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Green Space Neighbourhood By Isaac Sserwanga

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Green spaces are areas of land or vegetation within both urban and rural environments that are not developed with buildings and include features like grass, trees, plants, and water. These spaces range from small parks and community gardens to forests that harbour wildlife while offering an opportunity for recreation and other benefits.  How far are you from or close to a green space? Is it accessible, safe, or welcoming? Urban areas are far from forests and without a luxury of space between builds to create green spaces for recreation or a counter for the urban heat island effect . This exposes them to impacts of climate change like high temperatures among others.  The set-up of every city needs a balance between green spaces and other relevant infrastructure. These areas are core to our aspirations and inspiration for sustainable pathways. Like most innovations, nature ‘s inspiration is exhibited by biomimicry or just immersing oneself to its surroundings and create. One cou...
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Heat People Instead of Air

St. George's Anglican church plans to use heated cushions, heated backrests and an electric light called a "Strahler" in German. The device emits a bright, focused beam of light commonly using LEDs to provide ecologically efficient ambient warmth. The operating costs are expected to be a fraction of what it currently costs to run our inefficient and decades-old furnace that burns fossil fuel. In the end the parish will save a significant amount of money, and will do significantly less harm to the environment. But first the initial expenses must be covered.   The cost for the heated cushions, backrests and the Strahler will be  about € 78.000. The installation will cost € 22,000. The church still needs to raise € 14,000 €. Contributions should go to KD Bank DE78 3506 0190 1566 9230 21. The Church will issue receipts. Please contribute to help to protect God's creation.  
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Trees combat climate change

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In March 2025 Russell Parton published an article ( link ) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claiming: "Tree planting is still the best way to remove carbon, despite climate and economic risks, say researchers". Part of the economic impact comes from reducing the amount of land for crops, but reducing cropland is not the only option. The author notes that "a 'portfolio' approach to tree planting—diversifying species and planting locations—helps balance risks and moves beyond planting strategies that simply hope that everything will be okay." An important alternative to reducing farmland could be reducing the area cemerted over for highways and for parking spaces. Parton suggests that a balanced approach involving trees is "a far more cost-effective strategy for carbon removal than alternatives like biomass energy with carbon capture and storage or direct air capture technologies."  Children's book author Liz Pichon writes ...
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Carbon Capture

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According to a 21 August 2025 article by Anthony King in the EU Research magazine Horizon , "Researchers are testing a new method of capturing CO2 from energy-intensive industries and converting it into valuable chemicals and fuels."   The process involves multiple steps including  the creation of potassium carbonate in order to lock the gas into liquid form, then to use electricity to make the solution more acidic to release CO2, and finally to turn the CO2 into formic acid, which is the simplest carboxylic acid. A related process is being used in Denmark to make the creation of cement more environmentally friendly.   Even though the process works, this article makes it clear that working out cost-effective CO2 capture remains difficult, and will continue to require significant  European Union investment. Such initiatives are important to protect God's creation.  
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The future of Bees

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We have long known that bee populations are in decline due to climate change, but climate change is not by any means the only reason.  Bee-killing pesticides are an important factor which countries could and should control. Habitat loss is another factor. Governments traditionally encourage groth, and growth often means paving over land for buildings and streets and even bicycle paths. A few cities like Berlin have been trying to protect successful green areas like Tiergarten in the city's centre, but pollution from automobile traffic remains a problem despite a vote in 2022 that favoured restricting cars inside the core city. Courts have ruled that holding a new  referendum to ban cars within the S-Bahn ring is legal. Forests are also suffering despite efforts in many countries to protect forests from developers.   Nonetheless a 2025 article by Madina Tussupov gives a reason for hope, because  the population of bees is actually growing in some areas in Asia. Ch...
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Water soluble plastics

Plastic waste in water has long been one of the major pollution problems, but there may now be a solution in sight, according to a Reuters article by Irene Wang   ( LINK ):     “Researchers in Japan have developed a plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours, offering up a potential solution for a modern-day scourge polluting oceans and harming wildlife. … [T]he new material is as strong as petroleum-based plastics but breaks down into its original components when exposed to salt. Those components can then be further processed by naturally occurring bacteria, thereby avoiding generating microplastics that can harm aquatic life and enter the food chain.” A key factor will be persuading commercial users to adopt in this form of plastic.   Doing so will likely take both social pressure perhaps financial incentives. Nonetheless, water soluble plastic could be important for preserving God's creation.    
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The risk to bees

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A 20 May 2025 report from the University of Reading entitled "Bees face new threats, putting our survival & theirs at risk"  discusses  the alarming state of the bee population. ( LINK ) It warns:   "Pollinators like bees, butterflies, some birds and bats are vital to nature and our food supply with almost 90% of flowering plants and over three-quarters of the world’s staple crops depending on them. But habitat loss, pesticides, climate change and invasive species have caused their severe decline, including the extinction of some bee species." Among the key problems are pesticides, but other risks loom large, including air pollution, micro plastics,  artificial light for those that pollinate at night, and wildfires that are destroying their natural  habitats. The report emphasises that "finding ways to protect pollinators early is key to prevent preventing further major decline." Protecting bees and other pollinating insects is important if we...
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