Eco Blog - St. George's Berlin

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

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.

  It is the little things that count. What we eat is only one example. If we could only reduce the amount of meat that we eat daily, and especially the amount of factory farmed meat, it would improve our environment. Some stores provide grass-fed beef, which is environmentally better. Tofu is also an excellent protein source and there are many excellent tofu recipes that do not just attempt to be fake meat.  Another one of the little things we can do is to limit unnecessary local travel by reducing the number of unnecessary physical meetings, especially ones where some people will inevitably drive. Some social events and some religious services can justify the need for a physical presence, but business meetings do not and often function more efficiently via video conference, because people remain focused on the business itself. Some parishes are so compact that everyone can easily walk to meetings or to other physical events. St. George's is not. In an article in the Guardian, Patr

  The New York Times has provided statistics about global warming: „  The eight warmest years on record have now occurred since 2014, the scientists, from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported, and 2016 remains the hottest year ever.“ ( LINK )  This is worth remembering if we want to preserve God‘s creation. Individual actions help. Fewer cars, more gardens, and more vegetarian eating helps. The Eco-Church committee will provide more vegetarian recipes in the near future.

 The "Aufruhr-magazin.de" had an article recently about the cost of cars. ( LINK ) Note that the original article is in German. Parking places in Berlin take up 10 times as much space as playgrounds for children.  In Munich a parking permit costs 0.08€ daily, and the price has remained the same since 2004, despite inflation. In the same city a restaurant that wants to have tables outside pays 1.50€ per day, and a farmer who sets up a stand for vegetables pays 18.00€ per day.  Cars are privileged. An underground parking place for a car is typically larger than a one-person office.  About 41% of Germans drive a car or ride in one daily, while only about 10% use a bicycle, even though 48% of workplaces are less than 10 Km away.  Stefan Gössling of the "Freiburger Institut T3 Transportation Think Tank" claims that someone who drives a modest car like the Opel Corsa in fact gets an annual subvention of  4,674 €. On average a car sits unused 95% of the time, equal to 23 h

 "Reboot Food" is the name of a campaign by Guardian columnist George Monbiot to persuade people to consider "precision fermentation" as a way of using microbes to create "specific proteins and fats" to replace "meat, fish, milk, and eggs". The process needs "1700 times less land than the most efficient agricultural means of producing protein: soy grown in the US."  If used at scale this could enable the "rewilding the vast tracts occupied by livestock..." Monbiot warns about the risk the the technology could be "captured by a few corporations". The risk may be real once precision fermentation gains acceptance, but food is a cultural habit that changes only very slowly, perhaps too slowly to rescue God's creation via this method. Nonetheless it is time for people who care about the planet to consider all options. All quotes come from:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/24/gre isen-technology-prec