Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on
10th April 2023
Homes for all? Here is a simple petition asking that all new-build homes be fitted with a swift box. Places where swifts can nest, have diminished over recent decades and the lack of safe nesting places is contributing to the demise of these beautifully acrobatic birds.
8th April 2023
Calling out injustice and being a prophetic voice has long been the vocation of the church. Now the Church is beginning to exercise this role in areas of the climate crisis. Christian Climate Action reports – “Former Archbishop of York and current Chair of Christian Aid, John Sentamu said: “Climate change is the greatest insidious and brutal indiscriminate force of our time. The people suffering the most have done the least to cause it. That is why continuing to search for new sources of fossil fuels, despite explicit warnings against this from the International Energy Agency, is such an offence against humanity. If we want to limit climate suffering we have to leave fossil fuels in the ground. The Church has a proud history of standing up against injustice and once again we need to see Christians calling on the Government to take decisive actions””
7th April 2023
Talking about the climate crisis, what worries us and what the solutions might be is important – whether it’s talking with friends and family, with church and social groups, with businesses and providers, with MPs and local councillors.
From the A22 Network a reports from Germany’s Letzte Generation (LG): “Elsewhere, LG told mayors that their cities would be disrupted if they didn’t support our demands, creating a national discussion about whether this is justifiable. Our mayor said he didn’t want to be blackmailed, and instead wondered why we couldn’t just ask for his cooperation. So we did, without attacking him in any way, and he agreed.
“This is something we are hearing more and more. It feels like there are many more open doors than expected. We’re not there yet and there’s a lot more work to do, but I want to share with you the feeling that change is indeed possible since there are likely more allies than you think.””
6th April 2023
Calls for churches and other institutions, to divest from fossil fuel are inspired not just by the dangers of the climate crisis, but also by adverse affects on vulnerable people arising from inequalities and a lack of justice and local accountability.
“Rt Revd Ernesto Manuel, Anglican Bishop of Nampula in Northern Mozambique, said: ‘Fossil fuel investments increase climate change and impacts on those most vulnerable, and also destabilise communities. We have seen how over 700,000 people in Northern Mozambique have been displaced – many fleeing for their lives in terror from insurgents. Dozens have been beheaded, even children as young as 12. This violence only occurs in the areas where gas prospecting is taking place. Locals are not consulted and nor do they benefit, only suffering the impacts of rising prices, pollution and loss of land. We plead with the international community – take your money out of fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy which is decentralised, benefits local people and does not contribute to climate change.’” https://brightnow.org.uk/news/global-faith-institutions-divest-g7-cop26/
5th April 2023
Ethical Consumer is investigating the labour rights of those employed in supermarket supply chains.
“Eight out of nine basic workers’ rights are being routinely violated in UK supermarket supply chains in Spain, our new report reveals. All major UK supermarkets are likely to source large amounts of fruit and vegetables from the Spanish regions of Huelva and Almeria, where workers’ rights abuses are widespread. Workers have been refused legal wages, sexually assaulted and harassed, fired for trying to join unions, made to work in unsafe conditions, had passports confiscated so they can’t leave, and been penalised for taking toilet breaks. Most workers are migrants.
UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier de Schutter, describes working conditions in the region as “horrific” and “inhumane”. He says, “I urge supermarkets to end their complicity in this abuse and address the issue head-on, using this report as their guide.””
If you would like to follow their campaign with a bi-monthly email, here is a sign up link
4th April 2023
On Sunday I joined with CCA and York’s local XR group in an action outside the Minster. With banners – “Love and Grief Earth Vigil” and “Creation Cries Out” – and leaflets and placards calling upon the Diocese of York to divest its fossil fuel shares, we gathered outside as the Liturgy of Palms took place (with two donkeys). Then we waited at west end, speaking with passers-by as other services carried on in the Minster, the Catholic Oratory and St Micheal’s in the Belfry. As the main congregation exited the Minster 9 people (and a dog) lay down on the ground, covered with sheets and each given a label stating the cause of death – highlighting the many ways in which the climate crisis is already impacting on people around the world and will continue to do so at an increasing rate. The atmosphere became somber and reflective and people asked questions and took leaflets as they made sense of the catastrophe we face.
If people have the facts, if people are told the truth, then they can act appropriately.
2nd April 2023
Counting on turning off?
The last two days I have spent a day in a university conference room and a night in a youth hostel. In both the heat was on and the spaces hot, and the lights on even in day time – apparently all pre-programmed and unalterable by users.
1st April 2023
On Thursday the Guardian recorded a quote from Grant Shapps, the energy and net zero secretary, who was justifying the continued production of oil and gas in the North Sea:“Unless you can explain how we can transition [to net zero] without oil and gas, we need oil and gas,” he said . “I am very keen that we fill those cavities with storing carbon. I think there are huge opportunities for us to do that.”
It seems to me that the problem is that the oil companies and the government are going out of their way not to look for ways of transitioning away from fossil fuels.
For example what about a report from the World Resource Institute, 4 Ways to Shift from Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy? https://www.wri.org/insights/4-ways-shift-fossil-fuels-clean-energy
Or this report, How to accelerate the green energy transition, from the Chatham House think tank: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/03/how-accelerate-green-energy-transition
Listen to https://www.wri.org/podcasts/how-phase-out-fossil-fuels-without-leaving-people-behind
31st March 2023
“Normalising activism, or even conversations about climate change, is something Salamon* sees as a key psychological challenge. “It’s important to understand the forces of normalcy and social conformity. There’s a social psychology experiment where a room is filling with smoke. If all the other people in the room are just sitting there as if nothing was happening, the study subject will also not act. But if one person raises the alarm, it totally changes the dynamic. Yale calls it the ‘Spiral of Silence’ – people don’t talk about climate because other people don’t talk about it. The good news is that we can flip this, and normalise being alarmed about the climate emergency.”
“What we’re talking about is getting the public to realise that we are not safe, our families are not safe, everything we love is not safe. The emergency is so advanced that we don’t have time for gradualist approaches. While small changes are better than nothing, I would rather see activists waking up the public and calling for solutions that could actually work”” https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/12/meet-the-psychologist-who-matchmakes-philanthropists-with-cash-strapped-activists?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=EN_TESTMay&utm_content=meet-the-psychologist-who-matchmakes-philanthropists-with-cash-strapped-activists&_ope=eyJndWlkIjoiMTJjMTk2MDNmOWI2YTEwZmZmMTQ0ODYyMWQ3NDJhNDcifQ==
30th March 2023
According to the Office of National Statistics, electricity prices in the UK had increased by 67 per cent in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
Solar power installations doubled in 2022 compared to 2021, according to MCS, the standards organisation in charge of solar installations.
In January alone, nearly 15,000 domestic solar power installations were added to the British grid, more than any other month since 2016. https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/11/energy-crisis-solar-panel-sales-double-in-the-uk-as-homeowners-look-to-cut-soaring-bills
The Green Tau 