11 March – The Green Heart of Mission Webinar

in ,

From A Rocha UK:

“Do you see caring for creation as an integral part of your faith, and core to the mission of the Church? Perhaps you do, but meet others who are less convinced that caring for the earth is a key part of the Gospel and missional work.

Join us as we discuss these themes, with Paul Kunert, author of ‘Jesus Died to Save the Planet’, stories from Eco Churches and others. We’ll explore how creation care is at the heart of mission and how a newly refreshed Eco Church survey helps put this into practice.

Book your place via Eventbrite

(Please note that you book via Eventbrite, then are sent a Zoom link at a later stage)

11 March – Oxford – The transition away from fossil fuels in Europe

in ,
The transition away from fossil fuels in Europe: Geopolitical and practical implications

“The transition away from fossil fuels in Europe is a crucial step toward addressing climate change. But also it is a process fraught with significant geopolitical and practical challenges. Traditional oil and gas suppliers to the European Union will face a significant decline in demand, and hence earnings, as Europe moves towards net zero. Many of these supplier countries are relatively poor, growing and in neighbourhoods much less stable than the EU. This seminar explores how the European Union will approach this challenge, how policy responses will be crafted (and why), and suggest some ideas for policy consideration. The Seminar will explore the multifaceted implications of this transitions impact on energy security, international relations, and domestic economic structures. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the discussion will shed light on Europe’s role in leading global energy transformation while navigating the intricate interplay between geopolitics. Because this presentation is from a policy practitioner, feedback and ideas are very welcome, and a participatory process to create ideas could be developed.”

 

24 March – Growing Hope: Church action for sustainable land use webinar

in ,

Operation Noah says:

“We will be relaunching our Church Land Use campaign by sharing our vision for Church Land Use, featuring inspiring speakers involved in local actions and promoting resources to grow positive action at local, regional and investment level. Featuring Revd Mike Saunders (St Lawrence’s Hungerford) on growing trees, Jaye Brighton (Loveland, Falmouth) on community farming on glebe land and Revd David Coleman (Eco-Congregation Scotland) on protecting peat.”

Webinar takes place at 1:00 pm
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OxrwSisiSXSFUXQSj0S40g#/registration

 

16 June – Oxford – Narrative Entanglement: The Case of Climate Policy

in ,

Political economy models often assume that voter beliefs are consistent with available information. Recent work emphasizes instead the role played by narratives, subjective causal models that may be incorrectly specified. In this paper, we study the role of political narratives in the context of climate policy. We develop a theory of narrative entanglement, where policy dimensions—initially distinct—become strategically intertwined through narratives created by politicians to sway support. Shocks in one dimension can thus influence unrelated policy areas. We test this theory in the context of EU climate policy before versus after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which affected the economic costs of climate policy but not its ability to address climate change. Using a large language model to analyze speeches in the EU Parliament, we find that narratives are strongly entangled: Members of the European Parliament that emphasize the need to address climate change also emphasize economic benefits, while those denying climate change stress economic costs. After the energy price shock associated with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, narratives shift not only in the economic dimension but also in the climate dimension, with speeches becoming less likely to imply that climate policy is necessary to combat climate change. This pattern holds at the individual politician level, with politicians from right-wing parties showing a more pronounced narrative change than those from the left.

 

  • Date: 16 June 2025, 11:30
  • Venue:
    Manor Road Building
    Manor Road OX1 3UQ

2 to 3 July – Hertfordshire – Groundswell

in , ,

Groundswell is an annual festival for regenerative agriculture – held on a farm, with a combination of practical and theoretical talks, workshops, exhibits, etc

Lannock Farm, Hertfordshire, SG4 7EE, UK

The Groundswell Festival provides a forum for farmers, growers, or anyone interested in food production and the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of regenerative farming systems.

Groundswell Festival takes place on the 2nd and 3rd of July 2025. Tickets are available to purchase through Red Box here.

26 September 5:00 pm: Retrofitting our homes (Talk)

in ,

“Retrofitting our homes” – a talk by Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble

“Join Oxfordshire Community Land Trust for a talk by members of the Turner Prize-winning, multi-disciplinary architecture, design and art collective Assemble about retrofitting buildings. They’ll tell us about the general principles they use to guide their retrofit projects, as well as more specific detail about their current project at St Anne’s College in Oxford, where they’re refurbishing 10 Victorian villas.”

 

Tsuzuki Lecture Theatre, St Anne’s College, 56 Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 6HS

CCOW’s Environmental Calendar

in

A calendar of dates for prayer and action, with links and suggestions. Download it here.

Time to Wonder and Respond – Individuals

in


“How much time do we spend looking – really looking – at what’s in front of us? One day, the train I was on stopped for quite a while at a red signal. My window looked out on a tree – so near that you could see the ridges and  whorls of its bark and the insects that were crawling out onto a sunlit ridge or scurrying back into a crevice. It was mesmerising, and when we started again, I found myself reflecting on the variety and beauty revealed in that one tiny element of creation – something that was normally just a blur, one of thousands of trees we passed on our daily journey. 

If we take the time to look at any part of the world around us, we will find almost infinite treasures: the reflections on a drop of water, the vein patterns on a leaf, the blurred wings of a hovering insect. Pause to see things as they really are and the sense of how precious creation is will almost overwhelm you …” 

What an amazing gift the world is!  In response to God’s goodness in creation, you might want to:

  • spend at least five minutes each day really looking at something – the clouds in the sky, a leaf hanging outside your window, a pebble or conker in your hand, a landscape seen during a walk … appreciating it for what it is.
    Some people find it helpful to have a set time – some simply wait for inspiration when the time is right. Decide what will be most helpful to you – but make sure that you get into a habit of regular contemplation, however you do it.
  • as  you appreciate what you are seeing, offer praise and thanks to God the Creator for it. You might do so in words … or by just holding what you’ve seen before God in silence.
  • try then to sense what it tells you about the Creator. Praise God for what you sense of God from your contemplation.

You may sometimes find it helpful to ponder things outside your own surroundings. You might choose a single image or scene from a video – maybe from a PowerPoint or from one of the ‘Our Planet’ nature programmes.

Sometimes, as you contemplate, you may be led towards not only thanks and praise but also lament and anger – conscious of how fragile what you see is, how imperilled by environmental degradation and climate change, how it is already damaged by human carelessness or greed. You may find yourself lamenting what you don’t see – the insects that are missing from our countryside, the species lost in areas that have been deforested. You may find yourself angered by the lack of response … or at least of response that reflects the urgency of the situation.

Allow your heart to lament or rage – and bring it before God.

The Psalms are full of  sorrow, questioning and anger. Some people find it helpful to adopt in their prayers the pattern of lament Psalms:

  • naming God as creator and redeemer,
  • lamenting what is harmed and the reasons why the harm happens,
  • confessing where you are implicated in the harm,
  • asking God for change and restoration
  • and reaffirming your hope in the One who redeems all things in Christ

Sometimes, though, that may not feel possible or honest. Cry out to God in words, or, where you have no words, simply offer God your pain, and let the Spirit guide the prayer. Whatever you pray, if you are bringing your heart before God in faith, trust that the God who loves you and all created things hears your prayer.