The Green Tau

Counting on … day 101

7th May 2024

Plastic is such an invasive pollutant. A few years ago we kept a tally over a week of how much plastic was coming into the house and then worked out whether there were ways of avoiding such plastic in the future. Sometimes the solution was simple – not putting fruit in a plastic bag at the supermarket. Sometimes it needed a little more research – finding a toilet paper that didn’t come wrapped in plastic (we now buy recycled paper toilet roll from Naked Sprout, a B Corp, which comes in a cardboard box).

More importantly the solution was a change in attitude – don’t buy it if it’s wrapped in plastic whether it’s a cake in the cafe or a pen in the stationers. And of habit – taking a keep cup or refillable water bottle when out and about.

We’re not plastic totally free – my husband enjoys sliced supermarket bread and even vegan butter and margarine come in plastic packaging. During the Big Plastic Count we totalled 6 pieces of plastic.

Counting on … day 100

6th May 2024

We are lucky enough to have a good sized garden. Not being successful growers of vegetables, we have chosen to make the garden more of a wildlife haven. We don’t use pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers – other than home made compost. Nor do we use peat. This approach also means we aren’t buying things that come in plastic bottles, bags or containers.

Over the years we have planted a number of fruit trees – apple, plum, pear, cherry, fig – as well as having raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, currant and gooseberry bushes and a grape vine. In between the fruit grows a mix of herbs, self seeding salads and green leaf crops, bulbs, and wild flowers. Other flower beds are a mix of roses, herbs, and perennial plants, whilst the lawns remain uncut for most of the year. I have tried to transform these into meadows by transplanting into the grass suitable plants such as buttercups, plantain, ox eye daisies and sorrel etc. The garden also has a pond with flags, buttercups and pond weed, and is home to small pond creatures including dragon fly larvae. Usually there is frogspawn but none this year, which is disappointing.

We replenish a number of bird feeders daily and have a bee hotel and a dead hedge all to encourage more wildlife.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

5th May 2024

Reflection – readings follow on below

Psalm 98 extols the victory of God that will extend to the ends of the earth, and which will be celebrated with joy by not just the people but by all creation – plants and animals, and hills and rivers. It is prophetic, encouraging us to look forward and to work towards that future age of glory. And in the fullness of time that victory will be won: God’s kingdom will reign supreme over the whole earth.

If Christ’s resurrection shows his victory over death, then surely the challenge and the hope now is for Christ’s victory over the world! Here I am using the world to describe that rule, that way of life, in which humans are destructive of the environment, are destructive of the wellbeing of their brethren, are greedy and selfish, and who repel all that is good and loving and of God. To achieve victory over the world will be to establish God’s kingdom, God’s rule firmly and for ever on the earth. This victory will produce peace and wellbeing, justice and compassion for all. It will remove war fare and aggression, persecution and oppression. It will end exploitation and build up the common good.

This endeavour – the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth – is one that is ongoing, that is ceaselessly being pursued by Christ through the power of the Holy Sprit. It is an endeavour which Christ shares with us, inviting us to be alongside him. As the gospel of John reminds us, Jesus has appointed us to go forth and bear fruit. We are to establish – plant – God’s commandments and love throughout all the earth. These commands will achieve victory if we adhere to them and share them, ‘for whatever is born of God conquers the world’.

This is not to say that the task will be easy. We see in the gospel stories how Jesus’s disciples – even when they were living alongside him – found his example hard to follow. But we are commanded, and must strive, to love our siblings for that is how we love God. So often however – our ego, our self confidence, our self assurance, gets in the way. We doubt that others will behave in like manner towards us leaving us exposed to suffering and loss and ridicule. We fear giving too much love – and too much of what we own – to our siblings for fear they will not reciprocate.

Is that why we come to church, we we form communities, so that we can support and encourage and reassure each other of the importance and the power of loving our siblings? Maybe we need to remind ourselves and renew our acceptance, of the gift of the Holy Spirit? Jesus does not leave us alone to undertake this endeavour of establishing God’s kingdom on earth. He is with us all the way -just sometimes we look away or ignore him.

Be bold, be full of love.

Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptising these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Psalm 98

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, *
for he has done marvellous things.

2 With his right hand and his holy arm *
has he won for himself the victory.

3 The Lord has made known his victory; *
his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4 He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel, *
and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

5 Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands; *
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

6 Sing to the Lord with the harp, *
with the harp and the voice of song.

7 With trumpets and the sound of the horn *
shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

8 Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, *
the lands and those who dwell therein.

9 Let the rivers clap their hands, *
and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,
when he comes to judge the earth.

10 In righteousness shall he judge the world *
and the peoples with equity.

1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

Counting on … day 99

3rd May 2024

Food waste is an issue in homes too. We aim to minimise such waste by not buying more perishable food items than we need. Getting used to how much a person eats, and how much makes a serving, helps. As does a shopping list. Additionally as most of our meals are cooked from scratch it is is easy to prepare only as much food as is going to be eaten. If there are leftovers they are refrigerated and become the next day’s lunch.

Tea bags, coffee grounds, the outer leaves of a cabbage or onion skins all go in the compost heap. Being vegan there are no bones or skins to be disposed. Root vegetables are washed and used, peel on. Apple cores become cider vinegar, and lemon rinds become preserved lemon. Excess amounts of root and cabbage-like vegetables become sauerkraut, and surplus fruit from the garden is bottled, or made into jam or chutney. During the summer the excessive growth of nasturtium leaves and rocket are made into pesto and bottled for use in the winter.

And it is surprising how many different fruits and vegetables you can use to make a delicious soup!

Further reading – https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/household-food-and-drink-waste-united-kingdom-2021-22

https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Eco Tips

Counting on … day 98

2nd May 2024

I would like to say that we grow all our own fruit and vegetables – but the snails have a different view on this! We get the bulk of our fruit and vegetables from OddBox which specialises in filling its boxes with foods that would otherwise go to waste – either because of a glut in the fields or a downturn in demand at the supermarket, or items being too big/ too small/ too wonky. The produce comes from the UK, Europe and other parts of the globe (but only if it has come by land or sea – not air).

OddBox reports “Every box makes a difference – by rescuing a Medium Fruit & Veg box every week for three months, you’d save a whopping 85kg of fruit and veg. Roughly 200 meals’ worth.”

This is topped up with some from the garden – salad leaves, nettles and chard, and summer fruits and berries – and from a local deli cum greengrocer.

Ideally all the produce we buy would be organic which we could do by swooping an organic fruit and veg box – but on balance we have gone for the reducing food waste option. Food waste accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Food wasted is also water wasted and a poor utilisation of arable land.

https://www.oddbox.co.uk/why

Further reading on the issues around food waste – https://www.sofea.uk.com/blog/the-environmental-impact-of-food-waste/

Counting on … day 97

1st May 2024

As well as seeking a sustainable supplier for beans and pulses, we have also sought out sustainably motivated suppliers for other food stuffs.

Our flour comes from Priors Flour and is made from locally grown organic grains which are milled in a windmill! Its small scale business model maintains good human relations – a person who answers questions, and a company which can shut down to allow staff a holiday – and preserves an old but still highly functional building. And the flour is full of good feel and flavour.

Our oats – for porridge and oatcakes – comes from Pimhill which grows, mill and sells organic oats, and which come compactly packed in paper packaging. (Waste and plastic free is another feature we support).

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Counting on … day 96

30th April 2024

Even within the option a vegan diet, it is possible to look for the more sustainable options. The bulk of our protein comes from beans and pulses. By buying these from Hodmedod we can opt for beans and pulses – as well as pasta, chia seeds, quinoa and other staples – that are grown in the UK. This supports the UK’s farming industry and especially in these cases, smaller farms and businesses including many innovating with new varieties. It also reduces food miles – the distances over which food is transported from field to plate.

As well as buying dried beans, we buy bean flours from Hodmedod which adds to the richness of the dishes we eat. We also buy Brazil nuts from them which are wild-harvested nuts that come directly from the Kayapó people of Brazil. This is solidarity trading which ensures the protection of the local forest and an income for the indigenous people.

Counting on … day 95

29th April 2024

For a change of emphasis, I plan over the next few weeks to look at some of the things we do as a household to live more sustainably. Maybe what we do might prompt some thoughts for you, and maybe you will have some ideas to share as well.

I follow a vegan diet and as I am the main cook, all home cooking is vegan!

Vegan diets have a smaller carbon footprint and cause less damage to the climate – research suggests somewhere in the region of 75% less! The food grown for vegan diets uses less water and less land – largely because of the significant amounts of land and water needed to grow feed for farm animals. Needing less land has two benefits – first the ability to grow more food for a growing population, and second the ability to set aside more farm land for rewilding and restoring levels of biodiversity.

I also chose a vegan diet on the grounds of animal welfare. Even eating a vegetarian diet involves the slaughter of young animals – principally male chicks and male calves – as well as the likelihood that the females will have stressful lives of repeated birthing.

I can see that for some people raising low intensity livestock can be a key part of a farm’s ecology, and that eating small amounts of meat and dairy would be consistent with that.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

28th April 2024

Reflection with readings below.

From today’s psalm: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.” When all on earth recognise God – when all on earth understand the wisdom of living according to God’s will, according to the ways of God’s kingdom – then there will be peace for all, then salvation of the whole earth will be complete.

Earlier this week I took part in a Passover Seder. The words used had been produced by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. It spoke of our universal need to be rescued from a narrow place, a place of constriction: ‘Mitzyrayim’ – which is also the word used to mean Egypt – and of a desire for all to be free, finishing with the words, ‘Next year in freedom!’ There was a strong emphasis on inclusivity, on this being a meal for any and all to share. One of the items included on the Seder plate was an orange representing the the fruitful contributions made by women, queer and trans people.

The story from Acts also tells of the importance of inclusivity. The Ethiopian – who may have been a Jew or a Gentile but we don’t know – would not have been allowed to go beyond the outer public court in the Temple. His status as a eunuch would have prohibited it even if he were Jewish. However much he desired to worship God, he would always have kept behind this barrier. But when Philip unpacks for him what Jesus the messiah has achieved, through his death and resurrection, in terms of a new relationship with God, he asks to be baptised, to become one in this new union. Tellingly, the Eunuch says to Philip, ‘What is to prevent me – what bars me – from being baptised?’

This new chapter in the relationship between God and humanity that has been established by Jesus is one of inclusivity: it is about salavation for all.

Jesus, when asked what one must do to be saved, said that there were two key commandments – that we should love God with all our being, and that we should love our neighbour as ourself. Love is the way of salvation, the way of God’s kingdom. The writer of John’s letter explores all the possibilities by which we can understand and be part of God’s love. To love is to love God. To love is to be like God. To love is to love one’s sisters and brothers – if we cannot love them all, then we cannot love God. God’s love is based on inclusivity.

In John’s gospel Jesus chooses the image of a vine to describe what it is to be part of God’s kingdom. He chooses a plant that grows and adapts, that can regrow and evolve, that multiplies and bears fruit. He doesn’t choose – for example – a military unit or army, nor an industrial production line, nor a country with well guarded borders. He doesn’t even choose a fishing net! There is something organic about God’s kingdom, about it being fruitful and about its need for ongoing care and nurture. It is an image of inclusivity and interconnectedness, in which we and God are joined in a union that grows out of Jesus’s self-offering. We can see that just as sap flows through a plant bringing life, so love flows through the vine bringing life to God’s kingdom. Just as plants have to allow the sap to flow through their cells, so we have to allow love to flow through us. And as the writer of John’s letter explains, that love cannot exist if it does not involve loving our sisters and brothers. That is the challenge we face. We need to love all our sisters and brothers, human and creaturely, those like us and those who are different. That love comes from God if we allow God to abide in us and we in God.

Acts 8:26-40

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptised?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Psalm 22:24-30

24 My praise is of him in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: *
“May your heart live for ever!”

26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, *
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

27 For kingship belongs to the Lord; *
he rules over the nations.

28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29 My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him; *
they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.

30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *
the saving deeds that he has done.

1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

John 15:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples, ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Counting on …. Day 94

26th April 2024

Green wash is advertising or marketing that makes out that a product is greener/ more environmentally friendly than it actually is. It is an attempt to delude or deceive the consumer.

TerraChoice has identified ‘seven sins of greenwashing’ –

“Hidden Trade-off”: a claim that a product is “green” based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other critical environmental issues.
“No Proof”: a claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible information or a reliable third-party certification.
“Vagueness” is a poorly defined or broad claim that the consumer will likely misunderstand its meaning. “All-natural,” for example, is not necessarily “green.”
“Worshipping False Labels”: a claim that, through words or images, gives the impression of a third-party endorsement where none exists.
“Irrelevance”: a claim that may be truthful but unimportant or unhelpful to consumers seeking environmentally preferable products.
“Lesser of Two Evils”: a claim that may be true within the product category, but risks distracting consumers from the more significant environmental impact of the category.
“Fibbing”: a claim that is simply false. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing)

The BBC suggests the following certification schemes that can give assurance as to the ethical values of a producer:-

Leaping Bunny – which means that the product has not been tested on animals.

B Corp – means that a business is legally required to do beneficial things for the environment and the people who help create their products.

Carbon Trust – meets a certain standard of carbon emission reduction, meaning the product is trying to minimise its carbon impact.

Fairtrade – the product has been made by people who received a fair wage for their work.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) – the product is made using sustainable or responsibly managed wood sources. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/58465027)

Another source of good advice is Ethical Consumer via their web site or magazine – https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

In a world where we already consume too much, I can’t help feeling that any advertising that encourages us to consume more than we need, is greenwashing.