Listening to the radio this week, I heard a report which said that current figures for climate change, loss of biodiversity and wild life, and pollution around the world are worse than had been predicted and paint a bleak picture of the state of the planet if we don’t do something about it.
We’ve known for decades now that there is a problem and the loss of wildlife, birds and insects is very obvious. When I was young, I would see thrushes in the garden all the time, but I haven’t seen one for years. The fields around our house were filled with lapwing but they are all gone. We could change this for the better and we know how to live sustainably but it is harder to change hearts and minds to make it happen. One of the biggest problems is the huge amount of natural resources that humans get through every year, and much of it we could do without.
In our Gospel reading Jesus makes a stark challenge to the rich young man. ‘Sell everything you have and give the money to the poor’. Few of us are likely to do that, but there may be plenty of things we could actually live without in order to secure a better future for everyone.
– Revd Liz
