Category: Counting On …

Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on

Counting on … day 385

21St November 2022

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. Since at least the 1950s the day after Thanksgiving has been a popular shopping day with many people starting their Christmas shopping. Now actively marketed as Black Friday any businesses and stores use this advertising medium to encourage sales of their goods. Black Friday has expanded to include not just the Friday after Thanksgiving but the preceding days – and even preceding weeks. This pressure to buy is not helpful for the environment nor for our purses. We should be looking to buy and consume less and when do buy things we should be able to consider carefully what we need rather than being hustled to ‘buy now!’ For more on this do read this article from The Ethical Consumer.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/boycott-black-friday-cyber-monday-2021?utm_source=ECRA+Monthly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b98f928b21-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_11_17_BF&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-d07cf552ba-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Counting on … day 384

20th November 2022

Small steps of change are happening. A Loss and Damage Fund has now been agreed in principle as COP27 came to an end. The details of who pays and who receives will be presented as a proposal at COP28. 

The following link gives a summary of what has and has not been achieved at this year’s COP.  Do give thanks for the small steps of progress. 

What was decided at Cop27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh?

Counting on … day 383

19th November 2022

As COP27 negotiations continue, pray for a good outcome for the establishment of a Loss and Damage fund. Great steps have been made – it wasn’t even on the official agenda at the beginning of the COP and there does seem to be a strong desire to implement this scheme. Read more in the following article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/18/cop27-talks-continue-over-eu-climate-loss-and-damage-fund-proposal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 382

18th November 2022 

Recycling old mobile phones. If you are up-grading your phone, the supplier will normally take your old phone – and even pay you some small sum. Otherwise you can recycle your old mobile phone at any Oxfam shop and any profit will support their work: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/more-ways-to-donate/recycle-with-us/

If you are replacing or upgrading your phone you could still opt to buy second hand thereby extending the useful life of the ‘new’ phone and so reduce its adverse impact on the environment.  I use Magic Magpie but there are other companies too. 

Counting on… day 381

17th November 2022

Today is ‘solutions day’ at COP27. We do to need find solutions, and equally we all need to be part of the solution – however difficult that may seem.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!  My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.  Even the sparrow finds a home,   and the swallow a nest for herself,   where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

We pray for all the participants,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful,

influencers and bankers,

for producers and consumers.

May we build better towns and cities,

with green spaces and earth-friendly structures,

with accessible infrastructure and good housing for all

with local decision-making

and communities at their heart.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

Amen.


Now is the sky blue!

Now is it framed 

by a fretwork of branches 

where leaves still linger –

some as big as dinner plates 

some as small as butterflies. 

Jackdaws riddle the earth 

harvesting riches that lay below.

And squirrels skip and skitter 

their autumn dance.

All is now, and now, and now!

But tomorrow, next week, next year? 

Merciful God will they still be there?

Will our apathy, 

our slowness to act, 

our aversion to change 

allowed all this 

to be threatened, 

diminished, and 

evicted from life?

Have mercy.

But not just mercy –

rather prod us, prompt us, 

push us into action.

Renew our hearts and minds,

reverse our expectations

so that we change the future 

and once more 

be restorers of creation.

Amen. 

Counting on… day 380

16th November 2022

Today COP27’s focus is on biodiversity

Therefore the LORD God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which they were taken. After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And the Lord God placed a sword of flame that turned back and forth to protect the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3: 23-24

We pray for all the participants,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful.

May they recognise and understand 

the interconnectedness of creation, 

the fine balance of ecosystems,

the necessity of biodiversity 

and our dependence on safe carbon levels.

We pray for scientists and environmentalists

whose skills sustain and protect 

the long-term well being 

of our environment, our lives, our world.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

Amen.

Painted lady and bumble bee

damsel and  dragon fly: 

their lives praise you, holy God.

Wood mouse and pipistrelle bat,

urban fox and badger:

their lives praise you, holy God.

Buttercup and toadflax, 

cat’s ear and pimpernel:

their lives praise you, holy God.

Girdled snail and leopard slug, 

shield beetle and earwig:

their lives praise you, holy God.

Copper beech and sessile oak, 

black poplar and mountain ash: 

their lives praise you, holy God.

Yaffle and mistle thrush,

jackdaw and sparrow:

their lives praise you, holy God.

But we humans – blinkered and wasteful, 

short-sighted and careless –

do our lives praise you, holy God?

Renew us, your people;

pardon our failings

and bless our strivings 

that our lives may praise you.

Amen. 

Counting on… day 379

15th November 2022

One subject of focus at COP27 today is energy. 

Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” But remember the Lord your God, for the same it is who gives you power to get wealth, so that the Lord God may confirm the covenant that sworn to your ancestors, as he is doing today. Deuteronomy 8:17-18

We pray for all the participants,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful,

influencers and bankers,

shareholders and investors,

for producers and consumers.

May they recognise and understand 

the need to produce only clean energy,

to ensure fair and equal access for all,

and to use energy wisely and in moderation.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

Amen.

If we are called to beat swords into plough shares,  

we are also called to turn military jobs into green ones.

If we seek to establish peace,

we must generously offer both love and practical gifts. 

If we shift from passive to active travel, from cars to cycles,

we shall need cycle paths and secure shelters.

If we replace petrol engines with electric motors, 

we must also turn petrol stations into recharging points.

If we swop meats for a vegan diet, 

we must also turn beef farms into arable farms,

sheep fells into woodlands,

dairies into nut fromageries.

If we switch to green electricity,

our pension funds must invest in renewable energy.

If we green our pensions, 

surely we will green our banks too.

Creator God, help us to see the changes we must make,

Give us the wisdom to support them, 

the energy to achieve them 

and the joy to celebrate them.

Amen.

Counting on … day 378

14th November 2022

One of the agenda items today at COP27 is the issue of gender discrimination.


There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 

We pray for all the participants,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful,

influencers and bankers,

for producers and consumers, 

for girls and women, boys and men, 

transgender and non binary, gay and lesbian,

and those who would rather be free of labels.

May we care for and cherish each other,

supporting, enabling and encouraging all 

to cope with the challenges 

and opportunities of climate change.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

All: Amen.

Love and cherish not some of the earth but all; 

Not just your back yard, but mine too;

Not just your local wood but the rainforests too;

Not just your home town but the favelas too.


Love and cherish not some creatures but all;

Not just pandas and tigers, but the vulture and bat too;

Not just bees but wasps and spiders too;

Not just elephants but slugs and snails too.


Love and cherish not some landscapes but all;

Not just meadows but peat bogs too;

Not just ancient woodlands but hedgerows too

Not just national parks but grass verges too.


Love and cherish not some people but all;

Not just city bankers but street cleaners too;

Not just business leaders but refugees too;

Not just home owners but travellers too.


For if we do not, we are all diminished.

If we do not we shall all suffer

from droughts and floods,

rising sea levels and declining water supplies,

from infectious diseases and resistant bacteria. 


We are one world, one family,

one eco system, one interdependent 

and interwoven creation. 

God, our creator, redeemer and sustainer,

Bring us to our senses! 

Now!

Counting on … day 377 

13th November 2022

Yesterday I joined several thousand witnesses for the Climate Coalition march through London on what was the midpoint of COP27. Someone commented that imagined they would taking part in this march every year for the rest of their life. Certainly I imagine the COPs will happen each year until at least 2050 when we will hopefully hit net zero. 

As you see from my banner, this was its second outing!

Counting on… day 376

12th November 2022

At COP27 it is Adaptation and Agriculture Day.

We stand at a tipping point, O God,

teetering between life and death:

Shall we fall or rise?

“Chose life!” 

Shall we retreat into our shells, bury our heads in the sand:

Or shall we step forth into a new age of sustainability?

“Chose life!”

Shall we ignore the science, hide ourselves in the trappings of consumerism:

Or shall we openly embrace renewable lifestyles?

“Chose life!”

Shall we pointlessly mourn the loss of polar bears and elephants, bees and butterflies:

Or shall we live our lives so that all may live?

“Chose life!”

Shall we fly to the ends of the earth while ice sheets melt:

Or value the future by enjoying what is local?

“Chose life!”

Shall we disregard floods and droughts, storms and heat waves, as seasonal blips:

Or acknowledge them as already-present signs of climate change?

“Chose life!”

Shall we close our ears to cries of help from farmers and islanders as their lands disappear:

Or shall we join voices in calling for justice?

“Chose life!”

Holy God,

Prompt us and urge us, encourage and propel us,

to now change our life styles so that all may have life and live!

Amen.