Tag: Sustainability

Counting on … day 5

5th January 2024

Refills for groceries and other household items

Following on from the principle that reducing waste is good, the growing market for refill shopping enables us to avoid single use plastic bottles and other packaging. One of the oldest schemes must be the refillable milk bottle – and this has been making  a  comeback over recent years, boosted by Covid.

Many milk delivery services offer more than just milk in refillable bottles with, for example, fruits juices, yogurts, washing up liquid, shampoo and even Coca Cola available in returnable, refillable bottles. (https://www.milkandmore.co.uk/)

There are also high street shops offering refill options for goods as diverse as sultanas , peanut butter, tahini and basimati rice. Locally in south west London I use the Source Bulk Food store – https://thesourcebulkfoods.co.uk/ . Whilst for coffee beans, our local Artisan Café, has its own refill scheme. 

Refill schemes are also being trialed by various supermarkets, coordinated  by the Refill Coalition group – https://www.refillcoalition.com/

Counting on…. Day 1.157

23rd August 2023

If we need to slow down agricultural expansion, do we know what caused its expansion?  There is I’m sure no one answer but a multiplicity of interconnecting reasons. 

  • Population growth. Globally we now need to feed over 8 billion people, up from 6 billion in 1999, and 3 billion in 1960. Yet researchers tell us that we could feed 10 billion people without exceeding the planet’s environmental boundaries  (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0465-1)
  • Income growth – as people become richer they choose to eat more expensive foods which are often  more resource expensive too – eg imported tropical fruits, sugar based foods, and especially meat
  • Developments in agriculture that allow more intensive production such as pig breeds that can reach a slaughter weight in 4 months; high protein feed made from soy beans that rapidly fatten chickens; high yielding grains that combine with fertilisers and pesticides to increase harvests. 
  • Financial rewards that encourage rain forests to be cleared to make way for sugar plantations, soy crops and cattle ranching. 
  • Irrigation and airfreight that allow crops such as asparagus, avocados and blueberries to be grown in the southern hemisphere and imported as out of season alternatives for the northern hemisphere. 
  • Social changes that have made chicken a staple rather than a special treat, that have reduced the popularity of foods – in the UK – such as cabbage and runner beans, replacing them with courgettes and peppers. 
  • Social changes that mean less food is home produced, that less food is preserved at home (eg jam/ chutney/ sauerkraut),  that less food is home grown.
  • Increasing quantities of food going to waste – caused by social changes and increasingly long supply chains.

Counting on …. Day 1.153

19th August 2023

Balancing the needs of the planet, the needs of indigenous peoples for sustainable livelihoods, and the pressures of developing countries who see industrialisation as the way forwards, how can places like the Amazon rain forest survive? The Amazon is “home to an estimated 400 billion trees belonging to 16,000 different species, more than 1,300 species of birds, tens of thousands of species of plant, and 20% of the world’s freshwater resources. It is also estimated to contain more than 120bn tonnes of carbon, making it a vital carbon sink. But over the past half-century, the advance of cattle ranching, logging, mining, soy farming and oil exploration has devastated huge swathes of the region, pushing it towards what scientists fear could be an irreversible tipping point that would cause the forest to die off.” 

The recent Amazon summit at Belém tried to address some of these issues, including how the rainforest can be protected whilst providing for the indigenous people so that there wellbeing  and living standards can be improved. “The rainforest is neither a void that needs occupying nor a treasure trove to be looted. It is a flowerbed of possibilities that must be cultivated,” said Lula da Silva, the Brazilian President. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/08/brazilian-president-lula-pledges-new-amazon-dream-at-rainforest-summit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on …day 1.118

22nd May 2023

Sustainable living means not consuming more than can be replaced or replenished.
Helium is a light gas that once released escapes beyond the limits of earth’s atmosphere – and thus from our viewpoint becomes irreplaceable. Helium forms naturally through the radioactive decomposition and decay of certain elements such as uranium and thorium. The gas has thus formed either escapes directly into – and out of – our atmosphere, or else becomes trapped with in rock pockets. This latter is the gas that is extracted for commercial use – but the supply is limited. The gas cannot be artificially manufactured.

Long term or excessive use of helium is not sustainable. However helium gas is currently a critical part of the operation of MRI scanners. These two factors are good reasons why we should not waste helium to fill party balloons. An additional reason for avoiding party balloons is the damage to the environment caused by the remnants of balloons – even biodegradable ones can block drains, choke or poison birds and animals.

Are there alternatives to helium balloons? In terms of party declarations, bunting (paper or fabric) which can be reused and finally recycled, paper chains, paper balloons, banners – Google these and you’ll find a wealth of ideas.

Counting on … day 397 

4th December 2022

What does your money do? 

I love the advertising over the  Oxfam shop’s front. Here is a shop where your money will grow vegetables, fill classrooms, drill wells, empowers women and fights poverty – wow! With a little thought money can do some amazingly positive things. 

Counting on … day 359

25th October 2022

Professor Kate Fletcher of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion recommends caution when clothing companies claim green credentials for their garments. “The most powerful thing we can do “ she told Positive News, “is not to run out to the shops,  but just to really want what we’ve already got..”  

This sentiment applies not just to clothes but all the things we surround ourselves with.

 Counting on … day 345

10th October 2022

Green Christian advocates ‘Joy in Enough’. Enough is about what is sustainable for the planet ; joy is about pleasure and fun and contentment. Christmas is a couple of months away but now may be a good time to plan for a joyously sustainable Christmas. Talk to family and friends what this might look like for Christmas is a time of coming together. 

Counting on … day 292 

28th August 2022

For vegans – and others – choose sustainable seaweed! 

Seaweed can be eaten as a food in its own right and as an additive in food and non-products (such as toothpaste). It can also be used in making fertilisers, plastic alternatives and in animal food. 98% of seaweed thus consumed is grown commercially – and it is an expanding sector. Japan is the largest producer of seaweed. Here in the UK most seaweed is harvested from the wild – albeit commercially. If you want to give seaweed a try, check out companies such as the Cornish Seaweed Company https://www.cornishseaweed.co.uk/ or Mara Seaweed https://maraseaweed.com/

 Counting on …day 291

27th August 2022

For fish eaters, choosing sustainable fish will help preserve fish stocks and biodiversity in the oceans. The Marine Stewardship Council has a certification scheme with a blue badge indicating which fish products come from sustainable sources. This scheme covers fresh, frozen and tinned fish. Check when eating out whether the fish on the menu is sustainable.

https://www.msc.org/what-you-can-do/10-reasons-to-choose-the-blue-fish-label

Laudate Si: discussion notes 3

“…humanity has changed profoundly, and the accumulation of constant novelties exalts a superficiality which pulls us in one direction… Let us refuse to resign ourselves to this, and continue to wonder about the purpose and meaning of everything.” Section 113

  1. Let’s wonder. What is the purpose and meaning of creation? 

2. Is creation God’s gift to us to do with it what ever we want? 

Has it been given to us so that we can benefit from it, in return for tending it?

Has it been given to us so that we can continue to work with God as co-creators of a still evolving creation?

3. Is creation a stockpile of resources from which we can pick and choose individual bits with no regard for the rest?

If we harvest all the sand eels to make fish oils, do we have a responsibility for puffins and other creatures that rely on sand eels for food?

If we chop down the forest to create grazing land, do we have a responsibility for plants and animals that will die because the land will dry out?

If we replace jungle with palm oil plantations, do we have a responsibility to re-home the orang-utans who lived there?

4. In an ideal world, governments would collaborate and legislate to protect the environment, and to prevent such abuse and misuse of resources. As we do not live in such a world, what can we as individuals and as groups do to protect the environment?

5. Pope Francis reminds us, section 115, that not only has God given us the earth, God has also given us the gift of our fellow human beings. Do we treat them any better than the way we treat rest of creation? 

Can you think of examples of humans been treated as commodities, or as a means to an end?

6. If we fail to treat all human beings with respect and care, are we surprised that humans struggle to care for the environment?

7. Conversely can we properly care for the environment, if we do not also care for the humans who inhabit the same space? 

Can we protect African elephants unless we also pay attention to the needs of the local farmers and businesses who occupy the same land? Can we protect mangroves from clearance for shrimp fisheries unless we provide alternative employment opportunities? Can we rewild grouse moors unless we provide alternative employment for local people?

8. Pope Francis, in section 124, reminds us that God created the first humans not to do nothing, but to tend and till the earth, ie to work. Their work was to assist what grew in the garden and to benefit each other’s well being – and presumably that of the animals too. To work gainfully is a Godly calling – a vocation – for humanity. 

In what ways do you feel that your life fulfils that vocation?

9. “Work should be the setting for this rich personal growth, where many aspects of life enter into play: creativity, planning for the future, developing our talents, living out our values, relating to others, giving glory to God.” Section 127

Do all people have access to such opportunities? Do all people find in their work the means of glorifying God? What prevents people experiencing work in these ways?

Could it equally be that case that some people become so overwhelmed by work, that these benefits are lost?

10. We are learning to understand the concept of sustainable development, and of the sustainable use of resources. Should we also be thinking in terms of sustainable employment?

What might that look like? How might it give a sense of meaning and purpose to life?

11. How might we measure this? In terms of a living wage, of job satisfaction, of the degree of autonomy in making decisions, quality of the working environment, levels of team work and co working?

12. How might we as residents of a comfortable suburb, enable or promote sustainable employment for a greater number of people? 

What questions or reassurances might we seek from employers and producers? How might we use our purchasing power to good effect?

Thank you God

for giving us a vocation 

to be tillers and carers of the earth.

Remind us that it is a vocation we share with 

all that lives on this planet

so that we may be attentive to the needs and gifts of all.

Amen