Category: Uncategorized

Green Tau issue 126

26th June 2926

How can we better adapt to heat waves?

These are some initial thoughts on things that we could do as individuals, as communities and as a society.

  1. Insulate all buildings – insulation helps maintain a comfortable internal temperature, warm enough in winter and cooler enough in summer. Think how a cool bag or thermos flask can be used both to keep cold things cool and hot things warm.
  2. Government and local authorities can ensure that this happens through mandates, loans and grants.
  3. ‘Enough’ is a key word – warm enough in winter maybe 16-18C whilst cool enough in summer may be 24-26C.
  4. As well as insulation, adaptation to buildings – domestic and otherwise – should include shading of walls and windows exposed to the sun. This could be in the form verandas, awnings, blinds, shutters and planting of climbing or other shade-giving plants. These ideally would provide shade from the summer sun but allow winter warming when the sun’s rays fall at a lower angle.
  5. Other natural cooling could include vents at high-level that draw out hot air without allowing hot air back in and which can create a cooling air flow.
  6. In some situations – such as hospitals and care homes – air conditioning may well be essential. Who will foot the bill? The taxpayer?
  7. Prisons too should be be considered for air conditioning as people confined to a small space with limited options for cooling are vulnerable.
  8. For some vulnerable groups – the old and very young, people with particular disabilities or ailments – additional provision of air conditioning at home may be necessary.  Who will foot the bill? The tax payer who might then avoid the higher cost of medical care? Should grants/ loans be means-tested?
  9. Consider providing schools and libraries with air conditioning if these can then also be used  as cool hubs for other users. Encourage community networks that can check up on vulnerable people.
  10.  Expand number of cool hubs – encourage pubs, churches, community halls and libraries to participate – provide grants to encourage this. This map shows what is currently publicly available in London – https://apps.london.gov.uk/cool-spaces/
  11.  Ensure everyone is well informed about how to cope with heat waves – public health campaign etc. The Red Cross has food advice – could this be made available as a booklet? https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/heatwaves-uk
  12.  Install more drinking water points and encourage people to carry refillable drinking bottles.
  13.  Public health campaigns to encourage everyone to use a sunhat and/or parasol. 
  14.  Switch to double summer time so that in the summer we are getting up two hours earlier when the day is much cooler. (The clock change could take place at the May bank holiday).
  15.  Set the school day to start an hour earlier to maximise use of cooler air. This would also encourage businesses and shops to adopt earlier opening hours. 
  16.  Switch the school year to start in January so that exams can be held when the weather is cooler. Consider dividing the academic year into four terms.
  17.  Encourage adoption of an afternoon siesta to include shops and businesses – but also consider could/ would this time be of benefit to staff.
  18.  Legislate for maximum working temperatures. Legislate for regular – paid for – rest periods during hot weather.
  19.  Mandate welfare provision such as access to toilets, drinking water, cool spaces etc for all work environments including bus, lorry and delivery drivers.
  20.  Expand planting of trees in streets and parks to create more cool places. 
  21.  Expand the creation of parklets to provide cool resting places.
  22.  Encourage where practical replacement of hard surfaces and drive ways with grass or other suitable planting. Encourage generally more planting to create localised cooler microclimates – as well as supporting biodiversity.
  23.  Public health campaign to encourage active travel so as to reduce the number of cars driving or parked on the streets where they absorb and radiate heat.
  24.  Encourage shops and businesses to install awnings to provide protection from the sun in summer and rain in winter. 
  25.  Mandate that premises using air conditioning keep doors closed to conserve energy. Such premises should not be attempting to cool the whole street! A public health campaign could encourage closing doors and windows to keep the heat out. 

Any other suggestions?

Further reading 

View at Medium.com
https://www.ice.org.uk/news-views-insights/inside-infrastructure/nature-based-solutions-elderly-during-heatwaves
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/cooling-effect-trees-and-green-spaces-cities

https://assets.redcross.org.uk/82b1e254-5524-0172-0612-9ce813c7824c/ce19462a-4490-41d2-9318-b469ac4e24bb/Overheating Adaptation Guide For Homes BRC.pdf

https://www.drk.de/fileadmin/user_upload/02_Hilfe_weltweit/023_Was_wir_tun/Gesundheit/Community_Cooling_Centre_Manual.pdf

EcoTips

How to keep cool in hot weather

26th June 2026

  1. Drink lots of fluids.
  2. Dress in loose light coloured and light weight clothes. Go bare foot (unless the ground surface is too hot).  Wear a sun hat. Use a Japanese style paper fan. (Hand held battery fans will ultimately just add to landfill problems).
  3. When temperatures outside are cooler than inside then during the day close curtains to keep the sun out whilst,  if cool enough outside (ie of it is cooler out than in), keep windows open to allow air moving through the room. You might also a bowl of water on the window sill or hang up wet towels to benefit from the cooling effect of evaporating water. When the sun sets or moves round, open the curtains to allow maximum airflow of cooler air. Open windows on different sides of the house and different floors to encourage air to move through the house. 
  4.  If the outside temperature is warmer than inside, it will be better to keep bight windows and curtains closed to keep that hot air out – consider how keeping the windows closed in winter keeps the cold out. If you have a loft or roof space you might open a window here to draw out heat that is building up in the house. Only open the windows when the temperatures drop and then open as many as possible to pull in the cooler air.
  5. Turn off unused electrical appliances, even those on sleep may be emitting extra heat into the room.
  6. Shade the outside of the window to prevent the glass from heating up and radiating heat into the room. You could use a sheet or towel as an ad hoc shade. Or place a gazebo or sun parasol to shade the window. Longer term consider fixing an awning to shade south facing windows and/or install external shutters – these will also work to keep warm air in in the winter. Erect a pergola outside and allow climbing plants to shade the window.
  7. Sit with your feet in a bowl of cold water. Keep damp flannels in the fridge for a cool wipe.
  8. Freeze a plastic bottle of water (don’t completely fill the bottle as frozen water expands)  and use it as a cold ‘hot’ water bottle. To avoid ice burns wrap in a towel before placing it on your skin. Alternatively place in your bed at night.
  9. Fill a sock with rice, secure the end and place in the freezer. Use as a cold pad or as cold ‘hot’ water bottle in your bed. 
  10. Get up early and start your day while it is still cool. Catch up on sleep later with an siesta when its hot. 
  11.  Consider using planting to cool your home – climbers, large shrubs and trees can provide useful shade, herbaceous borders can create cooler local microclimates, grass and planting – unlike paved areas – will absorb rather than radiate heat.
  12. Have you a tip to share?

Further information 

Click to access Overheating%20Adaptation%20Guide%20For%20Homes%20BRC.pdf

https://www.idealhome.co.uk/house-manual/home-energy/blinds-keep-home-warm-and-save-energy
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/23/how-to-shade-your-home-supercharged-heatwaves-uk?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://www.veluxblindsdirect.co.uk/external-heat-protection
https://www.solar-shield.co.uk/exterior-window-shades
https://www.knall.uk/c134,roller-shutters
Drop Arm Awnings
https://www.solinear.co.uk/the-ultimate-guide-to-external-solar-shading-solutions-in-the-uk/  for a really detailed understanding
https://wildrevivalgardening.substack.com/p/our-diy-shade-house
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/landscaping-shade

NB these are not recommendations of particular suppliers but signposts for what is available.

https://www.maxpixel.net/Window-Village-Building-Awning-Facade-Sweden-4369205

Counting on 2026 …. Day 67

26th June

Love

“Ultimately, love is the reason we do one thing and not another. What we love determines how we act.” (P139) Those this does beg the question, what do we love? The answer might be money, power or self.

As an alternative, Davison suggest we might “see love as the criterion by which are actions are judged.” (P140)  Do our actions express a God-like love?

Davison then explores an often overlooked issue – “What difference does my contribution make?”

One answer is that even that small difference is worth doing if it is the right or just thing – think of the parable of the widow’s mite. (P141)

Another is that we are in this together. (P142) My small contribution is part of our communal action and therefore part of a bigger whole. It is as communities that we best give and  receive love, and as communities that we will best make the changes we need to make to safeguard our common future. 

And again Davison reminds us of the core focus of the book (1), restraint. Love will always help us exercise restraint, and as regards our future, love will help us exercise restraint in the net zero lifestyles that we must embrace.  

  1. Promise the Earth: a safe climate in good faith by Julian Allwood and Andrew Davison.            https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/religion/religious-ethics/promise-earth-safe-climate-good-faith

Counting on 2026 …. Day 66

25th June

Hope

‘Among the virtues, the one that looks the most to the future is hope. Just as importantly, hope also looks to God. Indeed, Christians will say that they can venture great things because their confidence rests in God, not themselves.’ (P121)

Davison then considers that human endeavours are most effective where they are human in scale, reflecting the fact that humans are communal creatures, and that this is where hope best thrives. ‘St Thomas of Aquinas’, writes Davison, ‘describes hope as the entirely necessary human capacity to strive for difficult but not impossible future goods.’ (P124). This hope, says Davison connects our actions and aspirations to God and the overarching story of redemption. 

As we tackle the difficult but not impossible challenge of the climate crisis, we know that we are not doing this on our own, but with God, for creating a better future in this world is God’s desire too.

Counting on 2026 …. Day 65

24th June

Faith

Davison introduces us to some of the theology of St Bonaventure, vis that ‘the characteristic effect of faith is to transform the intellect, of hope to transform memory, and of love to transform the will’ and that these are the three main ways in which we bear the image of God. (P108)

Faith, then, shapes how we see the world, how we act within it, and how we understand the relationship between ourselves, the world and God. Faith them motives and shapes our desire that we live so as to ensure a sustainable and equitable future for all life on earth. Davison gives us a further insight from the teaching of St Augustine of Hippo. ‘[T]he Christian should value the world, with its good things, like a bride (or, we would add,  bridegroom) values a wedding ring. Loving the ring more than the person would be weird and insulting, but so would despising the ring. The world is not God, and to value it over God would be a travesty, but it is also God’s gift, and treating it badly is it’s own kind of insult to the one who gave it.’ (p112)

I think one might add to that, the idea that a wedding ring is a sign of a covenant between the two parties.

Faith in God is inseparable from faith in God’s desire for a good Earth. Faith therefore compels us to care.

Counting on 2026 …. Day 64

23rd June

Justice

“‘What will it cost to make the climate safe?’ That is a question for mangers, engineers, economists and politicians, but [t]he ultimate question is ….’how much will it cost not to make the climate safe?’” (P83) This is where justice is the prevailing virtue, for rather than what will it cost me to act, it is what will it cost my neighbour/ my children/ future generations if I don’t act?

So in pursuing a liveable future, Davison writes: “Prudence looks ahead … and navigates the path. Courage spurs us on to overcome obstacles. Temperance checks us from being lured off course …  [And] justice is our goal”. (P83)

What then is justice? As a base, Davison suggests it is giving a person what they are due or conversely that they should not suffer harm or wrong doing without recompense. (P85). This can apply as much to a community as to an individual. Virtues are meant to make us better people so justice is also about us: justice should make is people who seek fairness for others. And that is what God made us for: “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

There is no escaping the fact that as Christians we are compelled to act on climate change so that if nothing else, we can ensure justice for all our neighbours.

Counting on 2026 …. Day 63

22nd June

Temperance

If courage is the strength or virtue we need to overcome our hesitancy of acting when we would rather not, then temperance is the strength or virtue we need to overcome the temptation of doing what we know we shouldn’t do even when it seems so attractive. “If courage deals with aversion, then temperance deals with allure “ (p64)

Temperance is the virtue that helps us weigh up what is good and why is not good about the options on offer. It helps us distinguish between want and need. It helps us find the balance between too much and too little. Temperance helps to free us from false truths – more, bigger, faster, easier are not always better!

Temperance helps us exercise restraint: 

Davison reflects on the widespread practice of fasting within the Christian faith – such a during Lent. Here the practice of fasting where going without helps us to let go of distractions, enable us to focus on spiritual preparation. But Davison the reminds us that fasting for Lent may only be for 40 day where as the restraint we need to show to address climate polycrises, has to be a lifetime’s undertaking. Yet, whereas we may choose fasting in Lent that is deliberately discomforting (eg giving up chocolate), the restraint we must adopt as a complete life style change, can be such that it is pleasurable – eg having more free time for reading, eating a more tasteful diet etc. 

Davison  then draws out another analogy for us: athletes because of their love of the sport, will exercise temperance and discipline in their daily lives to ensure that they can be best athlete that they can be. Our love of God, our love of creation, will inspire such dedication in our daily lives.

Listening to the sounds of the world

20th June 2026

I will listen to you, LORD God, because you promise peace to those who are faithful and no longer foolish. Psalm 85:8

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.

Reading from 1 Kings 19: 11b – 13a

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;  and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

The day is quiet. 

It catches my attention. 

No murmur of cars, nor drone of airplanes. 

No crash or thump of builders. 


Silence – 

Silence? Are you sure?

I can hear a bird – 

no not one but two, maybe three – 

singing. 

The buzz of a passing insect. 

The wind rustling a leaf.

The slight crunch of my shoes on the ground.

The soprano voice of a child – 

Mummy, why do ….?

God, creator and companion, 

Stay my attention on the sounds of ‘silence’, 

on the sounds of life. 

Attune my heart to hear 

the unabated sound of creation, 

to sift out the raucous noise 

of the unimportant sounds.

Open my ears just enough to know your presence.

Ever mindful God, be present 

with those surrounded with the noise 

of guns and bombs. 

Bring compassion 

into the hearts of those who wage war. 

Remove greed and pride from those 

who might then make peace.

Ever mindful God, be present 

with those surrounded with the noise 

of traffic and engines.

Bless the work of those who create green spaces, 

those who bring calm to frenzied lives.

Lend strength to those who protect the environment 

and those who seek a quieter way of life.

Ever mindful God, be present 

with those who seek to tell the truth – 

however inconvenient. 

Open hearts and minds to hear your word, 

to discern your wisdom. 

Give grace to all who question, 

to all who seek to understand 

and to all who are willing to learn – 

for you the way, the truth and the life. 

Amen.

Counting on 2026 …. Day 62

19th June

Prudence “is the virtue of being undeceived, of being in touch with reality.” (P 44)

Both authors agree that the urgency of the climate crisis is such that we can not wait for technological solutions to be innovated and/or scaled up. We need to act now with the knowledge and resources we already have – “we need to be prudent.” (P 44)

Davison explores a deeper understanding that says “to be prudent is to know what the world is like, to know what the world should be and to work out how to go from one to the other.” (P 45) This challenges us to identify realistically where the world is not as it should be – especially bearing in mind those people and places outside our immediate bubble (where I suspect we do feel everything is OK). And having been realistic in seeing the world as it really is, identifying what we can do to change it – including changing our own lifestyles – for those will be the changes that mirror the Lord’s Prayer: your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

NB if you don’t feel you have time to read the book, or even if you do, you might like to watch a recording of the talk Julian Allwood gave to Green Christian.

Counting on 2026 …. Day 61

18th June

For the next few days I will pick up on Davison’s comments re the seven virtues.(1) 

Davison considers courage as the strength by which we overcome our fears and if need be make sacrifices for the good of others. Nevertheless this is not about being miserable or seeking out hardships. Rather it is about taking our fair share rather than leaving other to bear the bulk of the burden. “Courage” he writes,  “is a spur to action…[I]t is those of us with the most who need to make the largest change. There is good news in that: those who should change the most are those with the greatest resources to make it happen.” Page 27

Where the early Christians needed courage to stand by their faith even when others were pursuing other gods and cultural practices, maybe as modern day Christians we need courage to stand by our faith when it tells us we need to apply restraint in what we consume in the face of a system and culture that favours consumerism.

  1. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/promise-the-earth/31E27442471A864A6582BA751ECD239F