Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

Father, help us to understand that we and all your creation depend for our existence on you and on one another. Teach us how to be good stewards of all that you have given us to tend, and help us to banish from our thinking and actions all greed, selfishness and short-term views.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

A climate change summit in March 2009 concluded: “Atmospheric CO 2 concentrations are already at levels predicted to lead to global warming of between 2 0 and 2.4 0 C. Current global temperatures are 0.8 0 above pre-industrial levels and, because of the time lag between greenhouse gas emissions and their full effect, we are committed to a further rise of 0.6 0 plus a further rise of 0.5 0 when particulate pollutants in the atmosphere become dispersed.” These figures show that it is not enough just to reduce emissions. We must also extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them permanently. How?

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

During the Copenhagen talks, the “Copenhagen Wheel” was launched. It converts any bicycle into a ‘smart bike’ by using hybrid technology to capture the energy dissipated while cycling and braking into a battery, which is then used to boost the energy required for e.g. towing a trailer with children or carrying heavy shopping. This June, Copenhagen will be hosting Velo-City Global 2010 – an international conference to promote cycling in cities. For more details, go to: www.velo-city2010.com

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

Winners of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge (UK) have been announced:

· The West Oxford Community Renewables Industrial & Provident Society has been awarded £1.6 million for a range of renewable projects to achieve an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050

· The Ellen Macarthur Foundation is to receive funding to bring the village of Chale Green, Isle of Wight, out of fuel poverty and to reduce consumption of carbon emissions by social improvements, behavioural change and solar PV installations

· A Norfolk County Council project will allow the village of Reepham to reduce its CO2 emissions by 127 tonnes a year through energy efficient renovations, renewables, transport, behavioural changes and food initiatives. This scheme is well supported by the wider community and is replicable throughout Norfolk.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for today

Father, we have not been good stewards of the world that you gave us to tend. We confess and repent of the ways in which we have misused your creation. Teach us to treat all your creation with care, compassion and dignity as the wonderful work of your hands. Amen.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

Lithium ion batteries are likely to be the best choice for a new generation of electric cars, but they are expensive and have a limited life. Nissan has initiated a scheme for leasing the batteries for its new LEAF 2EV (zero emission vehicle) and taking them back eventually for further use has load-levellers for the grid. They can afford to keep the monthly lease at a low rate, knowing that the batteries will have a high residual value in the renewable energy sector.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

According to the Head of Sustainability at Virgin Atlantic, growing algae in large ponds could provide the aviation fuel of the future. “An algal pond the size of Belgium could meet all of aviation’s current fuel needs.” But at least half of the greenhouse gas emissions of aircraft come from water vapour (contrails) emitted at high altitude and from nitrogen oxides, and would be largely unaffected by the use of biofuels. So, in the absence of any breakthroughs in technology, we have these alternatives:
· Other sectors will have to make deeper cuts to compensate for rising aviation emissions
· We will have to place our faith in carbon offsets on a huge scale
· We will somehow have to learn to fly less and travel more slowly.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

A Soil Association report “The role of livestock in sustainable food systems” quotes IPCC findings that storing carbon in soils could decrease agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 90%. In the last 60 years most arable soils have lost over 30 tonnes of carbon per hectare (equivalent to 110 tonnes of CO2) through intensification of agriculture. Since 1945, UK agricultural policy has discouraged arable/livestock mixed farming and encouraged farmers to specialise in either livestock production or arable cropping. Yet the only proven method of storing carbon while maintaining productivity is to incorporate a ley/arable rotation into all croplands, where half the land is under grass with legumes such as clover while the other half is under arable cropping. To achieve this requires a change of Government policy and better information for consumers that would enable them to make sound choices when buying food.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

Recognising that consumerism is a major problem for ourselves and the planet, the Christian network Breathe declares that the Moloch of consumerism is not a great giant that must be fought, but a simple lie, a dream, a false promise. When it is named for what it is and exposed as a sham, its power over us vanishes. The promise is happiness, the reality is emptiness and a dissatisfaction that can only lead to the next purchase. Like a dangling carrot, contentment is always one purchase away. Yet nothing defuses the power of consumerism like generosity, which pops the over-inflated promises of consumerism. The orientation of our hearts changes from ourselves towards God, his people and his Creation. Generosity is Moloch’s Achilles heel. www.makewealthhistory.org

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic might contain around 10% of the world’s undiscovered oil reserves and up to 30% of its undiscovered gas. Gold mines have opened in the south and west of Greenland and diamonds have been found at several locations north of Nuuk, including a 2.39 carat specimen. Rare earth elements, which are needed for missile guidance systems, flatscreen TVs, cigarette lighters and low-energy light bulbs, provide (in the words of prospectors) “a unique geological entity with extraordinary resource potential”, especially since China controls 90% of global production and has imposed rationing on the international market in rare earths. In addition, Alcoa is to build the world’s biggest aluminium plant in Greenland, though the alumina providing the raw material will come from distant regions such as the Caribbean. Abundant uranium also occurs in Greenland, but the Greenland government has so far banned its extraction.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

Canada’s tar sands hold 176 billion barrels of oil - one of the world’s largest deposits – but 2 tonnes of the sands produce just 1 barrel of oil. Forests covering an area half the size of England have been torn down. Extraction requires huge amounts of water which is then too toxic to return to nature, so it has to be stored in giant holding ponds. These have been blamed for a rise in cancers among local people. Alberta’s oil mines are the biggest source of carbon emissions in North America – and the reason why, in 2006, Canada dropped its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and now faces international condemnation and calls for it to be thrown out of the Commonwealth.

Christian Ecology Link prayer topic for today

Packaging of consumer products always involves carbon emissions in its manufacture and processing. How can we, the consumers, express our disdain for excessive packaging? Apart from complaining to the manager of the store, we can respond by changing our buying habits or by simply leaving excess packaging at the checkout.
Tap water is clean, fresh and free. Bottled water has a high carbon cost in its manufacture, filling and transportation, leading to unnecessary carbon emissions and more packaging going to landfill.

Christian Ecology Link prayer topic for today

Energy use is closely related to economic development – which is why China’s energy use is rising by 19% per person per year and India’s by 11% a year, while in Europe it is rising by 3% a year. Energy comes largely from coal, gas and oil, the use of which threatens to de-stabilise the world’s climate during this century. The uncomfortable truth is that our current economic system positively encourages us to use more energy. Two changes are necessary:
1. Taxation should cease to be largely based on income, but should increasingly be levied on consumption;
2. Carbon reductions must be equitable shared. Carbon personal allowances are one way of achieving this. Another is the method known as “cap and share” whereby production of coal, gas and oil is capped at source and, with adjustments for vulnerable users, the burden of resulting price rises is shared equally.

Christian Ecology Link prayer topic for today

Father, we pray, each one of us, for an honest appraisal of our own lifestyle, that we may admit to ourselves and to you all that we are contributing, directly and indirectly, to the pollution of your world. Help us to bear witness, by our example, to our resolve to amend our lives, so that others may take heart and act accordingly.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for Today

70% of the world consumption of fresh water is used in agriculture – the majority of it in livestock farming. While it takes 625 litres of water to produce 1 kg. of potatoes and 1,300 litres to produce 1 kg. of wheat, it takes no less than 15,500 litres to produce 1 kg. of beef. Source: www.waterwise.org.uk/images/site/embeddedwater
Each of us in the UK uses 135-165 litres per day, whereas much of the world has about 10 litres per day – the same amount that we use daily to flush the toilet. Waterwise UK is offering a total of £20,000 in prize money at the launch of its annual Future Friendly Awards. One category is for family actions taken to save energy and water and to reduce waste. The winner receives a bespoke eco-home makeover worth £10,000. The other category is a community award for local champions of their community who have inspired people to reduce their environmental impact. The prize is a £10,000 bursary to further their good work. Anyone over 16 can enter for the awards.
http://www.futurefriendly.co.uk/

Christian Ecology Link Prayer

Many products can be re-used in some other form. Yoghurt pots with holes drilled in the bottom are ideal for germinating seeds. Cast-off clothes are welcomed at charity shops unless they are completely worn-out, in which case they make useful cleaning cloths. Cartridge World shops accept printer cartridges, including Epson, which they will either re-fill or exchange for a new one. Gardening and other tools can be re-furbished by a charity called Tools for Development and shipped to developing countries.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer

EcoCELL, CEL’s sustainability course, outlines a simple way of measuring the waste we create. First, weigh yourself. Second, weigh yourself with the weekly bags that you put in the waste and recycling bins. The difference is the weight of your rubbish. Third, do the same thing every week and notice any increase or decrease. Cutting down on waste is a real challenge when almost everything we buy provides us with waste.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for today

Gandhi famously said: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed . . . One who would serve God will not encumber himself with everything that comes his way. He will take only what he strictly needs and leave the rest.” What then should we do? God told the first humans to look after his creation. So should we. Yet many companies, responding (they say) to public demand, are causing immense stress to God’s creation. Are we justified in supporting them? Perhaps we should be more selective in choosing where to buy and what to buy.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for today

“As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them”. (Ecclesiastes 5.11)
Our actual needs in this world are relatively small. Yet the whole advertising industry is geared to making us unhappy with what we have and encouraging us to desire what others have. The bible’s word for this is “covetousness” and we are commanded as strongly to avoid this as to avoid committing theft and murder.

Christian Ecology Link Prayer for today

When discarding items, we use the term “throwing it away”, But in a finite planet there is no “away”. Everything that we discard – whether we put it in the dustbin or the recycling bin or just throw it on the ground – we are actually passing to someone else to deal with. If it is landfilled, it is passed to future generations. If it is incinerated, the emissions given off by the incinerator adds to the gases that are warming our world. Door-to-door collections deal with recyclables such as paper, glass, tins and kitchen waste. But the lightest and most durable form of packaging is plastics and these, with the exception of plastic bottles, are less easy to recycle. Perhaps we should avoid plastics wherever possible.