-issue-24/
Counting on … day 1.221
22nd November 2023
This week Christian Climate Action is embarking on its campaign to ask MPs to support the Loss and Damage Fund.
If you too want to participate you can find a template letter to send your MP on CCA’s web site – https://christianclimateaction.org/events/
Or via this link – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sa7QyhFFMC2mpobJJG0Z8G3XOErzz5b-_O9-glkC1V8/edit?usp=sharing
Why is this important?
The climate crisis is being felt across the world but the damage is inflicted unevenly. Some countries – often the poorest – are being hit harder. And perversely these are countries that have contributed least to the problem.
Malawi, for example, has been inflicted by intense tropical storms – most recently Cyclone Freddy with 200 deaths – flooding, mud slides, and droughts. But Malawi struggles to cover the cost of the damage as it is already heavily burden with foreign debt as it tries to improve the economy and living standards of its people.
The UK, which profited from early industrialisation, has emitted 78,500 million tonnes CO2e since the start of the Industrial Revolution, whilst Malawi has emitted a mere 52 million tonnes. The UK is a wealthy nation with GDP of $3,871,790 million, whilst Malawi has a GDP of only $37,900 million. (Populations are approx 68 million and 21 million respectively).
The injustice in this situation gave rise to the proposal at COP26 for a Loss and Damage Fund. This fund will use money supplied by the wealthy – those who caused the CO2 pollution – to pay for the damage being suffered by the most vulnerable. In the two years since then committees have been working out the details of the scheme. Once finalised this is to be ratified at the forthcoming COP28.
Of current concern is whether the UK government will continue to a) support the introduction of the Loss and Damage Fund, and b) whether it will be willing to contribute its fair share.
Counting on … day 1.220
21st November 2023
Following on from yesterday’s post, another area where we as individuals can make a difference is in our choice of diet. Cutting back on meat and dairy can both reduce pressures vis a vis deforestation, and directly reduce emissions arising from farm livestock.
In particular, when cutting back on meat and dairy, we may want to review the provenance of what meat and dairy we do eat. We may want to investigate how and where the relevant livestock are reared – whether they are fed on imported grain, whether they are intensively farmed, whether they are grass fed and have access to outdoor spaces, whether they are reared organically, whether they are reared in the UK or elsewhere, and even what provision is made for the safe disposal of their sewage. Effluent from industrial sized chicken farms are severely polluting the River Wye.
For more information on the merits of meat-based, vegetarian and vegan diets see – https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/climate-impact-meat-vegetarian-vegan-diets
Green Tau: issue 84
20th November 2023
The Diocese of Chichester votes against divestment
On Saturday 18th November I joined a group of CCA people holding a vigil as members arrived for Chichester Diocese’s Synod which was to vote on whether or not to remain invested in fossil fuels. We were then invited in to observe the debate. What follows is based on the notes I made as people spoke.
The motion came from the Chichester Diocese Fund and Board of Finance (incorporated) and was as follows:-
“1. ETHICAL INVESTMENT Mrs Lesley Lynn (Chair) to move that “This Synod re-affirms that care for God’s creation is foundational to the Christian gospel and central to the church’s mission and, recognising
(a) the importance of working towards a future which does not depend on fossil fuels;
(b) the need to both develop alternative energy supplies and reduce the demand for energy before freedom from fossil fuels can be achieved; and
(c) the central role that large energy companies have to play in developing alternative energy supplies, agrees that it will continue to invest in Shell and BP only while those companies have a clear strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement goal to limit the increase of average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”
The first part of the motion states a positive green view of the Church’s values and calling. From this (a) and (b) are logical ambitions, and by inference so is (c) – which it is certainly not! There is a lot of published material that shows that fossil fuel companies like Shell and BP are part of the climate crisis problem; not the solution.
Yet Lesley was forthright in her views that continuing to investing in fossil fuels was a responsible solution to the climate crisis. Her main argument was that to address the climate crisis we must reduce energy consumption. At the same time she believed fossil fuels were essential to our daily lives for energy and transport. To reduce the availability of fossil fuel energy would be detrimental and would further impoverish the poor through higher prices.
This view ignores the facts that renewable energy is cheaper to produce; that the prices of both fossil, fuel and renewable energy are distorted by government subsidies and policies which favour fossil fuels over renewables; and that renewable energy can and will increasingly support our daily living needs as we transition to net zero.
A speaker against the motion, reminded us of the plea from the Churches of the South, who are calling on us, their brothers and sisters in the west, to divest because they are suffering unbearably from the effects of the climate crisis.
The actions the Church – in this case the Diocese of Chichester – carry with them a message that is heard far and wide, that proclaims our values. Divesting speaks of justice for those in the global south – as well as for the poor in our own communities. Divesting also speaks of care for the environment which is a message many young people and the unchurched in our society want to hear.
Lesley presented the argument that staying invested gave the Diocese a voice in the boardrooms and AGMs of Shell and BP, and thus the means to effect changes in the ways these companies addressed climate issues. She noted that the Church of England nationally no longer had this agency. A speaker against the motion pointed out that the National Investment Body NIBs had taken this view up until this year but has concluded that the rate of progress was too slow – given the urgency of the climate crisis – and that both Shell and BP had in fact changed direction and showed no intention of transitioning at a rate fast enough to be of benefit.
The motion put forward by Lesley asserted that large energy companies had a central role to play in developing alternative energy supplies. No evidence was given in support of this. In fact with regards to Shell and BP this is certainly not the case.
Global Witness examined Shell’s spending on wind and solar for 2021 and found it equated to just 1.5% of their capital expenditure. In March 2022 Shell announced it would spend £20-25bn over the next ten years in the UK energy system – a figure which shrinks when considered in relation to their annual profits for that year alone of £32bn. Further, of this proposed spend in the UK, only 75% would be on low and zero-carbon products and services, which while including offshore wind, hydrogen, also includes carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) and electric mobility.
A smiliar picture exists with BP. Between 2016 and 2022 BP spent $3.2bn on clean energy compared with $84bn on oil and gas exploration and development. Since then Bernard Looney the CEO has been replaced as he was felt to be leaning too much in favour of green policies.
In terms of investing in renewable energy, Lesley said that if the Diocese did divest, they would not reinvest that money in renewables as the Diocese already had a sufficient spread of renewable in their portfolio.
The motion put forward by Lesley also had the proviso that investment would continue only so long as ‘those companies have a clear strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement goal to limit the increase of average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.’
One research body that assesses the compliance status of companies is the The Transition Pathway Initiative Centre. This is the research body used by the Church of England. It finds that both Shell and BP are not compliant. However Lesley does not agree with their formulations and prefers instead those of the World Benchmarking Alliance. However even their benchmarking does not actually confirm that Shell and BP are Paris Aligned, just that there are relatively more ecological/ ethical than other oil companies, ranking 11th and 12th respectively. Lesley did add that as well as investments in Shell and BP, the Diocese has investments in Total (which ranks third on the World Benchmarking Alliance) and the Diversified Energy Company. (This latter, apparently buys old oil wells and revamps the infrastructure so as to reduce the emissions linked to the extraction process. This sounds like a positive but it does nothing to reduce the much larger emissions from when the oil is used).
Another speaker against the motion suggested that as the Church was capable of making ethical investment decisions not to invest in tobacco, arms, drugs or the sex trade, why could it not equally make the decision not to invest in fossil fuels? In reply, Lesley differentiated between them saying that if overnight all arms or drugs disappeared, the world would be a happier, safer place. But if oil disappeared overnight we would all be stranded.
Bringing the debate back to ethics and values was important, for the motion was linking investment decisions to the Christian calling to care for creation. Nothing in the debate supporting the motion suggested how continuing to invest in Shell and BP would achieve this. At a recent conference ‘Church Investment in Climate Solutions: Financing a Liveable Future’ (organised by Operation Noah and FaithInvest) the importance of having a clear investment policy that reflects faith values was emphasised. With such a clear policy, churches and faith groups are then equipped to go to their financial advisers and say these are the values we want our portfolio to reflect.
This is where I feel the Diocese of Chichester has failed. It has a adopted an ethical investment policy that is illogical, claiming in the one hand to care for creation whilst at the same time investing in companies whose main product is one that is destroying the planet. Further, having included provisos within its policy to limit the adverse effects of its investments on the climate, it is continuing to invest in companies that clearly do not meet the stated criteria.
The vote sadly went in favour of continuing investment in Shell and BP:
For 62 against 32 abstention 9.
Saturday was a sad day for the Diocese of Chichester, for the wider church, for Christian witness and for the wellbeing of creation.
Counting on … day 1.219
20th November 2023
The authors of the State of Climate Action 2023 report advise that world needs to:
- Retire about 240 average-sized coal-fired power plants a year, every year between now and 2030.
- Construct the equivalent of three New Yorks’ worth of public transport systems in cities around the world each year this decade.
- Halt deforestation, which is happening to an area the size of 15 football pitches every minute, this decade.
- Increase the rate of growth of solar and wind power from its current high of 14% a year to 24% a year.
- Cut meat consumption from ruminants such as cows and sheep to about two servings a week in the US, Europe and other high-consuming countries by 2030.” (1)
We may feel we have little control over deforestation, especially that which happens outside the UK, but indirectly we do. Many of the products we consume every day come directly or indirectly from forested land that has been cleared to allow for commercial production of sugar, palm oil and soya beans.
Palm oil is an interesting crop as it finds itself in many products ranging from toothpaste to margarine, laundry liquid to biscuits. When listed as an ingredient, it may appear as palm but can as easily appear as palm- , stear- , laur- , or glyc-. Reducing our consumption of palm oil, or seeking products made from sustainably produced palm oil, does take some research – Ethical Consumer has a useful guide – https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/palm-oil/palm-oil-free-list
Processed soya beans may feed directly into our shopping basket as tofu, tempeh or as soya milk (and other similar dairy replacements). This accounts for a very small portion of global soya production – less than 6%. Most of the global output of soya beans (77%) is used as animal feed. By eating less meat and dairy produce we can reduce the demand for soya beans and hence deforestation!
For more information on palm oil and how to avoid its damaging production – https://greentau.org/2021/12/15/green-tau-issue-27/
For more information on the dangers of sugar plantations – https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/sugar-a-killer-crop.html, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/18/a-shame-for-the-world-ugandas-fragile-forest-ecosystem-destroyed-for-sugar?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other,
For more information on soya beans and deforestation- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/06/top-grain-traders-helped-scupper-ban-on-soya-from-deforested-land?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other , https://ourworldindata.org/soy
Proper 28, 19th November 2023
Reflection (readings are below)
On Thursday I took part in an interfaith service praying for climate justice – we gathered beneath the statue of Robert Clive outside the Foreign Office, as we reflected on how our actions have a global impact.
One, a rabbi, told us a story that when God first created Adam, God took him on a tour of all the trees in the garden of Eden, showing both how beautiful and how useful they all were. And then God told Adam that all this had been created for him – for humanity. ‘Make certain’, said God, ‘that you do not ruin and destroy all this, for there is no one to mend it after you!’
We are not children, said the rabbi, that someone else will tidy up our mess. We are adults and have to take responsibility to mend what we have damaged.
Today’s readings have the theme of judgment. The prophet Zephaniah talks of the impending ‘day of reckoning’. A day when our pluses and minuses, successes and failures, are weighed up.
And in today’s Gospel Jesus tells a parable in which a master judges whether his servants have been trustworthy custodians of what he gave them.
In just under two week COP28 will get underway. One of the key agenda items is to address the outcome of the global stocktake – an assessment of progress that has been made by the nations against the targets in the Paris agreement. The report itself was published in September with the conclusion that although progress had been made, it was nowhere near enough, and that achieving net-zero emissions required “systems transformation” across all sectors and contexts, including scaling up renewable energy and phasing out fossil-fuel projects.
It feels as if we are fast approaching a day of reckoning. How will we be judged? Will it be shown that we have taken sufficient care of the earth God has given us?
To return to Zephaniah, it will not be enough that we ourselves have gained wealth, built ourselves comfortable homes and vineyards. Judgement of the earth will be more subtle – it is not a question have we got enough wealth, a safe home and a fruitful vine – that is just to be complacent – but have we ensured that the earth’s wealth has been fairly shared with our neighbours? Have we ensured that it has been garnered in such a way as to not to destroy the earth – and all the trees – that God has given us?
The jury is out.
The words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks to the Climate Ambition Summit in September, sounds as forceful as those of Zephaniah. “…and our task is urgent. Humanity has opened the gates of hell. Horrendous heat is having horrendous effects. Distraught farmers watching crops carried away by floods; sweltering temperatures spawning disease; and thousands are fleeing in fear as historic fires rage.
Climate action is dwarfed by the scale of the challenge… But, the future is not fixed. It is for leaders like you to write it…We must make up time lost to foot-dragging, arm-twisting and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels.”
So while we have time, we must take action. The Psalm reminds us that God is our refuge, our port of call for help. We must ask God “ to teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” If we trust in God, we should allow God to shape our actions, to guide our thoughts and to inflame our hearts with love.
We must not be complacent, but rather we must, in the words from Thessalonians, be awake and sober. We must put on ‘the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation’ and that salvation comes through Jesus. A few weeks ago we reflected on the Beatitudes and the teachings that Jesus gives to us his apprentices, that we should love without counting the cost, be truthful without counting the cost, be faithful without counting the cost and stand up for what is right without counting the cost.
If we and all people of faith can accept our responsibility to care for the earth and for our neighbours, then, in the words of the Hindu swami at Thursday’s Interfaith service, we, the people of faith, will be a fighting force for good, a force that can change the world.
António Guterres closed his speech saying, “The future of humanity is in your hands. One summit will not change the world. But, today can be a powerful moment to generate momentum, that we build on over the coming months.”
Zephaniah 1:7,12-18
Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people
who rest complacently on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
“The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do harm.”
Their wealth shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
the warrior cries aloud there.
That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath;
in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed;
for a full, a terrible end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Psalm 90:1-8, 12
1 Lord, you have been our refuge *
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born, *
from age to age you are God.
3 You turn us back to the dust and say, *
“Go back, O child of earth.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past *
and like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep us away like a dream; *
we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
7 For we consume away in your displeasure; *
we are afraid because of your wrathful indignation.
8 Our iniquities you have set before you, *
and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
12 So teach us to number our days *
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus said, “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Counting on … day 1.218
17th November 2023
In September of this year, the Sycamore Gap Tree was, through criminal action, chopped down. Previously a 400 year old oak was felled in Northamptonshire to make way for road improvements. A 600 year old oak was felled in Peterborough because it was damaging nearby buildings. A 250 year old wild pear tree was felled In Warwickshire to make way for HS2.
Should we treasure trees as much as we treasure buildings? Are they not an as important part of the landscape?
The Woodlands Trust is pressing “the UK, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Governments to protect our most important trees by:
- Legally protected heritage status for some of our most ancient and important trees
- Strong, consistent policy protection for old trees
- More support for land managers to care for ancient and veteran trees”
If you would like to add your name to their petition, here is the link –
https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/99702/petition/2
The Woodlands Trust also has ideas for home made Christmas gifts – https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2023/10/homemade-christmas-gifts/?utm_campaign=3328841_E23COM041_Newsletter_Dynamic&utm_medium=email&utm_source=E23COM044&utm_content=Christmas-Crafting&dm_i=2D76,1ZCJT,6HXEUF,71JUC,1
Counting on … day 1.217
16th November 2023
The lead author of the study into the health (or rather threatened health) of our woodlands, published in ‘Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research’, is Dr Eleanor Tew, head of forest planning at Forestry England and visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge. Whilst the threat of a collapse of our woodland ecosystems is possible, it is not inevitable. “We do have time to make a difference, and there is a lot we can do to make our forests more resilient,” said Tew, who described the paper as a “call for action”… The forestry industry has to plan in advance …. an average conifer in a plantation can take up to 60 years to reach maturity, and a broadleaf up to 150 years. “Forestry has always been about planning for the long-term, and we’re at a time of huge change,” said Tew. Solutions [could] include increasing the diversity of tree species within a wood, planting trees of different ages, promoting natural regeneration and managing deer populations.”(1)
The Forestry Journal published advice from ConFor the forestry’s industry wide body to improve tree planting:-
- a coordinated UK-wide approach to the 30,000-hectare target, currently not in place;
- planting targets to be clearly linked to delivering other policy objectives – mitigating climate change, supporting biodiversity and delivering rural jobs and growth;
- clear targets to use more home-grown wood – the UK is the second highest global net importer of wood after China, and using more wood will lock up more carbon (2)
Growing timber for domestic use – eg construction, furniture making etc seems logical. Maybe we can help by specifying such products if we are making such purchases.
The Green Tau 