Monday

1

Reflecting on UNEA-6 …

As the world’s top decision-making body on the environment, UNEA aims to help restore harmony between humanity and nature, improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people

5,600 people – representing 190 countries – took part in the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) which was held from 26 February to 1 March 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme of “Effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.”

UNEA-6 adopted a ministerial declaration, 15 resolutions and two decisions, aimed at halting the progression of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

Some of the Resolutions included: Promoting sustainable lifestyles; Sound management of chemicals and waste; Highly hazardous pesticides; Environmental assistance and recovery in areas affected by armed conflict; Effective and inclusive solutions for strengthening water policies to achieve sustainable development in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution;  Strengthening international efforts to combat desertification and land degradation, restore degraded land, promote land conservation and sustainable land management, contribute to land degradation neutrality and enhance drought resilience and strengthening ocean efforts to tackle climate change, marine biodiversity loss and pollution.

A comprehensive list of all UNEA-6 outcomes is available on the UNEA-6 website.

The role of Civil society is much more clearly recognised in the Assembly than in many other of the other UN processes.  Civil society participation is managed through the ‘Major Groups and Stakeholders’ which include NGOs, Women’s groups, Indigenous groups, Youth and Children etc. Over one thousand organisations are registered members and were part of the Civil Society contribution to the Assembly.  Within that group there are 93 registered faith-based organisations.  The Anglican Consultative Council forms part of the NGOs Major Group. Canon Rachel Mash, Environmental Coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, represented Anglican voices at the UNEA-6.

At this meeting, the NGOs Major Group was able to influence the wording of the statement made by the Major Groups and Stakeholders to address the root causes of the Triple Planetary crisis to include a focus on overconsumption, materialism, greed, and a “throw away” culture, but also the hope that we can rethink our relationship to the multiple interconnected strands that weave the web of our natural environment, and leave succeeding generations with a healthy, clean planet that can meet their needs. Read the full statement of the Major Groups and Stakeholders.

One of the intense discussions that took place was that of working towards a Plastic Treaty. This was emphasised as a target area. The lack of progress in this area was noted and there is concern that the trajectory for plastic is increasing in use as the petroleum industries seek new outlets for oil production. The concept that the life cycle of plastic begins when they are discarded is rejected, in fact, the life cycle of plastic begins with the oil from which they are made. Therefore, the focus on limiting production should be strengthened, thus reducing the plastic in circulation.  The lifecycle from production to disposal – within the circular economy framework needs to be addressed.  The danger of nurdles should be listed as hazardous during transportation.

Lift up in prayer all the Countries (including South Africa) that were party to the UNEA-6, as well as Civil Society and everyone involved – that every resolution will be adhered to and the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste will be addressed in earnest.  There is no time to lose!

Tuesday

2

Psalm 146:6-10

⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them—
    he remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
⁸     the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the foreigner
    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord reigns forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Wednesday

3

“We cannot afford to deplete nature’s resources without facing serious consequences.  The decisions we make today will shape our destiny tomorrow.  Let us stand firm in recognising that we must forge ahead, accelerate our efforts and unite in purpose.”

Amina Mohammed
UN Deputy Secretary-General
in closing the 6^th United Nations Environmental Assembly
(Kenya, March 2024)

Thursday

4

Praise to you, Lord Jesus, ascended Sovereign of the universe. Guide and guard this precious blue planet, home for all your creatures. Deepen our commitment to earth, that set in the midst of rivers and deserts, cities and countryside, creatures seen and unseen, we may live to your glory.

Friday

5

Saturday

6

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”
Psalm 133:1 

…  Let’s all add Creation to this as well!

Sunday

7

Father, we pray for all who work closely with the natural world,
For farmers and gardeners who grow our food,
For scientists and technologists who probe the secrets of life,
For foresters who plant and harvest trees,
For photographers, artists and poets who capture beauty for others to see,
For conservationists and all who guard the precious heritage of the earth.
For ourselves – that we may appreciate and care for the previous environment that you have entrusted to us.
Amen.

Monday

8

”The world is not to be put in order. The world is order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.”

Henry Miller

Tuesday

9

God of light and God of night,
Creator of seed and mountain,
raindrop and fountain,
We bring our offering of praise.
God of right and God of might,
Lover of child and childless,
rich and homeless,
We bring our offering of praise.

Wednesday

10

Look at the world

Look at the world,
Everything all around us.
Look at the world,
And marvel every day.
Look at the world,
So many joys and wonders,
So many miracles,
Along our way.

Praise to thee, O Lord for all creation,
Give us thankful hearts that we may see,
All the gifts we share and every blessing,
All things come of thee.

Look at the earth,
Bringing forth fruit and flowers.
Look at the sky,
The sunshine and the rain.
Look at the hills,
Look at the trees and mountains,
Valley and flowing river,
Field and plain.

Praise to thee O Lord for all creation ……

Think of the spring,
Think of the warmth of summer.
Bringing the harvest,
Before the winter’s cold.
Everything grows,
Everything has a season,
‘Til it is gathered to the Fathers fold.

Praise to thee O Lord for all creation ……

Every good gift,
All that we need and cherish.
Comes from the Lord,
In token of his love.
We are his hands,
Stewards of all his bounty,
His is the earth and his the heavens above.

Praise to thee O Lord for all creation,
Give us thankful hearts that we may see.
All the gifts we share and every blessing,
All things come of thee,
All things come of thee.

Songwriters: John Milford Rutter
Look at the world lyrics © Oxford University Press
Listen https://youtu.be/kxr8QBPq1z0  | https://youtu.be/lUNsj2NSCJ0

Thursday

11

God of hope,
Bless all people and embrace us with your abundant grace for working together in the journey to heal the earth. 
We pray for your wisdom, sympathy and creativity to take meaningful actions with a shared vision for the common good of all creation.
In the precious name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Naw Ohnmar Shwe,
Gaia Organization, Myanmar

Friday

12

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.  Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.

Isaiah 24:4-6

Saturday

13

Praying a Psalm in its Nature Setting

What a joyful and renewing experience it is to pray a Psalm in its nature setting!

The beauty of God’s creation draws us to delight in God’s goodness and his loving presence in the moment. And the prayer of the Psalmist gives voice and shape to our struggles and longings and connects us with God’s loving heart.

Psalm 16 and a Path

Take a walk with Jesus on a path. Consider a decision you needto make and with that in mind imagine yourself following Jesus or walking hand-in-hand with him.

Pray about what path you’re to take. Perhaps it’s even more important to pray about how you’re to walk on whichever path you take.

Let David’s words in Psalm 16 inspire you: “I have set the Lord before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure… You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (verses 8-11).

What is Jesus saying to you on your path? In your daily life what helps you to walk in the joy of the Lord?

Sunday

14

Dear GOD: The animals, plants, air, water, children, babies, and old people and disabled need YOUR help. Please help. We thank you for that help as we see the world becoming what YOU want it to be, not harmed and filled with pain and heartbreak by a few mean, greedy people who do not care for all the amazing and awesome things you have given to all of us

Anna-lee
(aged 9)

Monday

15

Living with the Land

In the West, most Christians have been shaped by culture and faith into a paradigm that normalizes acquisition, at great cost to others, ourselves, and the land itself. As Richard puts it, “Perhaps the primary example of our lack of attention to the Christ Mystery can be seen in the way we continue to pollute and ravage planet Earth, the very thing we all stand on and live from.” Theologian, scholar, and Cherokee descendant Randy Woodley describes the difference between the attitude of early North American settlers and the Indigenous people who were already present on the land. He writes:

“The very land itself meant something quite different to the newcomer than it did to the host people. Something was missing. The difficulty, as the Natives saw it, was with the settlers themselves and their failure to tread lightly, with humility and respect, on the land. The settlers wanted to live on the land, but the host people lived with the land. Living on the land means objectifying the land and natural resources and being shortsighted concerning the future. Living with the land means respecting the natural balance.

To Indigenous peoples, the problems of a Western worldview are obvious. The way of life demonstrated by Western peoples leads to alienation from the Earth, from others, and from all of creation. This lifestyle creates a false bubble called “Western civilization,” which people in the West think will protect them from future calamity. This false hope is detached from all experience and reality.

The problem is that the Western system itself is what brings the calamity. There is little doubt that much of what we are experiencing today as so-called natural disasters have their origin in human carelessness.

How do we avoid the impending disaster brought on by a settler lifestyle of living on the land and against nature? The answer is simple: we learn to live with nature.“

In 1990, Indigenous leaders spoke at a global conference on the environment, and provided a hopeful vision for the future:

“We have jeopardized the future of our coming generation with our greed and lust for power. The warnings are clear and time is now a factor. . . . We speak of our children, yet we savage the spawning beds of the salmon and herring, and kill the whale in his home. We advance through the forests of the earth felling our rooted brothers indiscriminately, leaving no seeds for the future. We exploit the land and resources of the poor and indigenous peoples of the world. We have become giants, giants of destruction. . . . We must return to the spiritual values that are the foundation of life. We must love and respect all living things, have compassion for the poor and the sick, respect and understanding for women and female life on this earth who bear the sacred gift of life. We must return to the prayers, ceremonies, meditations, rituals, and celebrations of thanksgiving which link us with the spiritual powers that sustain us and, by example, teach our children to respect.”

From Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations
www.cac.org

Tuesday

16

Wednesday

17

“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”

E. E. Cummings

Thursday

18

God of light and God of night,
Creator of seed and mountain,
raindrop and fountain,
We bring our offering of praise.
God of right and God of might,
Lover of child and childless,
rich and homeless,
We bring our offering of praise.

Friday

19

We Hold the Earth

We hold brothers and sisters who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change.
We hold all species that suffer.
We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life.
We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions.
We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community.
We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. . .
so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully say, we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children.

Saturday

20

Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti of Pope Francis
on the Fraternity and Social Friendship

Chapter Three – Envisaging and engendering an open world

A universal love that promotes persons

106.      Social friendship and universal fraternity necessarily call for an acknowledgement of the worth of every human person, always and everywhere. If each individual is of such great

worth, it must be stated clearly and firmly that “the mere fact that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less development does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity”.[81] This is a basic principle of social life that tends to be ignored in a variety of ways by those who sense that it does not fit into their worldview or serve their purposes.

107.      Every human being has the right to live with dignity and to develop integrally; this fundamental right cannot be denied by any country. People have this right even if they are unproductive, or were born with or developed limitations. This does not detract from their great dignity as human persons, a dignity based not on circumstances but on the intrinsic worth of their being. Unless this basic principle is upheld, there will be no future either for fraternity or for the survival of humanity.

108.      Some societies accept this principle in part. They agree that opportunities should be available to everyone, but then go on to say that everything depends on the individual. From this skewed perspective, it would be pointless “to favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in life”.[82] Investments in assistance to the vulnerable could prove unprofitable; they might make things less efficient. No. What we need in fact are states and civil institutions that are present and active, that look beyond the free and efficient working of certain economic, political or ideological systems, and are primarily concerned with individuals and the common good.

Prayerfully consider how this is affecting our own Country

Sunday

21

Lord of all the universe, through your incarnation in Christ you identified with the created order and proclaimed your love for the world:

Assist us through your Son to respect and cherish the earth and all its creatures through Jesus Christ who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.

Amen

Monday

22

Earth Day

2024 Theme : Planet vs. Plastics

This theme of “Planet vs Plastics” comes as a call for everyone to advocate for widespread awareness about the environmental destruction of plastics; to rapidly phase out all single use plastics; urgently push for a strong UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution and demand an end to fast fashion for the sake of human and environmental health.  Ideally a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040 should be aimed for, and ultimately to build a plastic-free future for generations to come. 

We are all too aware of the billions upon billions of plastic waste items choking our oceans, lakes, and rivers and piling up on land.   Plastic pollution is more than just unsightly, it is harmful to plants and wildlife and is destroying eco-systems.  The single-use plastic bags have a working life of a few minutes, followed by an afterlife of centuries.  Even after plastics disintegrate, they remain as microplastics, minute particles permeating every niche of life on the planet.  We seldom think of water when we think of plastics, but an alarming fact is that making a plastic water bottle requires six times as much water as the bottle itself contains!  Add to that volume all the other single-use plastics, like drinking straws, and we really do understand that the plastic problem has gotten way out of hand!!

The fast fashion industry is another problematic area.  Overproduction and overconsumption have transformed the industry, leading to the disposability of fashion. People now buy 60% more clothing than 15 years ago, but each item is kept for only half as long and much of the “tossed” items end up in landfills. 

Plastic is produced using petrochemicals – nasty carbon-producing processes which directly increases the effects of climate change. 

Although we are all encouraged to recycle our plastics, only a fraction is actually recycled. Sadly not all plastics are actually recyclable and for those that are, we are faced with horrendously expensive (sometimes prohibitively so,) reprocessing/reclaiming processes.  It is a sad fact that every scrap of plastic ever produced in the plastics’ 100 year history is still with us – even today.  Plastics do not biodegrade – that just break down into smaller and ever smaller particles – microplastics – which now cover every bit of the globe, from the depths of the Marianas trench to the peaks of the Himalayas and everywhere in between. 

Plastic is still a wonder material – from being used in life-saving surgery to keeping our food safe to eat.  However, the time has come for us – all of us – to revisit our plastic usage and dependency and become ruthless in our avoidance of every bit of plastic that is not absolutely vital to our life.

This can be as basic and easy as refusing single use plastic bags, single use straws, excess packaging, not buying bottled water, avoiding personal care products containing microbeads, curb the impulse buys of new fashion items, avoid cheap plastic trinkets and toys ……. you get the picture!!

Perhaps the responsibility should rest with the manufacturers of all this plastic – but they don’t seem to care about environmental and human health issues … just the bottom profit line …. so in reality, it is up to each one of us – the consumers – to put our foot/feet down and say, “Enough is enough!” and each do our utmost to curb the use of plastic!

Greenpeace alleges that according to confidential documents, the South African government plans to vote against a new Global Treaty to stop plastic pollution. This is despite being the 11th biggest marine plastic polluter in the world!  Visit their website to sign their petition to make them vote in favour of a Global Plastic Treaty

Tuesday

23

Wednesday

24

“It is our collective and individual responsibility to protect and nurture the global family, to support its weaker members and to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.”

The Dalai Lama

Thursday

25

World Malaria Day

Malaria – the leading killer of children under 5 years old in parts of Africa and that nearly half of humanity is still at risk for – might be making a comeback? Malaria is serious stuff.

The eradication of malaria has been taken seriously for decades, but progress has stalled as the mosquitoes that spread malaria have adapted their own tool set. They’re developing a resistance to our insecticides. Which means we’re going to need some new ways to prevent this disease.  And scientists are continuing to fight the latest generation of super mosquitoes.

Malaria continues to be widespread, but it’s not for lack of trying to eliminate this disease. Nets and insecticides, among other interventions, have made incredible progress over the years and have saved many lives.

The World Health Organization reported that annual deaths from malaria went from about 897,000 in 2000 to 568,000 in 2019.  But since then, the numbers have actually gone up. And it’s not like we stopped using the nets and insecticides – they just don’t have the same effect they used to. We haven’t changed – the mosquitoes have.

The mosquitoes that infect us with the parasite that causes malaria are developing resistance to almost all insecticides, including common ones like pyrethroids, which are what most malaria control depends on.

This doesn’t mean we need to stop using insecticides altogether, because they still work to an extent, but it’s a lesser extent than it used to be. Some mosquitoes are getting really good at fighting off these toxins.  In one study, only 3.8% of the insects died after exposure to pyrethroids.  The mosquitoes have managed to do this due to a certain family of enzymes called cytochromes that help detoxify the various chemicals.  These enzymes may be partially to blame for the rise of the mosquito resistance.

In particular, the group of enzymes called cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, or P450s for short, seem to operate differently in mosquitoes that show insecticide resistance.  The difference means the mosquitoes can fight off insecticides pretty well. 

These P450s are safe because they help almost all living things break down toxins, including us.  But when our friend starts helping our enemy too, that’s when we take issue with it.

And that’s led us to a few ideas for dealing with this problem. Since the insecticide-resistant mosquitoes with different P450 enzymes aren’t yet resistant to all insecticides, we can still rely on the few that they’re not currently resistant to. For example, the synthetic insecticide Actellic remains fairly effective.  However, what we don’t want to do is let mosquitoes develop resistance to that too and end up in the exact same place a few years from now.

To keep that from happening, there are management techniques like rotating different insecticides to keep things fresh.  Instead of relying on Actellic for an extended period of time, we could regularly swap it out for other insecticides so the mosquitoes in a particular area don’t become familiar enough with any one toxin to develop resistance.

That is one way forward. But an interesting new option is a chemical called Piperonyl Butoxide, or PBO.  It’s not an insecticide at all, but it prevents P450s from doing their job.  As the mosquitoes break down the PBO, bits and pieces of the molecule bind to the P450 enzymes, blocking them from detoxifying insecticides.  Sprayed in combination with pyrethroids, it brings the super mosquitoes back to square one where they’re vulnerable again.  In a recent study in Ghana, this combo showed encouraging results.  Depending on where the sample group of mosquitoes was collected from, the PBO and pyrethroids were anywhere from 43.8% to 100% effective.

These are some really promising avenues for continued insecticide use, even in the face of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes which may ultimately lead us back in the direction we were headed before: the eventual complete elimination of malaria.

Pray for all involved in this amazing research!

Taken directly from SciShow Why We Stopped Making Progress on Malaria (26 June 2023)

Friday

26

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Isaiah 40:6-8

Saturday

27

International Hyena Day

International Hyena Day advocates for changing the public’s perspective on hyenas and seeing their importance in the environment.

Throughout history, few animals have enjoyed (or not enjoyed …) less sympathy or worse press than hyenas. Hyenas are often misunderstood and persecuted and are frequently regarded as vermin and a liability to local communities.  Since ancient times, many cultures have despised them for their reputation for digging up corpses and attacking children and livestock. They are seen as cowardly and dirty creatures, associated with myths, such as hermaphroditism.  Their body parts are often used in traditional medicine and magical rituals.  These accusations are worlds apart from the truth.

The striped hyena was a common animal in the Holy Land in the Biblical era, but today are only found in Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.  In most translations of the Bible, the word hyena only appears twice, both of them in the book of Isaiah13:22 – Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged. and 34:14 – Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest

Three of the four species of hyena occur in South Africa – Spotted hyena, Brown hyena and the Aardwolf.  The striped hyena only occurs in the far north of Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and India and are considered “near threatened” as a species. 

Although Hyenas resemble dogs, they are not members of the dog or cat families. Instead, they are so unique that they have a family all their own, Hyaenidae.

Spotted hyenas are incredibly intelligent animals living in highly social, sophisticated matriarchal clans of 10 to 120. They are skilled hunters, and not only scavengers.  The spotted hyena has the strongest bite of all carnivorous mammals and highly acidic stomach thus enabling them to crunch bones and break down their food, (even though it isn’t the freshest quality) which makes them essential in the prevention of  the spread of disease – especially anthrax and bovine tuberculosis.  In so doing, they contribute significantly to the overall health of ecosystems.  

The humble Aardwolf is often hunted on the mistaken premise that it will kill sheep and other livestock.  However, it’s jaws are feeble, and its diet consists of solely invertebrates (mainly termites) and the occasional side dish of fruit.

Although Hyena populations in South Africa are quite stable, they do face a number of threats – human-wildlife conflict being a major one.  Like many carnivores, hyenas come into conflict with humans when they prey on livestock. They are often seen as a pest species, which often results in retaliatory killings by farmers – especially by poisoning. 

As human populations expand and growth of agriculture, settlements, and roads, this results in wildlife losing space in which it was previously able to roam freely, again human-wildlife conflict occurs.  Hyena body parts are eagerly sought-after muti ingredients and the hyena pelts are also prized.

Solutions to these problems requires proactive mitigation of this human-wildlife conflict and extensive education about the important part hyena play in the eco-systems.

We need to keep everyone dealing with hyenas in our prayers – both those for and against – so that these incredible creatures can lives in peace and harmony in the environment God intended them to do.

Sunday

28

Environmental Lord’s Prayer and Responses

Our Father, who art in heaven…
     You are also at home in the air, the soil, the forests and the oceans,

Hallowed be Your name…
     by the care we take of your creation,

Your kingdom come…
     all that you see is good,

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…
     Your will to till and care,

Give us this day our daily bread…
     that all may have sufficient to live life in fullness,

Forgive us our trespasses…
     our greed, our exploitation, our lack of concern for other species and for future generations,

As we forgive those who trespass against us…
     by reconciliation with justice and peace,

Lead us not into temptation…
     the temptation to equate dominion with exploitation,

And deliver us from evil…
     the evil of destroying your gift of creation,

For Yours is the Kingdom…
     Yours Lord, not ours,

The Power and the Glory…
     in the cross and the resurrection,

Forever and ever…
     You were the beginning and you are the end.
Amen. And so be it.

Monday

29

Through scientists and scholars, new knowledge comes to light; We pray that may it further the quality of life for all peoples and all creatures in their journey to wholeness.

Tuesday

30