Category: Uncategorized

Green Tau: issue 86

5th February 2024

Banking on a better future

The world – people, animals, plants, birds, economies, agriculture, water supplies etc – is already suffering from the effects of climate change and this is a crisis that will continue to grow (exponentially) unless action is taken. The major contributor of the greenhouse gases cause this, is fossil fuels. 

The IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report (2023) states  “Limiting human-caused global warming requires net zero CO2 emissions. Cumulative carbon emissions until the time of reaching net-zero CO2 emissions and the level of greenhouse gas emission reductions this decade largely determine whether warming can be limited to 1.5°C or 2°C (high confidence). Projected CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure without additional abatement would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5°C (50%) (high confidence)”. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/resources/spm-headline-statements/

In other words, our current production levels and use of fossil fuels will, cumulatively (because they build up and remaining in the atmosphere for generations), cause global temperatures rises in excess of 1.5C.  (In 2023 the global temperature rise was 1.2C above the average for NASA’s baseline period (1951-1980))

For more insight into the urgency of the situation, see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/20/ipcc-climate-crisis-report-delivers-final-warning-on-15c?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The IPPC’s report goes on to to say “Finance, technology and international cooperation are critical enablers for accelerated climate action. If climate goals are to be achieved, both adaptation and mitigation financing would need to increase many-fold. There is sufficient global capital to close the global investment gaps but there are barriers to redirect capital to climate action.”

Finance is key but it will only be effective if it is targeting projects that reduce emissions. One would expect therefore to be seeing an ongoing g and rapid transfer of money away from fossil fuel projects and into the support of renewable energy. Yet in January 2023 Reuters reported “The share of bank finance going to renewable energy rather than fossil fuels has little changed in six years, raising questions about how fast lenders are pushing energy clients to become greener, according to research published Tuesday. Since 2016 renewable energy has taken 7% of a total $2.5 trillion in bank loans and bond underwriting for energy activities, according to a report commissioned by environmental groups including Sierra Club and Fair Finance International.” https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/bank-funding-renewables-stagnates-vs-oil-gas-report-2023-01-24/

A report, Banking on Climate Chaos, records that fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks reached $5.5 trillion in the six years since the Paris Agreement, 2015, and 2022. Of these JP Morgan, the worst bank overall, financed $39 billion in 2022, so totalling $434 billion between 2016 – 2022. Top rating amongst the European banks was Barclays, which took seventh place in the league table, having $190.5 billion over the time frame. 

Barclays provides finance to numerous oil companies including Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, and Equinor. This is finance that supports both existing and new projects. Yet there is no space in the world’s carbon budgets for this continuing increase in emissions. “Potential emissions from fossil fuels already in production or under construction – the wells already drills or being drilled – already takes the world well past 2C of global warming… world cannot afford any fossil fuel expansion…”  https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/

Not surprisingly a number of climate concerned groups are pushing for change – both of banks that they stop financing the fossil fuel industry, and of customers that they stop using these highly destructive banks. 

It is often argued that moving one’s money out of Barclays will have no impact as it will merely be replaced by money from elsewhere. I’m not sure that that can always be true – there must at some point be a finite sum of money to be banked. But turning it round, the money you move can then be invested by a greener bank to support renewable energy and other beneficial projects – and this indeed might be money they would otherwise not get. And don’t worry of the amount you are banking with is small: for every £ deposited, banks will lend a multiple amount. Even if that multiplier was  only 2 it would double the financial contribution that you money makes to green investments.

Here in the UK Make My Money Matter is calling on individuals to “green their money” as well as encouraging students and alumni to call on their universities to switch to  sustainable  banks – https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/

Another useful website is ‘switch it green’  helping people find a better bank – https://www.switchit.green/about

Just Money offers another  perspective on the issue, this time from a Christian view point, and has advice and resources for churches and charities wishing to switch to green banking.  

I have been involved with Christian Climate Action’s ongoing campaign to encourage charities to switch to greener banks – especially those charities whose remit encompasses people and places adversely affected by the climate crisis. To date Christian Aid, Greenbelt and Oxfam have all declared their decision to switch away from Barclays Bank. Read more on this at – https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/2-february/news/uk/more-charities-sever-ties-with-barclays-over-stance-on-fossil-fuels

And it is not just charities that are being asks to reconsider their banking arrangements. The same ask is being made of churches and dioceses. Christians are called to care for creation and to love their neighbour – which are actually overlapping  vocations – and switching to a bank that does not pursue profit through the financing of fossil fuels,  is one of the easier steps  they can take!

Prayer vigil outside Oxfam’s headquarters.

Candlemas 

4th February 2024

Reflection (readings are below)

Candlemas end of the season of epiphany ends as it begins with the true nature of Jesus being revealed to the world. Six weeks ago we heard how the magi interpreted the message of the star so leading them to the house in Bethlehem where they recognised the baby Jesus as not just a king but also as one to be worshipped and adored.  Today we hear how Anna and Simeon having been led to where Mary and Joseph were making a ritual offering in the temple, recognised the true nature of the baby Jesus as the one who will be the means of salvation for the whole world. Both are epiphany moments – moments when a bright light seems to shine through earthly things to reveal God’s glory, a moment when the true nature of Jesus is revealed. In a few weeks we will hear the story of the Transfiguration when again the true nature and identity of Jesus will be revealed, this time to his closest companions.

Today’s first reading from the prophet Malachi, gives us an interesting slant on another aspect of revelation. Malachi talks of refining and purifying. To refine something can be to remove any impurities.  

Fuller’s soap – or fuller’s earth -is an alkaline substance that attracts and hangs onto grease and dirt in the wool or cloth that is to be cleaned. Then when the fuller’s soap is washed out it takes away with it the impurities. At the same time, being an alkaline, it also bleaches or whitens the material. 

Refining can also mean improving a process through trial and error or by repeated practice. We might refine our piano playing by practicing scales and repeating passages of music until we have perfected them. 

Refining might mean getting to the true purpose of a project or the true identity of a product. We might refine our wardrobe to create a particular look or to enable a particular lifestyle. 

As metal workers we might refine a piece of metal by heating and hammering it so that it becomes stronger and more flexible. As bakers, we might knead and stretch the dough to create a better textured bread. As chocolatiers we might warm and temper our chocolate to create a shinier smoother  finish. 

Refining may thus reveal the true or best characteristics of what is being refined. 

Malachi’s prophesy concerns the coming God’s messenger – by which we would now infer the coming of Jesus the Messiah – and the role he will play in refining and purifying God’s people.  Jesus will – and does – refine and purify us so that our true nature is revealed, a nature that reflects the image of God in which we were created, a nature that is characterised by righteousness.

For our part we need to align ourselves with Jesus, to allow our lives to be shaped by his, to allow  practice and testing to remove the impurities – our obstinacy and  stubbornness, our selfishness and lack of compassion – so that we become the people God calls us to be. In this we will find our strength and purpose, we will find an overwhelming desire to praise and serve God.

Malachi 3:1-4

Thus says the Lord, See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight– indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Psalm 84

1 How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts! *
My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

2 The sparrow has found her a house
and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young; *
by the side of your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.

3 Happy are they who dwell in your house! *
they will always be praising you.

4 Happy are the people whose strength is in you! *
whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.

5 Those who go through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs, *
for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.

6 They will climb from height to height, *
and the God of gods will reveal himself in Zion.

7 Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; *
hearken, O God of Jacob.

8 Behold our defender, O God; *
and look upon the face of your Anointed.

9 For one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room, *
and to stand at the threshold of the house of my God
than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

10 For the Lord God is both sun and shield; *
he will give grace and glory;

11 No good thing will the Lord withhold *
from those who walk with integrity.

12 O Lord of hosts, *
happy are they who put their trust in you!

Hebrews 2:14-18

Since God’s children share flesh and blood, Jesus himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Luke 2:22-40

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed– and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

Prayers for creation

 3rd February 2024

The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein. Psalm 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 Leviticus 25:2-7, 23-24

When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. You may eat what the land yields during its sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound labourers who live with you; for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food…The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants. Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land. 

Response (from https://ourcommonprayer.org/2021/09/06/tuesdays-in-climate-emergency/)

Like carbon to the atmosphere:

We have added to the world’s woes.

Like nutrients from the soil;

We have taken without restoring.

Like heat to the ocean:

We have sown destruction.

All: Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

In our forgiving and being forgiven:

Bring in your reign, O God: Let Godly hopes prevail.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen?”: 

Merciful God, open our ears to hear your word and our hearts that we may respond with action.

Intercessions

“Loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke.”

May we be not blind to the hardships faced by plantation workers and farmers when big business holds the balance of power. 

Rather let us support fair trade both with our lips and our purses. 

“Set the oppressed free and break every yoke.”

May we not be ignorant of the oppression of government loans and trade deals. 

Rather let us campaign for justice and use our voices to challenge those in power. 

“Share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter.”

May we not be forgetful of those who cannot afford to eat, at home and afar.

Rather let us be generous in sharing our wealth, whilst demanding a living wage for all.

“When you see the naked, clothe them; do not to turn away from your own kin.”

May we comprehend that it is not just people, but the land too that can be stripped of protection. 

Let us safeguard all living things that have been made vulnerable through our greed. 

“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear”.

Restoring God, may we, in our lifetime, see the healing of the environment, the restoration of justice and the renewal of creation’s natural abundance.

“Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” 

May we learn in our hearts and put to effect in our lives the wisdom you teach us. 

Amen.

Based on Isaiah 58: 6-8

Counting on … day 34

3rd February 2024

As well as sight, we can find pleasure by taking time to enjoy our other senses. Spend a few minutes listening. What can you hear? Hopefully bird song, or children laughing, people chatting ….. Or make a real cup of coffee and spend time savouring first the smell of the beans and then of the coffee. Or take time to really taste a square of chocolate, allowing it to melt in your mouth and savour its taste. Or spend a few moments exploring your surroundings by touch. You might simply close your eyes and use your fingers to explore the different textures of your clothes. Or maybe walk barefoot in garden?

Counting on … day 33

2nd February 2024

Take time to celebrate. Today is the feast of Candlemas – why not eat your supper by candle light?

Candlemas is also a solar feast marking the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. In many parts of the world, this is celebrated with pancakes – round like the sun or if rolled up, rather candle-like!

Counting on … day 32

1st February 2024

Over the next fourteen days as I shall be focusing on ways to love life that don’t cost the earth

1. It is easy to forget that we live in a world of beauty.

Taking time so that you can look around and see the beauty that is  there.

Maybe stone or grass under your feet, weeds growing in the cracks, trees which this time of year maybe a fretwork of branches, the sky – a constantly changing backdrop of textures and colours. Or maybe the smile on a child’s face, the contended look of a cat, or the acrobatic display of a bird.

Counting on … day 31

31st January 2024

Talk 

Talk about the climate crisis with friends, family and colleagues. Share your hopes and fears. Share the  good practices that you have adopted. The more we talk, the more the issue will become the central focus of the government, of businesses, of the media, etc. The more we talk the more people who will join us in taking action. And the more and the greater are the actions we – and governments, businesses and organisations – take the more effective will be our attempt to avert a worsening of the climate crisis. And the greater will be the thanks of future generations.