DEN Enews

If you are looking for a good resource for liturgies, prayers, sermon notes and much more, check out this link from the Episcopal Church. https://newcreationliturgies.org/seasonofcreation/

From this resource, a Creation quote:

St. Basil the Great (329-379), Hexaemeron, Homily V, “The Germination of the Earth”

I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that wherever you go, the least plant may bring you the clear remembrance of the Creator...One blade of grass or one speck of dust is enough to occupy your entire mind in beholding the art with which it has been made.

If you are looking for a tree planting initiative for next year, have a very QUICK look at this link. The funding application deadline is JULY 12th.

Heading on a hike or to a cottage with the family? This is a great resource for engaging the young children in your life:

With thanks to Linda Scherzinger for sending us this:

• A better way to get lithium for batteries: A big issue with renewable energy is that the batteries used to store it often use lithium, and extracting lithium from brine pools and mining comes with environmental costs. Now, researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have found an efficient way to extract lithium from common sources such as seawater, groundwater and wastewater using an electrochemical process. 

  https://phys.org/news/2024-06-method-optimizes-lithium-seawater-groundwater.html

• Harnessing the sun for steel and cement: It takes a lot of heat, mostly from fossil fuels, to manufacture steel, glass, ceramics and cement — which accounts for about 25 per cent of global energy consumption. Scientists in Zurich, Switzerland, have now found a way to use synthetic quartz to trap heat from the sun at temperatures exceeding 1,000 C. Previously, solar heat could only be trapped up to about 170 C. The much higher heat can be used to smelt steel and cook cement. https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/solar-heat-smelting-industry-eth-zurich/

• Renewable energy keeps on booming : Renewable energy investment is expected to reach US$2 trillion this year, double the amount going to coal, oil and gas, according to the International Energy Agency. “The rise in clean energy spending is underpinned by strong economics, continued cost reductions and by considerations of energy security,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said. https://www.dailyclimate.org/investment-in-clean-energy-to-overtake-fossil-fuel-spending-in-2024-2668476693.html

Faith buildings are centrally located within their communities and offer parking lots that are not used 24/7. What a wonderful contribution to the local community to meet the need for EV charging stations by installing one in a faith community parking lot.

After many discussions amongst interested parties within DEN, municipalities and experts in the field, DEN has achieved step one in the funding process.

The NS Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) has invited DEN to submit an application based on our EOI/project submitted :

BRINGING ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING TO NOVA SCOTIA’S FAITH-BASED COMMUNITIES - Outreach, Engagement, Education and Assessments For Electric Vehicle Chargers.

Exciting News! Stay Tuned!

The Mayan train has a planned 1,525-kilometer route going through rainforest areas in five Mexican states. The goal is to transport tourists from the beach resorts of Cancún and the Riviera Maya to inland archaeological sites deep in the jungle. This plan involves clearing the land for heavy machinery, settlements for workers, and ultimately degrading sites and surroundings that have existed for centuries together in sensitive ecosystems rich with biodiversity. The Mayan train will add concrete and steel, and it will move millions of tons of soil and rock. This is where jaguars, tapirs, howler monkeys, and many other unique creatures live. Indigenous Maya communities are opposed and have called on the Mexican president to drop plans and keep out of Indigenous areas and the biosphere reserves. Add your name to call for a full haut and to respect the sites and the precious environment they belong to.

Our world is digitized from smartphones, VR, to AI, and more. These tools bring undeniable conveniences and efficiency, but not without a cost. Electronics manufacturing is one of the fastest growing sources of global emissions. Greenpeace East Asia completed a report showing semiconductor manufacturing alone is on track to consume a whopping 237-terawatt hours of electricity globally. This is close to Australia’s 2021 annual electricity consumption! The report can be found in the petition and includes a rating system for major tech suppliers like Samsung or LG Display. Many of these companies have targets for 100% renewable energy by 2040, 2050, or not at all. Petitions like this can show people realize the growing impact and are demanding tech suppliers not delay for decades before changing a negative charge into a positive change.

For far too long financial regulators have ignored the need for a fair and just financial system. Instead, there is a continued free flow of money to fossil fuel projects which harm our communities and destroy our futures. This petition is a chance to send the world’s most influential Central Banks an email asking them to adopt financial rules which prioritise people and planet over profits. You can personalize the email or use the template filled with needed and basic options, plans, standards, and reforms that will better help protect our world.

Methane is a super-potent greenhouse gas that’s 86 times worse for the climate than carbon dioxide (CO₂). Methane can also seriously harm our health and air quality. Reducing methane could be one of the fastest and cheapest ways for the oil and gas sector to drastically reduce climate pollution and prevent runaway climate disaster. It’s also one of the top recommendations made by the world's leading climate scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Thankfully the Canadian government recently introduced new draft methane regulations that can limit emissions from the oil and gas sector. But, as the window to avert runaway climate disaster starts to close shut, Canadians are calling for urgent, clear, and accountable action to cut down on emissions. Given the near-term benefits of lowering methane emissions if regulations are strengthened, Canada can set out to achieve a more ambitious target of near-zero methane by 2030 – rather than the current target of near 75% by 2030. Together, let's call on the federal government to raise the bar on our climate commitments, by strengthening regulations and committing to near-zero methane by 2030

Deep sea mining companies, including Canada-based ‘The Metals Company’, are pressuring our governments to let them go several kilometers below the surface of the ocean, and chew up the seabed to extract metals. If this industry is given the green light, gigantic machines weighing more than a blue whale will be lowered onto the ocean floor to plunder these pristine ocean ecosystems. Canada announced its support for a moratorium on deep sea mining in 2023. Now it must join other global governments in ensuring these calls of support become a reality to ensure this industry stops before it starts and the deep ocean is protected. Please sign this petition to tell the Canadian government to hold the line and actively engage with other countries to convince them to make a deep sea mining moratorium a reality.

Enviro Groups

Do Grandma a favour and go to Google (or another search engine page). Type in “Environmental Groups in Canada” and look for the results.

When Grandma searched, she got about 1,410,000,000 results.

Isn’t that a wonderfully large number? In 2012, only 14 years ago, Grandma did the same search. Back then there weren’t quite one million results.

It is only remembered because someone said at the time “all we needed is less than a hundred sites or groups per province, to hit that first million”. That number above is almost one and a half biillion, in Canada alone!

Our movement has grown a little bit.

The odd part is that I didn’t know some of the groups on the first page. If you have researched a lot or studied SEO, you know that first page of a Google search is the most common, the most authorised or the most often clicked-on websites.

One thing I have learned about environmental subjects: whenever you think you have a handle on the subject, something teaches you that you have just started the process. That is a good thing. Always a lot to learn.

I doubt if anyone has heard of this site, but it is a new favourite. The Compost Council of Canada strives to teach how to have better soil. https://www.compost.org/

The bottom line for the Compost Council is that the better the soil, the better the vegetables, and the more nutrients for our bodies. Having met some of these people at an Enviro Day I wanted to learn more.  There will be an article on their 6 c’s of soil health coming to an e-news near you soon.

DEN keeps a list of environmental groups in Nova Scotia. https://www.nspeidiocese.ca/ministries/diocesan-environment-network/pages/den-links-to-our-friends-neighbours

There are so many groups doing so much good work, maybe I should just drop a site or two now and then for curiosity. We will see.

 Gardens

Nope, this is not mine. Doesn’t it look great!

I haven’t made mine yet although I was gifted six good buckets with drainage holes. However, the above picture came up without a reference page. I did find other references for you. I will add this to my woodworking project for NEXT year.

https://www.eighty-fixed.com/container-garden-stand

 Make your own cube box.

When Grandma was a teenager she took a Briggs and Stratton spatial test. They showed boxes laid out like the template below. We then had to choose from four answers, what the boxes would look like when put together. We were told we had 3 minutes to do 30 questions.

At that point, we knew there was no time to rationalize each question. We just went with a gut feeling of what “looked right”.

Grandma was home-schooled her first few grades. At Christmas, the correspondence course had a craft of making gift boxes. My Mom and I MADE all the boxes we wrapped our gifts in. Big ones, tiny ones, skinny ones, fat ones, any size we needed, we made them. It sure kept me busy.

That Brigs and Straton test I did years later must have drawn on that knowledge. I wasn’t the brightest star except for that test, getting the highest score. My granddaughter Faith just finished her Briggs and Stratton spatial test. She is training to be a pilot. On her test day, she remembered making boxes with me.

Now find other box shapes to try. Do so many until you can see the finished product from a bunch of lines. It is fun. Construction paper can be a good starter and then move to card stock.

This is a free template from https://www.template.net/business/paper-templates/paper-cube/

Something to eat

Grandma had a good amount of mashed potatoes left over from supper. What better opportunity to make a “Cottage Pie”? It is the same as Shephard’s Pie but they tend to use ground lamb and I seldom have that in the freezer.

You will need meat, veggies, gravy and of course, mashed potatoes on top. Grandma used her “plant” burger for this. With spices and gravy, no one can tell I am slipping in a bit more “plant-based” meat. It’s like not telling kids there is fruit in their apple dessert

Cottage Pie

1 pack of meat (enough for your family)

1 onion

2 clove garlic

Brown these ingredients in a frying pan, cool and add to a mixing bowl

A pinch of parsley, thyme and oregano (some use rosemary)

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp flour

Tomato paste or a couple spurts of ketchup.

Vegetables – leftovers, tins of peas, carrots and/or corn or frozen vegetables

½ cup to a cup of gravy mixture

Put in a casserole and add warmed leftover mashed potatoes on top.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

 _{God, as the heat of summer intensifies, we pray for those without air conditioning or electricity, clean water, and health care. For all of our neighbors in "survival mode", give them the communities and resources to not only survive, but to thrive this summer. And Lord, remind us to give you a drink when we see you thirsty. Amen}

_{sojo.net/articles/prayer-day-summer-heat}