Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on
6th August 2022
22% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from domestic use (Energy Savings Trust, 2021). Changing your energy supplier to one who specialises in producing and supplying green – ie renewable – energy will help reduce your domestic carbon emissions. Leading green energy suppliers include Ecotricity, Good Energy Group, Green Energy and Octopus.
5th August 2022
With climate change a reality we have to find ways of living with droughts. There are many ways of using less water in the house – washing up with a kettle of hot water rather than drawing off water from the hot water cylinder before it runs hot. Having a wash rather than a shower. Washing clothes less often and use a quick wash setting. Washing the floor with a damp cloth rather than a bucket of water. Another significant water saving action is to flush the toilet less often – after a quick pee just close the lid.
At the same time, if you can, save the water you have used – known as grey water – and use it on the garden.
4th August 2022
It is surprising that more cafes don’t serve vegan food. Many cakes and biscuits can as easily be made with margerine as with butter and would instantly become vegan – flapjack and Anzac biscuits for example. And egg is an easily replaces ingredient in brownies and tray bakes. It maybe the perception that people might avoid foods labelled vegan but research shows that the more vegan options available, the more people will choose vegan items! So make a point of asking for vegan food when in cafés and restaurants and ease the change: we will all benefit!
3rd August 2022
Rather than expecting farmers both here and globally to produce an ever growing amount of animal based food – which is adding to the crises of both the climate and biodiversity – we would all benefit far more from adopting a largely plant-based diet.
Courgette, Dill and Almond Soup (serves 4)
Chop and gently fry 1 onion and a clove of garlic in some oil. Cover pan so it doesn’t burn.
Chop into chunks 500g (thereabouts) of courgette and add to the pan. Stir well. Add more oil if necessary.
Add a teaspoon of dried dill or a handful of fresh dill, and a little black pepper.
Add 100g almonds. Stir well.
Cook for a few minutes so that everything is beginning to soften and cover with water.
Cook for 10-15 minutes.
Blitz with a hand blender till smooth.
Stir in half a carton of vegan cream (about 100ml)
Either serve hot, or cool before chilling, to serve cold..
2nd August 2022
As plants shrivel and trees prematurely drop their leaves, we are seeing the damaging effects of climate change on our own environment. Periods of drought and heat waves are going to be an ongoing feature of daily life and something we need now to plan for. In our gardens it may be looking to see which plants are still surviving and which are suffering so that we know what to plant in the future. As we eke out water for our plants, it may be in setting up systems to collect grey water – even a bucket by the sink into which to our used washing up water. It may be in installing more water butts to,collect more water when it does rain. The Mains to Rains project has more helpful suggestions – https://mains2rains.uk/
1st August 2022
Last year I suggested the following action: “Being self-informed, being curious about what is happening, where and why, helps us to have a better understanding of climate change. This week cut out any articles you find in the newspaper (cut and past if you read on line) about climate change and make a display with them. Looking at the overall picture may give you new insights.”
Below is the collage I produced – it feels as if not much has changed but I’ll do the same this week and see.
31st July 2022
Talking about the climate crisis doesn’t have to be always upbeat and optimistic. There are times when that is not how we feel. Times when we feel anxious, overwhelmed and out of our depth. There may be times when we feel that no one else understands how we feel, that we are alone carrying these worries. Don’t bottle these feelings up but share them with someone you trust, someone who you know will be sympathetic. You might find a locally run climate cafés – https://climatecafes.org/ – or may be form an informal local group. You might talk with your spiritual director (where I live we have https://spidir.org.uk/). You might want to write down your thoughts. You might try or find out more about, the Deep Waters course run by Green Christian – https://greenchristian.org.uk/deep-waters-a-project-of-borrowed-time/
30th July 2022
Yesterday I added an extra Count Down entry marking 100 days until COP27, and in these next 99 days I will be repeating some of the actions I noted last year. We are relying on governments and big businesses to effect the system change need to address climate change, but such organisations are ultimately responsive to social trends. In the hustings for the new Conservative party leader, we are seeing the two candidates trying to match what they have to offer with what they sense their voters (Conservative party members) want. If we want governments and businesses to take positive action vis a vis the climate crisis, then that needs to be the desire of society at large. As much as we petition and push governments and businesses to change, we must enthuse society in the same direction. Last year’s “action 2” was talking about the climate crisis with friends – raise awareness and interest, make the topic interesting and pertinent, make the need for action desirable.
29th July 2022
Our local council is aiming to end the sale of single use disposable barbecues – at least in the short term. They pose a serious fire risk in the current very dry weather. In addition they cannot readily be recycled make them an unsustainable product.
Perhaps this is a summer for chilled soups like gazpacho, pea and mint or Ajo blanco – a Spanish almond soup. Or maybe a savoury sorbet.
There is a petition asking Government to ban the sale of disposable barbecues – https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-ban-disposable-bbq-s
28th July 2022
Today is Earth Overshoot Day 2022, the day by when we have consumed as much as the earth can replenish. What we consume here on after will deplete the ever growing deficit of the earth’s resources. We are living on borrowed time.
The Green Tau 