The Simple Pastor

By Phil Whittall, church planter, blogger & book reviewer

Archive of "waste" Category

• Consumerism: It’s not about the environment

  March 17, 2010 // 1 Comment »

  *This is the second (the first is more of an intro here) post into ‘why I think consumerism should be a big deal for Christians*

  It’s quite a headline really, when you stop to think about it. Pretty much everything these days seems to be about the environment. Climate change was one of the themes of the last decade and will be one for the next ten years too. If you’re sick of hearing about it, talking about it, thinking about it then I have some bad news for you, in all likelihood this train is only just beginning to pull.

  There are massive forces at work reshaping the way our world works (and some fairly hefty forces resisting any such change), but governments (and importantly most of the big ones) are slowly changing too. Take recycling waste for example, almost everyone in the UK deals with household waste differently to ten years ago, more is recycled than ever and looking forward you’ll have increasingly less choice in the matter. Recycling will be what we all do, what we have to do.

  Laws will make your cars more energy efficient, increasing numbers of electric vehicles will begin to appear, hybrids will change our petrol stations. Already incentives are available for households to generate electricity and grants available to reduce waste through insulation and new boilers. These are just a few of the ways your life is changing because scientists and governments believe our climate is changing (and not really for the better).

  Tied to all of this political drive are the cultural battles taking place, those preparing for a brave new world where cars are obsolete, travel is restricted and everything gets local. It’s a back to the future kind of approach, a blending of nostalgia for ages past and a hopeful mix of new technology and thinking. At the same time a sizeable majority are appalled at the idea of not being able to buy strawberries in winter or driving to the shops in a 4×4. Development agencies are lobbying, oil companies are lobbying back. It’s grassroots against big business.

  At the heart of much of the campaigning for change is the belief that our current way of living in developed nations is unsustainable, we simply can’t go on like this, goes the thinking. We buy too much, waste too much, need so little. This is mostly true. This is at the heart of consumerism. (more…)

  Categories:
  climate change, consumerism, sustainable living, Top Posts, waste

• Notes on a Dirty Island

  August 10, 2008 // No Comments »

  Heads up about a programme airing on BBC1 tomorrow. Flagship news show Panorama has Bill Bryson and Notes on a Dirty Island which shows up our litter problem! Well worth watching, I suspect

  Categories:
  TV, waste

• PM calls for simpler living?

  July 7, 2008 // No Comments »

  The fact that there is a Global Food Crisis which is increasingly serious, I guess, hasn’t touched the consciousness of most Britons yet. But our PM is urging us to ‘stop food waste’ or to put it another way, buy only what we need. I think that falls into the category of simpler living – living on enough and not buying more than that.

  If you want to be selfish then spending on only what you need gives you the chance to reduce debt on a mortgage or save for whatever you need. If you want to think a different way, then the money you save can be given away because you’ve just demonstrated you can live without it and therefore more can be given to missions or the poor.

  Here’s a debate at the Beeb

  Categories:
  food, giving, lifestyle, waste