The Bible and Biodiversity
The organisation “The Jubilee Centre” produces papers on various social and economic topics from a Christian point of view. On the evening of 21 January it launched the paper “The Bible and Biodiversity” given by David Bookless (of A Rocha), held at 24 Greencoat Place, London, SW1P 1RD. This is the UK headquarters for Initiatives of Change.
Judith Allinson, (Green Christian’s Web Editor) went down to London for the occasion, and recalls the evening:
“It was well worth going to, – both to hear Dave Bookless highlight some parts of the paper (which you can read here and I had read on the train down) and to hear the response of two people in important conservation organisations: David Nussbaum -CEO of WWF-UK (The World Wide Fund for Nature) and Simon Stuart of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature – made up of wildlife and research bodies from a wide variety of countries )
At the foot of this post I give you links to videos of the three talks which the Jubilee Centre has put online
It was also good meeting people in the audience. I was glad that from the start I made a big effort to meet as many people as possible, (I do recommend this to you, whatever meetings you attend. As I had “spent enough carbon units” travelling down I wanted to make good use of my time.) – I managed to chat to about half the people- a few old friends, plus several members of Green Christian who I had not met before. Plus people from a wide variety of conservation and other organisations. (I list some at the end)
Here are just a few of the points I noted during the talks. You can watch the full talks that the Jubilee Centre have now put online, at the bottom of the page.
David Bookless gave highlights from his paper “The Bible and Biodiversity” You can read the paper here
David Nussbaum. David N picked up on several points in David B’s talk. e.g he loved “The image of God” as a “job description” – it is in Genesis that we read that God created Man in his image – but what is God’s image? – the image of God relates to our relationship with other creatures.
He also said that more could be made of the story of Noah. If God had just wanted to save humans, he could have asked Noah to build a big rowing boat for a few people – but instead he told Noah to build an ark.
Simon Stuart of IUCN.
He pointed out that of the 11 species of animal mentioned in the end of Job, 7 or them were now extinct in that part of the world.
Brain Cuthbertson told us of the plan to carry out professional / detailed wildlife surveys of all the graveyards in London – they are still seeking some funding.
An attentive audience
Wysocs (West Yorkshire School of Christian Studies)
RSPB (Tropical Forest Conservation Manager,)
EIN (Environmental Issues Network)
A Rocha – Chiltern Gateway Project
A gentleman from St Michaels and All Angels, Claverdon.
Two ladies who worked for MPs,
I was pleased to meet the A Rocha Director of Conservation
You can see I am holding the latest version of the GC “Saving Wildlife Leaflet” (aka biodiversity lealflet) , which I was able to give to several people. You can download a copy here and print it – we are keen to hear how it can be improved and made more useful to people, to ordinary “people in the pew” before printing a bulk run of the leaflet.
I recommend reading some of the other publications of the Jubilee Centre. There is a lot worth reading on banking and sustainability, economics, peace
Watch the talks online:-
Next: Climate Change Lent Lunches at Bentham – act local
Previous: The urgency of GC’s 100 Churches Rainforest Fund Project
Comments on "The Bible and Biodiversity"
No comments found.Add your own comment to "The Bible and Biodiversity"
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Leave a Reply