I read an article in franciscan (the newsletter of the Anglican Society of Saint Francis) that reminded of his calling to ‘rebuild my oikus - my house.’ St Francis understood this to mean the church community; but the author of the article, Pamela Wood, suggests that in our time it is a call to rebuild the home that is our planet. ...Read more

Today I learnt more about the Transition Movement. This is a global movement of people concerned about climate change and ‘peak oil’ (when it all runs out!) and wanting to do something about it at a local level.

They are getting together in local communities to find sustainable, inclusive ways to reduce our carbon footprint. There are now lots of transition towns in the UK - find out more and if your is one at http://transitiontowns.org.
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I just signed up for a petition to make paper phone books an opt-in system - only get one if you ask for one. A great way to save trees - when did you last look at yours?

if you want to support the petition, follow this link:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoPhonebooks/

and save some trees and our planet!

I’ve just had three days based at home, a welcome rest from a season of working away and travelling. It’s been a good time to be with family and friends and fit in household tasks and crafts as well as work.

We have been discussing paint for our cottage windows and whether environmentally friendly paint is effective and affordable. It is in these daily tasks and decisions that we really discover the impact of our values and choices on the earth. ...Read more

Today I discovered BT and 3 have launched a campaign to get Mobile Termination Rates down to around a penny or less.

What are they? Mobile Termination Rates are a hidden phone charge which apply when you call a friend on a different mobile network, or call a mobile from your landline and their network charges your network a fee for carrying the call. This is currently charged at around 4.7p or more for every minute you’re connected to another network. ...Read more

Family, voluntary and paid work responsibilities have limited my time developing Reshapers this year. That has been both joyful and challenging.

It has been joyful to spend more time with our growing family - our fifth grandson arrived this year! Also with many good friends.

It has been joyful to work with committed volunteers who in all sorts of ways are taking small and giant steps to make the world a better place; see the Tree of Life page on this site and www.svox.org.uk for some examples. ...Read more

Here’s our new-look website, created in the year that we gained CIC status and the start of building a wider Reshapers community. For those who don’t know, CIC stands for Community Interest Company and means that our work and any profits all go to benefit the community. From starting as a part-time freelance tutor we are now a small social enterprise! Its very exciting and especially as there is so much work we need to expand quite quickly. ...Read more