Richard's Blog

[Do read my previous posts from this conference, here and here ]

Dave Bookless focused on a biblical theology of creation and the environment, using the 'five act' overview of the scriptural narrative that Bishop Tom Wright has made well known:

Creation -> Fall -> Israel -> Jesus -> The church

[continued]

[See my previous post from this conference here]

Everyone I speak to in this area speaks with one voice on the timing of this - climate change is moving much faster than ever expected. The inter-governmental  commission on climate change says that if there isn't massive action before 2012 it's not just that things will get worse, but that change will be irreversible. [continued]

I'm sitting in St Philip's Church, Earls Court - Charles H. and I are at a clergy day study conference on a Christian approach to the environment. Thought I'd blog a few thoughts and reflections as we go through the day.

A particular attraction of the day is the presence of Dave Bookless, who heads up the aork of A Rocha - a Christian environmental charity. It's a fantastic organisation that I got to know at my previous church and I'm hoping we can support here at All Souls through Soul Connections in 20009. [continued]

Here's what Tearfund have said about this week's UK government shift on climate change (full announcement on the Tearfund website):

The government have raised the target in the Climate Change Bill, from 60 to 80 per cent emissions cuts by 2050. This is what Tearfund, along with the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, have been campaigning for.

Over the past two years, the local church has been raising its voice as thousands of Tearfund supporters have prayed and written to MPs and Ministers, raising their concerns that the UK was not doing enough about the impact climate change is having on the world's poorest people.

Do take a moment to thank God that our voice has been heard, and pray that it will encourage other high emitting countries to follow in the UK's footprints.

Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, made the announcement yesterday. Tearfund Advocacy Director Paul Cook said: "We are pleased the government has announced a target that matches the science and gives the UK integrity on the international stage. This signals justice for people in the poorest countries who contribute least to carbon emissions, but are bearing the brunt of climate change."

There is still work to do on the Climate Change Bill, but for now it is time to celebrate.

Thanks to Mike for working through this enormous list of "Green" events and picking out the more-or-less local ones - and Ali for getting them into a readable pdf... Download the list here - there's a massive variety!

Took Stephen to see the new Pixar film last week and we were both entranced by it. You can catch a quick summary of the film here.

I loved the fact that they didn't feel the need to pepper it with celebrity voices (in fact, there's no voices at all for the first 45 minutes!), nor wtih clever-clever cross-film-genre references, nor even with a whole bunch of jokes that only the adults will get.

It was, in fact, a rather unusual animated 'kids film'. For a start, it actually feels like a film - it takes itself seriously (not that it's not funny, but it doesn't get shy and start self-parodying). And it's a film that paints a pretty dismal view of humanity and the future for the planet. The opening scene is quite bleak - what you'd expect from a big "disaster earth" movie like "The Day After Tomorrow".

I liked Seth Godin's take on the seeming impossibility of such a film succeeding:

At every turn, Pixar messed up the marketing of their new movie. It has a hard to spell name, no furry characters, not nearly enough dialogue (the first 45 minutes is almost silent), no nasty (but ultimately ridiculous) bad guy, hardly any violence and very little slapstick. Wall-e didn't get a huge Hollywood PR campaign or even a lot of promotion, it doesn't feature any hot stars and as far as I can tell, the merchandising options are quite limited.

Can you imagine the meetings?

Can you imagine the yelling?

I've posted before about Breathe - an organisation based out of St Paul's Hammersmith that aims to inspire you to live a simpler, richer, less consumerist and more generous life.

Their latest newsletter is out new - downloadable in pdf format here - and the website continues to be worth a read... and a listen, since you can catch up on talks given by Bishop Graham Cray at their first ever conference.

It is, in many ways, a much richer - and certainly more challenging - conversation for us to have about how to live a simpler (more sustainable) life, rather than just an "eco-friendly" one.  It draws into the mix, not just our self-interest (how can I help my planet survive), but our attitude to money, possessions, luxuries and so on. It also makes us ask very complex questions (as does the front page article) about how our lifestyle affects others for good or for ill.