News and Views from Christian Aid Scotland

The View From Here

It comes with an almost dreary sense of being back on the treadmill of normality, after enjoying a break from the mundane. For those of us lucky enough to have seen sunnier climes this summer, it also rings out the disappointment that the chances of seeing prolonged good weather again might very well be a long time hence!

As I drove uphill at 5mph last weekend down a street that resembled a river, maneuvering around the stanks that were elevated in the middle of the road from water pushing through, I certainly felt that way.   

The actual definition of the phrase ‘auld claes and parritch’ though, is ‘business as usual’. It strikes me that business as usual is the last thing we should be doing. The sheer volume of rain that has fallen this summer is testament to the fact that climate breakdown is very much upon us.

This year, Scottish farmers have struggled to plant crops at the usual time, lambs needed to be kept inside, and crops have wasted in the ground. Business as usual is clearly not an option. 

The seasons that sustain us are under threat. In Zimbabwe, climate change is pushing people further into poverty-prolonged periods of drought, followed by flash flooding that makes traditional farming all but impossible. 

Christian Aid’s partner, Bio-Innovation Zimbabwe, are supporting communities to learn new climate smart agricultural techniques for farming, as well as supporting people to sustainably harvest many of the wild plants that grow in the hills and forests. 

Nyarai has benefited from this training and is using the wild plants to improve her family’s nutrition. She said, ‘We’ve seen our livelihoods, diet and farming methods greatly improve. We are better able to sustain ourselves even when droughts hit.’  

As we go back to school and as the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments return from recess, we know it cannot be business as usual. The work of Nyarai and Bio-Innovation is vital in responding to the climate crisis, but as ever, we all need to play our part.

Here in Scotland, this harvest, we are encouraging congregations to use our ‘Breaking Bread’ resource to meet with their political representatives, so they are better placed to contact them regularly to ask for urgent action on climate, peace and poverty. Business as usual is not an option if we are to care properly for God’s creation and ensure that everyone has enough.

Thanks as ever for everything you do to support our work. 

Val Brown