Tag: earth overshoot

Proper 13, 7th Sunday after Trinity

3rd August 2025

Reflection with readings below

“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions,” said Jesus. It is a warning as relevant today as then.

Over the last few weeks in my blog I have been reflecting in the idea of ‘joy in enough’ – the motto comes from Green Christian. Earth Overshoot Day was 24th July this year – the day when we have globally used up a year’s worth of the Earth’s renewable services and resources. Most developed countries had already used up their fair share months earlier (May 20th for the UK) so that July date reflects the extent to which developed economies thrive at the expense of others. We still live in a world of exploitation.

Such greed also reflects a disregard for God, a lack of gratitude. Creation has been God’s gift and the fact that so much of the natural environment produces renewable services and resources from which we benefit. God has created a creation that carries on reproducing and evolving, adapting and renewing itself. Isn’t this truly amazing! 

But if we can’t be satisfied with enough. If we can’t share. If we can’t ensure that the needs of everyone – and not just a self selecting elite – are met. If we can’t find joy in enough, then we are failing to be the human race that was created in the image of God.

We will suffer – many people already are: mainly the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed. The environment in which we live will suffer – and indeed it already is. Unbelievably for a nation of nature lovers, the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. God will suffer – and indeed is and always has been. God suffers when creatures suffer, when humans suffer, when rivers die of pollution, when oceans are dredged of life, when the atmosphere is over filled with pollution, when soils become lifeless. The prophet Hosea expresses God’s heartfelt sorrow at the plight of the descendants of Abraham. Hosea describes God as a parent teaching a child to walk, like a parent cradling offspring as a babe in arms, as parent pouring out so much love and tender care. And yet the people spurn that love, ignore that guiding hand, reject that care with outright rudeness.

We live in a world of suffering not because God does not care, but because we humans do not care.  We are unwilling to love our enemies, to listen to alternative view points, to empathise with the suffering we with power have inflicted on those without. We humans are unwilling to share, unwilling to put other people’s needs before our own greed. We have a chancellor in the UK who believes the wealthy are paying enough and yet is still willing to take more away from the poor and the disabled. 

We have oil companies who are willing to extract more oil and gas on the basis that  their profits are more important than the damage those carbon emissions will cause to the environment – to our life support system. 

We have banks that will continue to fund polluting companies rather than calling time on such destructive businesses – when they could be funding a green transition.

We have rich people driving oil guzzling SUVs, rich people jetting round the world, rich people having not one by several homes, rich people spending more on a night in a hotel than others earn in a month.  And we have poor people who can’t afford to eat, cannot afford the rent, cannot afford dental treatment, cannot afford a holiday, cannot afford to travel to work. 

How did we end up in such a topsy turvey world? How did we end up failing God on such a massive scale? 

If what we really want is a life of joy, a life abundant with purpose and happiness, then we must transform the way we live, one that embraces joy in enough. Can we as Christians, discuss and share ideas with each other about how we can go about that process of transformation? 

What does enough look like in East Sheen, for example? What does enough look like for a young family or a for a retired couple? What does it look like for someone with a low paid job and what does it look like for a highflying executive? 

How do we go about redistributing wealth more equitably so that there is enough for everyone? How do we curb our consumerist society when ‘more is better’? How do we rebalance decades of social injustice in our country and across the globe? 

How do we put in practice the teachings of Jesus, that we should love God with all our being, and love our neighbour as ourself? 

Hosea 11:1-11

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son. 

The more I called them,
the more they went from me; 

they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols. 

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love. 

I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them. 

They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me. 

The sword rages in their cities,
it consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours because of their schemes. 

My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all. 

How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel? 

How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim? 

My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender. 

I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim; 

for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.

They shall go after the Lord,
who roars like a lion; 

when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west. 

They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
and like doves from the land of Assyria;
and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord. 

Psalm 107:1-9, 43

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, *
and his mercy endures for ever.

2 Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim *
that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.

3 He gathered them out of the lands; *
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastes; *
they found no way to a city where they might dwell.

5 They were hungry and thirsty; *
their spirits languished within them.

6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, *
and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He put their feet on a straight path *
to go to a city where they might dwell.

8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy *
and the wonders he does for his children.

9 For he satisfies the thirsty *
and fills the hungry with good things.

43 Whoever is wise will ponder these things, *
and consider well the mercies of the Lord.

Colossians 3:1-11

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things– anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Proper 12 sixth Sunday after Trinity

27th July 2025

Reflection with readings below 

Names are important in the first reading because names can have meanings.Hosea means salvation. Gomer means completion. And as we hear, each of Gomer’s children have names with meanings. 

Hosea is a prophet who, rather than passing on God’s message through words spoken to the people, is called to enact God’s message – to demonstrate it in a very physical way. And it would have been a message that took several years to deliver. 

God’s message delivered to the people is a stark reminder that they have been unfaithful. They have not stuck to the promises – to the covenants – made between God and people. They have not been monogamous in their relationship with God. They have not followed the ways of God. Rather they have pursued other gods and other ways of living. And likewise with Gomer. It would seem as if Gomer’s first child is Hosea’s son but the other two children may not. Even though Hosea has rescued Gomer once by marrying her, still she sins. 

The consequence of the people’s unfaithfulness is ruin and destruction. Yet the text suggests that it is not just the people who are caught up in this sinfulness – “for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” The word used does mean land or earth. Is the land, like Gomer’s offspring, an innocent victim? Has the land suffered because of the waywardness of the people who should  – in accordance with God’s will – have been tending and protecting it?

Or would kingdom be a better – if not accurate – translation? The kingdoms of both Jehu and Judah both suffer and will ultimately be taken over by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.

This last week the world past Earth Overshoot Day – 24th July – being the day when globally we have used up a full year’s supply of resources and services that the Earth provides. Some countries – the poorest, least developed – will not have used even a half of their share whilst other richer highly developed countries will have used their share many times over. And the latter is even more criminal in that those countries have been able to do this because they have unfairly used resources that belonged to someone else, and because their over consumption is also at the expense of  generations to come.

Have we been unfaithful to God? Has the world failed to follow God’s will? Have we pursued other gods – profit, wealth, capitalism, egotism and self importance?

Are we any different from the recipients of Hosea’s message? Are we failing to hear or to pay attention to the warning of the prophets? Are we not polluting the land by ignoring God’s will? 

Today’s gospel tells how Jesus gave his follower the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer which we use frequently. But do we pray it with intent?

Do we see all of humanity as our brothers and sisters, for whom God is Father and Mother? Or do we see some as being less important, not worth treating as God’s children?

Do we honour God’s name? Or do we forget or belittle God as a less than worthy partner?

Do we strive to do what God wills? Often we take ‘your will be done’ as a get out clause. What ever happens for good or ill (and usually this is reserved for the latter) we meekly say that whatever has happened has happened because it was God’s will. The flood that washed away the village; the person who died prematurely; the lightening strike that destroyed a tree – all God’s will. I don’t believe that God wants floods to destroy villages, people to die prematurely or lightening to destroy trees – for God’s nature is love. That these things happen must grieve God. That sometimes they happened because we humans have not done what God would want, must grieve God even more.

‘Your will be done’ is about us undertaking to do that which God desires, to do those things express God’s love, to undertake to live as citizens of God’s kingdom, as subjects of God’s reign – to do God’s will. Thus will the world be healed. Thus will we find salvation. 

I wonder how the listeners of Hosea’s message responded?

Puzzlement, derision, anger, disbelief? Did they listened or did they simply ignored the protest and carry on as before?

I wonder how we may and our communities, responded to the prophetic warning of Earth Overshoot Day? I wonder how we may and our communities, respond to the daily reports of the effects of climate change, of the impacts of capitalism and globalisation on the poor, the suffering of those treated as being less than human, less than God’s children? 

Rebalancing our global consumption of the Earth’s resources and services will take more than just making major adjustments to what we consume. To overcome inequality we will need a major overhaul  of systems of trade and taxation.  To overcome poverty will need a major focus in redistribution and better distribution of resources.  To over overcome war and oppression, apartheid and genocide will need humility and empathy, discernment and good communication, cooperation and a willingness to seek justice. And we all need to engage with this for we are called to be citizens of God’s kingdom as we pray, with the help of God, ‘your will be done!’ 

Hosea 1:2-10

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.”

When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.”

Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Psalm 85

1 You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.

2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.

3 You have withdrawn all your fury *
and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

4 Restore us then, O God our Saviour; *
let your anger depart from us.

5 Will you be displeased with us for ever? *
will you prolong your anger from age to age?

6 Will you not give us life again, *
that your people may rejoice in you?

7 Show us your mercy, O Lord, *
and grant us your salvation.

8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.

9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.

10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.

13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.

Colossians 2:6-15 

As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, `Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Proper 11, 5th Sunday after Trinity

20th July 2025

Reflection with readings below

In today’s reading from the prophet Amos, we hear of God’s warning to the people of the consequences of pursuing profit whilst ignoring God’s ways: vis suffering and calamity 

Do not the same threats hang over our world, over our economic and social systems today? 

Here in the UK, we  do “trample on the poor” – think of the two child benefit cap, the reduction of benefits for the disabled, the practices that favour landlords over tenants such that rents become unaffordable, those tax breaks that benefit the rich but not the poor, the low wages that benefit the employer not the employee, those subsides that benefit fossil fuels companies not energy consumers etc. And more widely we bring ruin to the poor with international policies that place heavy debt burdens on poor nations from which we benefit, with policies that do not meet the needs of those countries suffering the impact of climate change which we have caused at their expense, with trade policies that are stacked against the smaller nations and smaller companies. Truly the rich and powerful in our world use “false balances” – ie weighing scales – that favour us and not the poor.  

(NB an Ephah is a measure of weight, shekel a unit of currency).

It is not just people but the environment that we wilfully damage and we are already seeing the initial consequences of this with heatwaves and droughts, flash floods and wild fires. The Earth is a delicate ecosystem – a life support system – which is being damaged by our greed and misuse. July 24th will be 2025’s Earth Overshoot Day (last year it was 1st August). That is the day when globally we will have used up a year’s supply of the Earth’s resources. Our extraction of water will exceed the rate of renewal. Our use of the atmosphere to absorb carbon dioxide will exceed capacity (without causing further global temperature rises). Our use of the soil’s capacity to produce food will exceed the rate at which its fertility can be maintained – leading to reduced crops yields in the future. Etc etc. Do check out the Earth Overshoot website to understand more about this situation. Here in the UK, we had used up our share of the Earth’s resources by 20th May, so already our lifestyle choices are being made at the expense of poorer people across the world and future generations. 

The Earth Overshoot website has one section entitled solutions. Here it says “While our planet is finite, human possibilities are not. The transformation to a sustainable, carbon-neutral world will succeed if we apply humanity’s greatest strengths: foresight, innovation, and care for each other.” (1) Here is the invitation to live differently – and for those of us who are Christians, that surely means living according to God’s commands, living according to the values of God’s kingdom. The phrase ‘care for each other’ sharply echoes last week’s gospel story of the Good Samaritan. 

Today’s Gospel reminds us of the importance of spending time and attention on Jesus’s teachings. We can rush around being busy, thinking that being busy will solve the world’s problems, but unless we are     following Jesus – doing God’s will – our efforts may prove fruitless. We also run the risk of burnout. Burnout diminishes our ability to love our neighbours. Jesus set us the example in his own daily life of taking time out to be be in nature, to spend time with God, to be refocus and re-energised. In today’s gospel that is Jesus’s advice for Martha – and it is good advise for us too.

Maybe the extract from the Letter to the Colossians should be a reminder to us that we are not solely responsible for saving the world (a deceit I can be guilty of). Rather it is in and through Christ that salvation is being effected. Our contribution will only ever be but a small part within the the greater whole which is the body of Christ – a fellowship that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. It will be together  in Christ that we will see the salvation of life in Earth being as it is in Heaven.  

  1. https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/solutions/

Amos 8:1-12

This is what the Lord God showed me– a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by. 

The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”
says the Lord God; 

“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!” 

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 

saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain; 

and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale? 

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances, 

buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” 

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it, 

and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? 

On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight. 

I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation; 

I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
and baldness on every head; 

I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and the end of it like a bitter day. 

The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land; 

not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord. 

They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east; 

they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.

Psalm 52

1 You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness *
against the godly all day long?

2 You plot ruin;
your tongue is like a sharpened razor, *
O worker of deception.

3 You love evil more than good *
and lying more than speaking the truth.

4 You love all words that hurt, *
O you deceitful tongue.

5 Oh, that God would demolish you utterly, *
topple you, and snatch you from your dwelling,
and root you out of the land of the living!

6 The righteous shall see and tremble, *
and they shall laugh at him, saying,

7 “This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, *
but trusted in great wealth
and relied upon wickedness.”

8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; *
I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

9 I will give you thanks for what you have done *
and declare the goodness of your Name in the presence of the godly.

Colossians 1:15-28

Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers– all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him– provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Counting on … Lent 15

25th  March 2025

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

The fields are devastated, the ground mourns, for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails. Be dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vine-dressers, over the wheat and the barley; for the crops of the field are ruined. The vine withers, the fig tree droops. Pomegranate, palm, and apple— all the trees of the field are dried up; surely, joy withers away among the people.

Joel 1: 5,10-12

If you consume too much, you will find that there is nothing left to enjoy. 

Over consumption in a world of limited resources is unsustainable. The Earth Overshoot group calculates that to sustain our current levels of consumption we would need  the equivalent of 1.75 earths!! 

https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/how-many-earths-or-countries-do-we-need/

Counting on … Lent 14

24th  March 2025

When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ John 6:5-14

The feeding of the 5000 occurs in all the gospels and in the Hebrew testament, Elisha feeds a 100 prophets with barley loaves (2 Kings Chapter 4 42). These stories tell us that when we have the desire and will, we can feed everyone with food to spare. 

There is enough food to feed the world, even as the total population is still growing. The problem of hunger stems from inequalities in accessing food – poverty, oppression, the impact of wars etc –  the power of big businesses in controlling prices, problems of food waste, and ethical questions about growing vast amounts of food to feed to a growing industrialised livestock programme when such food could be fed to people.  

God has given  us all that we need to eat, but it is we who fail to distribute it fairly.

https://www.ft.com/content/99204d14-a585-4743-ba95-c5fca64cb4a4
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/hunger-global-citizen-festival-advocacy-food/

Counting on … day 9

13th January 2025

Bio capacity  (the metric used to calculate Earth Overshoot Day) includes both the biological  productive land and sea area that provides the resources we need and the Earth’s capacity to absorb the waste produced including pollution. 

In this context waste includes sewage, greenhouse gas emissions, excess fertilisers that leak into the water system, exhausts and brake dust from vehicles etc. The limits on the capacity of the Earth to absorb waste and to keep the environment healthy, is something we often forget. Producing waste is just as much about consumption as cutting down trees or catching fish. To live within the resource constraints of the Earth, we need not just to consume less but also to produce less waste.