Eco Blog - St. George's Berlin

A 5 May 2025 Guardian article by Tom Perkins has the title: "Plastics in everyday objects may disrupt sleep in same way as caffeine, study finds:" ( LINK ) "The biological process of how the plastic chemicals affect the body is similar to caffeine in its effects on the circadian rhythm and adenosine receptor. ... But when the adenosine receptor is activated by the chemicals, it may not relay the message, delaying the body’s natural physiological processes. ... The findings of each new study will be used to pressure lawmakers to enact regulations, and to try to convince industry to remove the chemicals from the plastic, Wagner said."  This is in addition to the other environmental damage that plastic does to fish and animals. If we care about God's creation, we should minimise out use of plastic, even when that is challenging today.  

 Tom Perkins of the Guardian writes: "Three essential things to know about microplastics – and how to avoid them" with the subtitle: "Microplastics can’t be avoided completely, but even small steps in the right direction can help significantly." Here are some quotes from the article: "... plastic kitchenware is a major source of contamination at home. It all adds up: by one estimate, we on average ingest about 3.8m microplastics annually, many through food." "...Some plastic will almost certainly end up in your food, no matter what you do. ... prioritize the easiest steps you can take to avoid the chemicals, like swapping out plastic kitchen utensils with items made with safer alternative..." "... single-use paper coffee cups can shed trillions of bits of plastic when hot liquid is added. Similarly, tea bags can release billions of particles, and microwavable plastic is also a problem."  As a tea drinker I find the news about tea bags e...

  Sustainable Suggestions for Lent Lent will soon be starting and why not consider making it sustainable.You could choose to do one of these suggestions each week, or some / all of them for the whole of Lent. 1. Go vegetarian / vegan for Lent  Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  If you decide to give this a go, we can suggest the following websites for recipes to start you off. (As always before starting any new eating plan, please consider your own nutritional needs and if you are unsure, consult a professional) https://www.deliciouslyella.com/en-eu/category/recipes https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/diets/vega   2. Don't buy anything new during Lent (except food and toiletries)  Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up fo...

 It is important to involve school-age people so that they understand the world they are inheriting. This work by Dougie Paynter comes with  strong recommendations by members of the Eco-Church group. Here is a LINK . Plastic is one of the threats to God's creation that we can all help to avoid with our own small choices. In the end, it is often the small choices we make during daily life that matter.

 The amount of plastic in the environment puts God's creation at risk. "The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) explores the Arctic, Antarctic, and the seas and coastal regions of the  temperate latitudes, from the atmosphere to the deep sea. It has researched  plastic pollution in the ocean for 15 years and developed state-of-the-art methodologies for the standardised detection of small microplastics in different environments. The work aims to unveil the distribution of plastic pollutants as well as its impacts on marine life and trends over time to provide scientific data that are needed to combat plastic pollution in the oceans." ( Link ) "If entangled underwater, air-breathing animals cannot return to the sea surface to breathe and die of suffocation. But even gill-breathing animals are affected: if fish or invertebrates remain entangled for too long, they starve or are eaten. The odour of carcasses attracts further anima...

Many of us travel for business, some for pleasure. In both cases the flights have a climate impact, as calculated "by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and a joint initiative by the travel industry association forum anders reisen and the environmental and development organization Germanwatch." ( LINK ) Here are some sample results for round trip flights in kg of CO2: Berlin (BER) to London (LCY):   Climate impact: 477 kg  Berlin (BER) to Paris (CDG): Climate impact 424 kg   Berlin (BER) to Newark (EWR): Climate impact: 3,182 kg Berlin (BER) to Beijing (BJS): Climate impact: 3,792 kg Readers can check other results with this  LINK .