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Showing posts from October, 2021

"The Climate disaster is here"

 A Guardian headline on 14 October 2021 says "The Climate disaster is here:  Earth is already becoming unlivable. Will governments act to stop this disaster from getting worse?" ( LINK )    “We are on a catastrophic path,” said António Guterres, secretary general of the UN. “We can either save our world or condemn humanity to a hellish future.”  The article describes what the temperature increases mean and will mean as temperatures increase. Poor countries will suffer more than rich ones, but in the end everyone will suffer. As a church we give money for wells in Africa. That is important for people today, but if that is all that we and others do, it will not save the lives in the longer run. The article gives many examples of consequences. Here is one example: "A 'heat dome' that pulverized previous temperature records in the US’s Pacific northwest in June, killing hundreds of people as a billion sea creatures roasted alive in their shells off the coast, would’v

Urban ecology

Sometimes the steps that we are able to take to protect the environment are far from obvious, and some opportunities are closer than we might think. Phoebe Weston published a Guardian article on 1 October 2021 in which she talks about "ten great city projects for nature". Here are a few excerpts from the article. ( LINK ) One of the headlines is "Flower Meadows in Berlin". She writes: "Berlin is creating more than 50 wild gardens at a cost of €1.5m (£1.2m) as part of a bigger effort to save biodiversity in Germany. The country is home to 580 species of wild bee, 300 of which are found in Berlin, more than half of which are endangered or at risk of extinction. More than 100 wildflower meadows have been planted across Germany’s largest cities in the past three years..." Another section talks about converting a lawn bowling club into an inner-city farm in order to grow local organic food and to "educate people about healthy eating". The farm also ha