Tag: nature

Counting on … day 177

24th September 2024

Community gardens can not only boost biodiversity but also the supply of locally grown food. 

“Pam Warhurst … the founder of Incredible Edible, a food-focused guerrilla gardening movement, wants the state to get out of people’s way. “The biggest obstacle is the inability of people in elected positions to cede power to the grassroots,” she says… Her big idea is guerrilla gardening – with a twist. Where guerrilla gardeners subvert urban spaces by reintroducing nature, Incredible Edible’s growers go one step further: planting food on public land and then inviting all-comers to take it and eat. “I used food because it seemed to me that we needed to act fast,” Warhurst says. “We needed to get experience as soon as we could, and probably food was the thing that we could demonstrate an alternative way of living around, in a really simple way.”” (1)

Here in London the Edible Bus Stop in Lambeth grows a range of flowering plants, herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. https://theediblebusstop.com/the-kerb-garden/

  1. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/13/radical-food-group-incredible-edible-guerrilla-gardening?

Counting on … day 155

23rd August 2024

Ecosystem engineers have an ability to modify resources they have to hand to alter  their environment. This alteration maybe to change or to destroy or to maintain (ie prevent change) a habitat. Coral species that form coral reefs, and trees that form forests, both have the impact of radically changing the environment into which they move. Beavers are well known for creating new habitats by felling trees and damming water ways. Prairie dogs by tunnelling and turning over the soil, provide accessible habitats for other burrowing mammals, birds, snakes and toads. They also keep the grass nibbled short, providing a favoured habitat for various birds,  as well as enabling the prairie dogs to spot would-be predators – and their whistled alarm alerts other creatures in the vicinity too. 

Many living beings, on land and in water, are important because they can engineer environments that support a greater diversity of life forms than might otherwise be the case. Humans fall into this category of ecosystem engineers but the outcome is not always one that promotes greater biodiversity. 

Counting on day … 154

22nd August 2024

Tool makers 

Both humans and creatures have developed and do use tools to help them make better use of their environment. Bottlenose dolphins carry marine sponges in their beaks to stir ocean-bottom sand and so uncover prey; sea otters and chimpanzees uses stones as hammers to break open shells etc; octopuses use coconut shells – carrying them from place to place -to wear as armour; crows use sticks to winkle insects out of logs.

That humans also use tools, does not per se mark them out as different to other beings in the natural environment – it is just the scale with which humans do this. 

https://www.livescience.com/9761-10-animals-tools.html

Counting on day … 153

21st August 2024

Niche construction

Many creatures – and plants – create niche environments that benefit their well being. For example, many birds make nests as a safe place to raise their young; beavers build dams to create deep waters where they can build a lodge (home) where they will be safe from predators such as wolves and bears; termites build mounds to both protect their underground nests from predators and to ensure cool fresh air for their nest. 

Likewise humans have from early days created niche environments that have helped them thrive – building houses on platforms in a lake to protect them from predators; burning wooded areas to create open spaces where they could graze animals and sow crops; obstructing rivers to trap fish. And we continue to do this! One new venture could be in creating 15 minute cities where we can live more independently of cars and improve social communication.

Counting on day … 151

19th August 2024

If we embrace the definition that humans are as much a part of nature as any other living thing, how does that prompt us to understand humans as contributors to the natural environment?

As hunter gatherers, were early humans any different from other creatures in their interaction with the natural environment?
Like other creatures they would have found ways of getting food – hunting and gathering – and water, finding shelter from the elements and protection from dangers, evolving ways of rearing their young, learning and passing on knowledge about what was safe and what was dangerous in their environment, developing forms of communication to share knowledge, to give warning of danger, and to build social cohesion. They would have developed patterns of living that optimised their survival – and on an ongoing basis adapted these as and when the environment changed around them. 

Counting on … day 150

16th August 2024

There is a movement called ‘We are Nature’ (1) which aims to redefine the word ‘nature’. Dictionary definitions of nature  define nature as being other than what is human. This setting apart appears assumes that  that which is human is superior,more important, than nature, and thus to undervalue nature. The definition this group is looking to introduce would be along the lines of “The living world comprised as the total set of organisms and relationships between them. These organisms include bacteria, fungi, plants and animals (including humans). Some definitions may also include non-living entities as part of nature – such as mountains, waterfalls and cloud formations – in recognition of their important role underpinning the web of life.” This one comes from The Conversation – https://theconversation.com/a-new-campaign-wants-to-redefine-the-word-nature-to-include-humans-heres-why-this-linguistic-argument-matters-229338

If we see humans as being integral to, and not separate from, nature then how will that affect our understanding of what is a natural environment? For surely by this new definition a natural,

 environment is not necessarily an environment free from a human presence or influence? Might a natural environment be better defined then as an environment in which there is a harmonious – long lived? – numerically rich biodiversity?

(1) https://wearenature.org/our-story/


Counting on … day 148

14th August 2024

Whilst not pristine, are there other environments where the impact of humans is minimal such that we can consider them to be natural? Perhaps here we mean a landscape or ecosystem shaped by nature not humans? Perhaps we mean a landscape that was once shaped by humans but has now reverted to one free of human contact?

One such example would be Monks Wood Experimental Station – a four hectare arable field next to a research station which was ploughed after the last crop had been harvested and was then abandoned. It was left without any human interference to see what would happened. Kenneth Mellanby, the then director of the Station, wrote “It might be interesting to watch what happens to this area if man does not interfere. Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?”

Sixty years later and the results can be seen – “a structurally complex woodland with multiple layers of tree and shrub vegetation, and accumulating deadwood as the habitat ages. This complexity offers niches for a wide variety of woodland wildlife, from fungi and invertebrates in the dead logs and branches, to song thrushes, garden warblers and nuthatches which nest in the ground layer, understorey and tree canopy.” https://www.positive.news/environment/rewilding-sixty-years-ago-scientists-let-a-farm-rewild-heres-what-happened/

Counting on … day 146

12th August 2024

The so called ‘Glorious Twelfth’ marks the start of the shooting season for grouse. Over the next few months some 700,000 red grouse will be shot on moors across the UK. These birds, whilst they remain wild, are husbanded by the owners of the grouse moors using methods that involve burning heather and shooting predators and competitors such as foxes, crows and magpies, and birds of prey. The burning of the moorland heather is intended to maximise the new shoots which the grouse feed on, but at the same time it damages the underlying peat and reduces biodiversity, killing insects and small mammals, and by inhibiting the growth of a wider range of native plants. 

Grouse-moors are an artificial construct and do not equate with maintaining a ‘natural’ environment. 

“Grouse are charming, sensitive birds who can survive as far north as the Arctic circle and are devoted parents to their chicks. They deserve better than being killed in cold blood for someone’s twisted idea of entertainment.” https://www.peta.org.uk/blog/grouse-shooting/

Third Sunday of Lent

3rd March 2024

Reflection – readings are below

“The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear and gives light to the eyes.”

The Psalmist reminds us that God’s statutes are there to make us happy.  The psalmist uses statutes as an interchangeable word with commandments, and I think we could add further words which would convey similar meanings: rules, precepts, laws, policies, undertakings, promises etc. All these suggest a relationship and a common understanding between the participants. (Although I can envisage a situation where there may only be one participant: for  example I might promise myself that I will go to bed at ten each day, or go for a daily walk).

In today’s psalm, the Psalmist explores the relationship between God as creator and those bits of creation we might consider to be inanimate – the sun, the stars, the land itself – and how by following the laws of nature, the actions of even inanimate beings praise God. By being true to their identity – that identity God gave them in creating them, they declare the glory of God and testify to the will – the laws – of God. 

Since we too, as humans, are God’s handiwork, and were given our identity – our purpose and calling – by God, then we glorify God and affirm God’s laws – the will of God – by living lives true to that will and calling. 

It is by the power of God – by living according to God’s will, God’s Laws – that we are, says Paul, saved. Contrary wise, if we do not live according to God’s will, God’s laws, but according to the ways of ‘the world’ then we perish. The ways of ‘the world’ in this context do not mean the natural laws, the self sustaining interconnected ways of natural ecosystems. Rather they are the unnatural ways of commodification, commerce, capitalism, self-centred individualism. These do not lead to salvation. They do not ensure flourishing and wellbeing for all. So it is that Paul can parody this perverse set of opposites by saying  ‘God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom’!

Humans are easily distracted from following God’s ways, fromliving in accordance with God’s wisdom. We easily think that we are more important than our neighbour, that our rights trump those of others, that it is ok to steal or kill or destroy someone else’s life if it benefits us. We easily measure our importance as being more important than God, of believing our wisdom takes precedence over God’s. 

It is not surprising that the Book of Exodus gives us a set of God-given commandments to live by. It is not surprising that the Psalmist tells us that God’s laws, God’s ways, are “More to be desired … than gold, more than much fine gold, sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb” and that they will truly enlighten us! It is not surprising that Paul tells us in blunt terms that there is nothing so perverse as human wisdom when compared with that of God.

Paul is quite right to say that God’s wisdom will act like a stumbling block. And it is a good thing to have such a stumbling block, for how else can you turn around someone who is ‘hell-bent’ on ignoring God’s wisdom in favour of worldly wisdom. How else can you break into the mindset that says there is no better way of living than that of capitalism, of commodification, of self interest; that only belief in the world of markets can solve the world’s problems? It is often the case that when someone is so blinkered to other views, so embedded in their own echo chamber, that there needs to be some disruptive action to cause them to halt, to stop and think, to open their eyes to the bigger picture. 

This is often what climate activists are striving to do: to raise the alarm, to wake people and companies, governments and organisations, up to the urgency and scale of the climate crisis. This week across the world, climate activists were raising the alarm for insurance companies. Insurance companies can themselves be directly affected by the impacts of adverse weather events, yet many of them at the same time continue to underwrite fossil fuel projects that will only compound these adverse weather events!

Jesus knew and understood the blinkered and wayward nature of the people he came to save. He saw the ways in which tradition, invested interests, the maintenance of existing power structures, prevented people from following God’s ways, from listening to God’s wisdom, from working with God to tackle the injustices and inequalities that had built up in the world. He saw how misdirection, misplaced values, and corrupted habits, prevented people from truly being the people God had created. How they were prevented from living in harmony with each other and with all of creation. How their lives failed to give glory to God.

In today’s gospel reading we hear how Jesus went into the Temple and disrupted its activities, and that he did so because they were corrupting the relationships between people, between people and other creaturely beings, and between people and God. He disrupted their activities physically and audibly. He allowed his actions to be driven by righteous anger because what was taking place was destructive of human – and creaturely – flourishing and wellbeing. At the same time he did not let his anger run over in to violence to people or to creatures. 

Let us place prayer at the heart of our lives, and let us be zealous in following the ways of God, listening to God’s wisdom and glorifying God through our actions.

Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Psalm 19

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, *
and the firmament shows his handiwork.

2 One day tells its tale to another, *
and one night imparts knowledge to another.

3 Although they have no words or language, *
and their voices are not heard,

4 Their sound has gone out into all lands, *
and their message to the ends of the world.

5 In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *
it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;
it rejoices like a champion to run its course.

6 It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens
and runs about to the end of it again; *
nothing is hidden from its burning heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect
and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the Lord is sure
and gives wisdom to the innocent.

8 The statutes of the Lord are just
and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the Lord is clear
and gives light to the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean
and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,
more than much fine gold, *
sweeter far than honey,
than honey in the comb.

11 By them also is your servant enlightened, *
and in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can tell how often he offends? *
cleanse me from my secret faults.

13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;
let them not get dominion over me; *
then shall I be whole and sound,
and innocent of a great offence.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Counting on … day1.170

12th September 2023

Yesterday I was helping with our local church’s Messy Church which this month was held on Sheen Common. Children with their mums/ carers did a scavenger hunt, made bark rubbings and arranged things they found to make a picture. It was good to see them having such fun whilst getting up close and personal with the natural environment.