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CHRISTIAN ECOLOGY LINK

Feb 2008

Prayer-Guide

for

The Care of Creation

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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 8

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

(Ephesians 6.17-18)

“When I pray, I’m like an electric bulb put into its socket, full of light and power.

When I don’t pray, I’m like that same electric bulb, disconnected from its socket.

No light and no power.” (Anon.)

“We are treating the planet on which we live as a credit card with no credit limit

and no repayment date.” ( Bishop of Worcester)

Friday 1st February

“Buy Less, Live More” is the title on the face of a credit card lookalike produced by the Methodist Church as a Lent challenge to remind us to become less consumerist and more generous and fulfilled. The cards – a cogent reminder to think before we spend – are obtainable free via the website www.buylesslivemore.org The daily challenges are available on the website or by email subscription or through a dedicated Facebook group. See also: www.methodist.org.uk

Saturday 2nd February

Among the Lent courses for 2008 are the following:

·  “Water for the Journey” produced by Wells for India and obtainable free (but donations welcome) by emailing

·  “What on Earth are we doing?” is the Devon Ecumenical Lent Course (2007) obtainable by emailing The six talks can since 18 January be listened to by clicking on http://tinyurl.com/2sc26y

·  “The Earth in Our Hands” 2007 course from Churches Together in All Lincolnshire (CTAL) and BBC Radio Lincolnshire, obtainable from CTAL, Church House, The Old Palace, Lincoln LN2 1PU

·  “Live Life, Love Lent2” consists of booklets containing 50 simple things to do (one a day) during Lent. There are children’s editions and adult editions. These are the 2008 edition. The 2007 edit It has been adopted by the Archbishops. They are obtainable from all Christian bookshops at £1 each. http://www.livelent.net

Sunday 3rd February

Spirit of God, set at rest the crowded, hurrying thoughts within our minds and hearts.

Let the peace and quiet of your presence take hold of us.

Help us to relax, to rest, to become open and receptive to you. You know our inmost thoughts, the hidden unconscious life within us, the forgotten memories of hurts and fears, the frustrated desires, the unresolved tensions and dilemmas.

Cleanse and sweeten the springs of our being, that freedom, life and love may flow into both our conscious and our hidden life.

Lord, we lie open before you, waiting for your healing, your peace and your word.

(George Appleton)

Monday 4th February

A study commissioned by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection and published online in the International Journal of Cancer has found clusters of blood or bone marrow cancer among children under 5 living near nuclear power stations. Children living within 2.3 miles of a nuclear power station were 2.19 times more likely to have the disease than those living outside that limit. Those living within 6.2 miles were 33% more likely to get the disease. Comments Richard Bramhall of the Low Level Radiation Campaign (www.llrc.org) “This is the latest in a long line of such findings, including the notorious Seascale cluster. Wind power does not kill our children.” Furthermore, every £ invested in nuclear energy is a £ less available for renewable energy.

Tuesday 5th February

Following the Government announcement of plans to expand nuclear energy, three CEL members handed in symbolic gifts to No. 10 Downing Street:

·  George Marshall’s rousing book “Carbon De-Tox” with CEL’s briefing “Faith and Power”;

·  A piece of home insulation, symbolising energy efficiency;

·  A solar-powered light, representing the opportunity for a vast escalation in Government investment in renewables that would not only fulfil Britain’s duty to the earth in terms of climate change, but also lead the world towards a truly sustainable way of living.

Roy Tindle of the Claverton Energy Group of over 150 energy scientists and economists believes that a united front is needed in the face of John Hutton’s statement that “The idea that Britain can meet its growing power needs through renewable energy and greater efficiency is nonsense.” One would like to ask where he thinks we shall turn when accessible uranium deposits run out in less than 40 years and fast breeder reactors are proved uneconomical.

Wednesday 6th February Ash Wednesday

We thank you, Father, for those days in the desert when, through prayer and fasting, Jesus discovered your will for his life and overcame the temptations of the Evil One. Help us, during these days of Lent, to come close to you and to listen to your voice. Give us strength to overcome all temptation to please ourselves and to live our lives without reference to you.

Teach us Your Way, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. (Alternative Service Book 1980)

Thursday 7th February

The European Food Safety Authority, while admitting that cloned animals suffer higher rates of early death and disease, nevertheless says there is no food safety reason to keep meat and milk from cloned animals off shop shelves. This would open the door to clone farming in Britain and the import of US products made from cloned meat and milk – despite the clear desire of consumers for more natural food. Supermarkets would find it impossible to identify cloned products. The Soil Association comments: “Cloning involves ghastly and invasive techniques.” Compassion in World Farming said: “Going down the road of cloning would lead to greater industrialisation of farm animal production, which would be a disaster.” The only winners would be the handful of multi-national food corporations such as Cargill.

Friday 8th February

The Riau province of Sumatra includes 4 million hectares of peatlands which contain the highest concentration of stored carbon per hectare anywhere in the world – the equivalent of one year’s global carbon emissions. Riau also contains a quarter of Indonesia’s palm oil plantations. Another 3 million hectares are earmarked for conversion to palm oil plantations Despite Indonesian government assurances and industry claims, Greenpeace investigations show that palm oil companies are continuing to destroy natural forest and drain and burn deep peat – despite the fact that major players such as Cargill, Nestle and Unilever are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. By driving the expansion of oil palm, these companies are effectively holding the world’s climate to ransom. What needs to be done?

·  The Indonesian Government needs to introduce a moratorium on forest and peatland conversion to palm oil plantations and prioritise the protection of remaining peat swamps.

·  Industry needs to refuse to trade with those engaged in deforestation and peatland degradation.

Saturday 9th February

Around 3 billion tonnes of carbon is stored in British peatlands – more than the forests of Britain and France put together. Yet since 1976 there have been more than 350 wildfires on Peak District moors alone, leaving bare peat, which soon erodes, releasing dissolved organic carbon into streams and gullies. Around 40% of this is released into the atmosphere. Staff of Moors for the Future (www.moorsforthefuture.org) have been spreading heather brash to protect peatlands exposed by fires and assisting re-vegetation. Yet raising the water table is equally important as peatlands should act as a sponge to prevent flash-flooding in low-lying areas such as York. The Northumbria Regional Flood Defence Committee funds a Peatscape project (www.northpennines.org.uk) whereby drainage ditches are dammed using peat blocks either cut by hand or using a low-impact digger. The work is slow and costly. The Government is not obliged to account for soil carbon losses as part of its current emissions total, so no funding is available for this vital work.

Sunday 10th February

Father, we have not been good stewards of your world. We confess and repent of the ways in which we have misused your creation. Forgive us for our exploitation of animals, those given to provide us with food, those who work for us and those we keep as pets. Teach us to treat them with compassion, care and dignity as forming, like ourselves, part of your wonderful creation.

Monday 11th February

Forest destruction, according to the Stern Report, will release more carbon into the atmosphere in the next four years than every flight from the dawn of aviation until 2025. Burning forests send vast swathes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Once they are gone, they can no longer soak up the carbon emitted from man-made sources such as industry, cars and power plants. No technical fixes are needed to stop the destruction. We just have to make trees worth more when they are standing than when they are felled. How to achieve this by international agreement, and then enforce it in remote regions of Africa, Brazil and Indonesia, is the greatest challenge any politician can face, but it will ensure lasting fame for anyone who takes this on and wins.

Tuesday 12th February

Both China and India are heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations to meet the growing demand for energy. Yet while the USA itself plans to build over 150 coal-fired plants, other nations are understandably reluctant to curtail their plans. India already imports 70% of its oil requirements. Now it plans to replace its entire diesel consumption with biodiesel from the seeds of the jatropha plant. Last year the UK company D1 Oil, after planting 156,000 hectares of jatropha, has gone into a £160 million partnership with BP to plant a million hectares of jatropha, mostly in India. India’s Energy Resource Institute has found that half the 60 million hectares classified as wasteland would be suitable for jatropha cultivation. Critics say the jatropha industry will gobble up vast tracts of land now used to grow food. Others say the jatropha should be intercropped with food crops, so providing irrigation for both. Also, its cuttings can be burned as biomass and the cake by-product makes a good quality soap. The seeds can be burned in lamps as a clean substitute for kerosene, which is heavily subsidised by the government because it is most people’s only light source.

Wednesday 13th February

In a report called “Are Biofuels Sustainable?” the Environmental Audit Committee raises concerns about the absence of mechanisms to prevent destruction of rainforests in order to grow biofuel crops. It calls for a moratorium on targets for the use of biofuels and for Government to concentrate on sustainable biofuels such as waste vegetable oil and the development of second-generation biofuel technologies. “Government must ensure that its biofuels policy balances greenhouse gas emission cuts with wider environmental impacts, so that biofuels are only used where they contribute to sustainable emissions reductions.” The EU Energy Commissioner disagreed with these conclusions, but added “We share the committee’s concerns that biofuels have to be sustainable, and the new directive for the promotion of renewable energy sources aims to ensure this.”

Thursday 14th February

Brazil’s use of sugarcane to produce biofuel has been such a success that it now supplies 30% of the world’s biofuels. But William Dar, director of the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, sounds a note of caution. “Large-scale planting of jatropha is risky since few scientific details are known about it. More research is needed into the environmental impact of large-scale biomass production, especially for countries in Africa, where the risk is high that commercial incentives for rushing into biofuels could lead to corners being cut on environmental considerations, as has happened so often in the past.”

Friday 15th February

India’s Planning Commission reckons the country will need to quadruple its primary energy supply and increase its electricity supply by 5-7 times by 2025 if it is to feed its growing economy and population. Sir Nicholas Stern believes the key lies in cleaning up its noxious and wasteful coal industry and in energy efficiency. He argues for scrapping the hefty subsidies on kerosene and LPG in order to promote renewables. In West Bengal the scrapping of the kerosene subsidy has brought solar energy to thousands of people living on Sagar Island and there are plans to extend the scheme. Meanwhile, the UN Clean Development Mechanism has been modified to allow coal-fired plants which adopt clean coal technologies to sell carbon offsets and, in time, to introduce carbon capture and storage.

Saturday 16th February

“Christians Together on Climate Change” is the title of an event taking place today (9.30 to 4) at Greyfriars Church, Reading. Aiming to help Christians in the Thames Valley to make a difference, the event is sponsored by the Diocese of Oxford, the Methodist Church, Operation Noah, Tearfund, A Rocha, Christian Aid and Sage. To book a place, call Helen Keely on 01895 208214 or email

Sunday 17th February

Father, we thank you for the provision you have made for our bodily needs. We thank you for the skills which, passed down from one generation to another, enable us to harvest the earth’s resources. We thank you for those who enable these gifts to be channelled into areas of need. We pray that you will raise up many others willing and eager to share your gifts for the benefit of all.

Monday 18th February

According to DETR figures based on the UNFCCC methodology, the UK has already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12.5% since 1990. Unfortunately, according to Dieter Helm of New College, Oxford, in his paper “The UK’s Climate Change Record”, this ignores international trade, shipping and aviation. For example, does the manufacture and use of fireworks made in China count as part of China’s carbon footprint or ours? The exclusion of imports from the UK carbon footprint is misleading. Helm identifies three policy implications:

·  The UK should check its progress and base its calculations on its worldwide carbon emissions, not just on emissions within the UK;

·  With a substantial part of its greenhouse gas emissions occurring in China and other trade partners, the UK itself is partly responsible for the rapid growth of emissions in those countries, and this should affect future international greenhouse gas targets;