‘Hundreds of millions will be severely affected as… the climate changes’
John Emyr & John Houghton
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
Back in 2014, Sir John Houghton (1931 – 2020) agreed to be interviewed by John Emyr. That interview was translated into Welsh and appeared in the Welsh-language magazine Cristion. It now appears for the first time in English.
JE: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. When, and under what circumstances, did you first acquire a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord?
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
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
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
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.
legal eye
Worried by the new Police Act? You should be
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
Noisy and disruptive protests are, frankly, a nuisance to us all. At the time of writing, the prospect of serious disruption for many rail passengers with the planned June’s rail strikes is bad enough, but at least travellers can plan ahead and take a different route (or drive, if they can afford the fuel).
But try driving through a busy city and finding the road blocked with climate change protesters chained to their vehicles – all in a good cause, of course; but creating not merely a public nuisance but serious disruption.
Jesus’ return and green issues today
Dave Gobbett
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, widely known as COP27, has just been running in Egypt. In a timely new book* Dave Gobbett of Highfields Church Cardiff helps us think through a Biblical perspective on the environment. This extract explains how Jesus’ return might impact our thinking on this issue.
‘We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him … The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever’ (1 Thess. 4:14, 16).
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.
‘Fanatical arrogance of men of science?’ Selective, alarmist and dystopian
By Prof. Keith R. Fox
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
‘I have never seen Francis Crick in a modest mood’ wrote James Watson at the start of his book The Double Helix.
Crick may well have said the same about Watson because these two scientists were certainly not known for their humility. And surely it is no surprise that some scientists are arrogant, just as are some sportspersons, some teachers, some doctors, some pastors and church leaders, and so on. Humans are not perfect and one way of being imperfect is arrogance. Scientists are no exception – they exhibit the same range of imperfections as society at large.
The promise of unfailing ‘seedtime and harvest’: a cover for climate complacency?
David Golding
Date posted: 1 Feb 2022
New figures just released by the European Climate Agency Copernicus reveal the last seven years as the world’s hottest on record.
We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency and that the world’s people face untold suffering due to the climate crisis unless there are major transformations to global society. (Article in Bioscience endorsed by 11,000 scientists from 153 nations, 5 November 2019)
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).
defending our faith
The right to offend and ‘the coddling of the American mind’
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2022
Apologetics, like comedy, requires that we are able to challenge points of view, express unusual opinions and think outside of the box. Apologetics, also like comedy, is not to the taste of the easily offended.
In February 2021 Merseyside Police had to issue an apology over a poster campaign which had claimed ‘Being Offensive is an Offence’. The force had released an unfortunate media picture of a police van bearing the false claim and including four menacing police offers, one holding what could be interpreted as a cane. In the wake of widespread criticism it was withdrawn and the apology issued. According to the Crown Prosecution Service finding something offensive does not mean you are a victim of a crime and causing someone offence does not mean you have committed a crime.