Don’t kid yourself. Copenhagen is easily the most important political summit of our generation. Poverty, development, population, inter-generational equity and overlapping in giant game of political chess. In Denmark. If you’re a Christian, you should care about this. If you’re an American Christian, you should question what you’ve been taught about religious freedom being linked to gas prices (I love you all really).

And for once, I’ve decided to break ranks from my usual grouping of detached observers and and actually get involved. And true to my one flight a year rule (which has more often than not been a no-flight a year rule), a colleague and I will be getting to Copenhagen by rail.

This epic journey begins in Bristol Thursday night, and rolls into Copenhagen in the early hours of Saturday via Brussels. The same 19-hour joy ride gets us back in at 11.30 just in time for my birthyday drinks and the office christmas party.

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=602&ArticleID=6378&l=en

I’ll be blogging from the road – hope to see you there.  If not, I’ll see you in the Highbury Monday Night.

Read this:

And then read this

And then decide if this is the right definition for what happened:

mis·hap

Every now and then you write something that will alienate you from your friends. I sincerely hope this is one such instance. I have no pretence, and no charade, but plenty of axes to grind. And in true “Matt this the pot, you’re black” territory I recognises my own hypocrisy in perpetrating many of the crimes I am shortly to list.

Friends – let me introduce to my top five most annoying facebook status updates.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the build up to Copenhagen and global efforst to consolidate existing hegemonies and avoid sacrifice work towards a fair deal on avoiding climate change, how best to negotiate a fair solution on the issue is all over the news.

One elements of this has caught my eye, and it’s been articulated by Monbiot in the Guardian today. That is, lobbyists and others seem to be either reccomending population control or constraining the development of emerging economies as the solution.

Well, we certainly can’t have a global climate deal without China, India and the rest. But we do a great diservice to ourselves when we demonise the poor as the probllem, precisely because they may, one day, replicate our levels of consumption and really cause carbon emissions to skyrocket.

I was at a Fairtrade talk last year where a coffee farmer from Kenya was asked to justify the carbon footpring of flying his coffee beans in from kenya to the UK for roasting and sale.

He took a minute to calm down.

He then explained that on his farm, he shared one Landrover with three other farmers. His house consisted of two rooms, one with a light and one plug socket. He doesn’t really holiday. He doesn’t have a DVD player, Laptop, Hi Fi, Fridge, PC, Toaster, or Kettle. In short his carbon footprint is about 18 times less than that of the person asking the question; and you’re worrying about the FOOD MILES?

 As George says, population growth among those who consume the least is not the problem for carbon emissions; how much electricity does a street kid use, exactly? Population growth and poverty are massive and important problems, but you won’t get a way from the fact that us in the West will certainly have to make lifestyle changes before we can ‘preach’ to the developing world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/28/population-growth-super-rich

You really should read the reviews of this amzon.com product.

PS Sorry for not blogging. I have much to say but it’s taking its time coming out right!

Honest, I am. Just very busy. There are three very big draft posts getting chipped away at, ready any day now. Maybe.

Come say Hi if you’re going to Momentum.

Matt

Part of the reason I’m not so active here right now is that I’ve gotten a little addicted to running. Just did my first 10k this Sunday (46mins, since you ask), and am booked on for the Bristol Half this September.

Here are some shots of my baldheaded bolting across the tarmac. I received two ’shouts’ from the the crowd – one ’sexy legs’ and one ‘Come on you northern whippet”!

Clearly, care in the community is a failed strategy . . .

My mother used to say “if you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say it”

I guess I’m in one of those phases where I’m living life from one day to the next without trying to process things too much.

Because sometimers, internal monologue and eternal examination of your own motives and drives actually stops you dead in your tracks.

I’m done with self-examination. Like Bill Johnson, I’ve never gone into myself and my own heart and been encouraged. I’ve always come out weak and sad.

The Psalmist prayed “search me O God”. God inspection, that’s what I’m up for – being open to hear His voice if there is an offensive way in me that needs dealing with. But never ending commenting and debating about worship – as if that has actually strengthened us? Lets focus on what he asked us to do. Heal the sick, cast out demons and cleanse lepers’ love the LORD with all your heart, mind and strength.