Tag: Sustainability

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.

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

Green Tau issue 125

Defence or security?

16th June 2026

A recent article in the Church Times reported on 

The director of Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice, at Trinity College, Dublin, Dr Jude Lal FernandoI, was among the participants, alongside Anglican church leaders, theologians, church partners, and USPG support. He warned that security concerns were increasingly being prioritised over communities’ basic needs, while hundreds of millions were still living in extreme poverty. “When space for peace and dialogue decreases, the space for violence and oppression increases, especially for women and children,” he said.

This led me to ponder what is the difference between security and defence?

Defence typically refers to the armed services and all their equipment and resources that can be used to repel enemy invasion either of our territory (here in the UK or elsewhere, eg the Falklands) or to support our allies where they are similarly threatened. Such defence would also include defence against cyber attack. 

Security I think is a wider issue that encompasses not just protection from enemy attack or aggression, but is about safeguarding the wellbeing of society as a whole. Thus security issues would include:

  • Food security: can we feed our population? Can we do so largely independent of imports? Do we keep enough in store to weather emergencies and/or supply disruption? Do we pay enough for farmers to survive financially? Do we ensure sufficient incomes so that everyone can afford healthy food? Do we grow the right range of crops (inc livestock) that allows us also to ensure the security of biodiversity and the environment?
  • Health security: are we doing enough to ensure the population is in good health? Do we have enough medical staff, hospital beds, drugs etc? Do we ensure everyone has access to a healthy diet? Do we ensure everyone has access to secure, safe housing – ie accommodation that does not damage their health? Do we ensure everyone has access to dental care? To mental health care? To social care? Do we ensure everyone has access to green spaces essential for mental wellbeing and to sports/ exercise facilities etc essential for physical health?
  • Community security: do we ensure everyone has access to education? That everyone can read, write, calculate and interpret information such that they are not likely to be deceived by false information. Do we ensure enough community spaces that are essential for developing and maintaining good social bonds and networks? Do we do enough to tackle discrimination essential for ensuring equality and harmony within communities?
  • Job security: do we ensure that everyone has access to an appropriate and fulfilling job? Do we ensure everyone has suitable skills and qualifications to enable them to contribute to the economy? Do we ensure sufficient investment in businesses to ensure that they contribute to our wellbeing and do not damage our environment? Do we ensure sufficient investment in our businesses that we can be self-reliant for all essentials? Do we ensure that all stakeholders in a business – staff, customers, nature etc – have a fair share of power and influence in determining the shape and future of the business? Do we ensure that everyone derives a fair benefit from the economy? 
  • Economic security: do we ensure that the economy that supports us financially does so in a way that is fair for everyone, that allows everyone to afford a healthy lifestyle, that protects the environment, that is sustainable over the long term?
  • Energy security: do we ensure we can produce enough energy ourselves to be self sufficient? Do we ensure that we do so at price that is affordable? Do we ensure all buildings, equipment and infrastructure is energy efficient? Do we have measures to ration water if necessary?
  • Water security: do we ensure that everyone has access to sufficient water for a healthy lifestyle? Do we ensure water efficiency at every level to ensure we do not consume more than we extract from our water resources? Do balance the need to maintain water resources against competing demands – whether from industry, agriculture, data centres, domestic users – and do we have measures to ration water if necessary?
  • Environmental security: do we look after the wellbeing of the natural environment to ensure that it can continue to support our wellbeing? Do we see it an essential life support system ensuring clean water supplies, for flood prevention, for clean air, plants to absorb carbon dioxide and provide protection from heat and winds, biodiversity to ensure fertile soils for food and insects for pollination, biodiversity to enrich life and safeguard against future unknowns?
  • Political security: do we ensure fair and democratic forms of government? Do we ensure truthfulness from political parties in both what they say and what they do? Do we ensure fair access to politicians such that those with money and power do not override the views of others? Do we ensure freedom of speech and nonviolent protest? Do we ensure a society where everyone feels valued and everyone feels their voice can be heard?
  • Judicial security: do we ensure a judicial system that provides access to justice to everyone and which is not influenced or used by those with money and power? Do we ensure fair policing? Do we ensure appropriate sentencing that will benefit the whole of society including both those who are victims and those who are offenders? Do we ensure a well designed and resourced custodial system that protects society and ensures the wellbeing of those imprisoned? 
  • Internet etc security: do we ensure that our internet and other communications systems are secure, that they cannot be compromised by error or deliberate intent? Do we ensure there are other systems in place such that if primary systems fail, essential services will be maintained?  Do we ensure that social media etc enhances rather than detracts from our wellbeing?
  • National security: do we ensure all the above which are essential for national security? Do we ensure good diplomatic, trade and welfare relations with other nations such that we work together to ensure peace? Do we ensure through good diplomatic, trade and welfare relations the wellbeing of other nations? – for unless they are at peace and thriving there will always be the risk of conflict and war that will impact us as part of a shred global economy.  Do we with care for the consequences of war, ensure  our nation has appropriately trained personnel and equipment that we can defend ourselves attack?

It seems to me that this bigger vision that the need for security rather than just focusing on defence, is essential if we are to be a happy secure nation. Indeed I’m not sure we gain much from defence if what is being defended doesn’t ensure happiness and well being for everyone.

Counting on 2026 …. Day 55

8th June

I am lucky enough to have space to grow strawberries and raspberries. I don’t garden with any particular skill but I do enjoy buying a bag of straw each year from the pet shop, explaining that it is for my strawberries!

Now is peak fruiting time and every day I pick a pudding bowl of raspberries and strawberries. Those we don’t eat fresh I turn into jam – and in the winter I shall enjoy that taste of summer!

Growing fruit keeps me in tune with the seasons – I guess one would find the same with a traditional greengrocers too or a seasonally-minded veg box scheme. Growing fruit encourages me to preserve the excess: having grown it, I don’t want any to go to waste. 

Eating what is in season and preserving what is in season for later in the year, builds up our resilience. It helps make for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Prayers for the ecosystems of North America

28th March 2026

Happy are those  who do not follow the advice of the wicked. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,  their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. Ps 1:1a,3

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.

A Reading Proverbs 22:16-18

Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss. The words of the wise: Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching; for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you  if all of them are ready on your lips.

Each week during Lent I am  focusing on a different continent; this week North America

North America extends from the tiny Aleutian Islands in the northwest to the Isthmus of Panama in the south. The continent includes the enormous island of Greenland in the northeast and the small island countries and territories that dot the Caribbean Sea and western North Atlantic Ocean. In the far north, the continent stretches halfway around the world, from Greenland to the Aleutians. But at Panama’s narrowest part, the continent is just 50 km across. North America can be divided into five physical regions: the mountainous west, the Great Plains, the Canadian Shield, the varied eastern region, and the Caribbean. Mexico and Central America’s western coast are connected to the mountainous west, while its lowlands and coastal plains extend into the eastern region. Within these regions are all the major types of biomes in the world. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/north-america-physical-geography/

Glory to God 

Creator of successions of mountains ranges:

We praise you for the awe and wonder of these regions, 

their reminder that we are but humans.

We marvel at the power of water to carve out canyons 

and the power of water to generate energy.

Glory to God

Creator of forests and plains:

We praise you for the richness of their biodiversity, for tall prairie grasses and even taller trees; 

for the smallest grasshoppers to the mighty bison, 

for the whistling marmots and black bears that huff and grunt.

Glory to God

Creator of rivers, lakes and wetlands:

We praise you for the Great Lakes and the fresh water they contain, 

for the Mississippi River and the fertile soil it nurtures, 

and for the wetlands of the Everglades, the 360 plus species of bird  

and the plump grandeur of the manatees.

Glory to God, 

Creator of tundra and ice: 

We praise you for the ingenuity of life that adapts to the extremes of climate and geography.

We marvel at the diversity of life – lichens and moss, polar bears and caribou, 

and the many migrating birds such as the Arctic tern.

Merciful God,

Creator of human kind, 

Forgive our greed that has mined land and sea for fossil fuels, jeopardising our future.

Forgive our greed that industrialises farming, destroying soils and draining lakes. 

Forgive our greed that turns animals into commodities and disregards their sentient nature. 

Forgive our greed for consumer goods that strips the earth’s reserves.

Merciful God,

Creator of our brothers and sisters:

Forgive the casualness with which we let the rich grow richer 

and the poor poorer.

Forgive the casualness with which we let the rich break the laws 

and yet still penalise the poor.

Forgive the carelessness with which we discard what we buy 

ignoring the meagre pay of those who labour. 

Guiding God,

Source  of all wisdom, 

Transform our hearts and minds, turn the direction of our hands and feet 

so that with alacrity and commitment we will reform our lives 

and live only in harmony with your creation. 

Amen.

The Grace

Counting on 2026 …. Day 21

6th February 

In response to the government’s national security report ‘Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security’ (1)  Sustain responded with its reading of the urgency of the situation, making the following recommendations:-

“The Government must now look to planning, nature recovery and food and farming policy to mutually support each other to deliver the wholescale changes in diets and food production that security experts recommend. Farming policy must prioritise global ecosystem recovery, and nature and climate policy include measures to grow more foods that boost our resilience and aren’t heavily reliant on imports. Immediate actions include:

  • Halting any further expansion of intensive livestock production
  • Investing in projects like Bridging the Gap, and schemes like Welsh Veg in Schools, to unlock profitable supply chains that increase the production and consumption of organic fruit, vegetables and legumes
  • A horticulture investment strategy that boosts commercial production of UK vegetables, beans, pulses, legumes and nuts, as well as increasing the UK market for these products 
  • Ending the exploitative practices of large agri-food corporations, and give farmers more power to set prices and market conditions
  • Funding farmer cooperatives, networks, and mentoring schemes to scale agroecological farming through knowledge sharing, pooling resources and building collective market power “ (2)

It is frustrating that there are so many clear solutions to the crisis we face, but so little willingness on the part of the Government to enact the policies and legislation that would enable these changes to be made – because market forces won’t do this alone and many people whether farmers, retailers or consumers are trapped by unrestrained market forces.  

  1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024-introduction

(2) https://www.sustainweb.org/news/jan26-national-security-risk-report/

9th November 2025

Reflection with readings below

The first chapter of the book of Haggai is set a month before today’s passage. In it Haggai is told by God that it is not yet time to rebuild the Lord’s house. But then God speaks again asking Haggai to consider the wellbeing of the people – they have planted much but harvested little; they have something to drink but not enough to satisfy their thirst; they have clothes but not enough to keep warm. And God says “Give careful thought to your ways.”

It seems that God is setting the ground – maybe enacting a parable – that challenges the people to understand that there are different ways of living. They can live according to the ways of the past, of convention, which don’t  satisfy their needs, or they can live according to the ways of God which will satisfy all their needs. And so it is in the next month that God’s word to Haggai calls on the people to restore God’s house and so restore their own well-being – and handsomely so with much wealth!

For the people of Judah, the temple was the house of God that had been destroyed by the Babylonian invaders. Now that some of those exiled to Babylon have returned to Jerusalem, the desire is to rebuild the temple. But for us in the 2st century might we rather consider the Earth as being God’s house? 

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” Acts 17:24 

And if we look at the Earth as God’s temple, do we see it as a place that has been well cared for, a place of peace and beauty? Or do we see a place that is broken and damaged, and in need of repair? 

When we look at the wellbeing of our fellow creatures (human and nonhuman)do we not see communities that do not have enough to eat and drink, that do not have adequate clothing and protection? Could that be because we are not living in accordance with God’s ways?  Are we misusing the world’s resources such that the needs of many are not satisfied? Surely it is therefore time to reassess and redirect the way we live? 

Absolutely! Time and again we hear scientists warning us that our continued use of fossil fuels and of greenhouse gas emitting practices is continuing to fuel the climate crisis. We are now on track for more than 2C of warming. This will ensure brings even more extreme weather events – droughts, storms, wild fires and hurricanes such as Melissa last week – more food shortages (over the last three years, British farmers have lost the equivalent of a year’s supply of bread because of adverse weather affecting harvests) – more deaths from excess heat, the increasing loss of species and destruction of delicate ecosystems, etc. 

We also hear social welfare and justice campaigners telling us that the gap between rich and poor is growing; that people’s lives are being diminished not because the resources aren’t there, but because they are not being made available; that they are not being shared fairly. We hear that mental ill health is rocketing;  that corporate power is trumping democracy; that the justice systems favours governments over individuals, and big businesses over everyone. Injustice is endemic world wide.

And we hear of governments ignoring the warning signs, of governments focusing on those with loudest voices, of governments focusing on the next election not our corporate long term survival. Next week COP30 begins its deliberations. Participating nations knew well in advance that they would have to come to this meeting with updated plans to reduce their national emissions in line with the net zero targets.  In fact they have known this since the  signing the Paris Agreement in 2015. Yet many have not even submitted a plan, and of those that have, none have been sufficiently ambitious to keep the world on track to avoid even a 2C rise in temperatures!

Absolutely it is time to reassess and redirect the way we live.

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.

Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22

1 I will exalt you, O God my King, *
and bless your Name for ever and ever.

2 Every day will I bless you *
and praise your Name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; *
there is no end to his greatness.

4 One generation shall praise your works to another *
and shall declare your power.

5 I will ponder the glorious splendour of your majesty *
and all your marvellous works.

18 The Lord is righteous in all his ways *
and loving in all his works.

19 The Lord is near to those who call upon him, *
to all who call upon him faithfully.

20 He fulfils the desire of those who fear him; *
he hears their cry and helps them.

21 The Lord preserves all those who love him, *
but he destroys all the wicked.

22 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; *
let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Counting on … day 127

8th  August 2025

We live in a time of global shortages as well as global overconsumption, so living with enough may involve re-examining what ‘enough’ looks like. 

Whilst  I can get all that my family needs, such as foods, clothes, shelter, medicine etc,  there are other people who cannot either access or afford these essentials. Should I reduce the amount  I think I need, to make more available  for others? 

Isn’t that the dilemma of Earth Overshoot Day? Here in the west in consuming what we ‘need’ for our comfortable lifestyles, we are doing so at the expense of other people, often those living in the global south. 

If for example, eating meat on a regular basis means we are ‘using’ agricultural land that could otherwise be used to grow food to better feed others or that could be better used to restore biodiversity and/ or store carbon, then should we not significantly reduce our consumption of meat? 

Enough becomes eating less meat.

As well as meat, we might consider reducing our western levels of consumption of electronic and electrical goods which use large proportions of limited resources  such as lithium and copper. These limited resources might be better used to meet the more pressing needs of others? (Or being left in the ground so as not to damage the environment).

Enough becomes consuming fewer electrical goods.

And might we also consider how much plastic we consume? Plastic use becomes yet one more reason for companies  to justify extracting more carbon-emitting oil from the ground. Plastic waste causes widespread pollution damaging both our own health and the environments of others across the globe.

Enough  becomes consuming less plastic – especially single use items and plastic packaging.

There are many such ways in which we can re-examine what enough looks like.