Category: Counting On …

Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on

Counting on …day 1.085

29th March 2023

“We built a small data centre in Exmouth leisure centre. Most normal data centres waste the heat that the computers generate. We capture ours and we give it for free to the swimming pool to heat the pool,” Bjornsgaard told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The technique works for the data centre and the pool – the heat from the computers warms the water and the transfer of heat into the pool cools the computers.

“It’s great for them – they get to reduce the cost of heating the pool and reduce the amount of carbon they use, and good for us because we can offer cheaper computer services because we don’t have the cooling costs,” Bjornsgaard said. “We built a small data centre in Exmouth leisure centre. Most normal data centres waste the heat that the computers generate. We capture ours and we give it for free to the swimming pool to heat the pool,” Bjornsgaard told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The technique works for the data centre and the pool – the heat from the computers warms the water and the transfer of heat into the pool cools the computers.

“It’s great for them – they get to reduce the cost of heating the pool and reduce the amount of carbon they use, and good for us because we can offer cheaper computer services because we don’t have the cooling costs,” Bjornsgaard said. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/14/innovative-heat-tech-save-england-swimming-pools-from-closure?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

A better world is possible!

Counting on … day 1.084

28th March 2023

The Ethical Consumer magazine notes that ‘Cutting down on meat and dairy is one of the biggest ways you can reduce your personal carbon footprint. It can also help you avoid issues associated with factory farming, like the routine mutilation of animals or the cramped conditions they’re very often kept in.

If you have time, the cheapest and healthiest way of reducing meat and dairy is to cook from scratch using ingredients like beans, tofu and lentils, rather than relying on processed vegan foods. Processed foods also have a higher carbon footprint than cooking a meal from scratch.’

Eco Tips

Counting on … day 1.083

27th March 2023

Transform Trade is calling in the Government to set up a fashion watch dog that would stamp out poor practices in the fashion industry that are both unfair to the workers and damaging to the environment. Transform Trade’ campaign has invited supporters to make a little dog (wearing a fashionable item) and send it with a letter to their MP – https://www.transform-trade.org/1000-dogs

Counting on … day 1.081

24th March 2023

The climate crisis and its effects on people and nations needs a redistribution of resources to ensure justice as well as being an expression of loving our neighbour. We often rely on governments as the largest holders of wealth to address this but the response can be patchy.

“Last month, Nick Hepworth, executive director of Water Witness International, criticised the British government for slashing its contribution to the £90m Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters programme, known as BRACC in Malawi, as part of the UK’s 2021 cut to the aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP.” Guardian 

“In April, the UN had received only 3% of funds for its $6bn appeal for Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said the current crisis was partly due to the British government’s “compassion failure” and decision to slash the overseas aid budget by £4.6bn last year (2022) According to the [last year’s] IPC assessment for Somalia, an estimated 1.5 million under-fives face acute malnutrition by the end of the year, including 386,400 who are likely to be severely malnourished. Those numbers are only expected to go up.” Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/22/somalia-the-worst-humanitarian-crisis-weve-ever-seen?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 1.081

24th March 2023

“Hidden underground in rural Sussex is the world’s largest collection of seeds from wild plants. The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) is home to over 2.4 billion seeds, representing over 39,000 different species of the world’s storable seeds.  This is the most diverse wild plant species genetic resource on Earth – a global insurance policy to store and conserve seeds from common, rare or endangered useful plants.  Seeds are largely collected by global partners as part of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, as well as during field work led by Kew scientists”. https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/research-facilities/millennium-seed-bank

Counting on … day 1.080

23rd March 2023

On Wednesdays I join the Earth Vigil sat outside the House of Parliament,  praying for the well being of the world in this time of crises. As Wednesday features Prime Minister’s Questions and thus the arrival of the Prime Minister in his cavalcade, at Carriage Gate, many groups congregate to highlight their concerns. 

Yesterday we shared our space with a new group,  Mothers Manifesto, which is raising awareness of child hunger. The mothers themselves what’d begun on Mothering Sunday, a 6 day hunger strike. The day before, protesting outside Downing Street thy had met with Caroline Lucas. 

For more info – https://www.mothermanifesto.com/home

Counting on … day 1.079

22nd  March 2023 

“The Heritage Grain Trust … [is] developing a new approach to growing grain for human consumption, one that encourages resilience in the face of climate change and reduces the loss of biodiversity that occurs with intensive grain production. We believe that a genuine grain revolution is required in arable farming based on the growing of genetically-diverse populations of heritage cereals using agro-ecological methods. We believe that British farmers can produce all the grain needed to feed the UK by growing heritage grains in ways that improve soil health, increase biodiversity, and sequester climate-destroying greenhouse gasses.” https://www.heritagegraintrust.org/about-us

Seek out heritage grains and flour to add variety to your diet and to promote biodiversity. Try https://hodmedods.co.uk/

Counting on … day 1.077

20th  March 2023 

“As the risks from the climate crisis and global conflict increase, seed banks are increasingly considered a priceless resource that could one day prevent a worldwide food crisis. Two in five of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction, and though researchers estimate there are at least 200,000 edible plant species on our planet, we depend on just three – maize, rice and wheat– for more than half of humanity’s caloric intake. There are roughly 1,700 seed banks, or gene banks, around the world housing collections of plant species that are invaluable for scientific research, education, species preservation and safeguarding Indigenous cultures.

“The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, dubbed the “doomsday vault” or the “Noah’s ark of seeds”, aims to contain a duplicate of every seed housed in other banks across the globe. Its location is deliberately remote, sited in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the north pole. The hope is that the permafrost and dense rock into which the vault has been sunk will ensure that seed samples remain frozen – although it was breached in 2017 by meltwater after high temperatures in the region.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/15/seed-banks-the-last-line-of-defense-against-a-threatening-global-food-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Protecting biodiversity and food security are critically important. 

Counting on … day 1.076

19th March 2023 

To pray for Mother Earth is not ascribe any divinity to the earth. Rather it is a recognition that we are dependent on the fertility of the earth for our survival. 

Praised be you, my Lord,
through our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains us and directs us
bringing forth all kinds of fruits
and coloured flowers and herbs.

(one of the verses from The Canticle of the Creatures written by St Francis )