Shenley Church End is a Zero Waste Place - which means there is a six month government sponsored campaign taking place in the parish to reduce rubbish and raise recycling levels. Paul H and I met the people organising this a few weeks ago, but today we had the high point of the whole programme - a community day.
There was a splendid day at the leisure centre with free soup, teas and coffees and more. The community shop organised a swop shop, there were various demonstrations, a craft table and an opportunity to go pond dipping. It was a strangely local event with even the First Crownhill Scouts roped in...
We popped down with the Solloways and met Nick, the Catherills and a few others down there. While it is true that there weren't that many people (out of 3000plus residents) actually there, it was a true community event and was well worth while.
It did make me wonder (again) if there might be scope for a "Shenley Festival" one day...
I had a morning with Father Paul from the local Catholic Church today. I joined him for mass and then we met three people from MK Council who are involved in a six month project in Shenley Church End linked to waste and recycling.
Apparently SCE currently recycles 33% of its rubbish which is one percent better that the MK average. These three people have been given the job of increasing that to 50%.
I'm not sure they knew what they were trying to achieve with the two of us as reps of the local church since their project is focussed on businesses and residents. Churches can be a bit business-like and involve a lot of residents - but are really communities so have a slightly different role...
We were at least able to talk about what we do and to encourage them in their project. They have been given the target of achieving 50% recycling by the end of March - which may be a little ambitious. Good luck to them and we wish them well.
On a related link it would be good to see some of our churches achieve Eco-Congregation status - and perhaps good to push the Generous campaign again...
Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies by Richard Heinberg
We all know that there's a problem with fossil fuels, but do we really know how bad this problem is going to be? In this comprehensive and enormous book (300 pages of analysis) Richard Heinberg takes a long and careful look at the issue.
He tells the story of how coal, oil and other energy sources enabled industrial societies to bloom and flourish over a relatively short period of time. He also explains how access to "cheap energy" had an impact on agriculture, technology, population growth and war. It is interesting to note how many of the world's conflicts have ultimately been about energy.
Having explained why fossil fuels are so crucial, he then explains why the good years may soon be over. The key researcher here is a man called Marrion King Hubbert who first calculated the date of peak oil production in 1949. "Hubbert's Peak" is an extremely significant point in world history, since it marks the beginning of a steady decline in the availabilty of oil and consequent price rises. According to Heinberg, this date is somewhere between 2003 and 2010 - although he does point out that it will only be possible to see when it was in retrospect... This may sound like a peice of abstract geological theory, but it has huge consequences. The price of oil affects transportation, electric power, industrial production and the economy. If there are problems with these basic issues, there will be consequent effects on healthcare, social welfare, food production, and so on...
To add insult to injury, Heinberg points out that none of the "alternative" sources of energy are quite as "cheap" as oil and many of them are dependent on cheep fuel to make them available.
As Heinberg says, the party will soon be over. We have been used to an economic bubble of continuous growth and development, but this has been dependent on a readily available fuel source that is about to run out. The concequences will be ecomonic decline, conflict and de-population.
There's very little we can do to reverse this inevitable decline, but we can choose to face it in a number of different ways. Inevitably some will choose conflict or self-interest, but they may only hasten more dramatic problems. Heinberg suggests that we raddically conserve energy use, look for alternative enegy sources ASAP, adopt less energy dependent technology, grow our own food, and cut back on transport use. He also suggests that nations need to pre-empt the inevitable issues by remodelling food and financial systems and act quickly to create a global strategy.
Is this time to panic?
If you're a pessimist, go ahead! If you're an optimist, you may have your head in the sand anyway, so don't worry...
If you're willing to face reality, then this is a book for you. There are challenging times ahead, but there are things we can do to make this a really significant time of change. If we handle the next two centuries with a bit of wisdom then we should finish up with quite a comfortable planet.
Alaister Darling was recently criticised for saying that the Credit Crunch would be more serious than people expected. It was felt more ecomonically prudent to say that things were fine.
A society should not be judged by how it acts when things are going well, but how it responds when there are challenges ahead. If we have a time of scarcity to face, then we must ensure that we are up to the task. History will judge us by how we seek justice, equality and peace - even when easier and simpler solutions are at hand.
Let's face the music and dance!
Here's a video that explains the problem in depth:
The MK Environment Group is advertising this conference at the moment. I hope to go if I can. The theme is "Transport - A Journey to a Fairer Future" which is a fairly relevant issue in Milton Keynes. I would be interested to hear what the speakers have to say about our grid roads, which look green but are probably a major contributor to our carbon footprint!
I've just been reading a wonderful book called "The Party's Over" (review on the way) which has a lot to say about the issue of transport. This is a really serious issue and one we need to think about very carefully.
CONFERENCE
Transport – A Journey to a Fairer Future
This event takes place on Saturday 22nd November at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone.It will be preceded by the Annual Members Meeting of Christian Ecology Link, to whom our group is affiliated.The main programme will start just after 11.00am, with coffee and registration from 10.30 onwards.
Stephen Potter, Professor of Transport Strategy at the Open University, will give one talk entitled Let’s Stop Fuelling Ourselves in which he will consider what we have to do to cut transport emissions to a sustainable level, and another entitledAre Roads Evil?in which he will explore the ethics of transport and land use planning - looking at urban design issues generally, but with some MK examples included.
Michael Northcott, Professor of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh, will give two talks, one called The Desire for Speed and the other The Rhythm of the Earth.He will challenge us to think about our own travel habits, the reasons why we value our cars so highly, and how Christians could lead the way in adopting an approach to travel in the future which is more environmentally sustainable, and doesn’t disadvantage the poor.
There will be a time for discussion in small groups, when we can all consider some of the difficult questions the subject of transport generates, and a plenary session towards the end when questions arising from the day can be posed to a panel of experts.The day will conclude with a time of devotions, finishing at around 4.30pm.
This is a great opportunity for Christians in MK to be involved in the debate about future transport challenges.Please support this event by booking your place now! Cost £10 including lunch if booked before October 22nd. Contact David Miller on 01908 377376 or by email at david@millersofmk.co.uk. Alternatively, download a pdf version of the booking form here - conference-booking-form-final-version.
We're slowly getting better at growing our own food. This has been the year of rhubarb and raspberries so far, but our apple trees are finally producing the goods!
We had a lovely apple crumble today - with apples from our own garden! Hooray - and yum, yum!
The girls also made blackberry jam from MK blackberries.
We're not quite up to sustainable living yet, but at least we're having a go.
I wonder what other people have produced this year...
Shenley Church End is a Zero Waste Place - which means there is a six month government sponsored campaign taking place in the parish to reduce rubbish and raise recycling levels. Paul H and I met the people organising this a few weeks ago, but today we had the high point of the whole programme - a community day.
