Confess your "green sins"

The Guardian tells of a priest who offers an opportunity to find forgiveness for sins against the earth. Found in Ruth Gledhill's column:

Forgotten to recycle any newspapers or tin cans recently? Feeling guilty because you neglected to carbon offset your flight to somewhere, anywhere, outside England this summer?

The Roman Catholic Church is at hand with a new line in “green confessions” to help eco-sinners to find forgiveness.

Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk who resigned as head of Downside School to become a parish priest in Suffolk, will be at the county’s Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend to hear eco-confessions in what is thought to be the first dedicated confessional booth of its kind.

Vested in a green chasuble-style garment made from recycled curtains, and in a booth constructed of recycled doors, he will hear the sins of of those who have not recycled the things they ought to have done and who have consumed the things they ought not to have done.

Read it all here.

Wild Rice Harvest Cancelled

Chippewa forced to cancel for 1st time ever

August 10, 2007
ASHLAND, Wis. -- The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has canceled its wild rice harvest for the first time in history.

The Bad River Tribal Council announced Wednesday that there would be no harvest within tribal boundaries this year because low water levels had dramatically reduced the rice crop.

Read it all here

Sermons on Saving the Planet

A recommendation from Episcopal Life Online

Earth and Word: Classic Sermons on Saving the Planet from the Continuum International Publishing Group, edited by David Rhoads, 300 pages, paperback, c. 2007, $24.95

[Source: Continuum International Publishing Group] With temperatures warmer than they have been in decades and major hurricanes and storms occurring with increasing frequency, the fragility of the environment is on everyone's mind these days. For centuries, the Christian religion has preached a dominion of the earth, which has turned into one community's exploitation of the environment in the name of religion.

As the sermons in Earth and Word demonstrate, a vast portion of the Christian community does not endorse or condone the destruction of the environment in the name of God. This singular collection gathers the voices of many environmentalists, theologians, preachers, and activists who have spoken in support of saving the planet. Included in this collection are compelling and provocative sermons from such influential figures as Wendell Berry, Thomas Berry, John Cobb, William Slone Coffin, Bill McKibben, Sallie McFague, Joseph Sittler, and Barbara Brown Taylor. In each of these sermons, the authors explore the deep relationship between thinking religiously and thinking ecologically.

To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online here or call 800-903-5544
or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, find one here

Measure your footprint

From the Church of England Gazette.

Are you Shrinking your Footprint? - test Defra's new CO2 Calculator

A public trial version of Defra's new CO2calculator has been launched which you can find here. It enables everyone to understand and measure their carbon footprint and consider appropriate actions to reduce it.

Defra have also issued a methodology paper to go alongside the calculator which sets out the detail that lies behind the rationale for the assumptions and factors used. You can find this here

The trial aims to give the calculator exposure to a wide range of specialist and non-specialist users. Defra hope to use feedback to improve the calculator before launching a full version later in the year and encourage and value any feedback on how it can be improved. Any feedback can be sent to Defra via the calculator website.