L is for Lifestyle, not just for Lent

Week II

Questions

1. Climate Change

• http://royalsociety.org/Climate-change-controversies/

• www.facebook.com and search for The John Ray Initiative

Questions

2. ‘Would you agree that if climate change was due to natural factors alone, lifestyle choices would inevitably be different, eg no need to focus on carbon footprint?’

IF………..• We knew for certain that burning fossil fuels did not release CO2 into the

atmosphere• We were sure that there was no link between the amount of CO2 in the

atmosphere and the temperature of the earth• Burning fossil fuels did not release other harmful pollutants into the

atmosphere• It were possible to explore for oil, and extract it, without damaging the

land/sea that it is under• We were sure that supplies of oil/gas/coal were limitless• We could de-couple oil from war, violence and human rights’ abuses• We could guarantee no oil spills• We could guarantee continuing good relations with the countries that

supply our energy…

Other Questions

• How much energy is consumed by recycling?

• Are we going to live on this earth or a ‘new’ earth?

• Why is having chickens a Christian thing to do? Is there any biblical reason for having pigs?

• Could the church please start a smallholding with allotments for folks to work, and maybe chickens?

Our Circles of Responsibility

My world

My country

My community

My church

Me

Four areas for change

• The Food we eat

• The Way we travel

• The Energy we use

• The Things we throw away

Food

The Issues• Ownership of food in hands of a few multinationals• Diet and health• Animal welfare• High energy and resource use• Use of pesticides, chemicals and impact on health• Climate change• Dietary changes amongst Chinese and Indian expanding middle-

class• Speculation in commodity futures• Agrofuels• GMOs• IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment Programmes• Food waste

Local and GYO

Organic

Buying abroad

Fish

JRI/Redcliffe College Environment day Conference: Food FuturesOrganised in partnership with John Ray Initiative, CMS and the Agricultural

Christian FellowshipSaturday 6 March 2010

9.30am – 4.30pmNewspapers and TV programmes herald the 'end of cheap food', warning us that the global food systems on which we have come depend are increasingly fragile.

The cost to other nations and the environment, and the impact on UK food producers, mean that in a few years we will not be living as we do now.

The Food Futures Day Conference at Redcliffe College, Gloucester, help us respond by asking what God wants us to learn and how we could personally

change and adapt.We will look at what Scripture says about our relationship with food and those that produce it, and at what can be done to improve global production, food

security, and patterns of trade. For those of us who do not grow food but do eat it, we will explore the jungle of food ethics and whether 'conscience in the

supermarket' is an adequate response to the coming storm.