Latest Eco Notes from Centenary

Eco Congregation Notes
20^th November
 

 
Continuing from the reflection in last Sunday’s sermon on autumn as ‘a time to shed, a time to shine and a time to center’:
God of All Creation, help us to gain inspiration from nature this autumn. Like the trees, help us to let go of that which is no longer life giving or helping us to grow. Like the grass, remind us it is okay to rest and renew for a season before coming back alive and well next year. Like the migrating birds, send us on journeys to familiar places where we can be safe until it is time to return home. Like the animals preparing for hibernation, give us good food to nourish us and some extra rest in the coming days. Like the squirrels scurrying around to collect nuts, may we gather only what we need so our needs are met and there is enough for others.
As we watch the leaves fall and feel the temperatures cool, let this be a time of possibility for what this season can be if we trust in you, Holy One. Amen.
Extract from a prayer for shared by Susannah DeBenedetto, Buckingham Presbyterian Church, Maryland.
 

Eco Congregation Notes
12^th November
General Election and Environmental Concerns

As the campaign gets under way, issues such as  housing, childcare, health services, cost of living and immigration feature largely in voters’ concerns.  Despite storms, floods and disruption to food production this year, as well as fires and extreme heat internationally, climate change seems farther down the list. As an Eco Congregation, it is important that we let politicians know that we need practical support for our efforts to take action on emissions, biodiversity loss and pollution. The  MCI document Concerns relating to the General Election to the 34th Dáil,  contains a section of questions on the environment. You may also wish to review this leaflet shared by Dundrum Climate Vigil, which includes members from Dundrum Methodist Church.
DUNDRUM CLIMATE VIGIL  
MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT FOR CLIMATE
Climate issues to raise with election candidates  
 
The 2024 UN Emissions Gap Report warns that even if national climate action plans for this decade are fully implemented, temperatures will rise by at least a catastrophic 2.6C. (https://www.climatechangenews.com/)
 
Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council has warned that Ireland will be liable to massive fines for failing to meet our agreed climate targets:  https://www.rte.ie/news/environment/2024/1023/1476919-greenhouse-emissions/ 
 
Ask your candidates how they plan to move faster towards climate targets and avoid this €8billion in fines!
Ask them to work in government to ensure that money is spent now on positive climate actions, such as:

5. Wind and solar power investment - The Climate Change Advisory Council Review for 2024 states that the Electricity sector needs to achieve a 75% decrease by 2030 compared with 2018. Generation from renewable sources has increased only slightly and remains significantly below the annual increase needed to meet growing demand and satisfy 2030 targets for emission reductions. 

5. Ask what happened the plan to fit all schools with solar panels?
5. Retrofitting and insulating all homes – to ensure that retrofitting is done appropriately, many more workers need to be trained so ensure they have necessary knowledge and skills currently lacking in the industry. 

Eco Congregation Notes
6^th November
Troubling Times

Across the globe, between five and ten thousand people die from flooding each year. Local factors, atmospheric, geographic, economic and political, contribute, but in the recent flooding in Valencia, and during the summer in other parts of Europe, the  additional impact of human-caused climate change has been visible close to home.
We are living in a time of unwelcome climate superlatives: the deadliest flash floods in Spain’s modern history,  the hottest two years in the world’s recorded history, the deadliest fire in the US, the biggest fire in Europe, the biggest fire in Canada, the worst drought in the Amazon rainforest.
Scientists at World Weather Attribution have shown on a case-by-case basis how much more intense and likely storms, droughts, floods and fires have become as a result of human-caused climate disruption. That all of this is already happening with just 1.3^oC of global heating should be an urgent warning to slash emissions, said the authors of these studies.
“At COP29 global leaders really need to agree to not only reduce, but stop burning fossil fuels, with an end date. The longer the world delays replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, the more severe and frequent extreme weather events will become,” said Friederike Otto, Lead of World Weather Attribution at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London.
Yet the agenda at COP  is being set by those who want to expand fossil fuel production. Azerbaijan is the third COP host in a row, after the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, that plans to increase oil and gas production. Next year’s host Brazil also intends to boost output. So do many of the world’s richest nations This year’s talks will address how to finance a “transition away from oil and gas” – the vague goal finally accepted at COP last year after three decades of talks.
It is hard to be optimistic this morning as indications are that Donald Trump will win the US presidency. He has long disparaged climate change as a “hoax,” has promised to unleash oil and gas development, roll back pollution rules and degrade federal support for renewable energy.  He is quoted as saying at a Milwaukee  rally: “The ocean will rise,” “Who the hell cares?”
Yet, as people of faith we remain called to find our motivation in sources beyond logic and rationality, knowing that success is not guaranteed in most struggles. Green Christian, a UK based community, working in creation care provide a prayer for our times:
Hope, a state of mind, not a state of the world
Lord,
Forgive us that in your name, so often,
we seek the joy of success and are
only willing to invest in enterprises
that are obviously headed to an early success.
Instead, fill us with your sort of deep and powerful hope,
which rejects a fragile optimism that things will turn out for the best
and replaces it with the conviction that our journey with you makes sense
regardless of how it seems to turn out.
based on words from Havel, 1990, Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala, Havel, 1990 New York: Nation Books.   https://greenchristian.org.uk/lamentation-prayers