TrewsNews

Earlier this week Bishop Harold Miller endorsed the ' Seasons of Creation ' initiative by retweeting a video by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (see below). It is great to see Bishop Harold taking a stand and promoting this initiative. He is also one of the few bishops who actively uses Twitter. Good to see, The 1st of September is 'World Day of Prayer for Creation' which is now supported by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches as well as the Word Council of Churches (WCC) - basically all corners of Christendom. Archbishop Welby is encouraging the Anglican Church to take action on the environment, and climate change in particular. But what does seasonsofcreation.org suggest that churches actually do? Here is a list, Organise a prayer service for creation - at any time between 1 September and 4 October. A straightforward one for churches to do. Take action for creation - this is where it gets interesting. Actions are divided i...

If there was one sentence in the Church of Ireland Policy on Climate Change that got my goat it was this one, The RCB is supportive of public policy to support a diverse energy mix and a transition to a low carbon economy, however, the fact is that fossil fuels will continue to contribute a major component of this energy mix for the foreseeable future and remain one of the most cost efficient methods of energy production. The fact is that electricity from renewables is already cheaper than fossil fuels in some parts of the world. This is outlined in an article in the 26 July 2016 edition of the Financial Times entitled ' Balance of power tilts from fossil fuels to renewable energy .'  Here are some quotes, there are momentous changes under way in the global energy system, undermining received wisdom in the sector. It is clear that the world is shifting toward renewables and — as a proportion of total consumption — away from oil, gas and coal. After reading about '...

This week a major report into the ‘State of the climate’ for 2015 was published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It was sober reading. 2015 saw many climate records broken.  It was the warmest on record globally, with surface temperatures now +1C above pre-industrial levels, the oceans reached new record temperatures, and sea level rise is at historic levels with oceans now 70mm higher than the 1993 average. Furthermore, atmospheric CO2 crossed the 400ppm threshold and is more than 43% above pre-industrial levels. Each of the last 14 months has broken previous temperature records. A leading climate scientist, Michael Mann, said “The impacts of climate change are no longer subtle. They are playing out before us, in real time. The 2015 numbers drive that home.” The impacts of these changes play out before us every day. Record heatwaves in India and Pakistan , devastating droughts in eastern and southern Africa meaning 36 milli...