Counting On … – Page 60

Counting on … day 1.181

27th September 2023

It is not just butterflies that are declining in number but all insects. If you can go that far back, do you remember how in the 1970s car windscreens would have to be washed after each journey to remove the insects splattered across the glass? That is no longer a problem for drivers and that is not just because of more aerodynamically designed vehicles. A study carried out by Bug Life and Kent Wildlife Trust in 2022 reported a 60% declines in insect numbers since 2002. This is worrying because many plants rely on insects for pollination and because other creatures – especially birds – rely on insects for food. What might be causing the decline? The use of pesticides and herbicides on crops and in gardens; climate change; habitat loss and fragmentation.

Can we be part of the solution? As gardeners we can create insect friendly habitats; we can support wild life organisations; we can opt for organic produce; we can ask our local council not to use pesticides and herbicides; we can campaign for government action.

For further info – https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/may/uks-flying-insects-have-declined-60-in-20-years.html

Further insect number declines in 2022 – a long-term trend or the result of record summer temperatures?

Counting on … day 1.180

26th September 2023

Biodiversity loss is not just measured in terms of extinction, but also in loss of numbers within a species. However if the loss of numbers takes place over years or decades, do we register that it is happening? If we still see butterflies each summer, do we necessarily twig that their numbers have been greatly diminished? How few do we need to see, before we begin to worry?

The Big Butterfly Count data over the last 13 years reveals numbers of the once ubiquitous small tortoiseshell have fallen by 30%, with even larger declines for the speckled wood (-38%), ringlet (-41%), common blue (-44%) and green-veined white (-61%)…[whilst] other species appear to be thriving in an era of big climatic changes, with long-term increases over 13 years for the red admiral (up 78%), painted lady (up 113%), the holly blue (+41%), large white (+27%) and small copper (+66%) – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/15/uk-butterfly-numbers-bounce-back-after-last-years-all-time-low?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

By choosing what we grow in our gardens, we can help support butterfly populations. I specifically grow nettles as they provide food and nursery space for the commas’ caterpillars. I try and have plants that are in flower throughout the year – at the moment sedum and the last of the nasturtiums are proving popular for various insects.

For more information on plants and gardening techniques see https://butterfly-conservation.org/how-you-can-help/get-involved/gardening/gardening-for-butterflies

Counting on … day 1.179

25th September 2023

‘Mutilating the tree of life’ said the Guardian’s headline. It was reporting on a study that found that at least 73 species groups (genera) have become extinct since 1500. Without human impact the extinction rate would probably have been just two such groups. Prof Ceballos, who led the research said “By losing all these genera, we are losing the foundations of the planet to have life in general and human life in particular. If you have a wall made of bricks, if you lose some, it won’t collapse but it won’t be as strong. If you lose many bricks, eventually it will collapse. The combination of the gases in the atmosphere that allows us to have life on the planet depends on plants, animals and organisms…”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/mutilating-the-tree-of-life-wildlife-loss-accelerating-scientists-warn?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The biodiversity crisis is as much a threat to the wellbeing of life on earth as the climate crisis. Both need to be addressed of either crisis is to be averted.

You might like to support the Zero Hour campaign which does focus on both crises – https://www.zerohour.uk/bill/

Counting on …. Day 1.178

22nd September 2023

‘A just transition to a fossil free future.’

Even if we know what the aim/ objective is, we may still be asking ‘But what can I do?’

12 obvious ways to reduce emissions that nobody is talking about

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/9-things-you-can-do-about-climate-change—full-text.pdf or for a shorter picture-based version – https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/Nine-things-you-can-do-about-climate-change.pdf

Deep Waters – run by Green Christian – begins again on Monday 25 September, 7pm-8.30pm. It is a gentle eight-week exploration of our emotional responses to climate change and the crisis of nature, through a Christian lens of love, wisdom and justice, and aims to lead people to a place of active hope – there is still time to sign up, and people don’t have to be members of Green Christian to take part. There is no charge.

For more information and to sign up:

Deep Waters: A project of Borrowed Time

Counting on …. Day 1.177

21st September 2023

‘A just transition to a fossil free future.’

Future

Future’ reminds us that what we do now does have an impact on future generations (both of humans and of flora and fauna). It also can prompt us to envisage – to dream – what a better future could look like. For some organisations imagining that better future is part of their remit. The United Nations has its 17 sustainability goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals), and the Earth Overshoot Day organisation has its ‘Power of Possibility’ vision (https://www.overshootday.org/)

Following Mr Sunak’s statement yesterday, you may feel that the future looks bleaker than ever. If you wish to challenge his stance, plenty of petitions so doing have been set up overnight including:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/don-t-rip-up-plans-to-protect-the-planet?source=whatsapp-share-button&utm_campaign=blast2023-09-20&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=whatsapp&share=af87deac-7a52-44da-a7c4-4f4f2e90843b

https://action.friendsoftheearth.uk/petition/tell-rishi-dont-scrap-climate-pledge

What a green and peaceful future could look like

Counting on …. Day 1.176

20th September 2023

‘A just transition to a fossil free future.’

Fossil free’

If the main driver of the excess of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels, then logically if we are to survive we must stop using fossil fuels. But after centuries in which we have become more and more reliant on fossil fuels – first coal, then oil and gas – can we do this without a substantial diminution of our living standards and can we do it in a way that is just?

Article produced by the United Nations “‘Without renewables, there can be no future’: 5 ways to power the energy transition” – https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1140357

Here is another article from May Boeve, the executive director of 350.org https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/just-transition-community-renewable-energy

And from the World Resources Institute – https://www.wri.org/insights/just-transition-zero-carbon-world-possible-heres-how

Counting on …. Day 1.175

19th September 2023

‘A just transition to a fossil free future.’

To transition is to move from one state to another from way of doing things to another. It can involve change that is not much more than a minor adjustment or it can involve change that is a complete turnabout. Swopping from incandescent to LED lightbulbs might be an example of the former. Swopping from air travel to flight free journeys, from meat-based to plant based diets, from drilling for oil to the building wind farms, more an example of the latter. Most recently we have seen in the introduction of the expansion of ULEZ, a scheme that whilst fair and just for most people (providing clean air for pedestrian, cyclists and car drivers) is unjust for a small number of people who are dependent on their – non compliant – vehicles but have insufficient funds to buy an alternative and in adequate public transport to remove the initial need for a car.

The transition maybe even more deep rooted. We may need to transition from our market economies where profit and monopoly power determines what is produced and who consumes it, to an economy based on the the common good, on the least polluting, on satisfying need rather than greed. For a just transition we might see the introduction of a universal basic income, free health and social care at the point of need, an inter grated public transport system in place of private cars, the elevation of food sovereignty over futures markets, the adoption of doughnut economics.

To read the excellent first chapter of Kate Raworth’s book on doughnut economics follow this link – https://doughnuteconomics.org/tools/18

You might also read this Time article about Amsterdam’s decision to pursue doughnut economics – but be aware, the webpage is full of adverts encouraging your to buy more and thus contribute to the GDP model of economics! https://time.com/5930093/amsterdam-doughnut-economics/

Counting on … day 1.174

18th September 2023

What is the aim, the objective, of climate activism?

Having pondered this, I wonder if it might be ‘A just transition to a fossil free future.’

‘Just’ that whatever course of action we and/or others take should be fair and just to all: fair to the poor as well as the rich; fair to people in the polluting industries and to those in the restorative ones; fair to people in the global south and to those in the north; fair to animals, birds, fish, insects …. as well as to human; fair in the division of resources and responsibilities; fair in the distribution of sacrifices and of opportunities.

Much of the suffering we see around us arises from injustice. Fuel poverty is going to be an issue this winter. Those with limited resources cannot afford to insulate their home, invest in more fuel-efficient heating systems, or in solar panels. Whilst those with ample financial resources can benefit from all these cost saving opportunities. To take action on this – to seek justice – check out this website https://www.warmthiswinter.org.uk/

and/ or watch this talk on the issue – https://youtu.be/7b1KS4pazw4?si=yR3eLepDiLT5hrC4

or this – https://energyforall.org.uk/

Counting on …. Day 1.173

15th September 2023

Yesterday I joined a multi faith group to hand over a letter to Lloyd’s of London asking them to cease insuring new oil projects. Whilst companies such as Lloyd’s finance/ financially enable oil projects, the exploration and production of oil will continue- and indeed will be seen as socially acceptable by the wider public. All parts of the fossil fuel industry need to be challenged and changed, if we as global community, are going to reduce carbon emissions to safeguard the environment.

For the text of the letter see – https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/lloyds-of-london-faith-letter-2023-04-24 

Counting on … day 1.172

14th September 2023

On Wednesdays I kneel for an hour’s vigil outside Shell’s Headquarters. I first began this when the campaign group Fossil Free London held weekly pickets outside the building protesting at Shell’s continuing exploration and production of oil. At all stages of oil production damages the environment – whether that is the leaking of oil that has pollute the Niger Delta; the noise from underwater explosions that disorientates whales off the coast of South Africa; the flailing of oil wells that releases methane into the atmosphere ( a gas which rapidly increases global warming); leaks from pipelines and tankers that pollute the sea and coat seabirds an oily slick; the air pollution from diesel and petrol engines; the global warming from the release of CO2 when oil is burned as energy; and the pollution of all areas of our planet by fragments of plastic. We need on some many counts to press oil companies to rapidly phase out the production of oil and instead develop renewable energy supplies.