Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on
4th March 2022
‘Counting on’ can have the meaning interdependency. About a third of the foods that we enjoy only reach our plates because of the input of pollinators – bees and other insects and even bats. Without such pollinators our diets would be severely compromised. Imagine breakfast without coffee or fruit, treats without chocolate or nuts. Looking after pollinating insects is to look after our wellbeing too.
3rd March 2022
Bees or sugar? Warmer winters, a result of climate change, encourages aphids to thrive. Aphids can spread yellow virus that can damage sugar beet crops. Where sugar beet is not grown organically (which would be the better option for our own health and that of the soil) farmers can choose to spray their crops with pesticides. This year British Sugar has again been granted permission to spray sugar beet with Cruiser SB, a neonicotinoid that is known to be harmful to bees and which is banned in Europe. Is the loss of some of the sugar beet crop, sufficient reason to knowingly harm bees and other insects, as well as polluting rivers and damaging the soil?
The better option would be to reintroduce organic production of sugar beet here in the UK, using methods such as ‘crop selection, crop rotation, fertility build, inter-cropping, establishing insect predator habitat’ https://cdn.friendsoftheearth.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/Sugar%20Beet%20briefing_FOE_Buglife_PAN_02.2018_0.pdf
Counting on ….day 110
2nd March 2022
Dust and ash – a reminder of our frailty, and a reminder of our connectedness with the whole of creation. We are part of a most amazing world, a world of intricate life cycles which we damage at our peril. We count on God, asking God to be the means by which we can transform our lives.
1st March 2022
Today is Shrove Tuesday. Shrive comes from the Old English to write, and thence to assign or prescribe, and from that to confess. Today would be a good day to list all the things that we feel are out of kilter in our lives and in the lives of our society, with perhaps a particular focus on those relating to our care of creation.
27th February 2022
Little things make a big difference. The passerby who says hello. The barista who asks how you are. The bus driver who gives a smile. The first sighting of a violet. The sun bouncing off a shiny leaf. The ethereal colour of the moon by day. They make us into a community.
26th February 2022
Slowly we are seeing more products being made of recycled materials. Brabantia is one such producer. Their StepUp Pedal Bins are made from 91% recycled plastic consumer waste from Dutch households. The bins are also 99% recyclable. The Cradle-to-Cradle Products Innovation Institute assesses products on material quality, material reuse, the use of renewable energy and CO2 management, water management and fairness, and has awarded these bins a silver accreditation.
They are on sale in our local hardware shop – however only buy one if you need it. It is more ecological to stick with the bin you have.
25th February 2022
This winter I have noticed more birds using the bird bath both for drinking and for washing. I make a point of changing the water frequently – and replacing ice with water! It’s new popularity maybe because I have resisted it so that it is in the middle of the lawn well away from plants and bushes where predators could hide.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/how-to-make-a-bird-bath/
24th February 2022
Safe guarding scarce resources.
Helium is a naturally occurring gas. It is very light and once released it quickly escapes to the edges of the earth’s atmosphere. Where helium has become trapped in rock strata it can be Helium extracted for commercial use. It cannot be chemically manufactured and is therefore a limited finite resource. Helium is is a key component in the operating of MRI scanners.
It is surely irresponsible to use it to fill party balloons?
23rd February 2022
As well as counting on ourselves to take action, we count on others too. Our local council, the Borough of Richmond upon Thames has recently review it progress vis a vis its climate emergency strategy. An independent assessment of all councils, ranked Richmond as eleventh overall, and third highest within the London Boroughs. Richmond scored particularly highly on ‘Community, engagement and communications’ and well above average on ‘Ecological emergency’. For full details see
22nd February 202s
Another refill? Did you know that Lush make their black plastic pots from recycled plastic and that each one that is returned, goes to their own reprocessing facility to be remade into a new pot ready to be filled again. And for each one returned 50p is paid back! Lush calls this ‘packaging as a service’!
Sadly only about 15% of pots are returned. It sounds as if we consumers need to be more proactive participants of the circular economy.
The Green Tau 