Counting On … – Page 61

Counting on …. Day 1.15

3rd July 2023

Wimbledon fortnight starts today. This year’s sponsor for the event is Barclays Bank, one the biggest investors in fossil fuels . Tennis – like many sports – has to find ways of doing with climate change and in particular with the problems of sudden heavy rains and the challenges of playing the game when temperatures soar to impractically high levels. It seems bizarre that such a sport would accept sponsorship from companies that are increasing the magnitude of the climate crisis.

Make My Money Matter is co-ordinating an open letter from businesses and NGOs, activists and academics, celebrities and climate leaders, calling on Wimbledon to end its sponsorship agreement with Barclays.

To find out more about Make My Money Matter, visit their web site https:/makemymoneymatter.co.uk/

Counting on …. Day 1.157

2nd July 2023

The psalmists often tell of God being a refuge for us, a place of safety.

Gardens can be a refuge, a place of safety for insects and small creatures especially if we let plants grow with an abandon that creates shelter spaces away from predators, and safe corridors through and between gardens. If we let plants go to seed, and if we ignore aphids and similar ‘pests’ we are providing a supply of food. Regularly refreshed water bowls provide drinking water and bathing, and patches of damp earth can provide building material for birds and insects.

And such gardens can for us too be a place of refuge and safety, a place to be with God.

Counting on …. Day 1.156

1st July 2023

Just as banks and pension funds finance the fossil fuel industry, so these same institutions are investing money in the production of plastic. As part of Plastic Free July, this is perhaps something to think on. The Just Money Movement is campaigning on this –

Click to access Dont-Bank-on-Plastic-Printable.pdf

and has a petition that you can sign –

Don’t Bank on Plastics

Counting on …. Day 1.155

30th June 2023

The Climate Change Committee has this week produced its annual Progress Report to Parliament – https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/2023-progress-report-to-parliament/

The CCC notes that whilst UK greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 46% from 1990 levels this is well short of the 68% by 2030 target agreed at COP26. The reeducation in emissions will have to increase fourfold to meet this target.

“Time is now very short to achieve this change of pace. Glimmers of the Net Zero transition can be seen in growing sales of new electric cars and the continued deployment of renewable capacity, but the scale up of action overall is worryingly slow. The Government continues to place their reliance on technological solutions that have not been deployed at scale, in preference to more straightforward encouragement of people to reduce high-carbon activities. The Committee has again flagged the risks of a policy programme that amongst other things is too slow to plant trees and roll-out heat pumps.”

Can we count on this government and the next to fully address these issues? Can we increase the pressure on government and businesses to act?

For further background on this – https://greentau.org/2023/05/30/green-tau-issue-70/

Counting on …. Day 1.154

29th June 2023

An interesting article on the Joy in Enough website – https://joyinenough.org/2023/06/27/are-we-normalising-plastic-pollution-in-the-name-of-childrens-creativity/ – pointed out that many craft materials used by children are plastic based. This is a pity given how many plastic-free materials can be used – wool (as opposed to polyester) felt, champagne corks, paper, card and tissue paper, clay, buttons, balsa wood, aluminium foil, pipe cleaners (the smoker’s ones are made of cotton not polyester), beer bottle tops, soap (good for carving), pine cones, confers and acorns, twigs, paper straws and paper plates …..

Counting on …. Day 1.153

28th June 2023

Take away food packaging constitutes the largest proportion of all plastic waste found in our oceans. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/10/takeaway-food-and-drink-litter-dominates-ocean-plastic-study-shows?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Again it seems that one of the pluses of plastic is also it’s negative. Plastic packaging seems to enable a vast variety of foods to be taken away to be consumed including ready meals, but is it rather than the plastic packaging allows such foods to processed off site and shipped or stored for use elsewhere. Again plastic packaging separates the consumer from the producer. Sandwiches, for example, are made in factory units and dispatched in lorries around the country rather than being freshly made at the counter of a sandwich bar.

Counting on … day 1.152

27th June 2023

Plastic packaging is seen as a plus because it enables food to be harvested and shipped over a longer distance/ timespan than might otherwise be possible. This enables perishable crops such as strawberries, lettuces, cucumbers etc to be grown in southern Spain and sold in supermarkets throughout the UK. But this can further distance us as consumers from the people who grow our food. Currently there is two concerns about farming practices in Spain.

One is the diversion of water from the vulnerable wetland area of Donana, a World Heritage site, to irrigate strawberry crops to the detriment of the wildlife that relies on this unique habitat. (https://phys.org/news/2023-06-world-heritage-wetland-site-threatened.html )

The second is the use of migrant labour on farms in the Almeria and Huelva regions of southern Spain. These are often vulnerable people from North Africa who are effectively exploited as forced labour – https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/agricultural-workers-rights-almeria

Avoiding plastic may have additional benefits for the world.

Counting on … day 1.151

26th June 2023

Ethical Consumer is a useful source of information to enable us as consumers to make ethical choices. Their research covers a range of environmental and social issues, assessing the pros and cons of products and producers. The following extract comes from Ethical Consumer explaining the scoring system by which they rate producers:-

As always, we have also analysed other important aspects of corporate activity

in order to give a holistic picture of each company’s ethical standing. Alongside timber and cotton sourcing we also assessed:

* Climate (how is the company reducing its carbon impact?)

* Animals (does the company use animal products, such as leather in its chairs?)

* Workers (what is the company doing to uphold workers’ rights in its supply chain?)

* Tax (is the company likely to be using tax avoidance strategies?)

* Company Ethos (what type of company is it? Is it a not-for-profit, a charity, a B-Corp, etc?)

* Wider Issues (is the company and its wider group involved in other problematic sectors, such as military/arms or fossil fuel production?)

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

Counting on … day 1.150

25th June 2023

Another seasonal activity is picking and drying lavender. Lavender is best picked in the morning before the sun has reached the plant, and when the flowers are not yet at the stage of being fully open. This helps maximise the amount of lavender oil present in the flower. I collect the cut heads (stalks still attached) in paper bags and then put them in the airing cupboard to dry. Later in the year I will use the lavender to refill lavender bags. Sometimes I use small lavender bags which means removing the flowers from the stalks (by rubbing them inside the paper bag:the dry flowers drop to the bottom of the bag). Other times I use larger bags and fill them stalks and all!

Counting on … day 1.149

24th June 2023

Strawberries are giving way to Tay berries and raspberries – and by next week gooseberries too. To extend the enjoyment of eating them into the winter months, I bottle the fruit as well as making jam.

This seems sensible too as I can reuse the jam jar a from previous years rather than putting used jars from the shops into the recycling bin – this must save on energy and glass.

I have written about jam making and preserving previously –

https://greentau.org/tag/jam/