Carbon Fast 2015

The Rev. Dr. Rachel Mash The Anglican Church of Southern Africa “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden” (Genesis 2:10) Opening Prayer Spirit of Living Water You hold all of creation in your womb And spring us forward onto the earth at birth. Spirit of Tides, Remind me of the rise and fall of your rhythms So that I may discover them deep within my own being. Spirit of Greenness, Bring moistness and vigour to my life So that I might savour the experience of your energy Moving through me out into the world. Blessings of water be upon me. May I be carried by the flow of the great river of life. May I discover a hidden spring within, gushing forth. May I be carried to the shores of the sacred and renewed. From Christine Valters Paintner, Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire, the Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements, Sorin Books, 2010 In the beginning, God placed human beings in the Garden of Eden to be earth keepers of this beautiful blue planet. The biblical story of Eden first appears with a rural image of water – “a river watering the garden flowed from Eden” (Genesis 2:10). Rivers are signs of hope, symbols of life. The Land of Israel was a dry land, with no great rivers like Egypt or Mesopotamia. Because their only major river was the Jordan, the people of Israel were dependent on rain for their water. As people who had lived through drought and famine, they knew the pain and anguish of those days of calamity when the streams would run dry. How much, then, does this biblical yearning for water and springs in the desert resonate in the heart of Africa? Africa’s agriculture is characterized by a high percentage of smallholder farmers (80 percent) who cultivate lowyield staple food crops on small plots. These farms depend on rain. Lack of rain brings drought and poverty. Parishioners in the northern part of the Diocese of Namibia expressed their anguish last year after a devastating drought. The government had told them that their only option was to bring their cattle in for slaughter before they died of starvation. The cattle are their future – their family’s education, the money for the daughter’s wedding. All this was lost as the slaughtered cattle flooded the market and the price of meat crashed.  When the rains fail, the rivers dry up and families are thrown into short-term disaster, and long-term poverty. In this biblical picture of water, we see a river flowing from Eden. The river brings life: it does not flow as a raging torrent, destroying topsoil and carrying away homes in floods. Rather, it provides water, food, trade, and a place for recreation and joy. Today, rivers have become polluted, if not dried up, because of climate change, the construction of mega-dams, alien plant growth and deforestation. The fish are dying and the birds have fled. Every day 1,400 children die from diarrhea caused by dirty water. This is just a portion of the 4 million deaths from water-related diseases and poor sanitation each year. Worldwide, more than 700 million people lack access to safe water and more than two billion do not have adequate sanitation. In the face of this bleak picture, the Bible ends with an urban vision of a new river of life, of Eden restored: “Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:1-2 On my way to work on a busy freeway in urban Cape Town, I cross a polluted river filled with junk and toxic waste. A few months ago, the traffic slowed to a crawl on the same road. At first, I thought it was an accident, but I then realized that the cars had stopped because a flock of over fifty flamingos was taking off from the river. Flashing pink and black, their wings beat as they took off into the sun. Efforts to clean the river though local clean-ups and banning factories from dumping chemicals had restored the water quality – and the flamingoes had returned. May the flamingo be a symbol of creation restored – a sign of the river of the Water of Life flowing out to bring life and hope. And may the cattle grow fat on a thousand hills. Questions for Reflection Baptism brings the element of water into our sacramental life in a tangible and visible way. The water of baptism represents the seas, rivers, lakes, marshes, snow, clouds, mist, and streams of the whole earth. We know the river where Jesus was baptized – the Jordan river. But often we don’t know from which river our baptismal water flowed on its way to the font! How would our attitude and relationship to that river, and its preservation, be changed, if we could discover our baptismal river and remind ourselves of its sacredness? Closing Prayer Teach us to live in you as fish live in water. Teach us to be borne of the Spirit as the birds are borne of the wind. From Ray Simpson, “Baptismal Liturgy,” The Celtic Prayer Book (Vol. 3), Healing the Land: natural seasons, sacraments, and special services.” Kevin Mayhew Publishers, 2016 Recommended References http://reports.weforum.org/africa-competitiveness-report-2015/chapter-2-1-transforming-africas-agriculture- to-improve-competitiveness/ http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/issues-we-work-on/water

How green is your church kitchen? Here are the ten commandments!! Wash dishes the green way Often churches only use hot water once a week on a Sunday. So you can keep the geyser off the whole week and turn it on before the early service. Or boil water in the urn/kettle and use it for dishes during the week. Cook Smart Churches often use ancient stoves donated by somebody many years ago. It might be time to invest in a gas stove and  a microwave.  Buy a couple of large wonder bags for keeping food warm. Don’t Be Fridge Foolish Churches often have a fridge sitting completely empty and switched on. Give someone the task of making sure it is switched off and the door left open (so it doesn’t get smelly). If the fridge door doesn’t close securely, then you need to get the seal repaired or replaced.  Older appliances are real energy hogs – is it time to get a new one? Buy Products with Less Packaging When you are doing the big shop for the church function, remember that the  less packaging you buy, the less garbage you create. So look for ways to avoid excess packaging. For example, buy large bottles of juice or frozen juice concentrate instead of juice boxes; get large sizes of products rather than individually wrapped ones (portion them out into reusable containers when needed) Recycle, Recycle, Recycle Find out how to recycle in your area — what the recycler accepts, whether it needs to be sorted, and where you can go to recycle. in the pew leaflet ask if someone is willing to take the recycling away . Make sure there are the necessary bins. Cut out the red meat As well as being bad for the body, red meat is bad for the planet. Did you know that cattle belch? And when they belch, out comes methane gas, which is 23 times more potent at trapping heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide, Further, livestock manure is the source of two-thirds of man-made nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that’s 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide,. The raising and eating of livestock not only pollutes water, air, and soil, it’s responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions — a higher share than transportation emissions. Earth friendly cleaning products Again find a greenie in the congregation and they source earth friendly cleaning products that don’t kill the soil . Or make your own! Buy vegetables local Buy your vegetables from local people – this saves on petrol , or better still – why not start a church veggie garden.. There are bound to be some people who would love to garden but don’t have access to one at home. Ban the non- biodegradables! Cling film and polystyrene (styrophoam) do not biodegrade. Think about your great grandchildren and use re-usable plastic containers for left over food.  Make sure the church has enough plates – or bring from home for big functions and go back to washing up rather than dumping piles of Styrofoam containers..  

I decided that I would try to cycle to work one day a week. This was quite a challenge as Cape Town is a big bustling city with lots of traffic, very hot days and lots of wind! So I did some research and tried out a few routes to avoid the traffic – as I am quite nervous in traffic.  I use my weather app to make sure the day is not too hot or too windy. So this is what I found: There are some beautiful parts to the trip – along canals and through a park – no rush hour in those sections of the commute. It has become quite a highlight in my day. You become much more in touch with nature – this morning I saw a flock of flamingoes take off! People greet and talk to each other – you feel more like part of a community rather than being part of a long line of cross people stuck in traffic. I feel more balanced, fitter and healthier. There are many ways to make your trips greener – it takes some work – finding a lift share club or getting back on that bike, or working out a public transport option that is safe and gets you to work on time. Scooters are the most fuel efficient vehicles which are very affordable and electric vehicles are expensive to buy but you will have big savings in the long run. The more people get onto bikes, the safer they will become as motorists will be more aware. We need to be more pro-active in pushing the local municipalities to provide cycling lanes and to keep cars out of those lanes. Give it a try – just once a week and enjoy!! -Rachel Mash

PSALM 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” There are many ways to save energy and money if we plan our foods in advance ELECTRIC STOVE Use cooking utensils with flat bottoms and tight fittings covers. Make sure they completely cover the stove plates. Use a pressure cooker, crockpot or wonder bag to conserve energy when cooking foods that take a long time, such as pot roasts, stews and steamed puddings. Do not overcook foods, especially vegetables. Overcooking destroys essential nutrients. Bring foods to the boil quickly on the “high” setting, then turn the heat down to simmer to finish cooking. Do not use the grilling compartment to make toast – it is very expensive. Do not use the oven to heat the kitchen – it is very expensive and far less efficient than a heater Keep oven doors completely closed until food is cooked. Every time the door is opened, the oven temperature drops, and the heat must be replaced. Use the oven to prepare an entire meal – main course, vegetables and dessert. Remember to plan meals that cook in the oven at the same temperature. Allow free circulation of heat within the oven. Place pans and containers so that they do not touch each other, or the sides of the oven Use an electric kettle to boil water, not a sauce pan or a microwave.   MICROWAVE OVEN Defrost your food in the refrigerator instead of the microwave oven: it is more economical. Use your microwave oven to cook small to medium quantities of food. To cook larger portions of meat, it is better to use a conventional oven. Some microwaves do not heat up foods evenly. Wrap foods in plastic to hold in the steam, this will help to give even heating. Be very careful not to cover the foods too well, steam can burn you badly when you open the packet, so leave a flap open for the steam to escape. Cooking time is an important factor when determining energy efficiency levels. Compare cooking times when you cook the same food in the microwave, in the standard oven, on stove top elements or in a pressure cooker. You will easily see which method of cooking is more efficient depending on quantity, volume and food types.

REVELATION 21:23 “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the lamb is its lamp.” Hot water is responsible for  30% to 50% of the households electricity bill. Here are some great ways to save electricity Turn down your geyser temperature: the factory setting is way too high. Try it at 50 degrees Celsius and adjust as necessary Put the geyser on a timer. Some people argue that it doesn’t save electricity – because it has to heat up again, but consider this: on average it takes 2 and a half hours to heat the water from 20 degrees Celsius to 65 degrees Celsius. When a geyser is switched off and stores its water at the thermostat set point, the temperature only drops by 10 degrees Celsius over 24 hours Put on a blanket. You can buy one at the hardware or make one using an old duvet. This will keep the water hotter for longer. Shorter showers. This not only saves water but also electricity needed to heat the water Water saving shower heads do the same   Reflect on the gift of hot water Eskom Geyser Fact Sheet   

MATTHEW 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Here are some tips on how to save electricity and reduce your carbon footprint. CHARGERS Usually after we charge our phones we just take the phone from the charger and leave the charger plugged in, and the socket on. Leaving the socket on means that the current keeps flowing and electricity flows to the charger even when your phone is not there. This wastes electricity therefore make it a lifetime commitment never to leave your phone charger plugged in and do not leave the socket switch on. This goes for the laptop charger and all other charges that one may have. MICROWAVE AND TELEVISION Standby uses up to 10% of the average households electricity. Modern microwaves have clocks on them which require the microwave to be plugged in even when not used. One could simply have a wall clock and switch the microwave off to save electricity. As for televisions, they are always left on standby mode and not power off. It is the little things we turn a blind eye on that could save us electricity while saving the planet. LIGHTING Turn off lights when not in the room, switch to energy savers, use “task lighting” – turn off ceiling lights and use table lamps, track lighting and under-counter lights in work and hobby areas as well as in kitchens. Use natural light where possible.