earth watch
What will you do to adapt?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
What did you do to stay cool this summer?
By the time you read this, I hope we’ll be heading into somewhat cooler weather, but at the time of writing, we’ve just experienced the hottest temperatures ever in the UK.
earth watch
Climate justice: for the good of all creation
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Jul 2021
‘What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!’
People seeking justice of one kind or another rarely seem to be out of the news these days. Christians should be discerning about which causes we support, but ultimately God is a God who loves justice and who wants us to do the same. As the prophet Micah says: ‘What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ (Mic.6: 8). We should love, care for and support anyone suffering from genuine injustice.
earth watch
Since 1970: 69% gone!
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
One of my favourite children’s books is Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpens’ Wonderful Earth!
It’s a joyous and beautifully illustrated celebration of the wonder and diversity of creation. And sometimes creation is just gloriously weird; who could forget creatures such as the football fish, the weedy seadragon or the pink fairy armadillo? Wonderful Earth! is in part an imaginative reworking of Psalm 104, which celebrates the greatness of the Creator and His creation. There are wild donkeys quenching their thirst from mountain streams, cedars of Lebanon where the birds nest, hyraxes taking refuge in the crags, lions roaring for their prey and Leviathan frolicking in the vast sea, which teems with creatures beyond number.
earth watch
Rivers of filth are flowing
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Jun 2023
Is cleanliness next to godliness? Apparently, this phrase may have originated with John Wesley who thought that being a Christian was no excuse for slovenliness.
Although many of us took great care with cleanliness during the pandemic, these days we don’t naturally associate hygiene with being a Christian, despite all the Old Testament laws on cleanliness. Maybe we’re all too aware of Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees who were obsessed with the ritual hygiene laws, and have rightly taken to heart the importance of being spiritually clean. Pharisee alert over, that doesn’t mean we should neglect matters of personal or domestic hygiene.
earth watch
Eight million threatened
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Nov 2022
What do Glasgow, Sharm El Sheikh, Kunming, and Montreal have in common? Shipbuilding cities? Exotic holiday destinations? Which is the odd one out, and why do they matter to the future of the planet?
You may remember the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last year. The follow-up conference will be taking place shortly in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh where there will be an assessment of whether countries are doing enough to tackle climate change (almost certainly not, according to the independent think tank Chatham House).
earth watch
Record-breaking climate
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
The British are notorious for talking about the weather. It’s little wonder given that we live on an island which is subject to constantly changing weather systems. In last month’s column I talked about how ready the UK is for a changing climate, and how we are already experiencing hotter, drier summers but also more intense summer rainfall.
No sooner had I emailed my article to en than the world experienced a series of weather extremes which perfectly illustrated this point, so I make no apologies for returning to the subject.
earth watch
Spotting climate error
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
Do you have an EV? No, that’s not shorthand for an Evangelical or even a new English translation of the Bible, it’s an Electric Vehicle.
My recent purchase of an EV has got me pondering, in a strange sort of way, the importance of truth when it comes to creation care.
earth watch
Creation’s hope: Christ
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Jan 2022
What happened at COP26?
At
the
beginning
of
November,
delegates from every nation
in the world
arrived
in Glasgow
for COP26, the UN
conference on climate change. COPs (in
full, the Conference of the Parties to the
UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change) happen annually but the big ones
are every five years or
so. COP26 was
particularly critical, being
the first major
gathering since the Paris Agreement in 2015;
the first test of whether countries would live
up to their promises on climate change.
earth watch
Cumbrian coal mine
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
A few weeks before Christmas, controversy exploded in the environmental world when the government gave planning permission for a coalmine in Whitehaven, Cumbria. It would be the first new coalmine in the country in 30 years.
Now the UK would not be what it is today without coal, a bountiful source of concentrated energy which has been exploited since Roman times. Plentiful supplies powered the Industrial Revolution and led to the creation of close-knit mining communities from the South Wales Valleys to the Clyde.
earth watch
Are you ready for the future?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Aug 2021
Are you ready for the future? Pose that question to a Christian and I guess they will immediately start thinking of getting ready for the return of the Lord Jesus – a good reaction to have, but not quite what I had in mind. Let me put it this way: before that day comes, are you ready for the planet’s future?
I work in nature conservation, but I’m also a chartered town planner (yes, it is a slightly weird combination, but that’s another story). Town planners are in the business of looking to the future. They make plans for ten or 20 years ahead and even longer. It’s an uncertain endeavour. They have to carefully look at the evidence before making decisions, but also build in flexibility and regular review.
earth watch
Birds on a high wire
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Feb 2022
In recent months, while the world’s attention has been on what we’re doing to the climate, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that – even aside from climate change – the rest of creation’s in a bad way as well.
We don’t always realise this. Over the last few decades we’ve been fed a diet of Attenborough documentaries which show an amazing world, but one seemingly untouched by human hand. Only recently this has begun to change. Scientists refer to the ‘shifting baseline syndrome’ as each successive generation of people accepts the world they see around them as normal, without realising how much nature has been lost in the past.
earth watch
Climate ‘crisis’? Really?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Oct 2020
Recently the Environment Minister for Northern Ireland, Edwin Poots, got into a spot of bother for saying publicly that his department didn’t believe there is a climate crisis.
He later retracted his words and his chief civil servant had to apologise for giving the minister a misleading briefing. He really does think there’s a climate crisis, a view also shared by governments and many local councils across the country who have declared a ‘climate emergency’. So that’s all right then.
earth watch
After COP26: eco-anxiety?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
What keeps you awake at night? Perhaps it’s the threat of coronavirus. When I was a teenager, it was the threat of nuclear armageddon that made me anxious.
These days it’s ‘eco-anxiety’ that’s likely to be a worry, especially for children and young people. Eco-anxiety is the chronic fear of environmental doom; it’s not a medical diagnosis, but according to the British Medical Journal, reported in the Guardian, recognition of eco-anxiety and its complex psychological effects is increasing, as is its disproportionate impact on children and young people. According to the same report, a 2020 survey of child psychiatrists in England showed that more than half (57%) are seeing children and young people distressed about the climate crisis and the state of the environment.
earth watch
Would you break the law?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
Have you ever been on a protest march?
I’m not a natural protester, although there have been a couple of occasions when I joined a climate march. Most recently (before the pandemic) it was in support of a youth climate march in Cambridge. It ended on King’s Parade where many of the marchers lay down on the lawn in front of King’s College. I confess that my respect for authority was such that I kept off the grass.
earth watch
A story of hope
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity
of the climate and ecological crisis.
‘Eco-anxiety’ may not be a medically-recognised condition, but
it’s
something
many people can relate to, especially if they
care deeply about
the natural world. It’s
important for Christians not only to share
the hope we have in Jesus Christ, but stories
of hope we can experience
in the world
about us. Indeed,
secular communicators
recognise that always harping on about the
bad stuff only puts people off taking action,
and so organisations working to care for
creation need to tell positive stories (while
not ignoring the bad news).
earth watch
Rising sea levels: what’s the truth?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
Where I live in the former county of Huntingdonshire is a long way from the sea. But according to some predictions of sea-level rise, it could be a lot closer soon.
In one scenario, with widespread inundation of the Fens, Cambridge could virtually become a coastal city by 2050. London, Cardiff, Blackpool and Hull could all be severely affected. Scenarios like these are alarming and make great media headlines, but what is really going on?