Caring for God’s World

Church Eco News  Spring 2023

It’s not good news for the climate. The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) have recently issued their latest report on the world’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and thus reduce the ever growing rise in global temperatures. Carbon emissions are still rising and it looks increasingly likely the target to reduce temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees by 2030 will be missed. Even a rise of 1.2 degrees has resulted in greater extremes of weather. 
A recent article in The Methodist Recorder highlighted the cost of being eco friendly. A study of 2,000 adults suggested they needed an additional £389 to be as eco friendly as they would like. a third of those polled would like to have solar panels (P.V.), 28% would get an electric car and 26% would like to buy locally produced food if their bank balance would allow. Smart technology, upgrading their boiler, buying sustainable clothing, insulating their home were just some of the things Eco Friendly Brits couldn’t afford. Among the changes they were trying to adopt  were, using less energy, cutting food waste, eating out less, holidaying in the U.K. buying second hand and having a water butt in the garden.

Summer 2023.   July 31st

Today the U.K. Government announced the granting of many new licences for the exploration and drilling for more North Sea Gas and Oil while at the same time the world is crying out for a rapid reduction in Green House Gases and cutting back on the burning of oil, coal and gas. Energy security is becoming a political football. The UNITED NATIONS chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday pleaded for immediate radical action on climate change, saying that record-shattering July temperatures show Earth has passed from a warming phase into an “era of global boiling.”

How as Christians should we react to this?

August 2023

Church Stretton Methodist Church Eco News
Dear Friends,
It’s been a while since we produced a Church Eco Newsletter and the Climate has been in the news almost every day recently.
This summer has seen temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere smashing records across Europe, the US and Asia, causing death and destruction to people and Nature. Elsewhere countries have been battered by record breaking rainfall and floods including Canada, South Korea and China, where people drowned in their submerged cars. Sea temperatures are rocketing and Antarctic Sea Ice is at the lowest extent ever recorded. We are hurtling towards the so called ‘safe’ threshold of 1.5C and yet the devastation is already upon us. Justin Rowlett, BBC climate editor, has recently written “data suggests that the … first week of July … was the hottest week for some 125,000 years. It was a geological period known as the Eemian when there were hippopotamuses in the Thames and sea levels were reckoned to be some 5m (16.4ft) higher.”
And yet Governments (not just ours) are continuing to fail to act fast enough despite the increasing cost to human life and Nature. The link between these weather extremes and human induced climate change is undeniable yet our own Government seemingly thinks now is the right time to consider rolling back on their already inadequate pledges to tackle the climate crisis.) * (Helena Horton and Kiran Stacey in “Which green policies could the Tories ditch after Uxbridge.” Also note is proposed to grant 100 new North Sea Oil and Gas drilling and exploration licences at a time when we should be cutting down on our use of Climate Change inducing fossil fuels and ramping up as fast as possible the use of renewable energy.
In the most recent South Shropshire Climate Action newsletter the editor writes some words of Barack Obama, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
As a church there is little more we can do to improve the energy efficiency of our buildings so the challenge has to be what more can we do as individuals? and herein lies the problem. Heat Pumps, electric cars, solar panels etc. all cost money which many simply do not have. There is some Government support for those on low incomes and benefits and a grant of £5,000 towards a Heat Pump but any other action we must do ourselves.

https://products.impactscore.app/ is a free mobile app you can use when shopping or at home to scan the barcodes on food products and find out how ethical and sustainable they are. It will tell you if they have a low, medium, or high carbon footprint and suggest more sustainable alternatives.
Alternatively have a look at https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx This is an easy to use carbon calculator to let you have a look at the carbon emissions of your home and life style. The results can be quite surprising!
South Shropshire Climate Action’s latest newsletter https://mailchi.mp/ed87cbe43137/march-newsletter-nwrr-blogs-and-more-13884058?e=6cedf84332 is full of positive news for there is a lot going on in an effort to help South Shropshire reach their target of Zero Carbon by 2030.

It is so easy to feel helpless but perhaps writing an email to our M.P. Philip Dunne philip.dunne.mp@parliament.uk or by post to his constituency office, Conservative Association 54 Broad Street Ludlow SY8 1GP, expressing your concerns at how politics is getting in the way of more urgent action is something you could consider, as well of course adding Climate Change to your prayer list.
02/08/23