Category: Counting On …

Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on

Counting on ….day 159 

21st April 2022

Tomorrow is Earth Day. Founded in the USA in 1970,  it is now observed by more than a billion people around the world as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes. This year’s theme is Invest in Our Planet: “All TOGETHER now! This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must Invest In Our Planet.” 

“The goal of EDO’s campaign is to push aside the barriers erected by the ancient, dirty fossil fuel economy and their co-conspirators – old technologies of centuries past – and redirect attention to creating a 21st century economy that brings back the health of our planet, protects our species, and provides opportunities for all.“

Counting on…  will continue each to suggest ways, big and small, by which we can  make that change happen.

Counting on …day 158

20th April 2022 

At the heart of a plant based diet are beans and pulses. Hodmedod’s is a good place to source these as they specifically stock ones grown in the UK – both supporting UK farmers and reducing food miles. Variety is good for the diet – split green and yellow peas; blue, wrinkled, marrow fat, Carlin and black badger whole peas; fave beans, chick peas, haricot beans, green and red lentils …..

To save on electricity and cooking time, weigh out daily amounts (approx 30g dried weight per portion) half-filling glass jars. Then fill up with hot water, secure lids, and leave to soak for an hour or over night. Place the jars into a large pan and fill round the jars with water. Bring to the boil and simmer  for about an hour. Leave to cool. These jars of cooked beans are now ready for use – and because they have been boiled with lids on, don’t need to be stored in the fridge. 

NB cook red kidney beans separately as they need to boil vigorously for ten minutes to remove natural toxins. 

Counting on … day 157

19th April 2022

The plight of refugees is topical. Their needs are something we as nations and globally must address and plan for. The acceleration of the climate crisis will add to the number of people forced to flee their homes. 

Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 

Matthew 25:44,45

Even just as human beings x regardless of our faith –  can we  ignore the plight of people forced by fear to flee their homes? If we were in their position would we not want someone to help us, to give us something to eat and drink, clothes to keep us a warm, a roof over our head, and a reassurance of protection? 

“Love your neighbour as yourself” said Jesus repeating the commandment given in Leviticus. The commands in both Leviticus, Exodus and Deuteronomy are clear that the duty of care is just not to your kin but to the stranger and the alien. 

You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:34

According to the UNHCR ‘An asylum-seeker is someone whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed’. They are a person who is in the process of having their status as a refugee legally determined. To label such as person as being illegal is wrong. To remove that person from the place where they have come seeking safety, and exporting both them and their claim, is wrong. 

As Christians we should stand up and voice our complaint to the Government that what they propose is both abhorrent and wrong. Not to do so is to spurn Jesus’s teaching. Write or email to your MP and to the Home Secretary and make your voice heard. 

Counting on …day 156

18th April 2022

Can we count on our faith to cope with and address the suffering the climate crisis is and will cause? Can we be sufficiently open to God’s guidance to know what to do, and sufficiently willing and committed to change our lives accordingly?

Easter-tide seems a good time to explore this for it is a season concerned with new life, new beginnings and new understanding. 

Hands Animals Chick Beak Love Yellow Kids Love http://www.maxpixel

 Counting on … day 155

17th April 2022

Christ is risen! Happy Easter! 

The resurrection is God’s promise of Life. 

Last night I had a lovely surprise – a little tap on the kitchen door and Heidi popped her head round. She had come home after three weeks protesting with Just Stop Oil. I wasn’t expecting her until maybe mid week. It was such a wonderful feeling of joy and love – a small taste of the feelings that the disciples must have felt when Jesus returned to them. 

When Adam and Eve went against God’s wishes in the Garden of Eden, God rather than confiscating their lives, allowed them to live but thereafter they had to live with the hardships that their actions had produced. The  resurrection is God’s assurance of the continuation of Life – it does not exempt us from having to live with the damage we have caused, but surely today of all days must give us the impetus to want to transform how we live, to heal the injuries we have caused, to live according to God’s will in loving harmony with all our fellow beings. 

The urgency of the climate crisis is such that globally we need to cut our emissions by about 50% over the next 8 (just EIGHT!) years and to zero by 2050. Halving emissions in 8 years is not compatible with expanding oil and gas production, is not compatible with policies that do not swop gas boilers for passive haus insulation levels,  petrol cars for enhanced public transport and active travel, industrial farming for regenerative agriculture. 

Do make changes in your lifestyle. Do press the government and businesses for systemic change. Do stand up for climate protestors and for the victims of the climate crisis.

Counting on …day 153

15th April 2022

One way of reducing waste, packaging and shipping, is to make your own at home. The RHS gives this recipe for making potting compost: 

Make your own potting compost:  For potting on and containers: 

4 parts loam (soil) 

1 part garden compost, municipal green waste, or well-rotted manure

1 part leaf mould

1 part sharp sand

1 heaped trowel of seaweed meal per loaded wheelbarrow

This is a basic mix. Add more sand for alpines and herbs, and use composted bracken instead of garden compost for acid-loving plants like blueberries.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardening-for-the-environment/low-carbon-gardening/low-carbon-container-growing

 Counting on …day 150

13th April 2022

We have just invested in a Rework recycling box for all our otherwise un-recyclable plastic. We will continue to use our kerb side recycling bin for plastic pots and bottles, the soft plastic recycling facility at the Coop, toothpaste tubes at Boots, but this box will be for all the other plastics we cannot otherwise recycle. We can even use it for lateral flow test kits. It should reduce our landfill to nil. 

Mixed Plastic Recycling Box

Counting on …day 149 

12th April 2022

It may not look much, but I was glad I was wearing my cycle helmet when I collided head on with a car. It took sufficient of the impact to allow me to leave hospital 24 hours later with just a cracked vertebra. 

Safety helmets were designed to protect us in case of accidents. And as accidents do happen, we should always wear them.