Brief report from the environment conference

Today I went unexpectedly to the Chelmsford Diocesan environment conference. I did not intend to go, but owing to various circumstances I ended up there. It is a not-that-long but not-that-interesting story, so I will not tell it. And very good the conference was too. For me the need to take action on environmental and justice issues rather put yesterday’s discussions into perspective. Hence my hastily scribbled list, which is not intended to be accurate, or correct, or good.

Of course it is easy to get overwhelmed by the pressing needs of our planet. One of the conference speakers, when faced with the question ‘But what can we actually do?’ replied by saying ‘Do what you do’. In other words, do the thing you normally do in life, but do it in such a way that will help the world to operate sustainably and will help to get the message about environmental issues out there and will generally do as much good as possible. For this reason I will continue to do a few drawings and rambly blog posts, but I am going to try to address environmental issues a bit more often.

I have decided to take a small bit of additional action in one particular area though. I think we should have some cycle racks at our church, so I am going to see whether I can, by asking the right people, make some cycle racks happen at our church. I think having cycle racks at church would mean that more people might cycle there, which would be a good thing. If anyone reading has experience of commissioning cycle racks for a church then I would like to hear from you. Alternatively you might know a church with really really good cycle racks and you might know how they got them. I talked to a man from Sustrans, and he said that Sheffield Cycle Racks are the best ones. I don’t know whether there are special people who install such things or whether you get a builder to do it or mix your own concrete using a home made recipe. I am so clueless on the subject you would hardly believe it. My ignorance is plain for all to see.

Greetings to Paul, who I met at the conference, though I knew him from the internet. Paul offered me his garden for my occasional cartooning purposes, which was a very kind gesture.