Eco Blog - St. George's Berlin

Investing is one of those topics which may often feel like one is trying to navigate the St George’s Maze - you have various options in terms of direction, some lead to dead ends, others lead you around in circles, and some help you to reach your goal in the center of the maze. Some may have a more pessimistic outlook, viewing investing as the Harry Potter Triwizard Tournament maze, with a lot of unpleasant surprises and unexpected obstacles to overcome. Add in a twist to try to make investing sustainable, then it is no wonder that many people may feel lost in terms of what to look for or where to start. In this article, I will try to simply outline key elements to look out for, in case the reader is interested in Sustainable or Green Investing. “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start” - Sound of Music. The starting point to any investing is to select your stock broker. Compared to prior decades, this has been simplified by many brokers so that you can access a w...

According to a message from the Gewerkschaft der Polizei Berlin, over 3,250,000 people in Germany have signed a petition to ban fireworks. One reason is that fireworks release toxic chemicals, heavy metals, particulate matter, and various greenhouse gases that are bad for the environment. They also increase the risk of wildfire, and fireworks can harm the people setting them off. The danger is real: the US reports that fireworks injured 14,700 people in 2024 and killed persons.  According to the Guardian (9 Jan 2026): “Debates around banning end-of-year firework displays have heated up in several European countries. In Germany, which regularly reports firework-related deaths around the turn of the year, calls to ban private sales have gained support from doctors, green groups and police unions – with some environmental groups going further and calling for a ban even on licensed firework displays.”. ( LINK )  Now is the time take action to protect God’s creation!  Getty Im...

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...

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.  

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 ...

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.  

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...