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Shell's profits

Shell made $27.5 billion in profit last year. Shell is suing Greenpeace because they managed to occupy an oil platform which was making its way towards the North Sea to unlock new oil wells.They are demanding that Greenpeace stop protesting at any of their facilities or otherwise face a $1.7m+ damages claim and a wide-ranging injunction to limit their right to protest.   We must significantly reduce our use of fossil fuels. We are at a critical junction, seeing the effects of climate change everywhere. It is important that we have organisations who are willing to fight to save us, our planet and God's creation. You can find the source information here , as well as how to donate, if you would like to support Greenpeace with their legal fees in order to be able to contest this case. 

Human Behaviour and Global Warming

 It should be clear to most members of the Church community that human behaviour is one of the causes of global warming. A recent article in the Guardian makes the claim that a "Human ‘behavioural crisis’ at root of climate breakdown, say scientists" (Rachel Donald, 13 January 2024, LINK )  Donald writes: "At the root of all these problems, according to recent research, is the human “behavioural crisis”, a term coined by an interdisciplinary team of scientists."  We know that "unless demand for resources is reduced, many other innovations are just a sticking plaster." Donald quotes Joseph Merz, a co-founder of an "organisation that researches the systemic causes of the climate crisis". ´Merz  writes: " We’ve been saying ‘be more green’ or ‘fly less’, but meanwhile all of the things that drive behaviour have been pushing the other way. All of these subtle cues and not so subtle cues have literally been pushing the opposite direction – and we’

Hottest year on record

  It is worth noting that 2023 was the hottest year on record (see Guardian 9 January 2024 ): "2023 smashes record for world’s hottest year by huge margin.  Rapid reduction in fossil fuel burning urgently needed to preserve liveable conditions, say scientists, as climate damage deepens"  If we care about preserving God's creation, everyone needs to do what they can to combat climate change. 

St George’s Joins World Clean-up day

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St George’s Joins World Clean-up Day International World Clean-up Day was on Saturday 16th September this year. This is a day when governments, organizations and millions of individual volunteers in 191 countries focus on tackling the global waste problem. (You can find out more about it at worldcleanupday​.de ). Three of the St George’s congregation, supported by partners and family, joined approximately 25 other people at Naturstation Hahnberg in Spandau for 2 hours of picking up litter. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, and the walk up to the top of the hill, collecting as we went, was lovely. We saw birds of prey and rabbits, as well has having a good chat along the way. By the end of the two hours we had collected a number of bags of rubbish. In particular we looked out for small items, elastic bands, cigarette ends and the plastic around bottle tops as these can be very dangerous for small mammals and birds. We would encourage everyone to clean-up our natural areas, even if yo

EU Nature Restoration Law

The Eco Church committee recommends  asking our German EU representatives to support the Nature Restoration Law. See:  ( LINK ) (Nur auf Deutsch.)

Small steps matter

Small steps matter. It is not unusual for people to say that an Eco-friendly idea is too small to make any difference. In fact taking small steps not only shows an important symbolic commitment toward protecting the environment, but small steps can in fact make a difference in the long run. There are sites such as "My Climate" ( LINK ) that will help to calculate the cost.  One of the small steps that everyone can take is to reduce meat consumption. A completely vegetarian or vegan diet is not necessary to make a difference, and there are plenty of sources of good protein in the plant kingdom The Eco Church committee has long talked about providing some environmentally friendly recipies. Here is one for crispy Tofu: Tofu comes in many forms, some softer than others. It also comes with different seasonings. For this recipe seasoned and relatively firm tofu is best, meaning that it was squeezed to reduce the water content. The next steps are simple: dry the tofu with a towel, c

Chocolate scorecard

How sustainable is the Chocolate that we eat? This Chocolate "Scorecard" give some answers:   Link to the Scorecard .  It comes from the  WWF .  Many thanks to Robyn for sending it.