Tag: environment

Using our Senses

Listen; attune your ears – what do you hear? 

The excited chatter of children,

and the chatter of jackdaws,

wind rustling the leaves,

and feet tapping the road.

Or the drone of cars – too much!

Or the whine of planes – too many!

Look; focus your vision – what do you see?

a lacework of branches against the sky,

and curvaceous clouds,

tawny shades of fallen leaves,

and the tight curl of a snail shell.

Or traffic crawling bumper to bumper – too much

Or discarded tatters of plastic – too many!

Stretch; bare your skin – what do you feel?

The warm caress of the sun, 

the chilly nip of the breeze,

the prickle of grass,

the textured bark of a tree

Or the rasp of exhaust in your throat – too much!

Or the scratch of particulates in your eyes – too many!

Sniff; breathe deeply – what do you smell?

The aroma of fresh coffee,

and the zest of orange juice,

the fragrance of the last rose,

and the warmth of ground spices.

Or the reek of petrol – too much!

Or the sting of pesticides – too many!

Savour; let it linger on your tongue – what do you taste?

The fresh acidity of an apple, 

and the earthy satisfaction of bread,

the squashy sweetness of banana,

and the melting delight of chocolate.

Or the fake sweetness of green wash – too much!

Or the gall of climate injustice- too many !

Merciful God, 

bring us to  our senses.

Help us rebuild a world 

of right experiences.

Amen.

Count Down

 Action 88: you can also re-purpose prunings to create a dead hedge. A dead hedge is of benefit to small birds and animals as a place of shelter and safety. Use some strong sticks pushed into the soil vertically to hold the hedge in place: place them in two rows as wide as your hedge will be. Fill the space in between with branches, prunings etc (bend and fold long flimsy cuttings) laying them horizontally. Bend some of these to hold others in place. You can include sticks with leaves on. Over time the mass of dead plants will rot down, but in the interim they will provide a habitat for small creatures, beetles, insects etc.

Biodiversity and regenerative practices in the garden 

  • Don’t cut back all plants now autumn is here – especially those like teases and poppies, fennel, sedum and honesty. Their dry stems and heads can be things so beauty as well as being places for small insects to over winter or as seed source for birds. Goldfinches are partial to tease and lavender seeds.
  • Don’t cut back penstemon or hydrangeas as the old stems will protect the plants from potential frost damage. 
  • Don’t cut back autumn fruiting raspberries either:  leave these till the spring when pruning will encourage the growth of new canes for next  autumn. 
  • As roses come to the end of their flowering season, let them form hips which birds may then enjoy.
  • Do prune plants such as grape vines and wisteria. Save the prunings to either create basket-work supports for floppy plants or to supplement dead hedges. (See Count Down Actions 87 and 88).
  • If you haven’t got one, get a compost bin. This could be made using bamboo canes and chicken wire. To keep the compost extra warm, line the sides with flatten out cardboard boxes. You can also use cardboard or a piece of old carpet as a lid. For lots of compost bin ideas see: https://thearchitecturedesigns.com/diy-compost-bin-ideas-for-your-gardening/
  • Do cut back soggy or rotting plant matter and add to your compost bin.
  • Rake up leaves from lawns and either add to your compost bin or create a separate bin just for leaves – these will take a few years to decay but will produce leaf mould which can be used as compost for seeds. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=478
  • If you are pruning shrubs etc to keep them in shape, use the prunings to create a dead hedge. Larger branches can be used to create a log pile. Both of these will provide places of shelter and safety for wild life such as beetles, insects, frogs/ toads etc. 
  • If you have a bird feeder and/ or bird bath, take time to clean them regularly to guard against bacteria and viruses that might harm birds, and keep them topped up.
  • If you have an existing compost heap, now might be a good time to empty it and use the compost as a mulch around  fruit trees and bushes, roses etc, or to cover areas of bare earth. During the winter worlds and beetles will draw the compost down into the soil improving its structure and fertility. 
  • Avoid over digging the garden: regenerative soil management recommends avoid exposing the soil to the air which release lock away carbon dioxide, and rather that ground cover should be maintained over the soil in the form of planting (even if it is a just an annual crop such as lambs lettuce) or a layer of compost.
  • If you are planning which vegetables to grow next year, consider mixing plants up, with intercropping and companion planting. https://emotionallandscapes.weebly.com/regenerative-agriculture/basic-techniques-of-organic-farming-intercropping-and-companion-planting 
  • You might like to consider growing perennial vegetables.

Sunday Reflection 

17th October 2021, proper 24

Isaiah 53:4-12 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=501459221

Psalm 91:9-16 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=501459312

Hebrews 5:1-10 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=501459357

Mark 10:35-45 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=501459405

Reflection

At the heart of today’s readings are two themes: suffering and service. 

‘He bore our infirmities, our diseases and was wounded because of our transgressions’, to paraphrase Isaiah. This passage from Isaiah, reveals the prophet’s understanding of how society can behave, how it deals with the little people when the rich and wicked hold sway. 

Today we can look around the world and see a myriad of little people, of plants and creatures that  bear the infirmities, diseases and wounds caused by our transgressions. Our failure to care for the planet, our failure to curb carbon emissions, our over-consumption of finite resources, our inability to share the earth’s bounty, our failure to protect habitats and ecosystems, our greed and hardness of heart that leads to conflict. Suffering is invariably caused by human failings, human greed, human ignorance and disinterest – now, back then in the days of the Jewish Exile, back in first century Palestine and in all the years since.

Yet Isaiah’s insight also reveals God’s commitment to the world, the suffering and injustice that God is willing to endure to bring about healing and redemption. No matter how much suffering human sinfulness causes, God does not give up on us but bears with us. This is a prophecy that is relived in the life of Jesus – and thereafter in the lives of his followers: for Jesus, the living word, is there alongside each person in their pain and suffering. He is with us in our darkest places and it is he who can bring us hope and consolation. 

“The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous” says the passage from Isaiah. And the passage from today’s gospel concludes “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”. To serve is the vocation of the Son of Man. The word in Greek is ‘diakaneo’ and it is a word used frequently in the gospels. When Jesus heals Peter’s mother in law, she gets up and  ‘diakaneo’ or serves them, or as I have always imagined, cooks them a meal for I am sure that at the end of a sabbath spent healing and teaching, they were both hungry.

It is what the angels do for Jesus when the devil has finished tempting him in the wilderness, which again I am sure involved food and drink as well perhaps attending to his tired feet.

In the parable of the sheep and goats, in Matthew’s gospel, it is what the goats failed to do, when they do not see Jesus in the one who was hungry and thirsty, who was the stranger, who was naked, sick or in prison.

It is what the women disciples did for Jesus when they provided financial support. It is what Martha complained about when left to do it by herself while Mary just sat and listened. 

To serve – to diakaneo – is putting oneself at the disposal of another, to minister to their needs.  This suggests that to serve is also about being aware and sensitive to what people might be in need of – something Jesus was good at. He was able to intuit what someone needed and sometimes knowing what they needed, even though they themselves didn’t know: forgiving the sins of the paralysed man, knowing that Zacchaeus needed to be wanted, or persuading Martha that there were times when preparing a meal wasn’t the most important thing. 

What serving is not, is lording it over others, nor is it pulling rank, nor basking in glory. That is the way of tyrants – and sadly, it is nowadays often the way of politicians (not all) or of rich business leaders (again not all). Just for a moment imagine what the world would be like if all politicians and all business leaders saw their role as one of service, serving not just their nearest and dearest, but serving all. And what if we all equally saw our role as one of service too, serving both are fellow human beings and our fellow creatures, from earth worms to orang-utans. Would this not begin to look like heaven in earth? A world where each is served by and serves the needs of, others.

Jesus is realistic with his followers. He sees the mismatch between those who wish to lord it over others and those who wish to serve the common good. He knows the likelihood of pain and suffering to which the latter will be subject. For most of us who would wish to see service as the basis of life, such suffering will be the stress and anguished felt when we look at what is happening around the world: people stranded in the wrong side of the Afghan border, people caught in the cross fire in Lebanon, people stabbed to death for being of the wrong colour or creed, the continued investment in fossil fuels instead of renewables, people facing hunger for lack of money in a world of billionaires. Cor others the pain and suffering will be physical and sometimes fatal. 

When we are baptised, we are baptised into the death of Jesus; in baptism we are buried with him; and in baptism we are raised to newness of life (Romans 6:3,4). In baptism we take on the calling both to serve and to suffer, but we do so knowing that in all we do we share with Jesus, and that we are ceaselessly loved by God. In the words of today’s psalm, slightly adjusted, 

“They are bound to me in love,

therefore will I deliver them; 

I will protect them, because they know my Name.

They shall call upon me, and I will answer them; 

I am with them in trouble;

I will rescue them and bring them to honour.”

Count Down

 Action 85: Take part in the Global Day of Action on Saturday 6th November (midway through COP26). Locations of marches in different UK cities can be found here:-

Press release: COP26 Coalition launches Action Map for Global Day of Action for Climate Justice

 You can also opt to join in with one of the many charities that will be taking part – eg The Woodland Trust, CAFOD, TearFund, the RSPB etc – who will organise meeting points, banners and placards etc.

Taking part is a way of voting with our feet and showing the leaders how important the wellbeing of the climate and planet is. 

Green Tau: issue 21

15th October 2021

Biodiversity and regenerative agriculture

Last week we looked at the tendency for agriculture to a) expand into virgin territory at the expense of flora and fauna biodiversity, and b) to be concentrated around a narrow number of crops and animal species. Agricultural practices are the source of further challenges.  

In a drive to be more productive and more economic, many agricultural businesses have gone for the large scale – large farms, large fields, large machinery – creating landscapes that devoid of trees and hedges and instead are vast tracts of identical crops. Monoculture does not support biodiversity. Fields of rape may provide near endless quantities of flowers that are attractive to pollinators, but once they have flowered there is a dearth of food sources for those pollinators. With their demise, comes the demise of other birds and animals that rely on them as part of the food chain. 

Monoculture also provides a good environment for the spread of plant diseases and the proliferation of weeds – the latter might be suppressed by a diversity of plants, some overshadowing the weeds, or by insects and larvae that might feed on them. The net result is that to sustain monoculture, crops must be sprayed with pesticides and herbicides, neither of which is good for biodiversity. For the soil this can be a particular problem. Soils rely on insects, beetles, and many micro-organisms to keep the soil rich with nutrients and to maintain a good soil structure.  Soils that become damaged or depleted  of nutrients become reliant on the addition of chemical fertilisers to maintain their productivity. However these can be damaging to biodiversity, especially when nitrates are washed through the soil into local water ways where they form algae blooms and damage both flora and fauna. 

Whilst agriculture can be part of the biodiversity problem, it can also be part of the solution. 

Regenerative Agriculture 

Whilst the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ was first used in the early 1980s as concept that aimed to make agriculture not just sustainable, but positively beneficial for the environment. However it has only more recently gained popularity.

There is as yet to fixed definition of what regenerative agriculture is, nor how it is to be practiced.  Terra Genesis International working in Thailand has determined its principles as:- 

  • Progressively improve whole agroecosystems (soil, water and biodiversity)”
  • “Create context-specific designs and make holistic decisions that express the essence of each farm”
  • “Ensure and develop just and reciprocal relationships amongst all stakeholders”
  • “Continually grow and evolve individuals, farms, and communities to express their innate potential”

What I think is interesting here is the inclusion of the people involved in farming and their communities.

The UK’s Regenerative Food and Farming (https://regenerativefoodandfarming.co.uk/) recommends the following farming practices:-

  • No or low tillage, ie not ploughing the soil or removing the remnants of the previous before sowing, and maintaining some form of vegetative cover at all times. This helps to keep both CO2 and water in the soil, rather than it escaping into the atmosphere.
  • Diversifying what is grown using mixed planting, intercropping (including sylvan agriculture which grows crops in between trees), and relay cropping. There is a focus on growing more of what is needed locally which minimises the distance food has to be transported.
  • Using animals as part of crop rotation.
  • Not over grazing fields.
  • Stimulating micro-organisms in the soil by maintaining living roots in the soil at all times and by adding organic compost.
  • Avoiding the use of chemicals on the land and minimising antibiotics given to animals – sometimes these are used to stimulate growth rather than for treating diseases.
  • Adding tree, perennials and wild flowers to the landscape.
  • Rewilding areas of landing and creating corridors between them.

Such agricultural practices not only benefits biodiversity, they also improved get capacity of the soil to sequester carbon, reduce the carbon emissions of the farming industry, assist with flood prevention and reduce the water needed by farms.

If you are interested in regeneratively farmed produce, google to see what’s available locally. On a larger scale companies such as Ben and Jerry, Nestle and McDonalds are seeking to source their ingredients from regenerative farmers.