12 November 2025

Have you been watching the Doctor Who  spin-off  'The War between the Land and the Sea' ? I promise, no spoilers if you haven't caught up yet. But I'm engrossed.  There's a very strong eco message and I'm fascinated to see how the story develops.  And if we could communicate with the inhabitants of the oceans, what do you think their message to us would be? Something very similar to Salt's message to the inhabitants of the land in the story, I think. 

Do you have Christmas lights decorating the outside of your house? For many people,  young and not-so-young, it's one of the joys of the season to see what folks have done with their outdoor decorations. And, as a child, it kept me and my brother occupied in the car, with our Christmas tree counting competitions during those December trips to visit relatives all over West Lancashire.  But if outdoor illuminations are your thing,  take a cue from the church December floodlights, and turn them off before you go to bed. The natural world needs those hours of darkness to function and/or to rest.  And it will make a difference, even if you have streetlights directly outside your house. 

21 November 2025

Church suggestions:

Two things this week, one from the Harvest festival suggestions,  one mentioned at church recently. 

In the Harvest festival suggestions, some of children said they would like to have prayers, or a prayer for the environment every week.  This is a great suggestion, but where/when should we have them? There are several options  - we have an environment prayer with the 'sending out' prayer, there's an environment prayer with the young people while they are in the hall, or we have that prayer once the young people are back in church.  What do you think? And particularly, what do our young people think?

The second item was about Christmas cards: it was suggested that people might want to consider not sending cards people they see regularly, and make a charity donation instead.  No-one is suggesting we don't send cards to folks we don't see regularly - that's one of the joys of Christmas. But it's something we might want to think about, while considering both sides of the coin. Not sending cards to people we see often, but making a charity donation instead has merit, as long as folks know what we're doing and why. Sending cards that support your favourite charities even to people you see often perhaps promotes that charity just a bit more to those people.  And some people just love writing cards, no matter how many! Have a think, and make your own decision. 

14 November 2025

Shifting baseline syndrome 

It's really easy to forget how things change, and think we aren't making an impact where it matters.  This article from 'The Conversation', an online academic news journal, helps us consider how things have changed and, yes, progressed in the last 10 years  or so. https://theconversation.com/the-un-climate-summits-are-working-just-not-in-the-way-their-critics-think-268953 

But there's still a long way to go.  What's our reaction to the people who invaded the COP30 talks in the week? It certainly made the news - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0l7yjgn050o  

While we continue to think and pray about these things, perhaps God is speaking to us about what we can do.  Not suggesting we gatecrash talks in Brazil or elsewhere, but is there action we can take? Signing a petition, or writing to our MP, perhaps. Something to ponder this week. 

7 November 2025

Citizen  science can really make a difference in small and large environmental projects, ensuring that local communities have a voice in projects that should benefit them.  But how surprised are we when that doesn't happen?

Click here for an article from the Resurgence Trust.

COP30 starts on Monday.  If you would like some ideas for how to pray about the process, this website might be helpful  - https://www.cop-prayer.uk/ 

24 October 2025

Some of the suggestions we collected at the Harvest lunch were around kitchen waste at church. We'll definitely be looking into the logistics of the suggestions, notably for food waste and soft plastics.  In the meantime, let's make sure we're on top of this at home, or even at work, making sure that all our food waste goes in the correct bin.  If we're at work, and our employer doesn't provide food waste collection facilities, do you have the opportunity to make a suggestion? Otherwise keep a suitable container at work and bring those pesky teabags, apple cores, etc home with you. 

If you were at the harvest festival service, you may remember that I talked about the Vatican putting solar panels on its buildings.  It was announced this week that a major installation has been completed on Vatican owned property near Rome, and consequently, the Vatican joins a very select and small group of countries (8) that get 99.7% of their energy needs from renewables.  And that's even without putting solar panels on the roof of the Sistine Chapel! Read more here: https://happyeconews.com/countries-running-on-renewable-energy/

17 October 2025

Many thanks to everyone who contributed ideas about how we as a church community at Holy Trinity can all become Creation Care Champions. There will be more information and responses coming in the next few weeks, but one of the ideas was to have a weekly section in the newsletter. 

The A Rocha 'Eco tips Calendar' (link below) for October encourages us to think about seasonal food - which fruit and veg are at their best in the UK right now, and can we get them at our local supermarket? It's the season for UK apples, with both traditional and new varieties in many shops now. Watch out for traditional varieties Early Windsors, Egremont Russets and Cox. If you've never tried an Early Windsor, they really are a treat (but they do bruise easily, so be careful!). If the supermarket where you shop doesn't have new season UK apples, ask them why. Maybe even write to customer services if the Branch Manager doesn't have a good answer for you.

A Rocha Eco tips Calendar