A Prayer for God's Protection and Blessing

Circle us all, O God, encircle us all with your presence.

Keep wholeness within, keep sickness out,

Keep hope within, keep despair out,

Keep peace within, keep turmoil out,

Keep light within, keep darkness out.

In the name of the Sacred Three, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen

Living Lent – How you can do something beneficial for the Environment this Lent

This time every year many people give up something for Lent. For some it’s a luxury consumable such as chocolate or alcohol.  Some people even manage to give up coffee or tea! For others, it’s a time to get into a good habit, such as daily exercise. But have you ever considered making a choice for Lent that benefits the environment? There are many things we can give up, and habits we can pick up that would greatly help reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact. Here are some changes you could decide to make this year, as suggested by the Methodist Church’s Joint Public Issues Team’s (JPIT) Living Lent initiative, which aims to encourage people and churches to make green choices for this year’s Lent.

Living locally:

One commitment you could make this year is to try to shop locally and source everything you buy from within 30 miles of your home. This is easier said than done, due to the incredibly globalised world that we live in, and many products such as bananas and other tropical fruit simply do not grow in this country. Still, buying British as much as possible still greatly reduces the miles your food will have travelled. And it’s not just food. Cut flowers for instance, which do grow in Britain for most of the year, are more often sourced from African countries and have astronomical air-miles.

Going plastic free:

Plastic is a big part of modern society and it can feel unavoidable. However, as a consumer it is possible to avoid it most of the time. Bringing your own bags to the shops is a must, and some shops will even put items like meat and fish in Tupperware boxes if you provide them. There are a growing number of shops offering food without plastic packaging. In Prestwood the greengrocers by the Malt brewery use only paper bags, and the newly opened ‘Pantry at 51’ offers refills of products as varied as pasta to washing up liquid. Peterley Farm has a range of dried and frozen products you can purchase in your own containers. Even big supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s are starting to transition to paper bags but using your own hessian bags is preferable to paper as they are reusable.

Going meat free:

A more controversial possibility is to cut down on, or even give up, meat, fish and other animal products. Animal agriculture contributes 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions from the animals alone, while 23% of freshwater supplies and a third of all arable land is required to create the feed the animals need. Therefore, reducing meat and other animal products in the diet is one of the single biggest changes a person can make to reduce their environmental impact. Perhaps you could reduce your meat intake if not stopping. Maybe have a vegetarian, or even a vegan day or two every week during Lent such as a meat-free Monday.

There are many ways to reduce your impact on the environment that you could take up this Lent. Who knows, you may even stick with them after Easter! For more ideas and information visit livinglent.org