In September 2019, in the light of the climate and loss of biodiversity crises, Christ Church launched an “Eco -Group”, with the aim of examining our own responsibilities in this area. By working towards the A Rocha Eco-Church awards, we are looking at all aspects of church life, from the way we use our buildings and grounds to the worship and teaching and our individual lifestyles. Through regular input into Church meeting and items in our monthly magazine, Comment, these issues are kept in the foreground of our thinking. The most recent four articles in Comment can be found below.
Stop Press - JUNE 2023 - We have now been awarded the A Rocha Bronze Award - Certificate here
Item from October 2024
“The central geopolitical challenge of our age”?
On 17th September an important speech about the impact of human induced climate change was made by a Cabinet minister. The interesting thing is that this was not a minister with a special responsibility for climate change, but David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary.
Mr Lammy described the climate and nature emergency as “the most profound and universal source of global disorder” and “the central geopolitical challenge of our age.” There has been a tendency for climate and nature policy to be seen as separate from other issues, but, he argued, the threats to global stability and prosperity are so great that climate policy has to be integral to foreign policy.
“Let’s take migration.” he said. “We are already seeing that climate change is uprooting communities across the world. And by 2050, the World Bank’s worst-case estimate is that climate change could drive 200 million people to leave their homes.” It will take global cooperation to deal with the implications of this. “Or we could take health. The World Health Organisation says climate change is now the biggest threat to human health.”
We are well aware of the inequalities between those countries who have contributed most to global warming and those who have contributed least but suffer some of the worst effects. “Time and time and again,” Mr Lammy said, “it is the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of this crisis.” The BBC’s Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, in the same week, demonstrated this starkly in a report from Somalia, which has recently suffered from both drought and flooding, exacerbating the problems of conflict and poverty already faced by the country. While no single weather event can be attributed precisely to climate change, their increasing frequency and severity is exactly what climate scientists have been predicting. Somalia, he pointed out, has produced the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions since the 1950s as the USA produces in just 3 days. An astonishing statistic.
Organisations such as Christian Aid have campaigned for some time on the issue of climate justice. This means richer nations accepting the part they have played in causing the climate emergency and their responsibility to support poorer nations, not only in dealing with its effects but also with their own developments towards sustainable energy. This is in our interests as well as theirs. Mr Lammy argued “There will be no global stability without climate stability. And there will be no climate stability without a more equal partnership between the Global North and the Global South.”
With the potential of climate change to affect migration, conflict and economies world-wide, it is encouraging to see it being considered, not as a side issue, but in the mainstream of our foreign policy.
Item from September 2024
Many of us have spent time marvelling at the spectacle that was the Paris Olympic Games and the phenomenal achievements of so many athletes and we applaud the ideals of the Olympic movement. But what is the environmental impact of such a huge event?
- The International Olympic Committee has had impressive aims for the Paris games, intending to “set new sustainability standards for global sporting events. Reducing the environmental impact while maximising social and economic benefit”. Organisers have been focused on reducing emissions, planning to cut the footprint by 50 per cent compared to the London 2012 and Rio 2016 average and aligning with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
So what measures have they taken to achieve this? Too often in previous games expensive venues have been specially built and not used to their full potential again, but a key aspect of Paris 2024’s sustainability and carbon reduction strategy has been to use existing or temporary venues, which account for 95 per cent of the total venues. Only 2 completely new venues were built, the Aquatics Centre and an arena for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. In both of these the seats were made from 100% recycled plastic! Other measures have included doubling the amount of plant-based food for spectators, to halve the carbon footprint of meals, and embracing the idea of a circular economy, reducing, renting and re-using materials wherever possible. In the building of the Olympic village 94 per cent of materials were recovered from deconstruction.
Ironically, it was fairly extreme weather, which Olympic organisers have attributed to climate change, which provided some of the biggest challenges of the first few days. Severe rainfall in the first couple of days led to the postponement of events as outflows into the Seine led to the water quality being unsafe for swimming. This was quickly followed by heatwave temperatures. The Paris 2024 organisers had hoped their innovative self-cooling Olympic Village apartments would make air conditioning redundant, but in these conditions, athletes had to be offered the opportunity to rent portable air-conditioning units.
So there are clearly challenges to really reducing the environmental impact of such huge sporting events. The Paris games will still produce 1.5 million tonnes of carbon - roughly comparable to Fiji's entire annual emissions. Around half of that comes from international travel by competitors and spectators.
Meanwhile we note that the world temperature reached the hottest levels ever measured on Monday 22nd July, beating the record that was set just one day before, according to provisional data published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The director of Copernicus, Carlo Buontempo, has said that the world is now in “truly uncharted territory”, adding that he expects global temperature records to continue being broken in future months and years as the climate continues to warm.
Item from July/August 2024
As we continue with our efforts to make our church grounds more wildlife-friendly, an update as to what we have achieved so far and what we are planning might be helpful.
Last year we trialled a “Pictorial Meadow Mix” in the front garden beds, which looked good and gave us flowers good for pollinating insects throughout the summer and into November. It was nice to receive a number of appreciative comments during the summer from passers-by. This year we have extended two of the beds slightly, while leaving the central bed for spring bulbs, the roses and some summer planting. The germination of the meadow mix seeds has been slow and disappointingly patchy this year – presumably something to do with the weather – but the beds are now beginning to flower so we hope for a good show as the season progresses.
We observed No Mow May and have been pleased to see butterflies amongst the flowers that some might think of as weeds! We are making sure that the grass is never cut too short, allowing it to provide a habitat for small invertebrates and some low-growing plants. There are a number of bird boxes. The new crab apple tree that was sadly vandalised last year is producing some regrowth, but we will have to wait and see if it can flourish. Unfortunately a couple of bird feeders installed on the trees in the front garden quickly just disappeared. Do we try again?
Anyone passing along Tacket Street will have heard the swift calls intended to encourage migrating swifts – a species on the “red list” as their numbers are threatened - to make use of the swift boxes installed on the schoolrooms building, but it doesn’t seem as if any swifts have yet taken up the invitation.
In the back garden the rear section is being left wild, to allow nature some space. We are following advice from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust on the management of this wild area and it will be cut back in August, once any flowers have set seed.
A major step forward on our progress towards being an “Eco-Church” has been the installation of PV panels on the roof of the schoolrooms building. Even in a less than sunny early summer they are generating electricity well. If the church is not using electricity generated during the day it will be stored in the battery and used later as we need it. A win for the church and the planet.
Item from May 2024
Back in the autumn I mentioned at a Church Meeting that a group of young people from Portugal were bringing a case before the European Court of Human Rights. They were hoping to compel 32 European countries to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions on the grounds that their current policies to combat climate change are inadequate and in breach of their human rights obligations; that the harm that climate change is causing, and will continue to cause, to the mental and physical health of those young people and to their wellbeing, is a clear violation of their human rights.
We have been waiting to hear the result of this, which is that this case was not accepted by the court, but only on the technicality that it should have been brought before the court in their own country first.
However, a landmark decision was reached in April in a similar case, brought by a large group of older Swiss women, when the court said that Switzerland’s failure to do enough to cut its national greenhouse gas emissions was a clear violation of their human rights. It is the first time the court has ruled on a climate change related matter. It was a near unanimous decision by 17 judges from many different countries and perspectives, the only dissenting voice being, interestingly, the judge from the UK.
Although the judgment applies directly only to Switzerland, it has clear implications for other states within the Council of Europe that have not set sufficiently ambitious emission reduction targets and opens the possibility of many similar cases being put before the court. Governments will have no option but to take notice and, where necessary, work harder on their emissions reductions policies and actions. It is a significant moment.
Meanwhile, we hear that temperatures globally have exceeded previous records in every one of the last 10 months (June 23 to March 24). Some of this will have been contributed to by the El Nino effect, which occurs naturally every few years, but as these record-breaking temperatures continue, scientists fear that global warming and the changes in the earth’s climate that result, are happening even faster than expected. Sadly, a mass coral-reef bleaching event this year is set to be the worst on record.
Scientists have been predicting that climate breakdown is likely to cause more intense periods of rain in the UK and that has certainly been the case this winter. UK farmers are now saying that food production will be significantly down as so much land has been under water. Crops planted in the autumn have been flooded and spring planting has been much delayed. This is likely to result in increased prices and some shortages. Food shortages globally would be one of the most worrying aspects of any future climate chaos.
Let us pray that it doesn’t have to take judgements from the ECHR to motivate governments to put a greater priority on tackling climate issues.
Can you really make paper from sugar-cane?
Well, yes you can and the church has taken the decision to use it as its usual paper, because of its eco-friendly credentials. It is made entirely from the waste-product from sugar production, which would otherwise just be disposed of, usually burnt, causing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the process.
4 billion trees - which grow relatively slowly - are cut down annually to satisfy the world’s need for paper, while sugar cane grows quickly and there is a new crop every year. As long as there is a demand for sugar it will never run out. Producing sugar-cane paper uses less energy than that made from wood as there are fewer steps in the process. The paper is entirely biodegradable and recyclable and can go in your compost or recycling bin. Cost-wise, it is no more expensive that conventional paper. What, as they say, is not to like?
If you are interested in buying this for your own use, it is called Ledesma Nat and can be obtained from Choice Stationery. (www.choicestationery.com)