Rachel Mash

The girls who were wise answered, “There’s not enough oil for all of us! Matthew 25:9 Commit to switching off devices One of the quickest ways to reduce your carbon emissions and your electricity bill is to turn off all devices. Did you know that 10-15% of the electricity consumed at home is used by appliances in standby mode? (TV, radio, computers, microwaves, dishwasher…) If not in use, switch off the electronics in your house, by unplugging them or by turning off at the wall. You will make some good savings! Easy! It is all about changing our habits. We need to get into the habit of turning off lights as we move from one room to another. For outdoor security lights, a motion sensor can lead to very large savings, as your light will just be on for a moment or two for a passing cat or dodgy character, instead of staying on all night long. Which is better between LED bulbs or regular (incandescent) bulbs? LED bulbs are initially more expensive to buy but do not waste energy. No heat is emitted, whereas a classic lightbulb will release 90% of its energy as heat. An LED bulb will also last between 12 and 25 times more than a classic incandescent bulb. The price of the bulb is quickly compensated by the savings you can make in electricity. In a year a regular bulb will cost you 7 times more in electricity and then you will have to replace them much more frequently. Because the LED bulb requires less energy and has a longer life span, it generates much less CO2 emissions! An LED bulb will generate in average 28kg CO2 per year, whereas a classic lightbulb will generate 172kg! Why not switch your bulbs to LED bulbs? It might be a bit more expensive to buy, but the electricity savings will make it worth, and the environment will say thank you! LED vs. Incandescent

“You will receive power!” Acts 1:8 Hydrogen is the buzz word right now. How is it made and what are the environmental impacts? It’s complicated! From school you will remember that the symbol for Hydrogen is the letter H. The beauty of hydrogen is that when it burns it combines to make H2O, which is water, rather than CO2 which comes from burning fossil fuels.  The big challenge however of hydrogen is how it is produced. It is rarely found as a gas so needs to be separated from other elements. It requires a vast amount of energy, and the question is – where does that energy come from? The different methods that lead to hydrogen begin with the names of different colours. Hydrogen can be used as a fuel in cars (Fuel cell electric vehicles). The fuel cell takes chemical energy, in the form of hydrogen, and turns it into electricity that can power an electric motor, just like a battery. The advantage over electric cars is that they can be charged in minutes. Green Hydrogen Green hydrogen is the only variety produced in a climate neutral manner which means it could be vitally important in our goals of reducing carbon emissions. It is produced by using solar energy or wind energy. Water is split into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom through a process called electrolysis. Renewables cannot always generate energy at all hours of the day and green hydrogen production could help use the excess generated during peak cycles. It currently makes up about 0.1% of overall hydrogen production, but this is expected to rise as the cost of renewable energy continues to fall. Many sectors also now see green hydrogen as the best way of harmonizing the intermittency of renewables – storing excess energy at times of low demand to be fed back into the grid when demand rises – while decarbonizing the chemical, industrial and transportation sectors. Black, brown and grey hydrogen Grey Hydrogen is hydrogen produced using fossil fuels such as natural gas. Methane from natural gas is heated, with steam, usually with a catalyst, to produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen used in organic synthesis and as a fuel. Unfortunately, this accounts from roughly 95% of the hydrogen produced in the world today. Even worse than grey hydrogen are black and brown hydrogen. They use black (bituminous) coal or brown (lignite) coal in the process. Emissions of CO2 and carbon monoxide are produced. Blue hydrogen Blue hydrogen is also produced from fossil fuels, but the carbon emissions are captured and stored underground through industrial carbon capture and storage (CSS). Although it is called “carbon neutral’, this is not true as about 10-20 percent of the generated carbon cannot be captured. Currently, clean ‘green’ hydrogen isn’t scaling fast enough to deliver on its potential, in part due to challenges like COVID-19 and lower fossil fuel and CO2 prices. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/clean-energy-green-hydrogen/

“some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” Psalm 20:7 Today we will be looking at the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) affordable and clean energy. Aside from the physical energy available from most human bodies, the earliest forms of energy available to humanity were fire, flowing water, wind and domesticated animals. Harnessing these forms of energy enabled humanity to develop, create and construct. The earliest Biblical record of the use of fire was to make bricks to construct the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:3). This is a prime example of the potential for the use of energy to be corrupted and applied to something contrary to God’s right ways. As time progressed, humans found increasingly inventive ways to harness energy and to (now) store it—for the good of all but also for the oppression of others. Creating energy for the convenience of the masses has come at a terrible cost to God’s good creation. Carbon emissions are one example. Wrongly applied nuclear energy can also have terrifying consequences on creation and its inhabitants. Even ‘renewable energy’ comes at a cost. The batteries for electric cars can be problematic as the minerals used such as lithium may be mined in ways that are damaging to the environment and abusive of workers. Clean energy such as hydro energy often comes from the construction of massive dams, which are built by evicting communities and destroying biodiversity.All humans have a responsibility to care for the domains that we inhabit as a gift from God. That means we must balance our use of energy from the material world with care for the material world (Genesis 1:26-30). Furthermore, good stewardship of the gifts of God extend to ensuring that everyone benefits from those gifts equitably (Psalm 115:16), so Jesus-followers not only need to be concerned about how we create and use energy but also how we ensure it is available for the good use of all. The most effective thing that Christians can do is to reduce our electricity use, by turning down our air con or heating, and wearing an extra layer of clothingFor domestic users, heating water is a high percentage of the energy bill and installing a solar water heater can pay itself off in as little as three months. Adapted from The Bible and the Sustainable Development Goalshttps://wea-sc.org/en/biblesdgs

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” Luke 3:11 The reality of modern life is that we have many more clothes than previous generations. According to data published by the World Resources Institute, the average consumer purchased 60% more clothing in 2014 than they did in 2000, yet they kept each garment half as long. This trend is partly driven by the young generation’s hunger for newness, while embracing sustainability. For example, a survey done in Britain found that one in three young women consider clothes “old” after wearing them once or twice. One in seven consider it a fashion faux-pas to be photographed in an outfit twice. It is so easy now to buy cheap clothing online, or in bargain sales. So, this leads to impulse shopping. Not only is impulse shopping a huge waste of money; it’s also terrible for the environment. It requires an enormous amount of energy to produce clothing. Think about a simple cotton t-shirt: the cotton must be planted, fertilized, watered, and harvested by heavy, diesel-powered farm machines. It must then be cleaned and shipped to another location, often thousands of miles away. Finally, it’s spun into cloth, dyed, and formed by workers who work in appalling conditions and typically earn less than $2 per day. What is the best way to give away clothes?Firstly, start with your children’s clothes. Children easily become frustrated trying to put their clothes away into drawers that are already full of clothing they have outgrown. Young families would love to be given those clothes which are often in good condition. With your own clothes, start by sorting your clothing into three piles: clothes you love and wear all the time, clothes you definitely don’t love and don’t wear, and the in-betweens. These might be expensive pieces you can’t bear to get rid of, clothes that don’t fit or that you’re not sure about, or gifts you can’t part with yet. Leave the clothes you love in place. Bag up all the clothing you don’t wear and set it aside for donation. Take all the in-betweens to another closet and hang them up. Once you haven’t visited your “in-between” closet for several months, donate or sell those clothes.  Please remember to maintain the dignity of the person you are giving to. Old underwear or clothes with horrible stains under the armpits, or unwashed clothes is not the way to give with love. Wash the clothes and tear up the stained ones to be used for rags for cleaning.

But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice. Luke 18:4-5 Sometimes we feel like we are powerless to bring about change, but because we are consumers, we do have a lot of power.  Start with your local supermarket and get a few other neighbours involved. What products do you want to see in the shop that are not there (eg. a plastic free aisle, ‘naked’ veggies, alternatives to plastic bags/no plastic bags). Then ask to speak to the manager and explain why this is important to you. Follow up with letters and emails, you can let them know that you are willing to take your shopping and fellow customers elsewhere if you don’t see change. Then look at the companies who are producing certain products. Why is their packaging non-recyclable? Use social media to name and shame, you can post a complaint on Facebook or Twitter and tag the company. Especially if you see a container or bag lying by the river or beach, you can take a photo, post to your social media, and tag the company that produces it. Tearfund have got a great campaign challenging some of the worst offenders such as Coca Cola called the Rubbish Campaign, check them out here: https://www.tearfund.org/get-involved/resources?Campaign=Rubbish%20Campaign We can all make a difference!A five year old called Ava was so upset when she heard about turtles being hurt when straws went up their noses that she wrote to pizza hut express and asked them to stop selling straws that hurt animals. They were so touched that they decided to stop using plastic straws… If Ava can do it. so can we! https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/five-year-old-girl-writes-1127696