GREEN IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS

For the first 16 days of Advent a number of green ideas were posted on the Henley Matters Facebook page. There were many positive responses and really good suggestions.

Here’s the first idea

It's widely reported that between six and eight million real Christmas trees head to landfill in the UK ever year. So why not buy a rooted tree in a pot and plant it out in the garden every year.
If you already have an artificial tree, then use it annually for as long as possible; its carbon footprint will eventually be less than having a live tree felled each year. But make sure that at the end of its life, it is disposed of carefully.

…and the 2nd

Check all your Christmas lights and when buying new ensure they are LED to minimise energy use; have outdoor lights on a timer so that they are only turned on after dark and until bedtime.

  …and Number 3

Why not gift an experience

Gifting an experience for your loved ones will reduce demand for physical resources. Bring people together by gifting your time or a pre-bought experience. There are lots of options to choose from that will reduce your Christmas footprint. You could buy tickets to shows, concerts or events. Make a restaurant reservation or give a gift card. Why not plan a day out to a National Trust or local Wildlife Trust location. It also means Christmas comes twice for the receiver, when they get to go on the experience!
 

…and Number 4

Obviously food prices have rocketed over the past few months but did you know that every year in the UK, approximately 7 million tonnes of food is wasted. Just during the Christmas period 2 million turkeys, 5 million Christmas puddings, and 74 million mince pie get disposed of while still edible, causing almost 270,000 tons of food waste in total during this widely celebrated holiday.
More than half of the Brits say that they spend more money than they should on food during Christmas time. Approximately one third admit that they have to deal with food waste more at Christmas compared to other times of the year.

…..and Day 5

Buying Christmas candles?

Suggest you go for ones made from soy, beeswax (not imported)  or natural vegetable-based wax. Paraffin candles are made from petroleum residue and are no good for your health or for the environment.

  Here’s the 6th green idea for Christmas

Do you know that in the UK we collectively throw away 227,000 miles of wrapping paper, which is enough to stretch nine times around the world! Try and avoid glitter in your wrapping paper and cards as they cannot be recycled. Or swap foil wrapping paper for newspaper or plain brown paper which can be easily recycled. You might be the butt of some Scrooge-based jokes, but wear it with pride – you are doing your bit to reduce waste.
 
 Here’s the 7th green idea for Christmas

Fat cakes are a great way to keep birds happy and full over the winter months. Fat cakes as a tasty source of energy to encourage them to make a pit stop at your home. Hang them from a tree for an easy way to create a wildlife-friendly garden.

Thanks to the National Trust for the instructions

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/crafts/how-to-make-fat-cakes-for-birds

  Here’s the 8th green idea for Christmas

Yesterday it was the birds, today it’s the bees.
 
 

This idea is not exactly for Christmas, but if you are thinking over the festive period of what to plant in the garden next year, here’s a few plants that they like -
Lavender, hollyhocks, buddleias, geums, hellebores, foxgloves, crab apples, cosmos, wallflowers and single dahlias.

I’m sure you have your favourites as well
 
 

Here’s the 9th green idea for Christmas 
 

Eating fruit and vegetables which are in season helps everyone
 
 

Here’s a few vegetables
Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut squash, Cabbage (white) Carrots , Cauliflower, Celeriac, Jerusalem Artichoke, Leeks, Parsnips, Potatoes (maincrop), Pumpkin, Swede and Turnips
 
 

Sadly only Apples, Pears and Quince are in season. If you do buy other fruit, such as bananas, please

check to see if they have the Fairtrade mark on them.

Here’s the 10th green idea for Christmas
 

Why not go out on a walk and enjoy the countryside around Henley. Here’s three pictures from our walk yesterday morning - the lake on the old golf course, looking over the field towards Buckley Green and on the lane from Buckley Green to Camp Lane. It was so enjoyable we are going do it again this morning.

Here’s the 11th green idea for Christmas
 
 

If you have been peeling root vegetables and trimming off outer cabbage leaves and stalks of broccoli and herbs, and throwing them straight into your council green food waste bin, why not try making this vegetable stock.
 
 

Find a large container and pop it in your freezer. This is your stock box. Each time you find yourself with veg scraps on your chopping board, add them to the box. When it is full, make veggie stock to keep to hand for risotto, savoury porridge, soup or whatever else you can dream up. What was old is new again.
 
The ingredients are vegetable peelings (including onion and garlic skins) outer leaves and stalks, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt.
 
 

This is how you do it
Make the stock when your freezer stock box is full to the brim, ensuring that at least one-third of the contents are flavourful garlic and onion peelings.
 
 

Tip your vegetables into a large stockpot and fill with water. You are aiming for a 1:1 ratio of water and vegetables, by volume.
 
 

Add a generous pinch of salt, some peppercorns and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Once your stock boils, lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
 
 

Strain the stock through a sieve and discard the vegetable bits. This time they are destined for your food waste bin, compost heap or perhaps an animal looking for a tasty snack. You can use your stock immediately or store it in the freezer for up to three months.

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Here’s the 12th green idea for Christmas.
 
 

Phone a friend or a relative that you haven’t seen for a while. Or pop in and see an elderly neighbour to make sure they are ok as we near Christmas.
 
 

With many people more isolated than usual this year, it might make their day
 
 

Here’s the 13th green idea for Christmas
 
 

As Christmas gets closer, are you starting to panic on what present to buy the person who already has everything they need. If so why not give a virtual gift to support projects in the UK or around the world.
 
 

There are a number of charities that provide digital charity gifts to give your friends or loved ones that can be personalised but they also transform lives, fight poverty or provide essentials to those in desperate need. Christian aid, Oxfam, World Vision, and UNICEF are all examples of charities, which offered meaningful gifts.
 
 

Or tell your friends that you have made a donation to WaterAid, or the Woodland Trust, or helped the National Trust plant more trees or the WWT rebuild wetlands.
 
 

Here’s the 14th idea for a green Christmas
 
 Why not try making your own Christmas crackers and put a home-made treat inside for an extra special gift for each person. Crackers can be made using empty toilet rolls and wrapping paper, tying the ends with ribbon.
 
 

You could even use some of Jem Jones’ one liners as the jokes! Sorry Jem, but they are funny
 
 

Here’s the 15th green idea for Christmas
   

If something doesn’t work properly, many of us just go out and buy a replacement and dump the old one.
 
 

Why not seeing if it can be repaired. Henley’s Repair Cafe is held on the first Friday of the month in the Baptist Hall. The next one is on January 6th, if there’s enough volunteers available.

 Here’s the 16th and final green idea for Christmas.
 

Thank you to everyone who have liked the green ideas and a special thanks to everyone who have made really good suggestions. I certainly found them very helpful. And apologies to those I’ve annoyed.
 
 

The final idea is to spend 5 minutes having a go at the WWT Environmental Footprint Calculator. It tells you just how many tons of carbon you burn!

https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/
 
 

Finally can I wish you a very merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year. 
 

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/crafts/how-to-make-fat-cakes-for-birds

Eco Church - Silver Award

Just before Covid struck. St John’s decided that it would start on the A Rocha Eco Church journey. Once lock down was over the journey really started. St John’s are committed to its responsibilities for raising awareness of the problems facing our planet and for taking appropriate action as a church to make a difference to this global concern. In December 2021, St John’s and St Nicholas Churches were awarded a Bronze Eco Church Award. We have continued that journey to the point where in November 2022, we applied for the Silver Award.

In the past few years, we have made a number of changes in order to become a more sustainable and eco-friendly church, and caring for God’s Creation has become an integral part of our worship. 

St John’s were successful with that application. To achieve it we undertook a number of actions, including the following -

• Weekly eco advice and guidance for the congregation. Our church weekly service sheet is also posted on our church website (henleyullenhall.church) in the Latest News Section. We started this at the beginning of Advent last year.
• We introduced our first Congregational Christmas card last year which was signed by a significant number of the congregation and saved over 400 individual cards
• Congregational recycling of used medical blister packs and batteries. We are now considering other items that people find difficult to recycle.
• Installation of LED lighting in our buildings
• Encouraging wildlife into our churchyard with bird boxes and feeders together with bug hotels and a hedgehog hotel (pictured).
• We have made a small start on a wildflower area specifically to attract bees and bugs.
• We have installed water butts against both the church hall and St Nicholas Church walls and only rainwater has been available in the churchyard for the past year.
• We have an annual service for Climate Sunday and also have regular Eco themed services including Rogationtide  and of course, Harvest. We regularly think about God’s Creation in our prayers
• We have canvassed the local Joint Parish Council on matters such as recycling bins for the town together with promoting the installation of secure cycle racks in the centre of the town to encourage people to cycle into town. We have also donated two bird boxes to the town together with a bug house for the Community Allotment. All the material used was recycled.
• Our main Lent Charity this year was WaterAid and for at least 2023, it will remain a key charity. All our toilets are Toilet Twinned as are a number of the congregations’.
• Our two main annual fund raising efforts – the Summer Fete and Christmas Bazaar – are used to recycle many different items. In the main it is clothing but also books, glass, china and homemade jams, marmalade and chutney using recycled jam jars
• We are looking at ways to use renewable energy in the parish buildings.

Weekly ECO Tips - 22nd July 2022

As part of our Church's commitment to supporting recycling projects, we now have a new purpose built box in church for the collection of used household batteries, such as the AA and AAA, that we all use. Please bring these to church and place them in the new wooden box at the back of church. Once it is full we will arrange to take the contents to the local recycling facility. 

Also please continue to bring your empty blister packs and place them in the other box at the back of church. These can include anything medical such as painkillers or indigestion tablets. But please don't put anything other than blister packs in the box. We have had miscellaneous foil and sweet wrappers added to the box and we have to remove them as they are not fit for this recycling scheme. 

It may feel like we have a lot of water in the UK but it can’t be taken for granted. We are now using nearly twice as much water as we were 60 years ago!

Saving water is about living more sustainably and adapting to climate change which saves time, money and protects the planet. Did you know that 20% of a typical heating bill is associated with water for showers /baths and the hot water tap. Using less water means reducing the carbon omissions caused by transporting water to and from the home and less treatment needed before it’s used. Making small changes such as turning the tap off when brushing teeth or swapping a bath for a shower will save money and energy and protect the environment. Or try collecting water from the bath/ shower for use on the garden

Saving water is about living more sustainably and adapting to climate change which saves time, money and protects the planet. Did you know that 20% of a typical heating bill is associated with water for showers /baths and the hot water tap. Using less water means reducing the carbon omissions caused by transporting water to and from the home and less treatment needed before it’s used. Making small changes such as turning the tap off when brushing teeth or swapping a bath for a shower will save money and energy and protect the environment. Or try collecting water from the bath/ shower for use on the garden.

Saving water is about living more sustainably and adapting to climate change which saves time, money and protects the planet. Did you know that 20% of a typical heating bill is associated with water for showers /baths and the hot water tap. Using less water means reducing the carbon omissions caused by transporting water to and from the home and less treatment needed before it’s used. Making small changes such as turning the tap off when brushing teeth or swapping a bath for a shower will save money and energy and protect the environment. Or try collecting water from the bath/ shower for use on the garden

Our changing climate makes life harder for the world’s poorest who are already struggling to access clean water. The climate crisis is a water crisis as more floods pollute fragile water supplies and longer droughts dry up vital springs.
Having access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene changes lives for ever. But we need to act now in the face of climate change.
So let’s get behind this years Lent Appeal and give generously to WaterAid. You Will be making a big difference to many lives.

As energy rates are due to increase it makes more sense than ever to focus on our energy usage.

Here are some quick wins to reduce the energy we use:
 
1. Turn the thermostat down by one degree can cut bills. The recommended comfortable indoor temperature is 18 degrees and 21 for rooms we sit in.
2. Only switch it on when you need it.
3. Hot water needs a lot of electricity or gas so we are encouraged to take shorter showers (4 mini yes) but how about slighter cooler ones?
4. Turn off all lights, switches and appliances at the wall when not in use.
Little changes all help save money and our planet 

At this time of year we are all more active in the garden and allotments. If you are purchasing compost remember to switch to peat free.
Peat is an organic material found in wetlands such as swamps and bogs. Left in it’s natural state, it great does a great job of absorbing carbon. As well as being home to rare species of wildlife. But digging it up releases greenhouse gas!
Next time to are buying compost, check the label and buy peat free. It could save as much as 25kg of carbon for each large bag. Or of course you could make your own compost.

With all our energy bills increasing, now is a good time to try and be more energy efficient. This is good for the planet and our wallets.
 
Cooking is a big culprit in terms of our energy footprint so here are a few considerations that might help us use less energy :
 
* Always use a saucepan lid when cooking on the hob. Lids trap heat and shorten cooking times
* Make use of residual heat to cook. For example turning off the heat just before food is cooked and letting the existing heat finish off the cooking process. Great for rice and boiled eggs!
* Preheating ovens is important but most will heat up in 10 minutes and won’t need the prescribed 30 minutes
* Break the habit of opening the oven door to check on food. Every time the door opens it loses heat and has to work harder to get heat back.
 
Hopefully the warm weather will see us eating more salads and cold food which will keep us away from the cooker!

This week we feature the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which is the world’s leading independent conservation organisation. Their mission is to create a world where people and wildlife can thrive together. To achieve this mission, they are finding ways to help transform the future for the world’s wildlife, rivers, forests and seas; pushing for a reduction in carbon emissions that will avoid catastrophic climate change; and pressing for measures to help people live sustainably, within the means of our one planet.

They calculate that we have 12 years to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5C and avoid climate breakdown. There are lots of ways we can help including animal adoption to save both the animal and their home, our home, protect and restore wild places across the world. You can adopt as a gift for another or make a personal choice of iconic animal from turtle to tiger.

Or join as a member which can make a big difference to the complex challenges as, with our support they can tackle the environmental issues and we can help them achieve their mission. More details and how to join at www.wwf.org.uk

We are in the second week of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight which ends on 6th March. This global movement aims to secure better prices and safe working conditions, environmental protection and fair trade for farmers across the world. A certified Fairtrade product means the producer has been paid a sustainable price that covers the cost of production and they also receive the Fairtrade Premium, an extra sum to spend on their communities. 

The theme of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight is the climate crisis which is deemed to be the biggest threat to the livelihoods of millions of small scale farmers. As climate change continues to escalate, we shoppers can do our bit by making simple swaps to items with the Fairtrade logo. Our local co op sells a range of Fairtrade staples (as do other supermarkets) or you can visit their website for all their own label products https://www.fairtrade.net/product so it’s easy to make a difference by supporting sustainable farming and the farmers helping to save the planet. 

Sticking with foodie February

Eating less meat and more vegetables is a great way to do your bit for the planet. It’s ok to eat animal products but just try to eat less of them. Maybe try going meat free for 2 days per week or eating meat in the evenings only. But it’s important to set a goal that works for you and that you can stick to.
 
Some good plant based meals include tray roasted vegetables, vegetable casseroles and pasta based dishes. All of which are quick and easy and can be jazzed up with a tin of chopped tomatoes or chickpeas! Or for convenience, buy ready made veggie sausages and burgers. The planet will thank you and often these are more healthy options too.

Sticking with foodie February… as Christians we need to have a conscience about our food choices.
I recently visited Castle Nurseries (other nurseries are available! ) It was a joyful sight seeing their super range of colourful loose vegetables with no plastic wrapping in sight! They also say where the veg are from so it’s easy to buy local produce.
Much of their vegetables are from Evesham. Just down the road. There are many reasons to support our local farmers by buying local produce. It saves on air miles and unwrapped veg saves plastic too. So it’s good for the planet. And it’s a great way to show our Christian concern for our farming neighbours.

14th June 2022

MICROPLASTICS

Researchers have been worried about the potential harms of microplastics for almost 20 years — although most studies have focused on the risks to marine life. Richard Thompson, a marine ecologist at the University of Plymouth, UK, coined the term in 2004 to describe plastic particles smaller than 5 millimetres across, after his team found them on British beaches. Scientists have since seen microplastics everywhere they have looked: in deep oceans; in Arctic snow and Antarctic ice; in shellfish, table salt, drinking water and beer; and drifting in the air or falling with rain over mountains and cities.

Check out this fact sheet: https://arocha.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Education-User-friendly-Microplastics-factsheet.pdf

24th March 2022

GROUNDWATER



This Lent, St John’s is supporting WaterAid, a charity that works to supply safe drinking water and sanitation to millions of people across the world. Below is an article that has recently been published in the magazine about the benefits of groundwater in Africa.

Currently, millions of people across the globe don’t have safe water to drink. As climate change continues to wreak havoc, communities will see their homes and means of survival washed away, their drinking water contaminated or dry up, their crops wither and fail, their health devastated by infectious diseases, and their children forced out of school. Communities need sustainable and safe water and sanitation to have the best chance of combatting the devastating impacts of extreme weather, like heatwaves, droughts and floods. Yet one in four people across the globe do not have safely managed water in their homes. However, new analysis by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and WaterAid, reveals that many countries in Africa – including most parts of subSaharan Africa – and parts of Asia, have enough water to meet everyone’s daily needs. And this hidden resource is often right under our feet – groundwater.

Groundwater – which exists almost everywhere underground, in gaps within soil, sand and rock – has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives and be the world’s insurance policy against climate change. It would help communities cope with slow onset climate impacts like drought and irregular rainfall, and provide broader resilience after floods by ensuring there is safe water available for all. But groundwater will only be able to lessen the impacts of climate change if it is carefully managed and if we invest in mechanisms to ensure that it gets to the people who need it most. All too often, this is not the case. In some regions, there isn’t enough investment in the services needed to find, capture, treat, manage and distribute groundwater – so it remains largely untouched. In others, we see rampant over-extraction with far too much groundwater being used, particularly by the agricultural sector. In both cases, only a limited amount of this life-saving resource gets to those who need it most.

WaterAid, with the assistance of the British Geological Survey assessed data on the amount of groundwater there is, how quickly it is replenished by rain, and how much the rocks can store. Our experts concluded that, on a national level, most countries in Africa have sufficient groundwater for people to not only survive, but to thrive. This includes countries such as Ethiopia and Madagascar, where only half the population have clean water close to home, and large parts of Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Although, on a sub-national level, there are some places where groundwater is more difficult to get to or is contaminated, our research estimated that today’s total groundwater on the continent could provide people with enough drinking water for at least five years in the event of a drought – and in some cases even decades. This calculation is based on 130 litres of domestic water use a day per capita, which would provide people with more than enough to drink, cook and wash with. 

A message from our Eco Church Group:

COP26 is upon us. I have no doubt that governments will make huge pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the coming months and years. The pledges will only work if each one of us changes how we live our own lives. This doesn’t necessarily mean we have to stop driving our cars or turn the heating off, but it does mean we have to adjust our way of thinking and acting.

St John’s recently held its Climate Sunday service, as did over 4000 other churches in England, where we tried to bring the message of climate change down to the individual level. It is up to each and everyone one of us to think how we live our lives.
 

The Rector also sent out to each member of the congregation a survey devised by the WWF for each member to take a look at their own carbon emissions and then see what contribution they are making. The survey then returned a percentage figure and if that figure was greater than 100%, then it advised you to take a look at yourself. As a follow up to that we installed a Pledges Board in church so that individuals could make their own commitments to reducing their carbon levels.

Why not have a go yourself and see what you should do and then add your pledges.

Here is the link.

https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/