Judith Russenberger

Proper 23, 19th Sunday after Trinity,

15th October 2023

Reflection (readings are below)

If you are wandering in a wilderness without map or compass, who will be the better guide? A golden calf made from recycled jewellery, or God? Who best to follow?

The calf may look bright and shiny. It may feel solid and immovable – although that might itself be a problem. It may have ‘miraculously’ appeared out of the mould. But it is not going to lead the people through the wilderness. It is not going to guide them along the right path. It is not going to speak to them words of comfort nor is it going to teach them words of wisdom.

Hearing the story four and a half thousand years later, the answer is obvious. The people should follow God!

But are we any better today at avoiding false gods? They may no longer come in the form of shiny metal cattle. Their disguise is more subtle. Try GDP and neoliberal economics. That’s the guide we should follow to reach the promised land of endless growth and wealth. Try fossil fuels and their ‘cheap’ bountiful energy. That’s the way to boost the economy and help lift people out of poverty. Try free trade and cheap imports/exports. That’s the way to get the global economy moving. Try low taxation and cheap, un-unionised labour. That will create all the jobs we need. Try retail therapy. The more you buy, the happier you will be!

Each is a false god that offers wealth and happiness for all, but which in reality favours a select few at the expense of everyone and everything else.

The parable from today’s gospel tells the same story. The people who are invited to the wedding feast are being invited to share their lives with the King’s (ie God). But instead they make a different choice. They choose instead to seek happiness being busy at their farm, or concentrating on their business interests. They choose the golden calf over God. Perhaps they don’t realise it straight away but they have missed out on the opportunity of knowing true happiness.

Other guests are invited and take up the invitation. This latter group of guests are keen and committed. They put on party clothes – they want to be in the groove, be part of the party scene. They want to be God’s people, to live their lives in fellowship with God. But maybe just as some might come and look at an idol and not worship, so others may come to the party but take part. Other parables remind us that saying yes and doing no, isn’t the right response.

Perhaps traditionally idols have been understood to be things or objects – be that a statue of a Greek god or a sports car. Or perhaps we have understood an idol to be a personality such as pop star or a football player or a politician. But what if a way of life can be an idol. What if we understand an idol to be that which is the the single focus of our daily life, the things that motivates our every action? That, I think, is what we are asked to do in worshipping God, in following Jesus – to have no other gods.

Exodus 32:1-14

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

1 Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, *
for his mercy endures for ever.

2 Who can declare the mighty acts of the Lord *
or show forth all his praise?

3 Happy are those who act with justice *
and always do what is right!

4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favour you have for your people, *
and visit me with your saving help;

5 That I may see the prosperity of your elect
and be glad with the gladness of your people, *
that I may glory with your inheritance.

6 We have sinned as our forebears did; *
we have done wrong and dealt wickedly.

19 Israel made a bull-calf at Horeb *
and worshiped a molten image;

20 And so they exchanged their Glory *
for the image of an ox that feeds on grass.

21 They forgot God their Saviour, *
who had done great things in Egypt,

22 Wonderful deeds in the land of Ham, *
and fearful things at the Red Sea.

23 So he would have destroyed them,
had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, *
to turn away his wrath from consuming them.

Philippians 4:1-9

My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Matthew 22:1-14

Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Counting on …. Day 1.193

13th October 2023

“Money makes the world go round” goes the saying. But where does that money come from? National and international banks, the World Bank, the investment arms of pension and insurance companies – all looking for a healthy financial return. Choosing where to invest, gives these organisations a highly influential role in shaping the world. If they invest in airlines, then airplanes are built. If they invest in oil, then oil wells are dug. If they invest in wheat and palm oil, then wheat and oil palms are grown – clearing away rainforest if that is in the way.

But surely they could alternatively invest in wind turbines? Or solar panels? Or railways? Or indigenous crops? Or public health schemes? Or education systems?

Who decides? Could it be us?

Currently there are various campaigns encouraging us as individuals to choose banks/ pension funds/ insurance policies that work in favour of, rather than against, the environment.

It could also be us if we choose to press the bigger players – big banks, the insurance companies, national charities, churches and dioceses – to similarly opt for financial arrangements that benefit the environment and transition away from fossil fuels. Christian Aid earlier this year announced its decision to drop Barclays as its bank, whilst many National Trust members still object to the Trust’s continued use of Barclays.

Faith for the Climate has been pressing Lloyds of London to end their insurance of fossil fuel projects. XR and CCA continue to campaign against Barclays – Europe’s largest fossil fuel investing bank.

There are also campaigns to persuade sporting and art event organise against accepting sponsorship from environmentally unfriendly investors – eg opposing Barclays’ sponsorship of Wimbledon.

Counting on …. Day 1.192

12th October 2023

“Global south countries are currently spending five times more on repaying debt than they are on addressing the impacts of the climate crisis.”(1)

Poor to start with, these countries have to borrow to fund basics such as road building, education, housing and healthcare – imagine how a country could pay for these from taxation when only, say, 5% of the population earns enough to pay tax. Add to that the increasing cost of the climate crisis – the cost of flood destroyed agriculture, infrastructure and homes; the cost of rising sea levels destroying costal areas and undermining agricultural fertility with saline water; the cost of droughts and wildfires destroying crops, infrastructure and homes. See how more debts escalate! And how can these countries find still more money to protect infrastructure and livelihoods against further climate change?

That is why “Cancel the Debt” is campaigning for the rich countries of the north that have made their fortunes through fossil fuels, to cancel these debts.

Like a bizarre plot twist, many of the indebted countries of the global south have been encouraged to develop fossil fuels as a way of boosting their GDP! But what was billed as means to a buoyant future has become a millstone round their necks. The evidence is that they become mired in a “debt-fossil-fuel production trap whereby countries rely on fossil fuel revenues to repay debt, and anticipated revenues from fossil fuels are often over inflated and require huge investments to reach expected returns, leading to further debt, eroding long-term development prospects, and causing devastating environmental and human harms.” (1)

Today various groups including Debt Justice, War on Want, the London Mining Network, and Christian Climate Action, are holding a demonstration outside the Bank of England, calling for the cancellation of the debts of the Global South.

(1) https://debtjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Debt-fossil-fuel-trap-report-2023.pdf

Counting on …. Day 1.191

11th October 2023

Climate change and biodiversity loss do not occur without imposing a financial cost on the world. Based on figures from the last twenty years the cost is currently in the region of £13 million per day (1). This calculation doesn’t fully include losses arising from poor or marginalised communities because the such data is not well or fully recorded. Nor does the data reflect the cost of reduced harvests – crops, livestock, fish – as again such data is not always available. What these costs do reflect is the financial loss of buildings, land and people’s lives through storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts.

The LSE reported last year that for the UK that “Under current policies, the total cost of climate change damages to the UK are projected to increase from 1.1% of GDP at present to 3.3% by 2050”. (2)

In the light of these sums, the argument that green investment, to reduce or to adapt to the climate crisis, is too expensive is nonsensical.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/09/climate-crisis-cost-extreme-weather-damage-study?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

(2) https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/what-will-climate-change-cost-the-uk/

Green Tau issue 82

10th October 2023

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”- the catch phrase from one of the Monty Python sketches. At bizarre moments in innocent situations the red clothed members of the Spanish Inquisition would suddenly leap out ejaculating “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

The same is true of the climate crisis. No one expects the climate crisis to interrupt their daily life. Yet it does. A sudden torrential storm, a flash flood, an unseasonal heat wave, a spark and a forest fire destroys a town.

No one expected storm Daniel to devastate the farm land of Thessaly, or to inundate the town of Derna in Libya. No one expected a storm to kill 11 in the Western Cape. Olive farmers in Spain did not expect heat waves and droughts to devastate 2/3 of their harvest. Holiday makers on Rhodes did not expect to be surrounded by wild fires. No one expected that wildfires would still be burning in Alberta in October. No one expected more than a month’s rainfall in 36 hours causing flooding across communities as far apart as Greenock and Aviemore.

Do we think of these extreme weather events as freak events that won’t be repeated? Do we see them as things that happen elsewhere in the world but not here? Do we see them as something that would never happen to me?

If we don’t expect them, then we are as unlikely to plan for them. That perhaps is too easily the situation in which we and our politicians find ourselves. And so we all carry on as if such extreme weather events will never happen to us and that our lives will not be disrupted.

How you rate the risk of the likelihood of an extreme weather event probably depends on how much you know about the climate crisis. The more you know, the more you will have come to understand that the risks are high, and are growing each year that we allow carbon emissions to expand. The science is clear.

It is less easy to predict is when and where these extreme events will happen, but the effects will be significant. Herein is the problem. How does one convey the degree of risk, the degree of disruption that the climate crisis will cause of one cannot be specific about time and place?

This is why some groups, such as Just Stop Oil, choose actions that will disrupt daily life now. The disruption is a taster on a very small scale of the disruption we, the public, will face when we are the focus of an extreme weather event. Groups like Just Stop Oil are warning us that the climate crisis will cause massive disruption far worse than a 15 minute road delay road or interrupted theatre performance, and that we are doing nothing at the appropriate scale to prevent it.

We should be demanding that serious action be taken now by the government, by big businesses, by investors. We should be embracing and calling for the carbon budgets and strategies recommended by the Climate Change Committee to be implemented at once and at speed.

For the CCC report of the government’s current progress in meeting tey current Carbon budget, see – https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Progress-in-reducing-UK-emissions-2023-Report-to-Parliament-1.pdf

For the CCC’s budget for 2033-37 (ie the period for which we should be planning now – https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Policies-for-the-Sixth-Carbon-Budget-and-Net-Zero.pdf

For a further article on understanding net zero targets see – https://greentau.org/2023/05/30/green-tau-issue-70/

Counting on …. Day 1.190

10th October 2023

Back in 2021 the UN environment programme reported that not enough money was being put into the Global Biodiversity Framework fund – there was an annual funding gap of $6 – 8 billion. Given that to achieve the objective of protecting and enhancing biodiversity, investment would need to triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2050, they concluded that public sources of finances would be insufficient.(1) Private finance would need to carry more of the responsibility. Indeed business has a vested interest in doing so, for biodiversity risk = business risk. At the same time, working with and for nature offers opportunities for jobs and business returns.

A new GBFF was launched at the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity COP15 held in December 2022. To engage business finance in this fund, ‘investors are calling on governments to adopt measures within the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which would set a clear mandate for the alignment of financial flows with the preservation of global biodiversity, like Article 2.1(C) did within the Paris Agreement (a legally binding international treaty on climate change)’. (2)

Business investors need governments to provide reliable, effective and enforceable green policies.

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/speech/time-unlock-financing-biodiversity-protection-now

(2) https://www.unepfi.org/themes/ecosystems/cop15statement/

Counting on …. day 1.189

9th October 2023

Vegan Plum Tart

Make shortcrust pastry with 125g flour and 60g vegan butter and use to a flan or tart dish.

Half and stone enough plums to cover the base of the tart. Or use apricots dried or fresh, or figs or sliced pears.

Soak 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in hot water

Melt 100g vegan butter.

Add in 4 tablespoons sugar, 75g ground nuts (eg almond, Brazil, walnut), 1 or 2 tablespoons flour with raising agent, 1 tablespoon custard powder, and the chia seeds.

Mix well, adding 1 tablespoon brandy/ whiskey (optional) and a little water to loosen if the mixture is stiff.

Spread this mixture over the plums and fill the tart.

Bake 180C for about 30 minutes until lightly browned and firm to touch. Allow to cool a little before serving.

Proper 22, 18th Sunday after Trinity

8th October 2023

Reflection (readings are below)

The Ten Commandments in Godly Play are named as the Ten Good Ways as this comes across as being less dictatorial and more about wise guidance or wisdom. I too renamed my Rule of Life – I am a Franciscan tertiary – My Way of Life. The former felt too rigid, too black and white, and given human frailty, guilt inducing.

Perhaps in all these things, it is not the prescription that is so important as the outcome, the fruits, they deliver. If the Ten Commandments lead us to live in a good way, then they fulfil their purpose what ever their name.

The Ten Commandments – God’s commandments – did introduce the people to a new and better way of living. Their former life had been lived in slavery. They had been not people but property owned by the Egyptian rulers. But God has rescued – released – them from slavery. Now they were God’s people. Where as before they had been subject to the rules of human masters, now they were invited to commit themselves to living according to God’s rules, God’s ways – ways that would ensure their wellbeing and fulfilment. And so far in the story of Exodus, we have heard how God had protected them from the Egyptian army, had provided them with bread and meat – as much as they needed- and with fresh water.

Nevertheless, the people’s experience of encountering God was filled with fear and awe – and within that spectrum, respect. God wasn’t saying that living a good life was easy or effortless, rather that to live life well required focus, dedication, discipline and effort, but that equally it brought its own rewards. This is picked up in Psalm 19. The psalmist reminds us that all of the natural world recognises and in its own way praises God – and we should do likewise. And furthermore that the law of God is something to delight in and stick too because it is good for us. It rewards us with lives of sweet delight!

Paul writing to the Philippians knows and proclaims that there is nothing better in life than knowing Jesus as Lord. Paul is determined to know and follow Jesus as completely and as closely as possible. Nothing is of more value, can bring him greater benefit or joy, than the way of Jesus.

Today’s gospel has a parable that must have made for very uncomfortable listening for the religious authorities of the day. And perhaps therefore we should not be too glib in thinking that the days when the religious leaders – and not just the leaders but those who worked within the system – got God’s message so wrong, have past. I am sure in our hearts we know we in the church have got things wrong, and when in the future we look back, we may be surprised how blinkered we were.

What the owner of the vineyard is asking for, is the harvest that the vines have produced. The harvest God seeks are the fruits of the kingdom – the positives outcomes from living a way of life built upon the corner stone of Jesus’s teachings.

Looking back over the previous chapters of Matthew’s gospel, we have that way shown to us in the Beatitudes. We have the exhortation to be salty, to be a light shining forth from the lamp stand. We are reminded of the enduring value the law and the prophets which can be summed up as “in everything do to others as you would have them do to you”. We are told to love not just our neighbours but our enemies too. We are told not to seek retaliation, not to serve two masters, not to store up wealth. We are told to be not just hearers but doers too! And the fruits we will see can be amazing – the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and the poor receive good news. The kingdom will be like a tree where every bird has a place to roost. It will be exemplified by flourishing and bounty – five loaves will feed 5000!

Are we as Christians, following in the way of Jesus? Are we seeking to live according to God’s Good Ways? Are we shaping our lives according to the value of the kingdom of God? Are we being generous in returning to God and God’s creation the fruitfulness of the kingdom? Are we seeing lives being changed in ways that amaze us, or are we still seeing lives subject to the unjust rules of human making?

Earlier this week it was reported that in Gaza, soldiers shoot at the legs of protestors, often aiming to shatter their ankle bones. Many inhabitants are to be seen with crutches, having lost the use of their feet. Now we have seen this lack of peace escalate explosively – Lord forgive us.

Of the 2 billion instances of blindness in the world, half are preventable or treatable, and disproportionately more of these cases are in the poorer nations of Africa.

Yet in 2022 it was reported that ‘the ranks of the global ‘ultra high net worth’ (UHNW) individuals swelled by 46,000 last year to a record 218,200 as the world’s richest people benefited from “almost an explosion of wealth” during the recovery from the pandemic.”

In the UK 100,000 households live in temporary accommodation including 130,000 children. The distribution of food parcels by food banks has doubled over the last five years, and some 6.7 million households are affected by fuel poverty.

This year Oxfam reported on their analysis that the richest 1% of Britons hold more wealth than 70 per cent of Britons, while the four richest Britons have more wealth than 20 million Britons”.

It seems as if the workers in the vineyard are still reluctant to hand over the riches of the harvest.

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work.

Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

Psalm 19

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, *
and the firmament shows his handiwork.

2 One day tells its tale to another, *
and one night imparts knowledge to another.

3 Although they have no words or language, *
and their voices are not heard,

4 Their sound has gone out into all lands, *
and their message to the ends of the world.

5 In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *
it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;
it rejoices like a champion to run its course.

6 It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens
and runs about to the end of it again; *
nothing is hidden from its burning heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect
and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the Lord is sure
and gives wisdom to the innocent.

8 The statutes of the Lord are just
and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the Lord is clear
and gives light to the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean
and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,
more than much fine gold, *
sweeter far than honey,
than honey in the comb.

11 By them also is your servant enlightened, *
and in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can tell how often he offends? *
cleanse me from my secret faults.

13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;
let them not get dominion over me; *
then shall I be whole and sound,
and innocent of a great offence.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Philippians 3:4b-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realised that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Counting on … day 1.188

6th October 2023

Grass or rather grass lands as grass is seldom just grass but a collection of different plants inc,using grasses, is often overlooked when thinking about biodiversity. Perhaps cause grass sounds rather boring. But grasses come in different sorts and heights and colours. Mixed with companion plants they create a variety of meadows and grasslands. This variety is created by and supports a diversity of wildlife. The height of the grass and the selection of companion plants at be determined by who is grazing the land. Land grazed by sheep will have a different range of plants from land grazed by cattle. And then depending on what grasses and plants thrive, so a variety of different insects are accommodated and with them a further variety of birds and small animals.

In gardens we can maintain different areas of grass at different levels and see how the variety of other plants and wildlife varies.

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/our-work/incredible-grasslands/

Green Tau: issue 81

Oil and Money – a slippery mix

5th October 2023

In 2019 the Oil & Money conference was renamed the Energy Intelligence Forum. Reuters at the time reported “One of the world’s leading oil and gas conferences, Oil & Money, will change its name to the Energy Intelligence Forum to reflect the world’s shift to cleaner energy in the fight against climate change, its organisers said on Tuesday.”

The Forum in relation to its remit says “We are proud that the conference has been a platform for open and unbiased debate for the energy industry since 1979, …The world needs energy, but the energy industry must find ways to meet those needs in a more sustainable way. The mission of the Energy Intelligence Forum will be to provide a place where energy leaders can come together to debate, collaborate and find low-carbon solutions for the world’s energy challenges.” (1)

However looking at their web site for this year’s conference, whilst one of the main issues being addressed is the effect of climate change on the energy business, it is not with a view to finding low carbon solutions. Rather the objective would seem to be maintaining the profitability of those supplying fossil fuels. Speakers are almost universally from the oil industry or have close links.

Some of the particular topics of discussion includes the following agenda items (my numbering):

i. “Climate Divisions and COP – Can The World Move Forward Together (and What Happens If It Doesn’t?)

“The Western world has driven much of the climate agenda to date, but will a more assertive East and Global South change the debate? Is the COP process still relevant or has technology and country-level policy come to the fore? Who will pay for the transition and how?”

ii. “Building the Future- Constructing Tomorrow’s Energy System Today

“How will the world construct an energy system that can deliver reliable, affordable and clean energy in the next 30 years? What might look the same and what will have to evolve as we think about energy sources as varied as fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear power? Is there enough industrial capacity and raw materials to realise our grand ambitions?”

iii. “The Changing Face of ESG* – Will Net Zero Remain the Standard?

“How are public and private capital looking at exposure to carbon, and what does this mean for companies in the energy business? Will “net zero” remain the touchstone for climate-focused investors or will it be replaced by other metrics? How will ideas about sustainable approaches to investment change, as we move through a rocky energy transition?”

(*ESG – environmental, social and governance)

iv. “Winning Energy Strategies – How Best to Navigate Climate, Supply Security and Shareholder Returns

“How can oil and gas companies best navigate the competing priorities of supply security, transition, shareholder demands and portfolio limits? Can companies move faster through the transition than consumers? Should they get more involved in shifting demand? What do shareholders and stakeholders want from incumbent energy players?”

v.“The Geopolitics of the New Energy Economy – The emerging contests, opportunities and risks of the low-carbon transition

“The low-carbon transition is reshaping global geopolitics as nations jostle for position in the energy economy. How will tensions between the US and China, and between producers and consumers, play out? Will demand for minerals, metals and other materials create new tensions? What happens to countries that are left behind? What other sources of instability could arise, like migration?” (2)

These are all important topics which ought to be discussed with a broad spectrum of participants including those from the fields of renewable energy, climate science and biodiversity, as well as participants from across the globe. It is important to consider the role and importance of non-western countries in determining the climate agenda. Especially so when we are considering who is going to pay for the costs of transitioning. Climate justice campaigners have long called for the greater burden to be born by the richer countries both to reimburse those most affected by the adverse affects of the crisis and to create a level playing field for the future.

‘Constructing tomorrow’s energy system today’ is what all countries should have been doing for the last 50 years. Here governments have been most remiss leaving these decisions to those in the industry with the most power (the fossil fuel producers) rather than evening out the power balance to enable smaller, newer, renewable producers to have a viable voice. Too often governments have only listened to the voices of the big oil producers rather than listening to climate scientists and those developing alternative energies.

It is important that ‘net zero’ remains the standard for that is the only coherent target that provides a pathway to reducing carbon emissions to a safer level. It must remain a constant, unchangeable standard if it is both to be effective vis a vis the climate crisis, and to provide fairness and stability in a global economy where everyone is looking for the competitive edge. We have just recently seen in the UK that, arbitrarily and at short notice, changing the cut off date for ending the production of cars with petrol engines, is as destabilising for manufacturers as it is for customers – and thus also for investors. Equally we have seen that when the government does not gear its energy subsidies towards net zero, that we end up, in the UK certainly, with government money further subsidising new oil whilst failing to boost wind farm construction.

‘Can companies move faster through the transition than consumers?’ One hopes so, otherwise we consumers are forced to buy unsustainable products. In fact companies are not always keeping up with customers – and again this may be due to lack of government support or encouragement. Recently it has been reported that the cost of insuring electric vehicles has rocketed because the infrastructure for the repair of damaged vehicles and batteries is not yet to scale. This means that the costs for repairs are higher and therefore the cost of insurance cover too is higher. In the area of solar panels and heat pumps, the rate of manufacture and supply is way behind customer demand. Many customers have a long wait or are forced into buying a less climate friendly alternative. In an ideal world energy companies would be pioneering and investing in these industries. Octopus Energy – which is in the business of selling rather than producing energy – by comparison, is currently promoting the sale of domestic heat pumps, starting from £500 for a complete installation.

Where fossil fuel companies are gambling – and perhaps their gamble looks safe given the power of the companies and the lack of government intervention – is that they are continuing to invest heavily in new oil and gas projects where the fuel won’t come on line for 5 to 10 years and for which the pay back period is going to be even longer. Will there still be a strong market for fossil fuels in 20 or 30 years time? Worryingly for the environment, they, at present, seem to be successfully making that case with shareholders that that will be so.

The Geopolitics of the low-carbon transition is relevant not just with regard to fossil fuels, but also in the growing markets for minerals such as lithium and cobalt for the manufacture of batteries. This gives countries with these raw materials the opportunities for increased wealth or more likely, increased exploitation. Just as large oil companies have been able to manipulate and control supply and demand for fossil fuels, so equally powerful mineral companies are able to so the same. Invariably this is at the expense of the environment and of the local workforce and of the rights of indigenous people. The size of the multi national companies and their control over what are becoming key raw materials, seems to prevent any effective global policing of welfare, environmental and safety standards.

And as the agenda blurb suggests, there is a real risk that the shift in geopolitics will lead to conflict between countries or between rival groups within countries. On the last day of the conference one agenda item in particular highlights the close link between the power of large industries, economic power and conflict.

“The New Geopolitics – The Messy Shift Toward a Multipolar World and the New Middle East

“How has the conflict in Ukraine accelerated the geopolitical and economic shifts away from a unipolar world and toward a multipolar order? What does the rise of China mean for US dominance? How will large emerging countries like Saudi Arabia, India and Brazil assert their own independent path, while balancing their traditional alliances. What does this mean for energy companies and commodities which flourished over the past 20 years of steady globalisation?” (2)

Should such self serving conferences as the Energy Intelligence Forum be held without reference to or inclusion of other groups representing the interests of the environment, sustainable development, fair trade, and global well being? The decisions made at the Forum will potentially have major impact on the lives of everyone – and everything – in the world.

A final word from Laudate Deum, Pope Francis’s most recent encyclical, paragraph 23:

“It is chilling to realise that the capacities expanded by technology “have given those with the knowledge and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world. Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used… In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it”. [Laudate Si 104: AAS 107 (2015), 888-889.]”

(1)https://www.energyintel.com/0000017b-8742-d2d1-affb-f74a076d0001

(2) https://www.energyintelligenceforum.com/2023/agenda