Greening St. Johns

East Reading Festival - Noah's flowers

2009-07-03T10:04:00.006+01:00

It's the East Reading Festival this week, including an art exhibition and flower festival in St John's Church. So, I volunteered to do an EcoCongregation flower display (perhaps not wise for someone whose rare attempts to arrange bouquets in vases tend to be comic rather than attractive). I borrowed one of my sons' several arks as the basis and filled it with plants from our garden. Unfortunately I had no idea how long oasis should be soaked for and transporting the entire arrangement by bike was a little tricky. The image above bears only a passing resemblance to the arrangement now in the church (on arrival I abandoned the fennel that was already wilting and yesterday morning I had to pluck out the soggy roses and dried up strawberry runner, substituting flowers from the church forecourt garden, so that there are now no food plants in it, unless you count lavender, but based on the lavender cake I once I ate, I don't count it!). The accompanying text reads:

The plants in this display were all organically grown in Reading and transported by bike. Some are wild flowers and some are cultivated. Some are for healing, some for eating and some are simply beautiful. They represent the bounty and generosity of God’s created world.This ark is a fairly traded toy from Sri Lanka belonging to a five-year-old in our congregation.

The windmill represents St John’s PCC’s recent decision to change our electricity supplier to Ecotricity renewable energy.

Christian Ecology Link have launched the Operation Noah campaign to protect our rich wildlife and the world’s poorest people from climate change. If greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed soon there will be no summer sea ice at the Arctic before this ark’s owner is eighteen and before he is fifty the number of climate change refugees, some arriving here, will exceed the combined populations of England, Germany and Italy (at the most conservative estimate).

In a time of climate crisis, Noah was ‘a man who walked with God’, listened to the warnings and acted. Today we are all called to act as Noah did.

On my arrival with the display Oasis (which I'd missed due to a dental appointment) were finishing off their contribution and my youngest son helped to add the 'desert' sand around it - their's was all taken from the forecourt garden which they'd just been tidying for the festival (I did try photographing it but it's a lousy picture).

Not Stupid?

2009-06-30T22:46:00.004+01:00

Just back from a showing of The Age of Stupid - I'd been thinking of arranging a showing fo our congregation and community, but have not been persuaded. It starts very powerfully so I had almost immediately stopped noticing the oppressive heat in the room and probably cried the first time about ten minutes in - over a glacier.

But eventually I realised I was feeling bombarded with anger. I suppose the title should have been a warning of the anger behind it. It was at about this point that several folk walked out. It did then calm down somewhat but I ended up disappointed. By saying that 2055 would see humans on the verge of extinction I felt they were being unhelpfully extreme. It gave too much scope for people to refuse to believe.

There was lots of good stuff in it (I'd have been happy just to watch the wonderful French mountain guide) and lots of heart breaking stuff, especially the Iraqi kids. I had hoped for a more coherent exploration of what climate change would mean for the world. Certainly it is powerful and if some people find themselves inspired to radical action by it then that's fantastic, but I don't think I'd be happy to see it shown in all schools as some have suggested.

On the subject of climate change and coherent explanations, Jo Jamison at Operation Noah has made a very helpful five minute radio piece on the refugee crisis that will result, here.

Wind Power

2009-06-30T22:32:00.002+01:00

I've had a more detailed reply back from Ecotricity about their electricity generation. Unfortunately my efforts to copy across extracts therefrom have failed due to text incompatibilities it seems (or my ineptitude). Apparently a wind turbine is likely to be saving 35,000 tonnes of CO2 in its lifetime. It is expected to save between 40 and 70 times as much fossil fuel as it took to construct. If anyone reading this wants more detail I'm happy to forward them the e-mail.

Stillness (and food ethics)

2009-06-21T23:45:00.009+01:00

Contrary to the impression this blog may give, I don't spend quite every waking moment thinking about climate change. This morning I was leading Exclaimers (8-11s) on the calming of the storm and intended to avoid any reference to real weather crises. Instead I wanted to use the reading as an opportunity to give the children an experience of contemplative prayer, a way to find a calm space within themselves for God's presence to respond to storms.

However, as I was preparing I realised that this is very much what Maggie Ross keeps advising us as a response to the climate crisis: to get in touch with our core silence (I've just found her piece for the Tilehurst Greening Faith day on her blog). The exercise was not a total success, but not a complete disaster either! We concluded by making boat church together.

The image above is of a reconstruction of a first century boat found in the Sea of Galilee.

On another note, new service booklets have been issued which include, on the inside cover, the photo of our Operation Noah service and reference to our new status as an Eco-congregation so that anyone attending our services will know.

Over coffee I was talking with Rachel about food again. She told me that for Lent her sister only ate food produced within ten miles of her home in Devon: no grain (bread/pasta) all Lent and she was sick of rhubarb by the end! Rachel suggested that interested families in the church might opt to monitor all their food for a week, trying to make 'ethical' choices wherever possible, and then discuss together the complexities raised. This was prompted by a green tip I'd included in this week's notices suggesting that we reduce packaging by shopping at the market (among other places) since there are of course various down sides to shopping there in terms of pesticide use and fair trade.

Midsummer Party

2009-06-21T23:22:00.005+01:00

Yesterday the Churches Together in Reading Midsummer Party was blessed with much better weather than Forbury Fever had been in the same location two weeks ago. Reading Christian Ecology Link were running much the same stall as on that occasion, but inevitably we had rather different conversations since people had not arrived at the event expecting to be challenged about the environment. As well as the Operation Noah petition we were also promoting Thames Valley Vegans and Vegetarians' petition to make one day a week meat free in Reading. The number of vegetarians who visited the stall seemed out of proportion to that in the population as a whole - does this mean vegetarians were more likely to visit a Christian Ecology Link stall? Certainly a meat free day was a popular idea among those who came to the stall, even among the omnivores.

There was lots more enthusiasm for colouring in animal masks than for making origami boats so I think in future we might want to make the boats up ready for signing if we want to be able to post these off. Those who did make boats only wanted to do the ones with scrap paper to see them float, not to post to Gordon Brown. We did, however, fill two pages of Operation Noah's petition and get lots of interest in the Ecclesiastical Electricity plan to put solar panels on a church roof in Reading (including encouragement from Bishop Stephen). A few people also took Eco-congregation leaflets with a view to exploring the possibilities at their churches.

Our display of eco-friendly household items proved a good starting point for conversations too (green washing liquid, wash balls, a pump for grey water [from the renewable energy UK shop], an OWL electricity monitor [apparently now available in John Lewis among many other places and possibly free to British Gas customers], solar powered lamp from Ikea, wind up radio etc). The display of books, on the other hand, was only browsed by other people on the stall!

Loving your neighbour in an age of climate crisis

2009-06-16T23:34:00.003+01:00

I recently put together a sort of beginner's guide to green living for Christians in Reading for use at some of the Christian Ecology Link stalls we've been holding. I'll be taking some paper copies to St John's on Sunday (recycled paper of course!) but thought it would be useful to put a version up here too:

Activism: the Copenhagen climate change summit this December is the crucial opportunity for politicians to commit to sustainable stewardship of our planet. Join other Christians in campaigning to make sure this happens: www.operationnoah.org; www.tearfund.org; www.christianaid.org.uk; www.cafod.org.uk.

Animals: meat and dairy production contribute more to climate change than the entire global transport sector. Most of the recent destruction of the irreplaceably diverse and beautiful Amazon rainforest has been for beef farming (the UK is a major consumer of this beef), some has been for soya chicken feed. Intensive farming is not just an abuse of God’s creatures (cf Proverbs 12:10) but a breeding ground for disease, including swine flu. For animal welfare, look for RSPB Freedom Food labels or Soil Association ratification. Better still find locally reared organic meat and milk (www.sheepdrove.com, for Reading Farmers’ Market, True Food Co-op and Riverford see below Food) and cut down consumption so you can afford and enjoy meat as the luxury it should be in a fairer world. Try going veggie for Lent or Advent and see what happens.

Banking: our money is powerful. We can make sure it is not used to invest in destroying Indonesian rainforests for paper or mining operations that devastate local eco-systems. The Co-operative bank (and insurance companies) have an impressive ethical policy that serves its customers well too (see www.goodwithmoney.co.uk) Their Reading branch is on St Mary’s Butts. For a bank with real ‘kingdom ethics’, see Triodos Bank who only finance positive social, environmental and cultural projects (www.triodos.co.uk). At present they only do savings accounts (by post or online).

Books: Greyfriars’ Bookshop and St Andrew’s, London Street each have a small but very useful range of green Christian books. Ruth Valerio, ‘L’ is for Lifestyle is a great starting point for greening your life; J Matthew Sleeth, Serve God Save the Planet is compelling easy reading; C. Foster and D. Shreeve, How Many Lightbulbs does it take to change a Christian? is full of green tips.

Cars: transport accounts for about one quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions, mostly from road traffic. Leaving your mobile phone charging all day uses as much energy as driving your car for one second. The RAC and AA campaign for more roads, so change to the Environmental Transport Association (www.eta.co.uk) and see their website for advice on greener driving. Try giving up the car for a week and see what happens. It can prove surprisingly liberating. If you want to scrap a car, offer it to Reading Skidz to help kids learn useful skills: 0118 987118. www.commonwheels.org.uk provide a fantastic car share scheme based at Cemetery Junction and Kennet Island.

Church: ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it’ (Psalm 24:1) – what is your church doing about it? See www.ecocongregation.org.uk, www.arocha.org, www.ctbi.org.uk/375, www.ccow.org.uk, www.greeningstjohns.blogspot.com (as well as those cited under activism), for ideas and resources to help your church respond.

Compost: plants, food waste and paper in landfill produce methane (which is 20 times worse than CO² as a greenhouse gas). See Reading Borough Council’s website for advice on composting and for special offers for residents on compost bins and green cones (the latter are for cooked food waste that might otherwise attract rats).

Dirt: conventional cleaning products for our bodies, homes and clothes are, or have recently been, commonly tested on animals. They contain various substances that damage water eco-systems and are hard to process at water treatment works (requiring greater energy and water input). All you really need can be bought at RISC, London Street, or the True Food Co-op (see below, Food). For household cleaning they sell Bio-D, probably the greenest household cleaner. Ecover come a close second and with (slightly less green but award-winning) Fresh and Green or Simply Active Eco-smart can be purchased at Robert Dyas. The Co-operative sell a similar ‘own brand’.

Electricity: the single biggest thing you can do to reduce your individual direct carbon emissions is change to a genuinely green electricity supplier (don’t be fooled by the ‘greenwash’ of the major energy companies and their ‘green tariffs’). Ecotricity guarantee to charge the same as the Big Six local electricity suppliers but invest over £400 per customer in wind generation (www.ecotricity.co.uk, mention Christian Aid when you switch and they’ll get £25 too. Check the website to decide if you want their 100% green tariff)

Food: Half of all the food produced on British farms is thrown away. At least 1 in 8 people on the planet are undernourished. A similar number are obese. Yet simple, home-cooked food can be one of the deep pleasures of life, echoing sacred meals under the oaks of Mamre or in a house at Bethany.

Use your LOAF: Locally produced, Organically grown, Animal Friendly, Fairly traded .

Where to buy it?

Reading Farmers’ Market: every 1^st and 3^rd Saturday, 8.30-12, The Cattle Market, Gt Knollys Street for local food and a chance to meet the growers themselves

The True Food Co-op: every 2^nd and 4^th Saturday 1-4, RISC, London Street and venues throughout Reading the rest of the week (see www.truefood.coop) for organic (often fairtrade or vegan) wholefoods, fruit and veg, green cleaning etc at low prices with minimal packaging in a relaxed atmosphere

RISC, London Street and Oxfam Books, 8 High Street, sell fair trade foods and other goods. County Delicacies on St Mary’s Butts sell local cheeses and many types of flour (making bread can be a wonderful space to de-stress in, even to pray. See also www.sustainweb.org/realbread).

Veg boxes are local and guarantee our farmers a fair price. For very local, see www.tolhurstorganic.co.uk, or (if you want to be able to choose what arrives and have a wider variety, never air-freighted and 22% cheaper than supermarket organics) www.riverfordnorton.co.uk.

These are all also much more enjoyable ways to shop than supermarkets.

Support your local Co-operative shops too: they’re officially the ‘greenest supermarket’.

If your church does not have a Traidcraft stall, it’s time to set one up (www.traidcraft.co.uk).

Grow your own: whether it’s sprouting seeds on the kitchen window or working a whole allotment, most people find such creative acts good for their relationship with the Creator. They can also reduce food miles and make for a better understanding of the planet. Caversham, Tilehurst, Woodley and Earley/East Reading all have horticultural associations that give support (talks, visits etc) and have trading sheds for competitively priced essentials. (See Reading library website for details of the first three, ring 0118 9861909 for the last). B&Q sell peat free organic compost and growbags.

Heating: a typical home wastes one third of the heat produced by its central heating system through the roof and walls. Reading’s Heatseekers will advise on what insulation you need and how to get substantial discounts: 0845 3909390. (See also www.readingenergypioneers.info). Wokingham residents can get discounts through www.markgroup.co.uk.

Living Lightly: Inspired by Psalm 24, A Rocha have set up an online community to encourage Christians to live more sustainably by committing to make one lifestyle change every three months. Even if you don’t join them, the website is full of useful tips: www.livinglightly24-1.org.uk.

Paper: forest loss caused by paper production is a bigger cause of climate change than flying (it’s also driving the orang-utan to extinction). The True Food Co-op (see above, Food) sell recycled printer paper. Along with RISC and the Co-operative they also sell recycled paper goods like toilet rolls. To cancel unaddressed mail, write to Door to Door Opt Out, Royal Mail, Kingsmead House, Oxpens Road, Oxford, OX1 1RX; to cancel addressed junk mail, ring the Mailing Preference Service on 0845 7034599; to cancel free papers, find their phone numbers inside; put up a note for the menu deliverers. Re-think your buying of magazines etc. Re-use as much as possible, then compost.

Travel: join Reading Cycle Campaign to help make cycling safer and for discounts at cycle shops (www.readingcyclecampaign.org.uk). www.seat61.com gives advice on alternative travel arrangements to avoid flying to many destinations. Network or Family&Friends Railcards make for significantly cheaper train travel (as does booking in advance). The Travel Office in Broad Street Mall sells smartcards for cheaper travel on Reading Buses (see www.reading-buses.co.uk/smartcard).

Deanery Synod

2009-06-16T23:24:00.005+01:00

This evening was an opportunity for churches in our deanery to 'show off' good practice/interesting initiatives to neighbouring churches who might like to do similar things. So we at St John's had our nifty Traidcraft cupboard on display - it's on wheels and opens out with all the goods ready on the shelves so makes organising the stall so much easier than laying out a table every week. Richard made it and is happy to send the plans to anyone who wants them. We leave an honesty box on the top and in 2008 sold £4800 of goods. Next to that was a display about Eco-congregation, including Operation Noah arks and petition. We had some really good chats, although I was also surprised by some folk's reluctance to sign the Operation Noah petition to reduce power station emissions ('What do we use instead?' being the response). The evening included a barbecue - for some reason folk just looked at me and said 'you're a vegetarian' - luckily there were plenty of veggie burgers and I was promised that all the left over food was destined for a good home with the scouts.

Carbon footprint 2

2009-06-16T10:20:00.004+01:00

Last night I reported back to the PCC on the Eco-congregation assessment. It emerged that one of the other home groups had already discussed measuring their footprints and buying a communal OWL (at home we've just borrowed one of these devices for measuring electricity use and it is a real eye-opener - for me the biggest surprise has been how much difference a single notch up on a hotplate control will make. I've always wondered whether boiling a kettle was just faster or really more efficient than boiling water on the hob prior to cooking veg and now I know the kettle is more efficient).

Measuring our carbon footprint is going to be difficult since we pay a set percentage of the gas bill for the whole school/church plant (as well as a small extra bill for the refectory over which we have more control). This however is a good incentive to work more closely with the school, and probably the council too since they have the basic controls for the heating.

I've been in touch with Ecotricity this morning who were very helpful in discussing the 'carbon footprint' question. Unsurprisingly they don't have specific figures to calculate the amount of carbon input that should be taken into account in individual bills (I wonder if a meaningful statistic could even be reached on that?), but they have promised to e-mail me details about the construction of their wind turbines which currently account for 53.6% of the power they supply.
Please see the comments on the previous 'carbon footprint' post for their replies.

Last Sunday (we were away) after the service the congregation went to Mark's workshop for a picnic in the gorgeous sunshine and to see the progress on the new sacramental furniture. Apparently this project will be appearing in a future edition of Furniture and Cabinet Maker.

The Carbon Footprint

2009-06-15T18:45:00.004+01:00

Well we've had another report back from the Eco-congregation assessors. The commendations are for both the garden and for the large number of people involved in the process. The recommendation is that we should measure our carbon footprint and aim to reduce it. At Forbury Fever I picked up a personal carbon footprint calculator and then remembered why I'd never set very much store by them - I can easily cut my footprint in half depending on which calculator I'm using! The Church of England's calculator is just about direct power consumption which is obviously less subject to different interpretations so probably where we'll start.

I did e-mail Ecotricity to ask how we should calculate emissions from them and the initial e-mail said there are no emissions. I'd love to calculate it this way, but surely this can't quite be true since the windmills etc require building: I'll be on the phone to them soon. I find myself wondering how many organisations claim to be 'carbon neutral' without taking into account the original inputs?

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions anyone has on effective ways to calculate a church's carbon footprint.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

2009-06-15T18:34:00.006+01:00

For this half term, our home group leader decided to focus on themes inspired by the life of St Francis of Assisi. We began by watching Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 'biopic'. These days it does feel very dated; my hippy side loved it while the medieval historian in me was becoming increasingly frustrated, especially by the depiction of Clare, and had to exclaim in annoyance when it ended so soon in the saint's life. But it certainly provided much food for discussion. Last week we drew out some themes to follow up, including one very pertinent to the eco-congregation journey: simplicity. Hopefully we'll weave in learning a bit more about the history of Francis along the way.

Spreading the word: Forbury Fever and Woodford Park

2009-06-15T14:36:00.003+01:00

On Saturday 6 June Reading Borough Council held their annual environment festival in Forbury Gardens: Forbury Fever. As part of the newly formed Reading Christian Ecology Link I was there on a stall in the drizzling rain - more of a cold than a fever, my husband remarked.

We were trying to get more origami arks and petition signatures for Operation Noah and promoting the Ecclesiastical Electricity plan to get solar panels on a church roof in Reading. On display panels at the back there was various information, including advertising the forthcoming showing of Age of Stupid at the Town Hall on 30th June. We also had displays on Caversham Heights Methodist, Tilehurst Methodist and St John and St Stephen's Eco-congregations.

There seemed to be fewer things going on in the gardens than previous years and the rain certainly kept the visitors away. Nonetheless our puppet show which some girls from Reading Community Church put on every fifteen minutes was very popular, telling the story of Noah's Ark. We did get a few colourful origami arks to float in our paddling pool (before rain sank them) as well as some signatures and good conversations.

The following day my family cycled in brilliant sunshine to the Woodley Churches Together open air service marking the start of Woodley carnival in Woodford park. My husband had been asked to preach. He focussed on the Trinity Sunday reading of Jesus's baptism but wove in a message for Environment Sunday (both 7 June): lots of Biblical stories of God leading God's people into new lives through breaking waters and the opportunity for that now, including the new lives we need to lead in the face of the current climate crisis (sorry to paraphrase so brutally). So I had the posters of our Eco-congregation from the previous day up on display again, plus inviting more petition signing and lots of general info on greener lifestyles. Unfortunately the very moment the service ended, the rain began, luckily only briefly but enough to send some running for cover. I did have some good conversations with members of Woodley churches thinking of trying to follow the eco-congregation route. As so often, there was much bemoaning the seeming apathy among most of their congregation for such matters.

Eco-congregation Assessment

2009-05-25T09:38:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was the day of our Eco-congregation Assessment and we were granted the award 'with commendations and recommendations'. One congregation member said 'it's like being Ofsteded', according to which comparison I suppose we've come out satisfactory but not outstanding. This is what I'd have said was appropriate. We've been at this for over two years and have a congregation who see themselves as a community for whom green issues matter, but there is still a lot we'd like to do. The assessors' particular commendation was the front garden - on a fabulously sunny Sunday it did look wonderfully colourful and was alive with bees and butterflies so it was seen to best advantage! The principal recommendation (apparently others will follow) was that we should work out our carbon footprint and then set ourselves targets for reduction. It is typical of my chaotic, fluffy approach to such things that I hadn't given much thought to such an ordered approach.

Our assessors were John Madeley, an author and journalist who specialises in development/social justice issues and is aiming to make St Peter's Caversham carbon neutral, and Rob White of Newtown GLOBE (and a local Green Party candidate). They attended the service and then got to talk with some of the congregation over coffee (pleased that it was real coffee - which reminds me, I've been trying to collect the coffee grounds for composting but probably need to draw more attention to the collecting pot and plead with those who do use it to drain them thoroughly first to avoid yukky spillages). Then they walked round the church asking Ali, Rosemary and I questions (and Andrew the churchwarden too initially - one reason it was very good to have the assessment on a Sunday was that people with answers we didn't have were around). Then we went through more questions over lunch in the refectory which was very pleasant and an opportunity for us to learn a lot from them too.

Given John's own interests it was not surprising that he focussed particularly on our energy use. He was more optimistic than we have been about the potential for solar panels on our roof and even suggested that the nearby canal might be used as a heat source (apparently they're looking into using the river in Caversham). Rob promised to put us in touch with a friend who could help us work out a sensible way to carry out the carbon footprint measuring. I have since found that the Church of England's website already has information designed for churches to check their footprint which I'll be downloading in the near future. (On that note, it was good to see that the Church of England has now set the more ambitious target of becoming a 20% church - using 20% of current energy levels by 2050 - perhaps not quite quick enough still, nor as ambitious as Operation Noah).

On the subject of towels Rob pointed out that a large pull down towel that could be washed would be more ecological than the paper towels and electric dryer - I doubt that now these have been installed we could have a third option and of course those huge towels probably don't just go in domestic washing machines. Nonetheless, it would be good to find a way to reduce this waste.

The assessment was an opportunity to remind ourselves of things we'd been meaning to do eg improve the bread used for communion by drawing up a rota for people to supply home made loaves. Apparently Ali hasn't bought a single loaf of bread since she did the research for the Sacred Space on bread and discovered what goes into them - her bread maker has been very busy. Looking around the school garden, which is due to be redeveloped, was the first time it had occurred to us that we ought to be suggesting waterbutts be installed. Talking about the very large number of people who are interested in greening the church compared with the very small number who actually manage to make it to meetings set me thinking about trying to arrange our meetings after church instead - although given how long it has taken to get me, Ali and Rosemary in church on one Sunday this may be tricky too.

John and Rob encouraged us to make much of the receipt of the award and both said they'd like to attend the service in which it is presented which is great. I hope it doesn't take quite so long to co-ordinate that as it did the assessment itself.

Witnesses to the Resurrection

2009-05-25T09:25:00.003+01:00

Leading Exclaimers yesterday I decided it was time to link our sessions in with the lectionary - in this case Jesus's prayer for the disciples at the last supper and the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas among the apostles, to be with them a 'witness to the resurrection'. Accordingly I checked up the Bath and Wells development matters linked lectionary that I mentioned a few months back. This suggested that today's witnesses to the resurrection are those who act in hope of a just world, a world in which God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. They had a great piece from Christian Aid about a girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo who avoided resorting to prostitution to help feed her five siblings after her father's death because of a CA partner's sewing school. I felt more than a twinge of guilt at the girl's mother's plea to CA collectors not to be put off when they are turned away from houses because of the importance of their work. I edited out references to prostitution in the version I wrote for the Exclaimers but it was great to be able to encourage them that through their clutter sale they're 'witnesses to the resurrection', like Matthias - it's not just the church leaders/preachers that they suggested when first asked.

I've finally found a 'green' anti-bacterial cleaner suitable for the kitchen - it's one of Anthony Worral Thompson's Fresh and Green range on sale in Robert Dyas, so easier than mail order options. We still haven't sorted out a sustainable method of purchasing our cleaning materials though. A couple of the notices have also disappeared from the toilets - they were explaining why we have recycled toilet paper and paper towels and why we've switched to Ecotricity.

MEP Hustings

2009-05-23T00:16:00.003+01:00

Last night there was a hustings for our MEP candidates on issues of trade justice and the environment, organised by Oxford World Development Movement. Our home group normally meets on a Thursday so we decided to attend the hustings instead and ten of us made it. The largest room at the Reading International Solidarity Centre was packed and there was some heated debate at times (especially regarding Israel). There were representatives from UKIP, Green Party, LibDems and Labour (the Conservative rep was unable to attend). I was especially surprised by how many of the candidates opposed agricultural GMOs and also nuclear power (on the grounds that it cannot be brought on stream in time to make the difference needed, is too much of a security risk and is not that efficient) and was interested to learn about the possibility of micro nuclear power stations (enough for a village, buried so deep underground that there is little security risk [too little there anway] and decomissioning problems are apparently avoided). I was also interested to learn of concerns among MEPs about a lack of transparency about lobbying from religious groups (specifically the Vatican) and encouraged by reference to the importance of aid channelled through civil society, specifically church groups (this from a candidate I would not be supporting).

The above image is copied from a Green Party member's blog on the evening.

Christian Aid Week

2009-05-23T00:09:00.007+01:00

I am a complete coward when it comes to house to house collections - I did them for some years when I lived in Yorkshire but it seems to have got harder and harder - so as Christian Aid week approached I ducked all requests to do this duty and promised to ask Exclaimers to help organise another clutter sale. This happened on the first Sunday of Christian Aid week, everyone seemed to enjoy it, I have bought all sorts of clutter, and we raised just over £100. I don't yet know what the total raised by all those braver souls than I has reached.

Between the Flood and the Rainbow at Oasis

2009-05-22T23:54:00.003+01:00

On the Wednesday after our Operation Noah service we used their study guide at Oasis. It is entitled 'Between the Flood and the Rainbow' and has a great deal of thought-provoking material in it which does need working through before leading a session. We just looked at the first reflection and action sheet. We found ourselves uncomfortable with attempts to apply the Old Testament passages to today's climate crisis. In part this is because Christ showed us a God who would die for us rather than kill us for our sins. In part it is inappropriate to see natural disasters as God's punishment when it is clearly the poorest, those least responsible for the greed precipitating the crisis, who are suffering for it. Nonetheless there was much food for thought in the texts.

The reflection highlights the 'everlasting covenant' that Isaiah declares to have been broken in 24:5 and which is usually deemed to refer to the covenant made after the flood (Genesis 9:8-11). We found ourselves wanting to picture a rather broader concept of such a covenant embracing especially the Jubilee laws. In a world in which possessions could only be held on a short term basis and the land itself was given rest, things would be very different.

Bird feeding

2009-05-05T14:16:00.002+01:00

On Sunday I noticed the birds have at last started using the seed feeder. Yesterday I happened to be passing and actually saw a great tit on it which was lovely. Sadly the peanut feeder has disappeared. I'll look out for one of the slightly less 'green' meshes of peanuts to replace it.

Operation Noah Service

2009-05-04T09:14:00.012+01:00

This Sunday we had our 'Environment Sunday' a month early. The theme was Operation Noah. I'd ordered their church pack, which includes quite a lot of lovely liturgical resources. The aim of our service was to move beyond the focus on shrinking our own carbon footprints, which we've tended to have in earlier services, and emphasise the importance of more pressure on government.

We began with the Creation song, God Said. Then we gathered all the children at the front to sit down so that I could read to them the first few pages of Nicola Davies's Ice Bear. This was a present to my youngest on his recent third birthday. It's a wonderful 'story', beautifully illustrated, in which every word is true. The combination of amazing facts and poetic language seemed a wonderful introduction. I ended with the line 'Nothing stops polar bear'. Then I gave every child a bag (old party bags and Riverford fruit bags actually) in which there was an animal mask and some crayons. Finding suitable masks to download and print out for this was probably the most time consuming part of preparing for the service. While they went back to their seats to to start colouring in, I addressed the adults:

Nothing stops polar bear? Nothing except us. By the end of Matthew's fifteenth summer many scientists believe there will be no summer sea ice at the Arctic ice cap. To remove an ice cap is a very dramatic thing to do to our planet.

It was only a few weeks ago that I learnt that – it was at a conference Jan organised at the warehouse. The speaker was Ian James – a professor of meteorology and the diocesan environment adviser. There is now more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere than there has ever been in human history. To quote Professor James ‘there is not the slightest doubt that this is the direct result of human activity: the burning of fossil fuels.’ Every year we are emitting the equivalent of a million years of photosynthesis into the atmosphere. He also said that despite all the talk of reducing emissions they are still accelerating. I won’t give you the whole scientific info as I’m sure most of you are very familiar with it. He concluded by saying ‘climate change is real, it’s happening now. At the moment it is relatively slight but there is no sign of it slowing down. By the time the problems are large and serious it will be irreversible’.
Of course, for many individuals in the poorest countries the problems are already large and serious – according to the UN, climate change is now a major reason for the number of displaced persons and refugees. Either their land can no longer feed them or stressed resources are leading to conflicts. And on top of all the human suffering – can I ask how often you think scientists believe another of God’s creatures or plants becomes extinct – one a month, one a week – any suggestions?
It’s one every six hours – that’s something like 1,000 times the natural average. 25% of all mammals are considered at risk of extinction – not just the polar bears. Both Old and New Testaments tell us that we look to God’s Creation to understand God – but we are erasing God’s fingerprints around us. How should Christian’s respond? We’re going to look at Christian Ecology Link’s suggestion on this, but first we’ll have another song,

(Most of that information came either from Ian James's talk at the Greening Faiths conference recorded earlier in this blog, A Rocha's Hope for Planet Earth presentation or Christian Aid's Countdown to Copenhagen DVD).

We then sang I the Lord of Sea and Sky.

Then the children with their masks were encouraged into a side room as Jeremy began a slightly edited reading of the Noah story. Pete was being the voice of God, cunningly hidden with his microphone so most people couldn't work out where he was. Steve mimed Noah's part and at the appropriate juncture young people and children began bringing in large cardboard pieces (constructed by Jeremy's daughters at home) which he assembled as the ark. Then the children came in again with their masks down, not quite two by two, to sit around the ark, and more toy animals went into the ark itself.

I stepped back in to link this story to the next part: skipping over the historical and theological complexities of the story, I focussed on the thought, to quote Operation Noah's website, that in a time of climate crisis Noah was a just man, a man who walked with God, who acted on the knowledge God gave him and protected Creation by those actions.

The first step to walking with God must be prayer, so we had five minutes to pray as people wished. Hamish played music, on the screens were some photos my son James took last summer (when he was four), there were post it notes for people to stick prayers to the ark and paper and crayons in the gallery.

We concluded this time of prayer by singing When I needed a neighbour.

Then I asked everyone 'who are our neighbours' - we had a variety of responses, from next door neighbours to all people. I then mentioned Ian James's argument (and my own at a previous service) that it is time to understand all created life as our neighbours because we are all interdependent.

The second question 'in a time of climate crisis, how do we love our neighbours' produced the succinct response 'watch our carbon footprints'. This was my cue to say:

In changing our own lifestyles we begin to reduce the problem and to restore the integrity of our relationship with our Creator God. But we need to spread that change – we need to tell our neighbours and our colleagues and we need to make our government take radical action. The industrial revolution began here in Britain – appropriately last year our government instituted the world’s first legally binding long term framework to tackle climate change, but we have to build on this and we can. More than a quarter of the world’s CO2 emissions come from our power supplies. That’s why this church has changed its electricity supplier to Ecotricity. Operation Noah want us to petition the government to take a lead at the climate summit in Copenhagen this December. As a first step we need global power station emissions cut by a third by 2020. The government say they don’t have enough of a mandate from the people to take the environmental actions needed – we have to take that excuse away. So, as a start, we have some origami arks to make with a petition on them for Gordon Brown.

Eveyone had been given the A4 sheet from Operation Noah's website as they came in. Instructions for folding appeared on the screens. The folding process took a good deal longer than I'd expected but people were helping each other. Part way through I realised that if people wanted to add a personal message this needed to be done before the Ark was complete, but I don't think this mattered.

Photographs were taken: unfortunately I'd failed to arrange for someone with a decent camera to attend so the picture up the top was the best I could manage. Half the children were mysteriously absent from it too. Notices were read, including encouragement to write our pledges for reducing our carbon footprint onto a poster for Reading Borough Council in preparation for their environment day: Forbury Fever on 6 June. We were also encouraged to sign Fairtrade Foundation postcards to Baronness Ashton, the new EU trade commissioner, asking for fairer relations with Africa, Asia and Latin America.

We concluded with the Rainbow prayer used at the launch of Operation Noah:
Creator God, how deep are your designs!
You made a living earth, cloud, rain and wind,
And charged us with their care.
We confess that the way we live today
is changing the climate,
the seas and the balance of life
dispossessing the poor and future generations.
Build our lives into an Ark for all creation,
and, as you promised Noah never to repeat the Flood,
so make us heralds of a new rainbow covenant:
choosing life for all that is at risk –
for creation,
for neighbours near and far,
for our children and ourselves.

This was followed by Sent by the Lord am I and a blessing.

Over coffee we showed the Christian Aid Countdown to Copenhagen DVD. I had to leave early but there was then a meal - these are meant to be free, but donations are encouraged to cover costs and any extra after costs goes to a charity so this week's will be for Operation Noah. I took 36 signed arks away with me but since not all were finished I hope to collect a few more before they're posted off.

Spring gardening

2009-05-04T09:10:00.005+01:00

Oasis were tidying the garden again on Wednesday. We failed to persuade the cafe mums to join in but one did say that passing it is the highlight of her walk to school. The birds didn't seem to have located the bird feeder yet and we may have to cut down the dead tree in which it hangs anyway. Being green, none of us had arrived by car, so we were very grateful when Andrew passed by and asked how we were planning to move all the prunings - in his trailer it turned out.

Eco-conversations

2009-04-28T21:54:00.004+01:00

I was not at St John's this Sunday but have had some good green church conversations lately. Last Thursday morning I was talking with Debbie from New Hope church in Reading. She was telling me about all their recycling and how their cleaner is enthusiastic about Ecover toilet cleaner, in part because it doesn't make her feel ill to use it (not surprising I suppose when conventional toilet cleaners require 400 times more water to dilute them into a solution that's deemed safe to return them to rivers). They buy in bulk from the ethical superstore and then pump it out into their bottles. Disappointingly this works out at about the same price as buying Ecover in bottles from Tescos, although it's clearly greener.
Then I had lunch with eco-reps from two other churches. Heather in Pangbourne had just organised a talk on climate change attended by 70 people from the village and told us of schemes for the community to compost veg waste from local shops.
Finally on Sunday we were at St George's in Wash Common, Newbury (pictured above), where plans are in hand to install geothermal heating (apparently it has to be the more expensive straight into the ground type as they do not have sufficient land to do the criss cross variety - luckily there are no vaults!) and to produce the power needed to pump this heat with photo-voltaic cells. Carbon-neutral status is surely on the way.

On Earth Day

2009-04-22T21:12:00.004+01:00

I've only just realised today was Earth Day and it's been happening on 22 April every year of my life. Obviously it's more a US thing than here, but I'm a bit disappointed that I never noticed before.

Cleaning materials still proving tricky: because the church doesn't have a credit card we'd need to set up an account with Natural Collection but they've not responded to e-mails on this. The administrator is too busy to be chasing these things up all the time. It turns out that our usual supplier has just added 'green' toilet cleaner and bathroom cleaner to their stock list. They're not a brand I recognise and I'm anxious that when we see the ingredients on the pack it'll turn out to be an excuse to charge us twice as much for something not much more green. But we're going to try them out, if only to encourage the suppliers that more of this is needed. Our cleaner is happy with Ecover in the bathrooms and the Co-op's multi-surface cleaner for the floor but we have yet to settle on a toilet cleaner that works well enough and this company's bathroom cleaner is apparently anti-bacterial so we're hoping it'll do for the kitchen to satisfy those health and safety folks.

Furniture: after much debating over new furniture for the refectory it seems that we're going to hang onto the old elm tables that came from Woolworths many eons ago and try to sand them down and polish them up, so very good news on the eco front there. However, even I have to admit that the chairs are really not comfy for long spells (of which there may be more once we get the film projector up and running in there) so we're still looking to replace these.

Feeding the birds: I finally got round to hanging up a couple of bird feeders in trees at the front of the church. The hope is that they're good for the wildlife and are a witness of our green intent too. The anxiety is that they won't stay there very long. I've not had chance to spend long enough out the front to be sure about the bird boxes but I don't think they have any inhabitants this year.

Eco lessons at the English Class

2009-04-21T21:41:00.005+01:00

One of the many links St John's has with the wider community is the Monday morning English Class. This is run for free by volunteers and is only open to women because women from some communities are not permitted to learn alongside men. It is so popular that they cannot all be accommodated in the parish centre and one class sits in the entrance hall. I mentioned it to an Indian friend of mine a few weeks back and she has really appreciated it. I was chatting with her after school this afternoon and she told me that her teacher had been talking about ecology, had taught her what cavity wall insulation is and had promised to explain carbon footprints next week.

Greening Faiths: Towards Sustainable Living

2009-04-05T16:04:00.011+01:00

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that Jan and I (mostly Jan) have been involved in setting up a multi-faith day conference with Reading Faith Forum. There were about 45 people present for some really interesting talks. Unfortunately the Sikh representative (Jagdeesh Singh) had to drop out at the last minute although a representative of the Sikh community who was attending very helpfully stood up to give us some information on their perspective. These are from my hasty notes - please send corrections if I've made errors.

To open the day Tahira drew attention to a leaflet that the green group of Reading Faith Forum have produced. Like the conference itself it is entitled Greening Faiths: Towards Sustainable Living and it consists of A5 pages on the ideas of six major faiths about the environment: Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism and Islam. If you'd like copies of it contact Jan at jan@strongertogether.org.uk

The first presentation was on the science of climate change by Rev Prof Ian James (formerly of the University of Reading's Department of Meteorology). He explained that the greenhouse effect is essential to life on earth - without it we would be as cold as the moon. The trace constituents of carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane, ozone etc are what keeps the earth at 15C the optimum temperature for life. But whereas there were 280 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere for centuries before the industrial revolution, there are now 387 parts per million. That 280 ppm was actually the largest concentration there had been for at least half a million years, probably a million.
By the end of the summer of 2020 there may be no Arctic ice cap. That is a very serious thing to do to our planet, remove an ice cap.
As he showed us the now familiar charts of sudden growth in CO2 and temperature my mind flicked back to a recent e-mail discussion I'd seen with loads of people still determined not to believe the science. As Prof James put it: there is not the slightest doubt that the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is the direct result of human activity: the burning of fossil fuels. 'Climate change is real, it is happening. At the moment it is relatively slight but there is no sign of it slowing down. By the time the problems are large and serious it will be irreversible'. In the questions afterwards he explained that since the start of the 20th century there has been a temperature rise of around 0.6 C. It is difficult to make accurate predictions of how much it will increase by and the movers and shakers use this uncertainty as an excuse for inaction. The range of estimates is
2 C = uncomfortable (obviously worse than that for low-lying countries like Bangladesh)
4 C = pretty catastrophic
6 C = horrendous

Swami Ambikananda Saraswati, a Hindu monastic, then gave us a Hindu perspective on the environment. [I found myself blinking back tears]. Time and space had a beginning. Before them was darkness that was only one until love arose in it and it became the many. Only the one still exists but in the guise of the many. How did we so forget our god-like nature that we have laid waste to our beautiful habitat that is also the one?
It seems there is now no stopping what we have begun. There is going to be an enormous cull of life and humans will not escape. We will die in our thousands of millions. We will die and watch each other die in the time of our children and our grandchildren. Our civilisation will not survive this devastation. Yet we are remarkably complacent.
We have abused our scriptures to put on blinkers, to grip the bit of ignorance as if tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow will continue. We need to abandon the boundaries between us to find ways of working spiritually together. Our scriptures are abused whenever they're used to justify our individuality and separateness. I beg you all to commit to working together spiritually to protect and nurture what God has give us. By exploring nature together we might together discover the mystery of our existence in this vast unbounded universe.

Muzammal Hussain, founder of the London Islamic Network for the Environment, emphasised that he was presenting 'an Islamic perspective' rather that 'the Islamic perspective'. He linked the environmental crisis to the economic culture in which money has become unreal and in which we are all expected to be bound into debt which needs to be paid off by more and more production and consumption: so resources are depleted, human rights are depleted to acquire these resources and increasing throughput leads to pollution and greenhouse gases.
He touched on three Islamic principles:
Balance: as the Koran says 'surely we have created everything in proportion'. Our problem is an imbalance of greenhouse gases and an unbalanced economic situation in which the economy is growing and resources are shrinking
Natural disposition: Human beings are changing what things were created to be with worrying consequences
Guardianship: as the Koran says 'It is he who has appointed you guardians of the earth'. We need maturity to leave our short-termism. To be God-conscious is to have the ability to recognise the consequences of our actions. We need the balance between inner compassion/mercy/love and the call for justice that we see in the prophets.

Rev Prof Ian James then gave what he emphasized was 'my Christian perspective'. He described a formative moment in his life on hearing his vicar refer to 'those Christians who waste their time on issues like the environment'. Christianity is a very materialistic religion. It is about confirming the world we live in, not escaping it. The briefest summary of Christianity is 'God is love' - that is the mainspring of all our Christian faith and activity. God created a good world and loves that world and we're in it to love that world in response. Jesus summed up our response to God in two lines 'Love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself'.
This is a huge responsibility and raises the question of who this neighbour is. The whole story of Christianity has been one of expanding our notion of who our neighbour might be. It started with Jewish people in a Christian sect, then extended to the Roman Empire, then there were debates about whether pagans beyond the Roman borders could be Christians. In the nineteenth century the argument was about black people who were slaves. Time and again we've had to expand our notion and we're at another time for this. There is no doubt that we live in a fully interconnected world. We must start to realise that the human race is dependent on the rest of the natural world for our health and well being. We all act to build walls around the human race as something separate. We cannot do that. Our neighbour is indeed the farmer in Bangladesh but it is also the tree in the Amazon rainforest and the plankton in the sea.
I look at the humblest creatures and ask 'why should I have a greater right to life than it?' Our perspective as a human race has changed enormously in my lifetime. The picture of earth sent back from space enabled us to see it as a fragile speck in the universe that is all we have and are. It is infinitely precious and infinitely valuable and love for neighbour means infinite concern for it.

According to an Environment Agency survey on where the response to climate change would come from, faith communities were second on the list, which surprised those present. Swami Ji commented that it is hard enough just to get temple members to sort the recycling. This led to discussion about faith groups having to pay for their recycling collections and ultimately a petition against this. I did sign it, but remain ambivalent - I do think that people should be able to take their recycling home. As I cycled back from church this morning with wine bottles in my paniers and a basket full of squashed bottles and boxes I felt I should have argued that when people have to take responsibility for their rubbish they usually make less of it.

The discussion after the papers included the need for people to work together across faith boundaries and the fact that a conservative estimate of climate change refugees is equal to the population of England, Germany and Italy (and that a great many of them will die on the journey).

After a short tea break we reconvened for a session on practicalities, beginning with Ben Burfoot of Reading Borough Council. He outlined the council's Climate Change Strategy which aims to cut the council's own carbon emissions to zero by 2050 and those of the community by 80%. The carbon pathway begins with
counting the carbon so this year they're trying to get people to understand how they can measure and manage their carbon footprint, just as they do their finances. Then there is the
change phase - starting to work on a bigger scale with new sorts of vehicles, energy plants, structures for doing business, trying to take more carbon out of everything we do. Finally
carbon offsetting - he admitted to some cynicism about the way this is often used, so it would be very much a last resort.
This Climate Change Strategy will be launched at Forbury Fever on World Environment Day, June 6th. Prior to that pledge posters will be available for community places to put up and everyone to write pledges in the footprints which will then be used at the launch. He emphasised the importance of making the response to climate change a positive experience and especially hoped the faith communities could help in this.
He highlighted the Heatseekers initiative that had taken thermal imaging of all Reading's houses and will provide a surveyor to help people work out what needs to be done to improve their house's energy efficiency as well as 50% financial assistance with this (100% for those on benefits or over 70). The telephone number is 0845 3909390 and the lines are open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. (Thanks to Owen for sending me this info)

A partnership for climate change is under formation which will have a steering capacity to determine policy for the longer term and will also be a network for putting out more information.

Muzzamal then explained about the London Islamic Network for the Environment - plenty of detail on their website from where I took the picture below of a stunt they did in Brick Lane, heart of the Bangladeshi community in London, to highlight the peril that faces Bangladesh from rising sea levels. I gave a brief introduction to Christian Ecology Link, Operation Noah, A Rocha and Eco-congregation. Finally Paul Harper introduced GREN the Greater Reading Environmental Network. They are primarily a yahoo group for exchanging information, and clearly need to do more of it since the Age of Stupid premiere happened in Reading without any Reading environmental groups being aware until the last minute (a sad missed opportunity). In 18 months they've facilitated effective lobbying to influence the council's draft climate strategy. They've put on a COIN event that led to the foundation of the Reading Energy Pioneers and they're currently involved in the Local Partnership on Climate Change. They will soon have a website too.

After a great meat free lunch we split into workshops to look at individual responses, greening our faith buildings and networks. I attended the latter which began with a presentation from Operation Noah's Ruth Jarman. We agreed to establish both Muslim and Christian Environment groups in Reading which we expect to come together for certain events, hopefully beginning with an Operation Noah stall at Forbury Fever. The workshop on individual responses included looking at carbon footprints at this site.

News coverage of the event can be found here.

Putting People First and the Easter Garden

2009-03-29T21:26:00.004+01:00

I didn't make it to church this morning due to chicken pox in the family. However, I know the plan was for Exclaimers to make an Easter garden. Perhaps it's a bit early, but this way the schoolchildren get to see it for a week before they break up.

Rosemary reported a good atmosphere at the march yesterday, and especially at the service at Westminster. Richard has put up a display of photos and posters of the event on the mission board at the back of the church.

Preparing for Easter and further cleaning complications

2009-03-28T21:48:00.002Z

I turned up at Oasis on Wednesday just after a spot check by the Health and Safety folk: apparently they're not happy with Ecover in the kitchen because it is not anti-bacterial. Given all I've read questioning the value of anti-bacterials this came as rather a surprise.

We were doing another crafty morning, inviting the cafe regulars to join us. On this occasion it was one cafe dad who kept us company painting eggs and eating the home made hot cross buns that Monika finished preparing in the kitchen. Diana taught us calligraphy for making Easter cards and my son very much enjoyed painting half egg shells to be filled with cress seeds (actually I was meant to bring the cress but couldn't find it so we're growing mustard instead - it's just started sprouting).