Every tree counts

 Guardian author Senay Boztas wrote on 26 November 2021 in an article called ‘Every tree counts’: Dutch come up with cunning way to create forests for free" (LINK): : "The idea behind it is simple: every day unwanted tree saplings were being cleared and thrown away when those young trees could be carefully collected and transplanted to where they are wanted."  

Trees can contribute materially to reducing atmosphere carbon and to restoring oxygen, but they need space to grow. Much of the land in our cities is currently covered with concrete and asphalt to make it easier for people to drive and to park cars. According to Leander Jones in the Guardian on 6 October 2021 (LINK): 

"A 2014 report commissioned by Berlin’s regional parliament found that 58% of traffic space was devoted to cars, even though only a third of journeys on Berlin streets (and only 17% within the S-Bahn ring) were made by car. Only 3% was set aside for bicycles, which accounted for 15% of journeys (18% within the ring). Parked cars took up 17 sq km. In total, almost 20 times more space was dedicated to cars than to bicycles in one of Europe’s most renowned cycle-friendly cities. Three-quarters of road deaths are pedestrians or cyclists." 

The problem with cars is only partially the pollution they create. Electric cars do not burn fossil fuels, though their batteries can cause other environmental problems if not recycled properly. In environmental terms an equally urgent problem is the loss of green space in urban areas where the car density tends to be highest.  

Our parish has few members who drive to church, but many own cars and do not necessarily think of them as a symbol of the causes of climate change. In the 17th century well-off gentlemen typically wore swords as a sign of their rank.  George Fox, one of the founders of the famously pacifist Society of Friends (Quakers), reportedly admonished  the rich new member William Penn only to wear his sword as long as he could reconcile wearing that symbol of war with his religious beliefs. (LINK). Penn found it hard to give up. It was part of his identity. Perhaps by analogy members of the parish might want to say to themselves: drive a car only as long as you can reconcile it with preserving God's creation.