15th December 2021
Making chocolate sweetmeats: this year I have stuffed dates with almonds, figs with hazel nuts and apricots with cranberries, and then dipped each in dark chocolate. I used Ombar chocolate following my research into the sustainability of chocolate.
14th December 2021
It is a month since the end of COP26 on climate change. It can seem as if it was something that happened in a different time. It can feel as if it was blip that changed nothing. Various environmental and faith groups have since then held reflections, trying to evaluate what happened. One of these took place at the the a Franciscan friary at Hilfield. Below is a link to a YouTube recording of their gathering. The first part by Andy Lester of A Rocha gives a very concise overview of what the COP objectives were and how they were and were not met. Both A Rocha and Franciscans are identified by their concern for the world and its environment, and for justice. Both agree that faith groups have an important role to play in standing up for the well-being of the environment and all our brethren.
13th December 2021
Shop small, shop locally. Supporting small and local businesses is good for the local community and for the environment. Local book shops, for example, are more likely to treat staff suppliers and customers with respect, to pay their taxes – and their shop window also to certainly brightens up the high street! These are the shops and local businesses we count on to make life good. Much more rewarding than buying books from Amazon.
Ethical Consumer recommends using local food suppliers in their recent report on eating at Christmas.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethical-christmas/eat-ethically-christmas
12th December 2021
The Collect
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.
The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.
Canticle: Isaiah 12:2-6
Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defence, *
and he will be my Saviour.
Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Luke 3:7-18
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptised by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptised, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptise you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
Reflection
The collect calls out to God, “Stir up your power!” This is not about Christmas puddings. It has a feeling of a whirl wind, a tornado, that will rip through us. A feeling of an electrical force that will spin things into motion. A centrifuge that will separate pure from dross. In the gospel John summons up the same prospect: Now is the time to act! Something is coming for which you have not yet prepared! That which is fruitless, that which shows no penitence or regret, will be cut away and destroyed. Radically alter your lives now before it is too late! For the messiah is coming with wind and fire and will stir up and sift you, shaking out all that is chaff – separating it from what is good.
Think how that can transform not just us, but the whole world! At the same time, does this sound rather too scary? Do we want to be stripped of our chaff? Do we want to radically change the way we live? Do we feel that there is anything in us worthy enough to remain?
The words from Zephaniah sound equally radical but in a different way for Zephaniah tells us that God will rejoice over us! God’s love for us must be incredibly huge and incredibly forgiving. Looking at the state of the world, the ways in which we have damaged it, the ways in which we harm our selves and one another through our failure to love, through our greed and selfishness, is it credible that God will rejoice over us? Yes says Zephaniah, God will rejoice over us and will renew us with love, restore
Ing what has been lost, healing what has been damaged and making us a praiseworthy part of creation.
Where John suggests practical actions people can take – being generous with what we have, not being greedy, not abusing any power or authority we have – the writer of Philippians commends attitudes: being gentle, joyful and prayerful. Let’s be guided by both these figures and let the transformative power of God work in ourselves and the world we inhabit.
12th December 2021
Take a walk somewhere green. It should re-energise you and let you see why it is that we want to protect the natural world.
Here in Richmond Park, cattle are brought in each year to graze some of the land., a practice that has being going on now for about ten years. As cattle have different grazing patterns from deer, their presence can encourage a greater diversity of wild plants that can thrive on the local acidic soils.
11th December 2021
The ethics of chocolate
One of the many treats we associate with Christmas is chocolate. In the UK we spend about £325 a year, supporting an industry worth around £4 billion. However at the other end of the story cocoa farmers in Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire (the largest producers of cocoa beans) may earn as little as 75p a day – or about half what is needed to cover the essentials of food, housing, health car and education – and some cocoa plantations are known to use child slave labour. This hardly seems fair! Why is it so?
In a recent report, the Ethical Consumer magazine recommends that consumers should check up on the chocolate they buy:
Does it come from a company where the manufacturer of the chocolate is closely linked to the grower of the cocoa beans?
Is it made from organically grown cocoa and sugar?
Is the production of the beans linked to deforestation and/ or slave labour?
Are the producers of the cocoa beans paid a fair income?
Is the chocolate manufactured in the country where the beans are grown?
The Rain Forest Alliance and Fair Trade are both organisations set up to ensure the welfare of those who grow the beans and to ensure the environmental sustainability of the farming methods used. They can provide a direct link between supplier and producer. They also provide a certification system which helps the consumer to buy sustainable chocolate products.
Sustainably and fairly produced chocolate will cost more than the cheaper alternatives, but this is just one way in which we can make our money work to improve and protect life on the earth.
For more information watch this informative YouTube programme: https://youtu.be/-XbP4cn8xhU
Further reading: https://newrepublic.com/article/156569/challenge-sustainable-chocolate
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-56687427
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/ethical-chocolate
11th December 2021
As well as fir comes, seed heads and dried leaves, paper makes a good material for Christmas decorations. It is easy to get hold off and easy to recycle and doesn’t damage the environment. The following YouTube episode demonstrates how to make a paper star – do feel free to fast forward past the introduction.
10th December 2021
On average about 18% of the food we buy at Christmas is thrown away! According to Marija Rompani, director of ethics and sustainability at John Lewis Partnership “The reality is food waste creates six times more greenhouse gases than aviation. When we throw food away, we waste the precious resources taken to grow, package and transport it – and as it rots in landfill, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. So the simple action of throwing food in the bin has more of a negative impact on our planet than people often realise.” (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/04/avoid-food-waste-christmas-climate)
The means to avoiding such waste is two pronged: don’t buy more than you actually need, and make sure you do use all that you do buy. For more tips on how to reduce food waste see https://greentau.org/2021/08/09/eco-tips-4/
9th December 2021
Pens can be recycled at Ryman stores who participate in the Terra Cycle scheme. This includes all writing instruments (except for wooden pencils and chalk) are accepted : Any brand of pen, felt tip, highlighter, marker, correction fluid pot, correction tape, mechanical pencil and eraser pen regardless of their composition.
8th December 2021
The first issue of Green Tau included a quote from Paul’s Letter to the Romans – “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). – and a quote from the Guardian: “Change is Possible. hope is Power.”
This issue was written looking forwards – without much optimism – to COP26. Six month later I am not sure much has changed.
But there still has hope. As long as we have hope, however small, then there is something to strive for. Later in his letter Paul suggests that by its nature what we hope for is something we can’t see, for if we could see it, what would our hope be about? (Romans 8:24). Here I think I disagree with Paul. I think in order to have hope we have to have some idea of what it is we are hoping for, however vague or indistinct that vision might be. If our hope is for life after death, we have to have some – however tenuous – understanding of what that life might be: eg a life free of fear and pain, a life of joy etc.
In terms of the climate crisis, I think we have to have some kind of vision, some sort of imagination, of what the world would be like if we could alleviate the crises. Perhaps a vision of a world where there are great expanses and multiple pockets of re wilded landscape; a world teeming with different plant and animal species; a world of clean air and un-polluted water; a world where there are no extremes of wealth and poverty; a world where there is neither industrial farming nor industrial fishing … and so on. If we didn’t have any such vision, then we what would be hoping for? And if we had nothing to hope for, why would we bother trying to change things?
Hope is important because it becomes our inspiration, a catalyst, a source of energy. And hope that is shared multiplies it’s effect. As a group sharing one hope, we can share the burden of keeping that little flame of hope alive. We can share the load of working for change. We can back each other. We can become each other’s supporters. We can take turns carry each other when the effort becomes too overwhelming.
It is therefore important that we come together with our neighbours, with our church and faith communities, with local campaign groups, business groups – and work together and share the vision .
One such group of local businesses came together in Glasgow to create a visual sign, a sculpture, of what hope was, post COP26. “The Hope Sculpture started as a conversation with Ramboll and became a gift from 50 companies to Glasgow. It is a testament to the power of collaboration and dedication to deliver a better future” said the artist Steuart Padwick. His sculpture comprises a 20m tall beacon, on top of which is a child. The child’s arms reach out as if embracing its surroundings, hopeful of a green, better future. It is constructed using low carbon, reclaimed, recycled or sustainable materials, of which, almost all were locally sourced. (https://ramboll.com/media/rgr/gift-of-hope-low-carbon-sculptures-legacy-to-glasgow-and-cop26)
We are often reminded in the Bible how cause and effect spread between generations. From the Book of Exodus when the people are embarking on a new life travelling with God into a new land, a journey surrounded by threat but focused on a great hope for a better future: “I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness. I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin; but I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.” Exodus 34: 6-7. And in the prophetic words of Mary in the Gospel of Luke, as once again humanity begins a new journey and a new relationship with God: “He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who honour him”. Luke 1: 50
What we do now in our time will have consequence for generations to come. And maybe that is where our hope does the environment, for the world, has to lie. We will not turn round the crises we face in one generation. We can only be the instigators of a new way of life, a new journey, that will have repercussions for generations to come. To keep our hope alive, maybe we also need some short term projects where we will be able to see effort rewarded. One of the Advent readings from Isaiah was not a prophesy for the long term, foretelling the coming of the saviour, and for the short term, foretelling a time of peace that would come about in a matter of years.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the virgin is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted”. Isaiah 7:13-16.
Maybe we need to focus too on changes that we can bring about by the time this year’s new borns are eating solid foods – or maybe at primary school learning about right and wrong, giving us a five year time frame. Reducing the numbers of petrol and diesel vehicles on our roads and this reducing air pollution. Changing our UK diets such that eating meat is an occasional treat, leading to a reduction in the factory farming of animals, and an increase in land set aside for rewilding. Halving our carbon footprints, such that global temperature rises are still below 1.5C.
Together let’s us maintain – and work for – the hope of better, greener future.
The Green Tau 