9th April 2022
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Why not make your own palm cross? If you have a palm tree, such as a Torbay Palm, use one of its leaves. Otherwise try with strong paper.
Counting on …day146
Category: Counting On …
Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on
Counting on … day 145
8th April 2022
Tomorrow Extinction Rebellion will be standing up for action to halt the climate crisis. Be brave and show your support, if not with for XR, then with other climate action groups or even just as one individual showing solidarity with all the other individuals who are equally passionate about saving our world.
Counting on …day 144
7th April 2022
Hope is a great gift. It gives us the confidence to smile and keep going, even
when the odds seem stacked against us. Hope is often to be found in small things. A weed, against the odds, pushing up between the paving stones. Spotting a first ladybird. Taking time to enjoy the aroma of a fresh cup of coffee.
Counting on … day 143
6th April 2022
Yesterday the IPCC produced the third and final part its reports assessing where we are as world vis a vis the climate crisis. The news is not good. “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C,” said Prof Jim Skea, a co-chair of the report. “Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.”
Write to your MP and to your local Council – how are they going to respond? What immediate and deep emissions reductions will they make possible? Ask the same question of businesses. And we must ask the same question of ourselves.
Counting on …day 142
5th April 2022
Being an ethical consumer means choosing to buy things that have a positive impact on our world and avoiding those that don’t – and the small items matter just as much as the big ones! So what about a cup of coffee? Be informed before you buy.
Starbucks paid just £5.4m in UK corporation tax last year despite making a gross profit of £95m
(https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/30/starbucks-uk-corporation-tax-profit-administrative-expenses-royalties) despite paying its parent company £26.5m in royalties. In 2021 Starbucks received a tax credit worth £4.4m in the UK because of losses made during the pandemic in 2020 despite the coffee chain’s US parent company making a profit during the same period of $1.2bn (£870m). (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/18/starbucks-received-uk-tax-credit-in-2020-despite-making-profit-in-us)
Counting on … day 141
4th April 2022
Taking care of our mental well-being is important. It keeps us better and
happier and our friends and families too. The Blue Prescribing Project aims to help people actively look after their mental well-being through developing closer links with nature. The Project is designed and delivered by the Mental Health Foundation and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and is currently operating at the London Wetlands Centre. https://www.wwt.org.uk/our-work/projects/blue-prescribing
For enquiries and referrals please contact blueprescriptions@wwt.org.uk
Counting on …day 140
3rd April 2022
Nature is good for us. Being out in nature, taking note of the natural world around us help us maintain a sense of proportion. The Conversation recently posted this article suggesting five short walks to help us address our climate crisis fears.
Counting on day 139
2nd April 2022
Why not use your window, gate post, car windscreen to host a poster to support the demand for action to address the climate crisis? It may spark interesting conversations; it may give others like you the feeling of solidarity; it will demonstrate how widespread is the concern.
XR has various posters – https://extinctionrebellion.uk/act-now/resources/art-group/ – but equally you might want to find other sources on line or create your own.
Lent Reflection
1st April 2022
The elder tree – sambucus niger – is often more a bush than a tree. It can grow to a height of 15m and has a life span of some 20 years. Its flowers provide nectar for many insects, its leaves food for caterpillars, and its fruit food for birds and small mammals. The flowers are fragrant and used to flavour cordials, whilst the fruit which is rich in vitamin C can be used for jellies, fruits pies, cordials and wine making.
The elder’s name may come from the Anglo Saxon “aeld” meaning fire. Its hollow stems were used to blow air into the heart of a fire to kindle it. The soft wood is easy to whittle.
They said to one another, ‘We’re not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he opened the scriptures to us?’ Luke 24:32
Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.’ John of the Cross
Counting on update
Up date on the use of neonicotinoids that kill bees: Greenpeace has a petition requesting the Government to reinstate its ban: https://action.greenpeace.org.uk/e/854853/3vcTclL/xbxqy/630056084?h=CcRCux7bliXlWFOsJaeYBMq-Hy1tNLZFXNTfKsa7UOs
The Green Tau 
