Carbon emissions from the global electricity sector may peak this year, after plateauing in the first half of 2023, because of a surge in wind and solar power, according to a climate thinktank.

A new report on global electricity generation found that the growth of renewables was so rapid that it was close to the incredibly fast rate required if the world is to hit the tripling of capacity by the end of the decade that experts believe is necessary to stay on the 1.5C pathway.

It also noted that there had been only a slight increase in emissions in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period a year before.

The findings suggest the world may be close to reaching the peak of the global power sector’s carbon emissions, and they could soon even begin to fall in line with global climate targets.

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Global carbon emissions from electric power may peak this year, report says https://t.co/AVuFVBYBDq

— Guardian news (@guardiannews) October 4, 2023

We have archbishops openly rejecting the teaching they vowed to uphold. The bishops are showing a lack of respect for a clear, recognizable link between liturgy and doctrine, refusing to follow the proper synodical processes for introducing new (particularly controversial) liturgy in the life of the church, sidelining public theological reasoning and the work of FAOC, and possibly seeking to introduce new guidance contrary to existing doctrine without the proper synodical process that respects the principle of bishops not acting on their own but always as bishops in synod. Alongside this they are also effectively tearing the Church of England away from the Anglican Communion and wider church catholic.

These are not minor technical matters. These actions threaten to dissolve part of the glue that holds the church together and enables bishops to act as a focus of unity. The bishops appear to be abandoning precious gifts that have helped preserve, structure, and cultivate our often fragile common life together across our differences. They are disregarding and undermining well-established, tried and tested, theologically and pastorally (not simply legally) founded principles and practices that enable “good disagreement.” It is, however, only by living within their constraints that bishops will nurture trust and embody integrity, especially as we navigate contentious proposed changes in our teaching and practice.

It is a serious matter for the church to err on marriage and sexuality. That, however, is a problem in one specific, albeit vitally important, area. These developments, and how episcopal and archepiscopal power is being used — on the sole basis, it seems, that these means are necessary to reach the desired end goal — are much more serious. They go beyond a single, possibly reversible, error of judgment, to weaken and potentially destroy core features of Anglican identity and essential characteristics of any healthy ecclesial body.

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Grateful to the Covenant website at @Livng_Church for publishing my latest summary of the CofE processes around LLF and the serious and deeper questions they raise. https://t.co/6dmXAZWjAn

— Andrew Goddard (@goddardaj) October 4, 2023

Blessed Lord, who putteth down the mighty from their seat and exaltest those of low degree: Save us, we beseech thee, from pride and vainglory, from self-seeking and false ambition. Give us a humble and contrite spirit, that we may think less of ourselves, more of others, and most of all of thee, who art our mighty God and Saviour; to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit we ascribe all praise and glory, now and for evermore.

La belle hêtre a enfilé sa robe d'automne beaucoup plus tôt cette année en raison de la sécheresse persistante…@keeper_of_books #Trees#ArbreDuMatin #AmiesDesArbres#JaimeLesArbres#ThePhotoHour #StormHour #NatureLovers #NaturePhotography #MagnifiqueFrance pic.twitter.com/2d1B6r2pqB

— Signalas (@LdeSignalas) October 5, 2023

O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually!

–Psalm 105:1-4

Northern Lights at Kitdalen, Norway🇳🇴 pic.twitter.com/HaPjtB6caQ

— OThingstodo (@othingstodo_com) October 5, 2023

The process towards a decision on how to introduce prayers of blessing for same-sex couples inched forwards this week when advocacy groups on both sides of the debate were briefed confidentially.

In a sign that the College and House of Bishops might be coming to a common mind about a way forward, both liberal and conservative campaigners were invited to confidential meetings this week with the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) team.

One pro-LGBT campaigner and General Synod member present, Professor Helen King, wrote in her blog afterwards that the conversations had mostly revolved around familiar concerns: “How best to move forwards, what are the implications of various canons that could be used, how are everyone’s consciences to be honoured, what — if any — compromises would be acceptable?”

But Professor King, who had also taken part in the Living With Difference facilitated conversations last month, suggested that the House of Bishops had yet to “make up its collective mind” and, instead, was still trying to take the temperature of the Church and establish what the response would be to various options.

Read it all.

The process towards a decision on how to introduce prayers of blessing for same-sex couples inched forwards this week when advocacy groups on both sides of the debate were briefed confidentially https://t.co/Q4Pz6NxQKI

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 3, 2023

Up to 19 churches in a town could close because of rising costs.

The plan has been put forward by the Diocese of Liverpool, which oversees churches in Wigan, Greater Manchester.

It has already outlined four churches that will be “released” with another 15 sites at risk of closure.

The diocese said they had to “face the reality that they cannot afford to invest” in all churches as it currently costs £1m per year to maintain church buildings in the borough.

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For many years, coups in Africa seemed a thing of the past. But in the 2020s they are back with a vengeance: the nine this decade account for more than a third of successful African putsches this century. At this rate there will be more of them in the 2020s than in any decade since the 1960s.

Aside from the latest one, in Gabon on August 30th, the seizures of power have been in the “coup belt”. It is possible, if inadvisable, to walk some 6,000km from the Atlantic coast of west Africa to the shore of the Red Sea and stride only through countries where there have been coups in the past three years (see map). The trek from Guinea to Sudan would cross the Sahel, the region south of the Sahara where there have been two coups each in Mali and Burkina Faso since August 2020, and one in Niger in July.

Africa—which covers an area larger than America, China, India, Japan and western Europe combined—is more than its coup belt. Yet the takeovers are part of a much broader political crisis. The most recent surveys by Afrobarometer, a pollster, find that in 24 of 30 countries approval of military rule has risen since 2014.

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Democracy is under threat from graft, stagnation and violence https://t.co/FupUyTcOkU

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) October 3, 2023

When he had been led before the bishop, Francis neither delayed nor explained himself, but simply stripped off his clothes and threw them aside, giving them back to his father. He did not even keep his trousers, but stood there in front of everyone completely naked. The bishop, sensing his intention and admiring his constancy, rose and wrapped his arms around Francis, covering him with his own robe. He saw clearly that Francis was divinely inspired and that his action contained a mystery. Thus he became Francis’ helper, cherishing and comforting him.

This holy man, having changed his attire and repaired the aforesaid church, went to another place near Assisi and began to rebuild a certain dilapidated and nearly ruined church, ceasing only when the task was finished. Then he went to still another place called the Portiuncula, the site of a church dedicated to the blessed virgin, the mother of God. This church, built long ago, was now deserted and cared for by no one. When the holy man of God saw how destroyed the church was, he was moved with pity and began to spend a great deal of time there, for he burned with devotion toward the mother of all good. It was in the third year of his conversion that he began to repair this church. At that time he wore a sort of hermit’s attire, a leather belt around his waist and a staff in his hands, and he went about wearing shoes. One day, however, when the gospel story of Christ sending his disciples to preach was read in the church, the holy man of God was present and more or less understood the words of the gospel. After mass he humbly asked the priest to explain the gospel to him. He heard that Christ’s disciples were supposed to possess neither gold, nor silver, nor money; were to have neither bread nor staff; were to have neither shoes nor two tunics; but were to preach the kingdom of God and penance.

When the priest had finished, Francis, rejoicing in the spirit of God, said, “This is what I want! This is what I’m looking for! This is what I want to do from the bottom of my heart!”

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On his feast day #otd 4 Oct: St Francis of Assisi preaches to the birds, Bodleian Library MS. Auct. D. 3. 2, fol. 122r pic.twitter.com/nkFLMHdIDo

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) October 4, 2023

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, grant unto thy people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of thee delight in thy whole creation with perfectness of joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi.

This window in the Abbey's cloisters shows Francis standing in an Italian landscape surrounded by birds. The window is dedicated to Robinson Duckworth, a former Sub-Dean of the Abbey, who died in 1911. pic.twitter.com/m6RwIDfOlj

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) October 4, 2023

Take from us, O Lord God, all pride and vanity, all boasting and self-assertion, and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness; the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity; and the true power that shows itself in modesty; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Take a seat and enjoy the view. Taken from Wearyall Hill with Glastonbury Tor in the background. pic.twitter.com/F9oR7bNslN

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) October 4, 2023

If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him.

–1 Corinthians 8:2-3

It's #WaterfallWednesday! Your #PicOfTheDay is Gayle Beck close to #Hawes.

Find out about the fascinating history of #Gayle and #Hawes on our Voices from the Dales podcasts available from @DalesMuseum or visit the museum in Hawes 👇https://t.co/fOV1tOU5AX

📸 @AkroydNick pic.twitter.com/w00L6y3qDJ

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) October 4, 2023

The Archbishop of Canterbury took part in a historic ecumenical prayer vigil, presided over by Pope Francis, in St Peter’s Square on Saturday 30 September. Along with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, church leaders from different denominations were invited to join the Pope in prayer, entrusting the work of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod to the Holy Spirit.

Before the vigil, the crowd shared in Taizé-style music, prayer and hymns. The Archbishop lead the Lord’s Prayer, and at the end of the vigil joined with all the Christian leaders present to collectively pray and bless the crowd.

The vigil was attended by thousands of people from across Christian denominations, including many young people.

Read it all.

https://t.co/bqVLTtNeBs

— Christopher Lamb (@ctrlamb) October 2, 2023

Islamist militants in Mali began a blockade of Timbuktu by cutting road access in August and then shut off river and air routes in an offensive that has put the city once again on the frontline of a jihadist insurgency.

The bombing began soon after. On Sept. 21, witnesses said rockets hit a hospital, killing two children, and landed near a school where survivors of a passenger boat attack that killed more than 100 people were sheltering.

“Our worry is the shelling,” businessman Sory Touré said in Timbuktu, which was occupied by jihadists a decade ago. “It creates a real psychosis and leaves a lasting impression. I have this fear within me.”

Read it all.

Mali in meltdown as militants advance and U.N. withdraws https://t.co/cVfhMM39a5 pic.twitter.com/teqDkM4spf

— Reuters Africa (@ReutersAfrica) October 3, 2023

It was a bloody reminder that the dark days of extremist violence appeared to have returned to Pakistan: a suicide attack on a religious festival in the country’s southwest this past week that left around 60 people dead.

For nearly a decade, Pakistan had seemingly broken the cycle of such deadly attacks. In 2014, the country’s security forces carried out a large-scale military operation in the tribal areas near Afghanistan, forcing militants across the border and returning a relative peace to the restive frontier region.

But since the Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021, offering some groups safe haven on Afghan soil and starting a crackdown on others that pushed their fighters into neighboring Pakistan, the violence has roared back. The number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan rose by around 50 percent during the Taliban’s first year in power, compared with the year before, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, which monitors extremist violence and is based in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

This year, the pace of attacks have continued to rise.

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“The number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan rose by around 50 percent during the Taliban’s first year in power, compared with the year before, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, which monitors extremist violence and is based in Islamabad” https://t.co/rFjtOa7ShS

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) October 3, 2023

The United States is failing at a fundamental mission — keeping people alive.

After decades of progress, life expectancy — long regarded as a singular benchmark of a nation’s success — peaked in 2014 at 78.9 years, then drifted downward even before the coronavirus pandemic. Among wealthy nations, the United States in recent decades went from the middle of the pack to being an outlier. And it continues to fall further and further behind.

A year-long Washington Post examination reveals that this erosion in life spans is deeper and broader than widely recognized, afflicting a far-reaching swath of the United States.

Read it all.

Saying it out-loud; life expectancy falling in the USA:https://t.co/7GoAfRYKo3

— Andy Figueroa (@2Chronicles36) October 3, 2023

O God, the shepherd of all, we offer thanks for the lifelong commitment of thy servant John Raleigh Mott to the Christian nurture of students in many parts of the world; and we pray that, after his example, we may strive for the weaving together of all peoples in friendship, fellowship and cooperation, and while life lasts be evangelists for Jesus Christ, in whom alone is our peace; and who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Episcopal Church also commemorates John Raleigh Mott, Evangelist & Ecumenical Pioneer, 1955

A leader of YMCA & World Student Christian Federation, he won the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize for developing int'l Protestant Christian student organisations that worked to promote peace pic.twitter.com/FIsN2bd9ot

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) October 3, 2020

Lord Jesus Christ, who by precept and example hast taught us that the greatest of all is the servant of all, and that the humble shall be exalted: Make us content to take the lowest place; and if it shall please thee to call us higher, do thou preserve within us a simple and lowly spirit; to thy great glory.

–Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

May your day be filled with hope, happiness, and all the amazing moments life has to offer.#TuesdayFeeling #nature #ThePhotoHour #wilderness #AutumnVibes #jefinuist #OuterHebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/cvgMUgSJmB

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) October 3, 2023

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ”˜Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

“Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

–Matthew 7:1-12

Morning haze before sunrise NYC!! #StormHour #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/EPQB27oJwb

— Brian Sudol (@sudbri) October 3, 2023

As Down says, the grey areas are what interest him most. Intensive-care guidelines are in place to ingrain the most effective procedures, and thereby reduce the stresses of decision-making in the chaos of a medical crisis. They are not infallible, however. One of Down’s patients is taken off ventilation but then dies from an “airway catastrophe”, even though the guidelines have been followed to the letter. Sometimes doctors might save a patient by deviating from the protocols, but how many more would suffer if they improvised more freely? In many cases there is not a single correct procedure to follow, and failure isn’t necessarily instructive. Good luck and bad luck play a part.

Down and his colleagues have no choice but to honour the wishes of an intelligent young patient who refuses to undergo blood transfusion on religious grounds, even though she is aware that her refusal might prove fatal. By good fortune, she pulls through. Conversely, an alcoholic patient declines rapidly and inexplicably on Down’s watch. Her symptoms suggest an abdominal collapse, but tests don’t find any evidence. Finally it is established that violent vomiting has ruptured the woman’s oesophagus, allowing acidic stomach contents to seep into her chest, lethally. The condition is known as Boerhaave syndrome, and Down berates himself for not arriving at the diagnosis sooner, even though the outcome would have been no different had the rupture been located quickly – the patient could not have survived an operation.

Read it all.

👏 Well done to UCLH critical care consultant Jim Down on publishing his second book, Life in the Balance.

His new book offers a real glimpse into intensive care medicine, its immense challenges and effects on mental health.

Read more here: https://t.co/B9luDTwutI #OneTeam pic.twitter.com/tGmoRuwhn5

— UCLH (@uclh) February 23, 2023

A Covid-19 recovery grant from Historic England kickstarted a major new lease of life and a successful fundraising drive for further renewal at a village church.

St John’s Ryhall, a Grade 1 listed building in the Diocese of Peterborough, had 28 roof leaks, blocked drains and was damp and cold.

An earlier fundraising drive was cancelled due to Covid-19, while bad winter weather had exacerbated existing damage.

The church was awarded £11,000 from the Heritage Stimulus Fund, part of the Government’s Culture Recovery fund, to help sites hit by Covid-19, to repair its drains, pipes and gutters on its roof.

Rainwater was damaging the walls, and repair work was vital before roof renovation could take place.

Read it all.

Here’s a painting of St John’s Church Ryhall that I have just completed. I was asked to paint this medieval building to help raise money for the church restoration fund. It will go to the winner of a lottery to help raise money for this very deserving charity. pic.twitter.com/qDa5xVqIyk

— josette carroll (@josettecarroll1) May 14, 2021

Emma Thompson makes for an unlikely rebel. Her Christian faith was nurtured through Anglican choral music and the Book of Common Prayer. She teaches Sunday school and conducts a choir in her church.

“The local level, in my book, is where all the good happens — the love, the looking after your neighbour, the delivery plan for being a Christian,” says Thompson, a former City solicitor and now a company secretary and freelance journalist.

Her passion for local parish churches is fierce to the point that, she says proudly, the two most senior clerics in the Church of England have described her as a “rascally voice”.

Attendance in the Church has fallen by nearly 40 per cent since 1979, according to the British Religion in Numbers online data resources, and by more than 15 per cent alone since 2013.

Read it all (subscription).

My piece in today's @thetimes https://t.co/er0y6xwgox

— abigail frymannrouch (@abigailfrymann) September 30, 2023

Living to 100 today is not unheard of, but is still rare. In America and Britain centenarians make up around 0.03% of the population. Should the latest efforts to prolong life reach their potential, living to see your 100th birthday could become the norm; making it to 120 could become a perfectly reasonable aspiration.

More exciting still, those extra years would be healthy. What progress has been made in expanding lifespans has so far come by countering the causes of death, especially infectious disease. The process of ageing itself, with its attendant ills such as dementia, has not yet been slowed. This time, that is the intention.

The idea, as we set out in our Technology Quarterly, is to manipulate biological processes associated with ageing that, when dampened in laboratory animals, seem to extend their lives. Some of these are familiar, such as severely restricting the number of calories an animal consumes as part of an otherwise balanced diet. Living such a calorie-restricted life is too much to ask of most people; but drugs that affect the relevant biological pathways appear to bring similar results. One is metformin, which has been approved for use against type-2 diabetes; another is rapamycin, an immunosuppressant used in organ transplants. Early adopters are starting to take these drugs “off label”, off their own bat or by signing what amount to servicing contracts with a new class of longevity firms.

Read it all.

Living to 120 is becoming an imaginable prospect. Excitingly, those extra years would be healthy—but there would be wide ramifications https://t.co/zuz1aKqGEN pic.twitter.com/kWzEk2QBrh

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) September 28, 2023

It was a phrase he repeated to himself several times each day when his patience started to wane and he could feel the frustration hardening in his chest: They were all doing their best. The police officers whose active patrol force had shrunk by 20 percent to crisis levels because of attrition, recruiting challenges and the impact of calls to defund the police. The people sleeping on sidewalks as rents soared to record highs and shelters filled to capacity. The addicts who could either wait in line at 6 a.m. for the outside chance of a spot in rehab or numb their pain with another fentanyl pill for the going price of 50 cents. They were all suffering together through the morass of a damaged society.

“Our entire first responder system in this city, according to the people who run it, is 20 years behind the ball and critically understaffed,” the mayor said last year at a City Council meeting. The city itself had increasingly turned to the same Band-Aid fix as everyone else, spending more than $4 million a year on private security guards to help protect parks, water treatment facilities, parking garages and city hall.

The booming industry was nobody’s idea of a perfect or comprehensive solution. More than a dozen security guards in Portland had been accused of assault or harassment, and one was convicted of murder earlier this year after fatally shooting a customer outside of a Lowe’s store. Guards in Oregon were sometimes trained and certified in as little as 16 hours, and more than 100 companies operated in downtown Portland on any given night under different policies and company rules.

Echelon was one of the most proactive, with more than 75 guards who patrolled the city 24 hours a day. At least 400 fed-up local businesses paid Echelon a monthly fee to run interference with homeless people by building relationships, offering resources to people with addictions and mental illness, buying their breakfasts, replacing their shoes, reversing their overdoses and de-escalating their episodes of psychosis.

Bock’s previous security job had been at a company that stationed him outside a grocery store as a deterrent to shoplifting and told him to avoid interacting with customers. “A human scarecrow,” was how Bock described that role, so he chose to move to Echelon in 2021 despite the long hours and middle-class pay, because he wanted to be part of the glue that pieced his hometown back together.

Read it all.

"How can any of this be considered normal?" Another stunning @elisaslow story from the front lines of the urban unraveling, on one of the countless private security guards being hired to patrol American cities: https://t.co/kfYK1qGbNa

— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) October 2, 2023