Happy Easter

Did you know the Great Feast of Easter last 50 days! The Diocesan Environment Network wishes you a joyful Easter Season.

In this Issue

• City Nature Challenge - click the link for more info

• People’s Parade for the Earth - register your float/group

• Climate change webinar

• Have your say on Electricity and energy poverty

• Free energy audit

• Make your voice count with our petitions

• Check out Grandma’s article on garden roofs.

From the Anglican Communion

<sub>An Anglican delegation has taken part in an ecumenical seminar in Assisi, Italy entitled ‘The Feast of Creation and the Mystery of Creation: Ecumenism, Theology, Liturgy, and Signs of the Times in Dialogue.’

As part of an ongoing dialogue, the aim of the meeting was to progress ecumenical understandings of God as Creator, with a view to arriving at an ecumenically shared Christian celebration.

The seminar was hosted by the Laudato Si Research Institute, and sponsored by the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Council of Churches, and other partners.

Read the full article:https://bit.ly/3Vt2la</sub>

_{Environmental Defence have written a letter for us to send pointing out how important it is to clear up greenwashing. Right now, our government is developing an official labeling system to classify what investments are sustainable. This must exclude all oil and gas activities, including those related to carbon capture, utilization, and storage. It needs to define sustainable investments in a way that uses scientific input to keep warming below 1.5 degrees. Relative to other countries, Canada’s financial system remains under-regulated when it comes to sustainability. The significant fossil fuel investments made by Canadian financial institutions - over $1 trillion since the Paris Agreement was signed, and over 2.6-times more financing than they provide for climate solutions – will prevent Canada from succeeding on its climate commitments and building the new green economy. We don't want our banks and pension funds to continue making misleading claims about sustainability.}

Take Action to Keep Nuclear Power out of Nova Scotia

_{Nuclear energy has no role in a clean, reliable, and affordable electricity system. However, clause 52 in the Energy Reform (2024) Act proposes removing a ban on the construction of nuclear energy plants. Send an email to [email protected] titled ‘Bill 404 Energy Reform (2024) Act’ with the salutation: Dear Law Amendments Committee members. In your own words, you can state that you want the original prohibition on nuclear power in Nova Scotia to be retained. To take things further, contact your own MLA here: Contact info for MLAs}

Right now, the UK is facing multiple crises at once. Energy bills keep going up, they are reliant on getting energy from other countries, and each year facing longer periods of extreme heat and heavier floods. By investing in cheaper, renewable energy and by insulating homes, the government could tackle all these issues at once. Instead, they’re actually making things worse by giving the green light to new oil and gas fields, which take decades to start producing energy. On top of this, they’re expensive, fuel the climate crisis, and will keep people’s bills soaring. New oil and gas only benefit the profits of greedy oil and gas bosses. Greenpeace UK says, "it’s not too late to make the UK government change course, but we must act now. Together we can show them that the public sees through their lies that new oil and gas is the only solution."  

_{This is not a petition to sign but something to read from Sierra Club Canada. They say, "At the end of the day the most important person in countering misinformation about climate change is you! When people try to come to conclusions about a climate issue, they ask the people around them what they think – or tell them what they are already thinking. No matter what’s in the news your one-to-one conversations with those around you will always have the biggest impact. So speak with family and friends about climate change and the cap on emissions in Canada and short circuit misinformation people in your life may be receiving via social media and the fossil fuel industry."}

Greening the world

_{Peek at this photo of the Vancouver Convention Centre. It has six acres of living roof space that contains 400,000 indigenous plants and grasses. The roof is an insulator keeping the centre cool in summer and preventing heat loss in winter. Part of that irrigation water is through rainwater collection. Rooftop irrigation water is reused to flush toilets in the building.}

_{Remember the term “Leeds Double Platinum certification”. The Convention Centre is Double Platinum, meaning they earned at least 160 points in Leeds classification. https://www.usgbc.org/leed}

_{Something that wasn’t mentioned in the article is that I see a butterfly pathway along the waterfront. This area alone will allow bees and butterflies to pollinate and keep a downtown ecosystem working}.

_{Now where else are there such things?}

_{Two weeks later I found an IGA grocery store in Montreal that grows their produce on the rooftop. https://livingarchitecturemonitor.com/articles/award-winning-iga-organic-rooftop-farm-sp22}

_{Do you know that my old Alma Mata, SMU (St. Mary’s University) started rooftop greenery in 2008 on the top of the Patrick Power Library? A second space is on top of the Atrium building.}

https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/green-roofs-in-halifax-2439825

_{The Ecology Action Centre even produced a “Green Roof Manual”.}

https://ecologyaction.ca/sites/default/files/2022-08/Green%20roof%20Manual.pdf

_{Nova Scotia has one other large green rooftop, at the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market. This one is a Leeds Single Platinum, an extremely prestigious award in the ecology world.}

 _{What an amazing way to use what you already have, to make the world a better place. Hum, the Seaport also has windmills. I wonder …….}

 Gardening

_{I love this picture. It shows what might have formally been a round flower bed. Now it is corn in the middle, and I think cucumbers are growing around the base of the corn.}

Church Giveaway or maybe Earth Day Project

_{Our dear priest-in-charge felt we needed a little giveaway for Easter. Did I have any ideas?}

_{I found a fancy seed packet template, cut out and glued the packets and filled them with wildflower seeds. Great! That was perfect, all we needed.}

_{Then Nana got thinking.}

_{You know it would be nice to give away a thank-you rock. Maybe find, make up, or manipulate words to make a rhyme for the thank-you rock. So, we did that.}

_{Shortly after making packets and filling 250 of them with bean seeds for the planting kits, I discovered Rainbow Seeds has been extra generous with their seed packets (again). Although my math was correct, we had an extra bag and half seeds. We made more seed packets and filled them for the Easter giveaway.}

_{Now, what are we going to use to package them? Envelopes came to mind but even with little rocks, they didn’t fit right. Coffee Filters and tie them up? Again, the items didn’t fit right. Then I found my empty tea bags, used to put loose tea into for brewing. Like Goldilocks, these were just right.}

_{Consider making a version of this for one of your services. This is where I needed teenagers who could brag about a service project and gab all evening while they put together the little giveaway gift. Next year maybe…….} 

Something to eat

_{If you are getting your list together for the camper, add marshmallows and Rice Krispies. These are the perfect anytime snack. Recently I was told they are good for diabetics as marshmallows are the sweetener and glue for the squares. Enjoy!}

_{In a good size pot melt a half cup of butter and a bag of marshmallows. When the mixture looks like cream instead of squares, remove from heat and add 6 cups of Rice Krispies. Quickly stir and put into an 8 x 8 pan. Bigger pans make more squares, but skinnier squares. Score your squares now and let them cool.}

_{If you are lucky, you can hide them till supper, although if my grandbabies are near, the squares are often gone before they cool.}

_{Or this one; Tomato soup and a cheese sandwich. The sandwich is made with garlic toast and Velveeta cheese.}