Eco tips for early summer

A bit of a mixed bag this time! 

First of all, thank you to those who helped out with my eco project for college.  I’ll be presenting the results on 6 May, so would value prayer for that.  I was very interested that I got such varied responses, and I also found our last PCC meeting very helpful as we talked about continuing to take small steps in the right direction, rather than worrying about when we might achieve another eco award. 

Environmental matters and reducing our energy will now be part of the buildings reports to the PCC; I also noticed that we’re thinking about how to balance not losing heat while remaining welcoming in the number of doors we keep open.

Other practical ideas you might consider this month:

First, we’re back to “no mow May”, so if you have lots of flowers in your grass at home, you might like to consider beheading them less frequently!!  (We have, if it’s possible, even more primroses than last year in our “meadow” area, so it’s no-brainer, though it makes that first mow in June very hard!) 

Second, especially if you have little people in your life, you might like to sign up now for “30 Days Wild”, https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/30dayswild which encourages us to do something wild every day in June.

If you’d like to read more about environmental stories from around the world, you might consider the BBC’s Future Earth newsletter, which contains a digest of the latest environmental stories, both positive and negative; the latest edition came out yesterday (22 April) which was Earth Day.  As well as articles about whether a volcano could destroy the Greek holiday island of Santorini, the impact of weather on renewable power, water pollution and grass fires in the UK, and a project to suck carbon out of the sea, the main focus was on the next climate change conference, COP30, which this year will be held in Brazil. 

And if you’d like a book recommendation, look no further than The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben – absolutely fascinating, humorous at times, and nice short chapters. (This book could change your life - Lucy)

Prayer

And, last but not least, prayer: for daily prayers for the earth, linked to news articles, can I once again recommend https://greenchristian.org.uk/resources/prayer-guide/ You can sign up to receive emails or (dare I say it?!) even print this out, if that helps you pray best.

Prayer by Hildegard of Bingen (12th-century abbess, philosopher and musician)
God is the foundation for everything
This God undertakes, God gives.
Such that nothing that is necessary for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that at all times honours and praises God.
This body is supported in every way through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.