Monday 28 January 2008

So what's Ecological Overshoot?

It's a a simple concept. If in one year we cut down trees faster than they can grow, fish the rivers, seas and oceans of fish stock faster then they can be replenished and generate more waste than the earth can absorb in the same year, then we have overshot that years target.

In 1987 ecological Overshoot was at the end of December, in 2007 it was at the beginning of October so at the moment we are using up the Earth's resources 30% faster than the Earth can possibly regenerate. Forget about nuclear power or biodiesel being the answer to our problems, the Earth resources are being liquidated and we are selling the family silver in order to pay for our standard of living.

Like the debt crisis we see today in the sub prime market and credit card problems, one day the bankruptcy of God's creation will surely follow.

Wednesday 23 January 2008

Holocaust Memorial Day


Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is commemorated on 27th January each year. This marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

HMD aims to commemorate, to educate and to prompt action in the UK. HMD commemorates the lives of those lost in the Holocaust; as a result of Nazi persecution and in more recent genocides. It educates about the Holocaust and it lessons for the present day. It prompts action in the UK highlighting the continuing dangers of racism, anti-semitism and all forms of discrimination.

The tragedies of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur teaches that the international community, and each of us as citizens, has not truly understood the lessons of the Holocaust. There are surely times when it is possible for environmentalists, in their understandable environmental concerns, to overlook the fact that protecting God's creation means protecting the highest order of His creation, the human being.

Ultimately the aim of HMD is to motivate people individually and collectively, to ensure that the horrendous crimes, racism and victimisation committed not only in the Holocaust, but also in more recent genocides, are neither forgotten nor repeated, whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

Friday 18 January 2008

A Christian's Concern...

"The Christian's concern should never only be for the Church and for God's future kingdom, but also for natural life and the world. Our concern should include good government, equal opportunity, justice, values that ennoble the human person, as well as concerns for our environment and the world's resources. These concerns are not secular. Rather they are deeply spiritual, for without a sustainable world and cultural values based on freedom and justice, the message of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ would fall into a vacuum".

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Ethics

Saturday 12 January 2008

Peak Oil - Imposed by Nature

This is something that will effect us all, and sooner than we think. This film, produced by Amund Prestegard and recommended by Dr. Colin Campbell, 'Peak Oil - Imposed by Nature' is an excellent 4 minute introduction to the causes and consequences of the terminal decline of global oil production as we reach the global Peak, which is now. This is a preview of that documentary. In the documentary retired world experienced geologist Dr. Colin Campbell, founder of ASPO, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, explains the aspects of oil discovery, the production increase and the subsequent decline on a local as well as on a world scale. Peak oil is a fact that the majority wish to ignore, it will not go away and there are no quick fixes but the sooner we grasp that fact and act on it then the better are our chances and the better are the chances for the poor, the exploited and the hungry.

Wednesday 9 January 2008

The "servant" of the ground...

... despite the popular translation in Genesis C2v15 being 'till' [the earth] the usual meaning of the Hebrew word used here is serve [the earth.] In this way we reflect the position of Jesus, God in human form, who had dominion over us and yet came to serve us. God the creator is the soverign over creation, our environment. His creation, our environment exists to reveal Himself to us and to damage the environment is to damage creation and so prevent it from carrying out the reason for its existence.