From Phillippa Seymour in Luxembourg:

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Over the past year and a half we have been developing the concept of a 'Wandering and Wondering' event which has now become a regular monthly feature, summer and winter, on a Sunday afternoon. This is open to all and involves a short walk in the Luxembourg countryside (a different place each time) where people are encouraged to enjoy the environment and think about a particular theme, for instance 'the solar system', 'healing', 'Ascension'. The theme for this July will be the story of Ruth. Some of these events have included a short drama performance by our Youth Group. This is a great opportunity to raise people's awareness of the environment and also to engage people who don't necessarily enjoy sitting in church, such as families with young children, or single people who are lonely.

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We have some exciting events planned for CREATIONTIDE

• a meeting with the Assistant Director of Luxembourg's Administration for Nature and Forests who will talk about forests and forest management – Luxembourg's trees are suffering greatly from the effects of climate change;

• an excursion to a cider farm, where we will learn about conservation of old species of apple trees, organic farming methods, and running a business according to sustainable and ethical principles;

• a visit to the '2000 m2 for our food' project using a 2000m2  field  to show relationships between our dietary habits, agriculture and environmental protection, and that a sustainable food supply, on the basis of our natural resources, is possible.

 

Our Shops Directory continues to grow, as people send in recommendations for local and ethical shops and businesses to be included. The Directory now runs to seven pages, and as well as shops includes schemes for recycling, giving stuff away, buying second hand, and the new 'yellow ribbon' scheme, which allows people free access to private land to pick surplus fruit.

 

We were delighted when, earlier this year, a member of our Church Council was selected from hundreds of applicants to join the 60-member Citizens' Assembly on the Climate. This has been working hard for five months to develop proposals to put to the Government. She writes: 'Last weekend we finished writing the drafts of the propositions and the first phase of the project. The second phase will take place this summer, we will review the propositions, grouped by themes, with spokespeople for each theme. In September, the spokespersons will present the propositions to the relevant parliamentary committees, before the official presentation at the start of the political year in October.'