NJPN E-Bulletin 3rd December 2023
(Image courtesy of the Salesians)
‘God of blessings,
the universe sings of your glory.
Deepen our gratitude for all you have made
and awaken in us a renewed commitment
to care for the earth and each other.Inspire world leaders at COP28,
with openness to listen to those most affected by climate change
and with courage to act urgently and wisely,
so that our common home may be healed and restored
and all people, and generations to come, may delight in it.Amen. ’
(Prayer for COP28 taken from the CAFOD website)
Dear Friends,
I was working in London on Wednesday, and then had an event to attend afterwards. On my way back across the City to the station I was amazed at the amount of bars and restaurants that are now up there, and how many people were around enjoying a night out. More importantly, though, the amount of lights that there were on – decorations in the street, lights on trees, and a huge number of office buildings burning electricity. It was all very pretty, but considering the price of electricity, and the fact that we know we are depleting the world’s resources, this seemed totally wrong. As my son said, he was pretty sure that they didn’t all have solar panels! Does anyone know if there is a reason for all of these lights to be on (particularly in empty office buildings)?
I felt so strongly about it, I may well send an email to our MP – but from past experience, I doubt that I will get much of a response. I would be interested to know whether anyone else has noticed an excess of lighting in their local towns or cities, or whether there is a lights-off policy in place.
This leads onto the topic of the moment this week – COP28. We have a COP special for you this time rather than a full e-bulletin. There are still a lot of links to newsletters of other charities, which will tell you about the work that they are doing, and there are the usual Events as well.
Also, we are having a joint Webinar with Christians Aware on Wednesday 13th December, more details of which are below.
Unless anything urgent comes up this will be the last E-Bulletin before Christmas and the New Year, with preparations under way for the Spring Edition of the NJPN Newsletter.
Wishing you a blessed Advent and Christmas, and a very kind 2024,
Sharon