Comment - October 2009
The colour of rain
I have come to work this morning with the strange feeling that comes with rain. It seems a long time since we last saw rain here in the south east as we have been enjoying glorious autumn days recently.
In Dorset there are fields of poppies adding even more colour to the autumn landscape thanks to the dry conditions confusing the seeds which had been stored in recently ploughed fields into thinking it was summer.
So colours in the countryside and a little rain for some and the promise of the clocks changing next weekend. It all adds up to winter on the way. Have we done all we intended to do during the summer to add the draught excluder, improve the insulation, service the boiler and tweak the thermostat and time switch a few points so that when they are switched on it is for a little less time at a little less heat?
There is also encouragement this year to slow down during Advent. This year's campaign is encouraging us to consider the environment and has its own website http://www.whywearewaiting.com/which will feature a series of eco-windows in a calendar of issues we can all share.
It will all lead us to Christmas and this year for the first time you will be able to have a fair trade Christmas Tree. Love Eco will be selling the first fair trade Christmas Tree to available in the UK.
The trees are part of a project which provides safer working environments and improved health and
educational resources for communities in Georgia. www.fairtrees.co.uk/bolsxmas.html
This is all very much advance information of course, there still ages to go before we want to thinking about things like that!
In the meantime there are a number of things happening:
8 Oct Faith in Nature -Multi-faith environmental conference, EPIC Centre, Lincolnshire Showground Lincoln 10.00 - 4.00
Speakers include Martin Palmer and Aubrey Rose.
Contact - janita.elton@environment-agency.gov.uk
13 Oct 'The Climate Crisis: A Christian Response'
Operation Noah lecture by the Archbishop of Canterbury
7pm Southwark Cathedral,
www.operationnoah.org
21 Oct Climate Change, Energy and Politics of the Future, 7pm Sheffield Cathedral
31 Oct - Leighton Buzzard Eco Fair , Trinity Methodist Church, North Street, Leighton Buzzard.
10am-2pm Organised by Leighton Linslade Christian Ecology Group
For more details of these and 70 other events visit http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/whatson.htm
