20th September 2024
Community gardens can fit into the tiniest spaces and still bring biodiversity benefits. Near our local school a patch of rough ground less than a meter deep and about 10m long was planted with hedge saplings and wild flower plug plants by the children. Since then other plants have been added by members of the local community, making it very much a community-made garden and filling it with colour and variety.
19th September 2024
Of all the green space in London, a little under a third comprises private gardens. (1) How we use our gardens can contribute positively or negatively to improving biodiversity. Solid decking and brick/ concrete driveways prevent wildlife from creating a home, whilst using pesticides and herbicides kill wildlife. On the other hand mowing lawns infrequently (No Mow May etc), planting a year-round range bee friendly plants, and including a mix of of shrubs, trees and plants of different sizes can create a variety of well fed habitats for wild life. (2)
(1) https://www.gigl.org.uk/our-data-holdings/keyfigures/
(2) https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2023/04/increase-garden-biodiversity/
18th September 2024
In 2019 London declared itself to be the first National Park City, to enable residents to live greener, healthier and ‘wilder’ lives, as well as promoting new business opportunities. (1) Already green and blue spaces cover 49.7% of the land.
The fact that an area of land is designated as a National Park does it always mean that it will be used or cared for in such a way as to promote biodiversity. (2)
On the other hand plenty of organisations work really hard to achieve this. In London many organisations are drawing up and implementing biodiversity action plans, including the City of London, the Royal Parks, the Greater London Authority, various London Boroughs, as well as organisations such as the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust, the South East Rivers Trust, Barnes Common Limited, and many more, both smaller and larger. Positive change is possible!
17th September 2024
There are about 250,000 allotments in the UK (the most common plot size is 10 rods, an ancient measurement equivalent 253 square metres). Allotments have many values such as enabling people to grow their own food, to get in touch with the natural world, to escape the confines of a flat or small house, to improve their physical and mental health through the manual work of gardening, and through sociability of being with others. (1) Some allotments owners have commented on the spiritual benefits they receive, which is wonderful link back to the story of the original garden created by God in Eden.
Allotments too could be the means of improving local biodiversity, and can help form green corridors. Green corridors enable wildlife to move easily over long or short distances without having to leave the safety of their natural environment.
If you have an allotment or a garden, here are some suggested ways by which you can improve local biodiversity: https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/news/four-ways-to-boost-allotment-biodiversity
16th September 2024
What if everyone lived within walking distance of a community-run orchard?
Surely that would improve biodiversity, improve people’s connection with the natural world and encourage people to expect and enjoy eating locally grown/ produced food?
Certainly that dream is the ambition of The Orchard Project. (1) Since 2009 they have created or restored 500 plus community orchards across the country – Orchard Map
15th September 2024
Being a follower of Jesus today’s gospel tells us, is not a cake walk. It involves carrying a cross – the burden or consequences of following the ways of Jesus, of loving and loving one’s neighbour without reservation – rather than the ways of the ‘world’ where profit and personal success are the objectives.
Likewise being a prophet – the one who hears and passes on God’s words of wisdom – is never easy. Likewise it is not easy to be one of God’s teachers. Nor is it easy to be a climate activist.
When we are called by God, we are called not just to talk the talk, but to walk the talk. That’s what Jesus did – and it took him to the cross.
Although the world is God’s creation, it is a creation that has been given the freedom to pursue both, and/ or, good and evil. Until the point at which God’s rule – God’s kingdom – is fully accepted and acted upon by all, we are living in a world in which bad things happen – and that might be because of someone’s deliberate wrong doing or it could be because the systems within which we live are flawed.
We can talk the talk – explaining how things should be in a perfect world – in the world of God’s kingdom – but walking that talk is not so easy. We are going to come up against the obstacles and hard places caused by individual or systemic wrong doing. Battling against this, going against the easy option of following the crowd, means we end up carrying a cross too.
Yet if we didn’t go against the flow, if we didn’t stand up to do what’s right, things would never change. So we stand outside places of power – the offices of oil companies, the offices of those who insure fossil fuels, outside the Houses of Parliament, outside cathedrals – telling the truth and calling for integrity and justice. So we take the train and the bus and not the ‘cheaper’ speedier plane. We take the single vegan option. We stand up and campaign for the small islands of the Pacific soon to disappear under the sea. We protest outside oil plants, block garages, and walk slowly down roads calling for an end to the injustice that allows fossil fuels to devastate the climate for everyone.
I think what makes it hard is that only a minority walk this walk, so we are constantly going against the stream. We are seen as eccentric or mad – or even bad. At times it can feel hopeless or pointless: will the changes that need to happen in the world, happen in our lifetime or indeed, in time to avert the worst of the devastation the world is facing.
What keeps us going? God’s love and mercy. The example Jesus has set. The strengthening power of the Spirit. The fellowship of other Christians. Yesterday I was part of a small pilgrimage with a couple of others and we walked and talked and listened and prayed. Time out to enjoy the beauty of creation, to be with God and neighbour.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens–
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Psalm 116:1-8
1 I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *
because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.
2 The cords of death entangled me;
the grip of the grave took hold of me; *
I came to grief and sorrow.
3 Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: *
“O Lord, I pray you, save my life.”
4 Gracious is the Lord and righteous; *
our God is full of compassion.
5 The Lord watches over the innocent; *
I was brought very low, and he helped me.
6 Turn again to your rest, O my soul, *
for the Lord has treated you well.
7 For you have rescued my life from death, *
my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
8 I will walk in the presence of the Lord *
in the land of the living.
James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue– a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
13th September 2024
Many of the things for which urban trees offer us protection are at the same time threats to the tree themselves.
Urban trees suffer from:
The first years of a newly planted urban tree are critical. They need to be kept well watered, their root space kept clear of weeds and their trunk kept free of abrasive damage. GreenBlue offers some useful advice – https://greenblue.com/gb/who-is-responsible-for-maintaining-our-public-trees/
Urban tree stress https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/9/932
12th September 2024
Trees benefit their environment – and this is of particular value in urban areas – by providing:
For further information –
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/benefits-of-urban-trees/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/cities-urban-trees-climate-change/
11th September 2024
Trees are just as important in urban as in rural areas: “They have a huge impact on local wildlife, mental and physical health, and pollution levels, while making the places we live in more beautiful.” The Woodland Trust (1)
In London there are estimated to be 8,421,000 trees (2), whilst globally urban trees whilst covering only 2% of the land, comprise about 8% of the world’s tree diversity with 10 billion trees of more than 100 types. (3)
Looking after – and indeed expanding – these urban forests is clearly important for biodiversity.
(2) Rogers, K., Sarcre, K., Goodenough, J. & Doick, K. Valuing London’s Urban Forest: Results of the London i-Tree Eco Project. (Treeconomics, London, 2015)
(3) https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/Biodiversity_infographic_final.pdf
10th September 2024
Every year trees such as the oak, the horse chestnut and the beech, produce vast numbers of seeds from which hardly even one will make it to become itself a mature tree. Rather their seeds will be eaten by squirrels, birds, deer and – if they are there – pigs or wild boar. There is a balance between the food supplied and the number of creatures fed. But then once every few years, the trees produce an excessive number of seeds – a mast year. For this year only the supply of food exceeds consumers and from this crop, the next generation of trees may sprout. This fascinating understanding of supply and demand comes from Tristan Gooley’s book, How to Read a Tree, which I thoroughly recommend.
The Green Tau 