Uncategorized – Page 11

In times of fear

25th October 2025

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it, the compass of the world and all who dwell therein. Ps 24:1

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Mark 4: 35-40

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’

A response

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you:

When the waters catch us by surprise,

when the rain is heavy and the floods rise up,

Give us courage not to panic,

Give us compassions to help others,

Prompt us to change how we live

And grant us wisdom to avoid further crises.

When you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you:

When we are caught out by wld fires,

when we are overwhelmed by heatwaves,

Give us courage not to panic,

Give us compassions to help others,

Prompt us to change how we live

And grant us wisdom to avoid further crises.

When you hear of wars far away,

when you hear the sound of explosions close at hand,

know that God’s will is for peace:

Give us courage not to panic,

Give us compassions to help others,

Urge us to seek peace and justice

And grant us wisdom to avoid further crises.

As we look for your coming among us this day,

open our eyes to behold your presence

and strengthen our hands to do your will.

Ever remind us that the earth is yours and all that fills it.

Amen.

Counting on … 172

24th October 2025

Inequalities and planetary boundaries

We cannot continue to consume more and more and still believe that both the world will continue to provide all the resources we need and that somehow those same limited resources can provide everyone else in the world with the same level of good living. If we are to address both local and global inequalities and live within the Earth’s planetary boundaries, we in the richer echelons of the economic system must consume less. This does not mean that we have to lower our living standards but rather adapt them. We can have good living standards whilst consuming less.

Counting on … 171

23rd October 2025

Planetary boundaries and Earth overshoot day

Every year the Global Footprint Network calculates the date by which humans will have consumed a year’s worth of the Earth’s resources. Further consumption after that date uses resources at a faster rate than by which they can be replenished – in other words for that remaining part of the year our consumption takes us beyond safe planetary boundaries.

This is a global calculation. Individual nations – and indeed individuals themselves – will be consuming at different rates. Specifically there are some nations who consume far more then others and will have consumed their share of the Earth’s resources much earlier than the global Earth overshoot day – eg Qatar, the USA, Belgium inter alia. Whilst there are other nations who consume far less and may not even consume their share of the Earth’s resources before the year’s end – eg Burundi and Bhutan.

Clearly those nations who consume over and above the global average need to reduce their consumption, but would be enough if they reduced their consumption to that average? Not really because those levels of consumption would only stay within the limits of our planetary boundaries if the poorer nations were content to continue to under consume. In reality those poorer nations should be able to benefit from the better living standards that accrue from having satisfactory levels of food, education, healthcare, sanitation, housing, transportation etc.

Consumption levels for the richer nations need to fall substantially if everyone is to have a good standard of living.

Counting on … 170

22nd October 2025

What are planetary boundaries?

The following explanations, including reference to their current safe status or not, comes from the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Climate change: Increased greenhouse gases and aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat that would otherwise escape into space. The climate change planetary boundary assesses the change in the ratio of incoming and outgoing energy of the Earth. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and more trapped radiation causes global temperatures to rise and alters climate patterns. This boundary is transgressed, and CO2 concentrations are rising.

Novel entities: Technological developments introduce novel synthetic chemicals into the environment, mobilise materials in wholly new ways, modify the genetics of living organisms, and otherwise intervene in evolutionary processes and change the functioning of the Earth system. The amount of synthetic substances released into the environment without adequate safety testing places novel entities in the high-risk zone.

Stratospheric ozone depletion: Ozone high in the atmosphere protects life on Earth from incoming ultraviolet radiation. The thinning of the ozone layer, primarily due to human-made chemicals, allows more harmful UV radiation to reach Earth’s surface. Total ozone is slowly recovering because of the international phasing-out of ozone-depleting substances since the late 1980s. Ozone depletion is therefore currently in the Safe Operating Space.

Atmospheric aerosol loading: Changes in airborne particles from human activities and natural sources influence the climate by altering temperature and precipitation patterns. Although large-scale air pollution already causes changes to monsoon systems, forest biomes and marine ecosystems, the global metric used in the planetary boundaries framework – interhemispheric difference in atmospheric aerosol loading – places this process just within the Safe Operating Space.

Ocean acidification: The acidity of ocean water increases (its pH decreases) as it absorbs atmospheric CO2. This process harms organisms that need calcium carbonate to make their shells or skeletons, impacting marine ecosystems, and it reduces the ocean’s efficiency in acting as a carbon sink. The 2025 Planetary Health Check showed that the Ocean Acidification boundary has been breached for the first time. Since the start of the industrial era, the ocean’s surface pH has fallen by around 0.1 units, a 30-40% increase in acidity, pushing marine ecosystems beyond safe limits and degrading the oceans’ ability to act as Earth’s stabiliser.

Modification of biogeochemical flows: Nutrient elements like nitrogen and phosphorus are crucial for supporting life and maintaining ecosystems. Industrial and agricultural processes disrupt natural cycles and modify the nutrient balance for living organisms. This boundary is transgressed, because both the global phosphorus flow into the ocean and the industrial fixation of nitrogen (converting stable nitrogen from the atmosphere into bioreactive forms) have disrupted global biogeochemical flows.

Freshwater change: The alteration of freshwater cycles, including rivers and soil moisture, impacts natural functions such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity, and can lead to shifts in precipitation levels. Human-induced disturbances of both blue water (e.g. rivers and lakes) and green water (i.e. soil moisture) have exceeded the planetary boundary.

Land system change: The transformation of natural landscapes, such as through deforestation and urbanization, disrupts habitats and biodiversity and diminishes ecological functions like carbon sequestration and moisture recycling. Globally, the remaining forest areas in tropical, boreal, and temperate biomes have fallen below safe levels.

Biosphere integrity: The diversity, extent, and health of living organisms and ecosystems affects the state of the planet by co-regulating the energy balance and chemical cycles on Earth. Disrupting biodiversity threatens this co-regulation and dynamic stability. Both the loss of genetic diversity and the decline in the functional integrity of the biosphere are outside safe levels.

https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html

Counting on … 169

21st October 2025

Recently Christian Climate Action produced a vision document calling on the Church to be more prophetic. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yOj-jCh9H8L_vqFJ89fbpJHPQibwPgQ0/view?usp=drivesdk

On the one hand the Church of England is pressing ahead with its challenge of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030, which is seeing many church buildings (including schools and vicarages etc) being fitted with low energy light bulbs, insulation, solar panels and heat-pumps etc. And this is clearly very important and especially so if it also motivates people to do likewise in their own homes and places of work. (The number of regular worshippers is now just over a million).

On the other hand does the Church challenge individuals, industries and governments to address the systemic wrongs that perpetuate the climate and biodiversity crises and the social injustices that these cause?

As an analogy, I as an individual can be rigorous about placing my plastic in the recycling bin, but if most of that plastic ends up on beaches in Africa because the price of virgin plastic is cheaper than that of recycled plastic, the economic system has won.

I can try and raise this issue as an individual, but how much more effective would it be if the Church were there calling for change – using its cultural status and its position in Parliament to call for effective policies to incentivise recycling within the UK, to incentivise the use of recycled plastic and taxing the production of virgin plastic?

What if – for example- the Church of England were, say, to publicly back Greenpeace which has long been challenged the status quo vis a vis the pollution and global injustices arising from inadequate policies around plastics?

For further information

Plastic pollution

Proper 24

19th October 2025

Reflection with readings below.

The prophet Jeremiah is passing on to the people God’s reassurance that there will come for them a time of peace and the rebuilding of their community – salvation – but that it will also be a time of judgement. Part of the process of the rebuilding will be understanding where they themselves have got it wrong. Then they will be ready to start over: God will give them a new heart.

Despite all the trauma God’s people have been going through, including the realisation that Babylonian domination will be their burden for the long haul, and the realisation that their own folly has brought them to this place of desolation, Jeremiah is assuring them that God still loves them.

But Jeremiah’s words – as well as offering us hope – are also a reminder that sometimes -often – our wrong doings and errors will impact not just us but generations to come. That is certainly true of our excessive consumption of the Earth’s resources and our increasing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Without a doubt what we are handing onto the next generation is a severely depleted, damaged world.

Like Jeremiah’s contemporaries, we need new hearts so that we can reshape our lives to live simply and sustainably, to live in harmony with – rather than in the destruction of -the Earth’s precious environment. And not just us as individuals but our communities and governments, businesses and global institutions, that all need new hearts. New hearts that will transform the way we live with each other, the way we share, restore and conserve resources. We need social and economic policies focused not on maximising profits but on maximising benefits for the common good.

Why do we spend money on AI and other profit maximising actions, that take peoples jobs away, and leave us living in a world where unemployment and poverty are increasing? Why do we not focus on creating meaningful jobs that give people a sense of value, that give the opportunity to be self supporting, and even give the ability to pay taxes?

We do we create trade deals that leave poorer nations struggling to provide their people with schools, medicines and education? That leave them even poorer and unable to invest in infrastructure to adapt to the onslaught of the climate crisis? And why then, having failed to address the global inequalities that trap such nations in the grasp of poverty, are we surprised that those of their citizens who can afford the cost, should seek to make new lives in the west?

Surely we have failed to learn from God that wisdom and knowledge which would shows us how to live in comfort and harmony with all our neighbours – human and nonhuman? The Psalmist and the writer of the letter to Timothy are clear that it is in the teachings of scripture and in knowledge of God’s words that we will learn how to live such lives. It is also clear that we can all benefit from good teachers – from prophets even – that can open up and unpack God’s wisdom, who can make God’s word alive for each generation, who are willing to be both persistent and patient in expounding this gospel. Teachers, preachers and prophets who can inspire and inform us, sharing God’s vision for a better, blessed world.

In today’s gospel the key word is persistence. Here the virtue of persistence is linked to prayer – persistent prayer is a good thing. I am not sure that the words ascribed to Jesus really means that God is more likely to listen to our prayers if they are persistent – as in repeated endlessly. I don’t think God ignores prayers that aren’t endlessly repeated – that sounds too much as if we need to persuade God to listen. Rather I think it is that we have to be persistent in prayer because human frailty and/or stupidity means that the same need for prayer is going to reoccur time and again, and that having to raise issue as a topic of prayer should not dissuade us from raising that issue with God. Day in day out we will find ourselves needing to pray for peace, needing to pray for wisdom for our leaders, needing to pray for forgiveness for our own failures, needing to pray for a change of course in the way we make use of/ abuse the Earth’s resources etc etc. Prayer is not just about words, it is about making those words into actions, into a changed heart. Persistent prayer is more then just persistent words but also persistent actions. It is about always walking the talk, regularly and repeatedly, until the change God desires happens.

Here persistence in prayer is about not giving up on hope for a better future. It is about being faithful rather than necessarily being successful. Faithful in the belief that God desires a better future for everyone, faithful in the belief that God believes that we humans can change and that we can be part of the process of salvation. So even if we find ourselves in a similar situation to Jeremiah, a situation where the future doesn’t look bright, we must be constant in believing that in God’s timescale there is a better future, and be persistent in praying for what ever needs to change to get there.

Jeremiah 31:27-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say:

“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt– a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 119:97-104

97 Oh, how I love your law! *
all the day long it is in my mind.

98 Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, *
and it is always with me.

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, *
for your decrees are my study.

100 I am wiser than the elders, *
because I observe your commandments.

101 I restrain my feet from every evil way, *
that I may keep your word.

102 I do not shrink from your judgments, *
because you yourself have taught me.

103 How sweet are your words to my taste! *
they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

104 Through your commandments I gain understanding; *
therefore I hate every lying way.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Lamenting our shortcomings

18th October 2025

The LORD is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading: Psalm 10:1-6, 12

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’

Their ways prosper at all times;
   your judgements are on high, out of their sight;
   as for their foes, they scoff at them.
They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
   throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’

Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed.

Response based on Daniel 9:4-10

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have sinned and done wrong:

our greed has made paupers of those we should love,

our desire for more has taken away even the little they had,

we have despised and oppressed our brothers and sisters.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have acted wickedly and rebelled:

we have carved out our paths

and ignore the ways of your creation

leaving behind us a trail of devastation.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have turned aside from your commandments:

we over-grazed the land, over fished the seas,

we have decimated the forests and polluted the waterways,

we have taken more than we can restore.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have not listened to your prophets, who speak in your name:

we have ignored the wail of the sea birds,

the gasps of the rhino

and the disappearing drone of the insects.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

shame falls on us:

we let islands drown and ice sheets melt,

we let the tundra burn and rivers dry up,

we let cities flood and fields whither.

Lord our God,

to you belong mercy and forgiveness,

reform and redeem us,

renew a right spirit within us,

that all your creation may be treated

with love and care.

Amen.

The Grace.

Counting on … 167

17th October 2025

CNN described Pope Francis as “the fiercest climate and environment advocate in the church’s history.”

His 2015 encyclical Laudato Si connected the care of the environment with social justice, and was a radical challenge not just to the church world wide but to all humanity, that now is the time to recognise that we share a common home, and that only together, by radically changing the way we live can we hope to secure a safe future for generations to come.

“The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.”

“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years.”

“We are not God. The Earth was here before us and was given to us.”

“The idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology … is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry at every limit.”

“Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start.”

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Green Tau: issue 117

16th October 2025

What are the problems with plastic?

Is plastic simply a litter problem?

“Plastic is a useful everyday item but has grown to become a global problem. Every year the world produces over 460 million tonnes of plastic, 90% of which pollutes almost all areas of our planet, it can be found at the bottom of the ocean, and on our tallest mountains. This pollution can cause harm to habitats and wildlife, impact livelihoods of people around the globe, and carries growing risks to human health. At the current rate, global plastic pollution could triple by 2040 unless we act now” – a quote from WWF. (1)

Could the answer be ‘more recycling’?

Yet last week an article in the Guardian reported that “in the past two years 21 plastic recycling and processing factories across the UK have shut down due to the scale of exports, the cheap price of virgin plastic and an influx of cheap plastic from Asia, according to data gathered by industry insiders.” (2) The UK now exports 600,000 tonnes of used plastic – making it the third largest in the world. Rather than being recycled within the UK, this plastic ends up in countries with neither the infrastructure nor the legal safety constraints to ensure that it is recycled without injuring either the environment or the local populace. The plastic is typically either burnt or allowed to build up in huge waste heaps where it invariably finds its way into rivers and oceans. Much of the UK’s plastic waste is exported to Turkey where, the Guardian reported two people are crushed, ripped, or burned to death in this work every month.

A combination of legislation to end the export plastics waste and taxes to discourage the use of virgin instead of recycled plastic is clearly needed. Rather than letting them close, recycling facilities should be seems as essential parts of the UK’s infrastructure: “If we were to stop exporting plastic waste, and we were to meet our increased recycling target of a 65% recycling rate for municipal waste by 2035, we would need to build 40 new factories across the UK – 20 of them would be sorting facilities and 20 would be processing facilities turning the material back into products,” said an industry source.

Or could the answer be ‘make less plastic’?

Earlier this year, an international gathering sought to agree a global plastics treaty. Work on this treaty began back in 2022 when growing scientific evidence highlighted the risks posed to humans (and other living organisms) by the toxic chemicals that can leach out of plastic as it breaks down. The ambition was not merely to ensure higher levels of recycling, but to to curb in absolute terms the amount of plastic produced globally each year. Plastic production had risen from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 475 tonnes in 2022. However the treaty was successfully opposed by the large oil-producing nations and members of trade associations representing plastic producers. (3)

What if plastic pollution is a health problem too?

This week there was another newspaper article this time reporting on the spread of plastic into our bodies. “Microplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs – even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon.” (4)

What are micro plastics and where do they come from?

Microplastics are fragments of plastic that is between 1 nanometer and 5 millimetres wide. They come from two main sources:-

plastics specifically manufactured as microbeads which are added to face ashes, shower bells and other personal care products – they make the liquid both smooth and sufficiently thick that it does run off like water. Think of the difference say between an antiseptic hand spray and an antiseptic hand-gel. These are known as primary microplastics.
Plastic particles that derive from the disintegration of larger plastic items – eg plastic film and wrapping, takeaway containers, synthetic clothes , care tyres, paints and plastic turf etc.. These plastic particles may be shed as drinking from plastic bottles and take away cups (more plastic is shed when heat is present such as with hot drinks or microwaved food), from wearing and washing clothes, from friction between roads and tyres etc. These are known as secondary microplastics. (5)

Both types of microplastic can pass into water systems, can be present in the air we breathe, and can pass into the food chain and so into the food we eat. Microplastics are to be found all over the world – from the hops of mountains to the depths of the oceans and everywhere in between.

Nanoplastics are even smaller – less than 1,000 nanometers in diameter, or 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They are small enough to slip through the walls of the cells in our bodies and can be found in our blood, lungs, brains, bones, the placenta and breast milk. (6)

Do these pieces of plastic harmful?

We don’t yet know whether having such buts of plastic in our bodies is good for us (unlikely), neutral or harmful. Nor do we know whether there is a limit below which they are not harmful but above which they might be. It is possible that they may aggravate complaints such as asthma, dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancers etc. (7) The issue is further complicated as plastics contain toxins such as bisphenols (BPA), alkyphenols, and phthalates and dioxins etc, which are also thus passing into our bodies.

It is not just human bodies that maybe adversely affected. Micro and nanoplastics are already known to be adversely impacting the health wild life – eg damaging the gut biomes of seabirds, increasing the number of pathogens present and reducing antibiotic resistance. (8)

Should we panic?

No. We don’t yet know enough to know how dangerous, or not, micro and nanoplastics are. We don’t know whether or not our bodies have a way of eliminating such particles from our bodies. And realistically there is no way we can avoid ingesting these particles given their presence in very part of the environment.

In many instances using plastics can be lifesaving with benefits outweighing the – as yet unclear – disadvantages. For example the use of plastic syringes to give vaccines, plastic pipes to provide clean drinking water, plastic bags for collecting blood donations, waterproofing coats that keep us warm and dry.

But we could cut back on our use of plastic

We can reduce our exposure to plastic particles by reducing the amount of unnecessary plastic we have around us and by adjusting how we use those plastics. For example we might use a reusable water bottle and a reusable cup when out and about (and often cafes give discounts when you bring your own take away cup). You might use glass or metal dishes for storing food and wax wraps or foil instead of cling film. You might use wooden spoons and chopping boards rather than plastic one; metal colanders and metal washing up bowls etc. Equally you might avoid body care products with microbeads and use solid or liquid alternatives. You could try a milk delivery service and get milk in glass bottles rather than plastic cartons. And following that line of thought, you may have a local refill store that allows you to buy various food ingredients and household items without the need for lots of plastic packaging.

There are plenty of guides on line about switching to a plastic free life. eg https://friendsoftheearth.uk/plastics/living-without-plastic and some of my earlier blogs have explored this topic – https://greentau.org/tag/plastic-free/ and https://greentau.org/2022/01/27/eco-tips-zero-waste/

However we should remember that not everyone can afford the plastic alternatives – a metal drinks bottle can cost more that a plastic one. A sliced loaf in a plastic bag will be cheaper than it paper wrapped alternative.

What about changing the system?

If we are going to be fair for everyone and everything – wildlife, ecosystems, future generations, then the whole system needs to be changed.

Nations need to agree on a workable plastics treaty that will cut the amount of plastic produced. The plastics industry needs to develop alternative safe and sustainable substitutes. Governments need to implement a combination of legislation, taxation and investment to ensure that the changes needed do actually happen.

We can advocate for change by supporting groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, and we can raise awareness about the issue by talking with others – particularly if they are intrigued about the efforts we are making to reduce our use of plastic!

Counting on … 166

16th October 2025

Vanessa Nakate also began her journey as a prophet as a solo protestor standing with a placard outside the Ugandan Parliament in Kampala. From here she has inspired a whole youth movement, drawing support from across Africa. Addressing the delegates at the pre-COP26 Youth Summit, she highlighted some uncomfortable truths: “In the past few years, I have seen more and more of how the climate crisis is affecting the African continent. Which is ironic given that Africa is the lowest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions of all continents, except for Antarctica… Many Africans are losing their lives, while countless more are losing their livelihoods.”

In 2022 she addressed Africa’s People’s AGM on EACOP. “It is evident that there is no future in the fossil fuel industry. In regards to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, many people think this is a way of [creating] jobs and economic development. But we know the impacts on our food. We know the impacts on our water. We know the impacts on our livelihood.”

“The International Energy Agency has made it very clear that if we want to [limit global warming] to 1.5 degrees Celsius, then we cannot have any new fossil fuel development. But even at 1.2 degrees, we already seeing the effects of the climate crisis on the African continent … the latest IPCC report projects that 700 million people in Africa will be displaced because of drought.”

Many of Vanessa’s contemporaries have been arrested and imprisoned for taking nonviolent direct action in opposition to the building of the pipeline. (You can read more in this Guardian article – https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jun/12/uganda-oil-eacop-pipeline-protester-stephen-kwikiriza?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)

To be a prophet is not necessarily to be respected or applauded: people do not like hearing uncomfortable messages – especially when they are truthful.

“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.” UN secretary general, António Guterres, April 2022