Wendy warns: All we have to do is live the simple life

THERE were stern warnings from Wendy Boulton, the Bishop of Chelmsford's Adviser on the Environment, when she addressed the St Osyth Deanery Synod.

Quoting from an article published in The Independent in February, following Sir Nicholas
Stern's report on the Economics of Global Warming, Wendy outlined the consequences of the
two degree rise in temperatures world-wide which is already certain.

"If global temperatures rise by more than 2.4 degrees, a dust bowl will develop in North America
which will wipe out agriculture and cattle ranching from Texas to Montana. The Greenland ice sheet will melt, accelerating rising sea levels and submerging atoll nations and low-lying deltas. Ten million
Peruvians will experience water shortages when the Andean glaciers disappear, and warm seas will kill the Great Barrier Reef and almost all coral throughout the Tropics. Worldwide, a third of all species on the
planet will face extinction."

Wendy said: "The situation is urgent. Our excessive lifestyle is directly responsible for the rapid shifts in climate in countries like Africa which are bringing drought and starvation to the poor."

She showed the Synod an advertisement from Christian Aid: a farmer in the Horn of Africa with his dead animals, saying "Sorry to bother you. Any chance of turning that thermostat down one degree?"

She added: "If we carry on business as usual, it's quite likely we'll see increases of temperature of
about eight degrees Centigrade by 2080."

But, despite her dire warnings, Wendy Boulton has faith in the future and in the contribution that can be made by people of faith.

"We can't stop the two degree rise in temperature, nor what it will bring. But we must meet and learn to
live with the challenges of the coming decades and accept the wide-ranging life-style changes which will
prevent runaway global warming in the future.

"The faith communities will lead by example in this. We're being given a unique
and exciting opportunity for us all to work together towards an equitable and sustainable world, which
after all is the Christian vision of creation.

"It's our individual actions that have, collectively over the last hundred years, influenced society's development and fashioned the world that we live in today. For the good of all creation we urgently need
to change that blueprint.

"Each one of us must learn to consume less and travel less. We need to conserve water and energy
and consider carefully how we use the new energies.

We have to make transport choices and think about how we reduce and dispose of our packaging
and waste. We have to consider the sort of food and goods we buy, how they are produced, and how
we spend and invest our money for good purposes."

Above all, Wendy said, we need to slow down and create some quality time in our lives. We need to
'de-clutter', to question what modern-day baggage we really need; 'not just physical stuff, but also mentally'.

"If we do this, we can become a caring, equitable and joyful world. I think it is really simple. All we have to
do is to live simply so that others may simply live. That's all we have to do."

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