Clean energy powering historical churches

Churches embrace climate solutions, the cost of climate impacts, and wilding your garden

GOOD NEWS

The roof of King's College, Cambridge’s chapel now features over 400 new solar panels. The installation, which was completed last November, will reduce the college’s energy demand by the equivalent of about 50 homes.

The roof of the chapel was due for replacement, and the college seized the opportunity to add solar panels to it. Dr. Gillian Tett , the Provost of King's College, called the solar roof "a potent and inspirational symbol of our commitment to being good stewards of our environment.”

The even better news is that King’s College is by no means the first to do this. In 2016, Gloucester Cathedral installed 150 solar panels on the roof of the nave; and in 2020, Salisbury Cathedral did the same, installing about 90 solar panels on its roof.

Of course, solar isn’t the only way historic churches can go green. St Stephen’s Church, a Norman church dating to the 11th century in Lympne, Kent, was recently retrofitted with a heat pump and an underfloor heating system, breaking its long reliance on oil boilers and radiators. More of this, please!

NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS

I’ve long suspected that economists have massively under-valued the potential impacts of climate change on the economy. Humans have never experienced climate changing this fast. With an economy entirely predicated on past conditions – from how and where we grow our food, to how our water is allocated and buildings are designed, even to where our cities are built – there’s no way the impacts will not be massive.

Finally, a new study bears this out. Researchers estimate that, thanks to the carbon we have already emitted, global income will be reduced by 19 percent. This is primarily due to falling agricultural yields, labor productivity, and harm to existing infrastructure.

The most unfair part is that these losses will be higher in countries that historically have emitted less. “The countries least responsible for climate change are predicted to suffer income loss that is 60% greater than the higher-income countries and 40% greater than higher-emission countries. They are also the ones with the least resources to adapt to its impacts,” said Anders Levermann, a colleague at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) who was a co-author of the study.

Further losses can still be avoided, however, by rapid action now. “Protecting our climate is much cheaper than not doing so, and that is without even considering non-economic impacts such as loss of life or biodiversity,” said Leonie Wenz, another co-author and PIK scientist. I couldn't agree more!

INSPIRATION OF THE MONTH

I’ve posted before (with Vikram Baliga) about how climate and biodiversity action can start with our gardens (and even our balconies). When facing climate change and environmental challenges, the lawn is a place people can exercise their own agency, says Lorraine Johnson, who writes books about native gardening. “The growing appeal is that it’s something you can do locally that has an important and demonstrable positive impact,” she says. In North America we have a Native Plant Society in nearly every province and state (and they also do in Australia), where people can learn more about what grows in their region.

It’s not always easy to make this happen, though, and many times people have to work long and hard to get neighbourhood or city ordinances changed, so everyone can make these choices. In the greater Toronto area where I’m from, Prof Nina-Marie Lister of Toronto Metropolitan University is working with municipalities to update their gardening ordinances. “The advice we give to municipalities is this: diversify the palette of what a garden looks like. Recognise the rights of residents to plant, cultivate and grow native species," she says in a Guardian interview.

In Mississauga, just outside Toronto, artist Wolf Ruck decided to rewild his garden with native plants (pictured above). Some of his neighbours were less than pleased by this and reported him to the city for violating its nuisance weed bylaw. The city has come out and mowed down his garden twice, billing him for the service.

Ruck decided to sue the city, as there is legal precedent for naturalized gardening in Ontario: in 1996, a court ruled that a Toronto gardener named Sandy Bell "had the right to express her environmental beliefs through gardening" and cancelled her fine. Ruck lost on procedural grounds, but is now appealing the decision. Change isn’t usually easy; but even one voice can make a difference!