Newsletter June 2013 An action-packed supporter meeting Saturday 13th July, 10.30am to 4.30pm, St Aloysius Church Hall, 20 Phoenix Rd, Euston, Lond

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Newsletter June 2013

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An action-packed supporter meeting

Saturday 13th July, 10.30am to 4.30pm, St Aloysius Church Hall, 20 Phoenix Rd, Euston, London NW1 1TA

We have an interesting line-up for our annual supporters’ meeting on Saturday 13th July. Following a short AGM we will be introducing Operation Noah’s exciting new national campaign so that supporters can help shape the campaign and get enthusiastic about promoting it. The new campaign, focusing on asking churches to disinvest from fossil fuels, will be officially launched in the autumn. Come along and help us by feeding in your ideas.

Our guest speaker, Ann Pettifor, will be speaking about ecological justice and the economic and financial context of climate change. Ann Pettifor is Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics, a fellow of the New Economics Foundation and Executive Director of Advocacy International, which advises governments and organisations on international finance and sustainable development. She is known for her leadership in the worldwide Jubilee 2000 campaign to cancel the debts of the poorest countries, and was also the campaigns director of Operation Noah. With her understanding of debt, the financial sector and campaigning she brings a unique perspective to the question of whether churches should continue to hold substantial financial stakes in the fossil fuel sector.

David Atkinson, Honorary Assistant Bishop of Southwark Diocese, will follow with a talk about the theological rationale underpinning the new campaign. There will then be small group discussions to explore some of the deeper questions, challenges and dilemmas. The morning will end with a panel discussion on the future development of the campaign.

The afternoon will focus on helping supporters communicate effectively both on the new campaign and on any other aspects of climate change. It will provide an introductory session for Operation Noah Ambassadors and any interested supporters. The Ambassadors will be at the fore-front of communicating information about Operation Noah and taking our campaigns forward across local communities. The session will be led by Paul Bodenham, and will look at the wide variety of new resources available for our Ambassadors. There will be time for personal action planning, identifying support needs and networking to build a small community of Ambassadors to take forward our education and awareness-raising work.

To book your place at the supporters' meeting please register here. There is a small cost of £10 to cover venue hire. Please bring lunch to share. Hot drinks and biscuits will be provided. Please arrive from 10am if you are able to help with setting up. You can download a flier to help promote the event here.

AGM and Board nominations

The AGM will take place at the start of the supporters' meeting, from 10.30 – 11.15am. It will review the last year and look ahead. It is the time when Board members are elected. If you would like to put your name forward for potential election to the Board of trustees, please contact us in advance with a CV and statement of interest, together with names of a proposer and seconder. You will be standing against people already on the Board, but we do have the option of co-opting people with particular experience that we need, for example, in fundraising, media and government lobbying work. Board members meet six times a year on weekdays. Nearly all of Operation Noah’s work is carried out by the Board, so your role would be hands-on, contributing to various operational areas such as policy, theology, campaigns, communications, resource development, events and fundraising.

Alternative Energies

Energy Bill – where next?

After a disappointing outcome last week at the parliamentary vote on amendments to the Energy Bill, the battle for a low-carbon Britain is far from over. Operation Noah has been campaigning since last autumn, to get a target for decarbonising the energy sector by 2030 included in the Energy Bill. The coalition Government has failed to deliver on this. However, with 267 votes in favour to 290 against, it reveals a large rift in the Government's energy policy. Their apparent intention to maintain gas as a primary source of energy through the 2020s severely jeopardises the goals of the Climate Change Act and the UK's national carbon targets. As John Ashton CBE, the world’s first Climate Change ambassador, recently said at an RSA event in May, 'I can't see how any MP who votes against the target, will thereafter be able credibly to claim that they support an effective response to climate change.'

There will be further opportunity for lobbying when the Bill goes to the House of Lords. Still a further stage of government lobbying will focus on the review of the 4th carbon budget proposed for 2014. The current carbon reduction targets for this period 2023 - 2027 may be relaxed in order to make way for more gas power. However, the Committee on Climate Change are clear that in order to remain on course to meet our national carbon targets (in 2020 and 2050) we need to achieve a substantial decarbonisation of the electricity generation sector, as this is such a large contributor to overall carbon output. The Committee judge this to require 50g CO2/kWh output by 2030.

Operation Noah expects the Government to be clearer regarding a strategy for decarbonisation of the power sector and the mechanisms and incentives that will bring this about. The campaign for clean energy by 2030 has seen a coming together of many campaign groups, NGOs, churches, businesses, Trade Unions, political parties and organisations, which has considerably strengthened the climate movement in the UK. We hope that our supporters will help to continue to build on this momentum.

moth

This precious creation

Last week I kneeled, entranced, for 10 minutes watching three Emperor moths emerging from the chrysalis on heath land. Their wings slowly unfurled – showing their furry perfection and glowing colours. The males zipped off before I could photograph them (they are brightly coloured) but the female proved much more amenable. And yesterday I joined a butterfly walk on a nearby Shropshire wildlife reserve. It was a perfect summer afternoon and I saw species I have never seen before – Skippers both Dingy and Grizzled, a Pearl-bordered Fritillary and the jewel-like Green Hairstreak. What privileges to marvel at the variety and beauty of God's creation. But things are not good for butterflies in general, nor indeed for many others of God’s creatures.

The State of Nature report, prepared by a coalition of the UK’s wildlife organisations and recently launched by Sir David Attenborough, assessed the fortunes of 3,000 species representative of the UK’s wildlife. It revealed that 60% of the UK’s wildlife has declined in 50 years and that 3000 species face extinction. Butterflies have suffered considerably with almost three-quarters of species declining in the last decade. Birds, bees, bats and many more species suffered similar alarming declines.

There are many reasons for these alarming changes – loss of biodiversity, changes in farming practice, urban spread, etc but climate change is having an increasing, and often harmful, impact on nature in the UK. We are entrusted with the command to care for creation. Wildlife is of value not just for its variety and beauty and impact on our wellbeing, but because it is all part of God’s precious and fragile creation. As St Francis of Assisi said: 'We are all creatures of one family.’ (Isabel Carter)

earthatmosphere

Rising greenhouse gases

Recent reports have highlighted that for the first time in human history concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere approached 400 parts per million (ppm). The Keeling Curve, established at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, keeps daily records of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. A daily average value of 400ppm was observed at Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the site of the longest continuous observational CO2 record, since records began in 1958.

The annual growth rate of the Keeling Curve has been roughly 2ppm every year averaged over the last decade. That growth rate is accelerating every decade due to increased CO2 emissions caused by human activity. At this pace, it is predicted that we will reach 450ppm well before year 2038. Scientists predict that a level of CO2 between 370 and 540 ppm has a 66 percent probability of keeping the world within the 2º C limit on warming. There is a time lag for the global temperature to catch up with greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, so temperatures will continue to rise for many years after.

Operation Noah on BBC’s The Big Questions

Operation Noah’s board member, Ruth Jarman, was invited to join BBC 1’s The Big Questions panel last month in Bristol debating the question, ‘Has man’s dominion been good for the planet?’ She said, ‘God saw that it was good five times before we were created. It’s not all about us.’

Help keep the ark afloat

If you would like to support the campaigns of Operation Noah you can make a monthly donation or one off donation here. We are very grateful for all the help we receive from donors.

If you would like to cascade this newsletter to your networks please use this link http://mad.ly/ecbec3

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