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  Tuesday 16th February : Buy local , Reduce your food miles “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail” – Ezekiel 47:12 ESV   Have a dinner with ingredients from only your area and taste the deliciousness from what can be made near you! What on earth are food miles? They are the distance that your food travels from the grower to your plate, including travel to and from processor and retailer. Why should I want to reduce them? Because transporting your food long distances involves trucks and planes. And trucks and planes use lots of fuel and emit tons of CO2 emissions, contributing to global warming. Buying locally prevents some countries from cutting down forests and losing their own food, because big companies see food as a commodity, rather as a way to feed the people of that country. Locally grown food tastes better. It is usually picked in the last day or two. Produce that has been trucked or flown in is much older. fresh produce loses nutrients quickly Local food supports local people and creates jobs. Buying local food creates community! How to reduce food miles: When shopping in supermarkets, check the labels. Buy food that is grown or produced locally. Eat what’s in season. It won’t have travelled as far as out-of-season fruit and vegetables. Visit your local Farmers’ Market. Find your local farm shops, producers and pick-your-own farms Grow your own – start a veggie patch in your back garden. Support your local greengrocer, butcher and fishmonger, and ask them to stock more local produce. Walk or take the bus to your local shops. This way you won’t add to the food miles already accrued. As you enjoy your ‘local’ meal, make a list of potentially the number of people that you have contributed something to their wellbeing through the products you bought. (Johannesburg Anglican Environmental Institute)  

  15th Feb : Meat Free Monday   Meet Free Monday! (Lettuce Turnip the Beet) Ecclesiastes 3:19 “for the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same: as one dies, so ides the other. They all have the same breath and human have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity. Today’s  Action: Adopt a Meat Free Monday: Challenge yourself this Lent to reduce your meat consumption, starting with a meat free Monday. Why is it important to reduce our meat consumption? Good for the Globe! The livestock industry is damaging to the planet, contributing hugely to deforestation, reduction of biodiversity, pollution and water degradation.  A report entitled “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, finds that the “livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributions to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global … Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale … The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency.”  The livestock sector is responsible for a higher share of CO2 emissions  than transport.  A reduction in our meat eating can help reduce our impact on the the globe   Help end world hunger Every day forty thousand children on this planet needlessly starve to death. Crops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food. If everyone on Earth received 25 percent of his or her calories from animal products, only 3.2 billion people could be nourished. If everyone ate a vegetarian diet, there would be more than enough food to nourish the world’s entire population of more than 6.3 billion people. 9 Compassion for animals Animals on today’s factory farms have no legal protection from cruelty that would be illegal if it were inflicted on dogs or cats. Yet farmed animals are no less intelligent or capable of feeling pain than are the dogs and cats we cherish as companions. A vegetarian lifestyle awakens our spirit of compassion and guides us towards a kinder, gentler society in which we exercise a moral choice to protect animals—not exploit them.   Helps with your health Vegetarian diets are naturally lower in saturated fat, and cholesterol, and higher in plant nutrients than most meat-based diets. Vegetarians have been shown to have a 24% lower risk of dying of heart disease than non-vegetarians.1 High consumption of red meat may increases the risk of heart disease. The World Health Organisation has linked consumption of red meat to cancer. Prayer Almighty and Merciful Father, whose care and loving kindness are over all thy creation, breathe forth into us thy spirit of compassion and tenderness towards all creatures thou hast made and in whom thou are the indwelling life .Teach us , O Lord to look upon our younger brethren as a trust from thee, that the day may be hastened when men shall neither hurt nor destroy in all they holy mountain: through Jesus Christ our Lord (Liturgy of the Liberal Catholic Church)

Valentines Day has become a rather over commercialized celebration of individual romantic love. This year we would like to encourage you to celebrate Earthkeepers day – love your Earth day! With Valentine’s Day falling very early in spring in the northern hemisphere, it is often associated with the advent of spring.  In Slovenia, St Valentine, or Zdravko, was considered to be one of the saints of spring and good health, and the patron of beekeepers and pilgrims.  A proverb says that St Valentine “brings the keys of roots”, with plants and flowers starting to grow on this day. It is with this in mind that we would like to turn Valentine’s Day into a day that honours and shows love for the Earth, just like St Valentine did. We would like to see it as a day in which we can all feel a deep sense of connection and love for Creation. So we invite you to unite in prayer, creative fun and play with faith communities across Southern Africa and celebrate all life around us. We live in a time where a greater ecological awareness is needed and thus we extend the challenge to all faith communities to replace the consumerism of this weekend with a spiritual and pragmatic honouring of this day as keepers of the earth to express awe, respect and love for the sanctity of all life. What about having a “Practical picnic” with your loved ones  on this day. http://safcei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/EKD-additional-event_practical-picnic.pdf Today’s Task: Think about how your church is showing LOVE for the environment? Our theme for this week of our Carbon Fast is food. How does your church cater? Where do you buy your food, is it local or shipped in from far away. Do you use free range chicken or factory farmed? What happens to leftover food? Do you use Styrofoam or do you wash up? A prayer to say at your church Creator God, we gather in this sanctuary to praise and honour You, yet there are many things that we do in caring for this space that destroy Your creation and make life easier for us in this place, but do not bring honour and glory to You as Creator. Help us to raise the necessary motivation and commitment to make radical changes in our mode of thinking and our actions to avoid further damages to the environment and the earth that sustains us. Help us to honour in every possible way that we can, the sanctity of all life and You, Lord God, as the ultimate giver and sustainer of all that lives on earth. Amen  

“God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” Martin Luther THE SECOND BOOK OF GOD Traditionally theologians referred to  the Bible and nature as “two books,” which when read side by side combine to reveal the God of creation. The first book, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is called “special revelation.” The Scriptures are special, in part, because if God had not chosen human writers who were inspired by the Spirit of truth to disclose this unique and specific knowledge, we would not be aware of it. The second of God’s two revelations is the book of nature, termed “general revelation.” This is the record of our Creator that is revealed in the natural world around us. We call it a general revelation because it has been generally available to people throughout all the ages. It is a revelation that is available to all people regardless of age or literacy  levels! Nature  showcases the handiwork of God in the creation, and records  God’s actions on the earth and in human history. The apostle Paul wrote, “Since the creation of the world ,the Creator’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead” (Rom. 1:20).  The Hebrew author of Psalm 19 expressed a similar observation when he wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (vv.1-4). Do we take time to listen to God in trees, animals, flowers and stars? God is speaking, but are we listening? Season of Creation  3: ACSA Environmental Network Daily Action:  Take a walk in your area, or hike somewhere nearby.  Sit quietly, look at the sky, feel the breeze, hear the birds . Listen for the voice of God in Creation.   A PRAYER OF ST AIDAN Leave me alone with God as much as may be. As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore, Make me an island, set apart, alone with you, God, holy to you.   Then with the turning of the tide prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond, the world that rushes in on me till the waters come again and fold me back to you.        

“Be glad, earth and sky! Roar, sea, and every creature in you; Be glad, fields, and everything in you! The trees of the wood will shout for joy when the Lord comes to rule the earth. He will rule the peoples of the world with justice and fairness.” Psalm 96:11-13 Today we continue our preparation for the actions of the Carbon Fast. Take time today to reflect on all the living creatures that rely on the Earth to survive. Start with the ones in your neighbourhood , then your country, your continent and the world. Picture the ones that are threatened and those that are already extinct. Our planet faces a life threatening disease. Each day we lose valuable parts of our biosphere as species become extinct and ecosystems destroyed – yet where is there funeral service.  Honoring our pain for the world is a way of valuing our awareness, first that we have noticed nd second that we care we needs to digest the bad news, that is what rouses us to respond Psychologists help us to understand that the task of grieving means to first accept the loss and second feel the pain of grief.  When we feel this emotion, we know not only that the loss is real but also that it matters to us.  This is the “digestion” phase – where the awareness sinks to a deeper place within us so that we take in what it means. Now take a piece of paper and draw a picture or sketch of those animals, plants or parts of the web of life who are threatened. Sit in silence and hear the cry of the Earth. Joanna Macy And now say this prayer This we know: the earth does not belong to us. The earth is the Lord’s and so are all its people This we know: we did not weave the web of life. The earth is the Lord’s and so is all that breathes on it. This we know: we are called to till and work the earth. The earth is the Lord’s and so are all who work the land. This we know: that we are called to take care of creation. The earth is the Lord’s yet we have polluted and abused it. This we know; that whatever befalls the earth Befalls the sons and daughters of the earth This we know: that the earth is the Lord’s And so we will serve Him in it Amen   Bishop Eric Pike: Port Elizabeth   As a practical response to the pain of the Earth , give thanks for the fish in the sea and for the oceans that sustain them.   As a traditional food during Lent, fish is healthy. The production of fish creates a quarter as many carbon emissions as red meat. So, it is good for your family and for the world! Make this a Lenten habit—Fish on Friday            – but make sure to eat only sustainable fish.