Too much inconvenience!

No this isn’t another yarn or an attempt to needle you into contemplating something different. We have been talking about today’s “Question of the Fortnight” and whether it is all ‘too much inconvenience’. Churches have sent boats ladened with prayers from the young and old to #COP26, as contemplate Climate Change

On the Northside of the Clyde the leaders of the great, the powerful countries of this world continue to fill the airwaves with soundbites “One Minute til’ Midnight” etc. But as yet no firm decisions have been made – other than 2050 is approximately in the middle of the century.

We could blame the likes of China, India and Russia, even Australia, for not committing to certain deadlines. However, it was the West which enjoyed the Industrial Revolution in the 18/19th C and pumped out vast quantities of pollution into the atmosphere to pump its own economy.

Who is to blame? Is it really about blame…now?

There are many other countries who never seem to get a mention who are definitely on the ‘watch’ list for the first countries to ‘go under’ – some literally.

So rather than blame other countries, let’s turn the perspective upon ourselves – what might we do?

Recycling

The PM recently said that recycling wasn’t the focus, and possibly here we have insight into the real problem rather than something we can point at and blame. The plastic bottle we recycle means that it may get reused, but what if we didn’t actually need everything to get wrapped in plastic in the first place? Well, we do enjoy those strawberries in December and they’ll perish on the long transit over here…

We discussed at Partick’s Harvest Festival whether the diversity of our foods was too much. So is it time to consider whether we change our diets to allow the Earth to maintain some form of temperature? Or is it that too much inconvenience?

Upcycling

Do you remember when Aunt Maude bought us those lovely curtains and Mum immediately made them into a trouser suit? Well, you didn’t know Aunt Maude and Mother then… 😉

The days of upcycling were all the rage then; now we have the likes of John Lewis and Amazon – other online retailers also exist – and a slowly dying breed of High Streets & shopping malls which can provide us with every ‘necessity’, any time of the day. It’s odd that we are more inclined to buy an item than seek to get it fixed – mainly as the cost is high, albeit that the economical benefit would very much be local and not corporate. But it’s too much inconvenience.

What if Christmas this year were an upcycled affair? Could we ‘cycle’ clothes around the family? Would Aunt Maude be offended, little Timmy be so upset? Possibly, why is that?

I’m aware that – as I am using our daughter’s desk – that in our family we “hand-up” objects!

Amish and Muslim Deliberate Errors

Because only God is perfect the Amish, Navajo and Muslim communities like to include an error in their work. Would this be acceptable, to include errors, for a Christmas present?

Glass Fusing

We are hosting a Glass Fusing ‘workshop’ with Revd Rachel Parkinson on 6th Dec between 1030-1130. It will be great to have a good number of people to listen to how complex this sort of craft might be, but also the delight in creating such wonderful imaginative designs.

Please give us an indication of whether you will be attending.

Please invite others