By Bellah Zulu, ACNS correspondent in Africa

The Lenten period evokes a lot of bitter-sweet childhood memories for me. Growing up I remember our parents telling us to cut down on our meat consumption during this time. Now, unless you understand the central role that meat plays in many African households, you won’t know what a blow this was.

Looking back, I think the decision was as much economic as it was religious because, for less wealthy families, eating meat was a luxury. Still, the decision to go meat-free meant a long time living on a largely vegetable diet – which was hard to swallow for a young me.

What going without meat did though was it taught me to put greater value in God and less in material possessions. Each year growing up this was a time when I was reminded about the long and painful journey that Christ undertook for the salvation of all mankind, even to his death. So Lent became more than just that solemn period in the church calendar, stretching the six weeks from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day. It became a reminder of how people are supposed to self-regulate their consumption, and it became a time of contemplation, prayer and repentance

The other benefit of cutting meat out of my diet was a benefit to the environment. An article in Time magazine in December stated, “Livestock production — which includes meat, milk and eggs — contributes 40 per cent of global agricultural gross domestic product, provides income for more than 1.3 billion people and uses one-third of the world’s fresh water. There may be no other single human activity that has a bigger impact on the planet than the raising of livestock.”

I am pleased to think that my childhood Lenten fast unknowingly helped the reduce climate change. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa has this year supported a more intentional way of doing this – a Carbon Fast. Promotional material for its Lent initiative says there is no better time than now “to reduce the use of carbon-based fuels on which we all depend, and take small steps for a more sustainable world.”

It calls on those taking part in Lent to purposely choose and advocate for more renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind power. It also encourages people to be more conscious of how they live; people are more likely to self-regulate if they are made aware of the negative effects of some of their activities.

A recent U.N report indicated that “the longer we wait to mitigate the detrimental levels of carbon dioxide thrown into the atmosphere, the harder it's going to be to work against rising temperatures.” Some people are even saying it might be too late.
But that’s no excuse not to keep trying and there are lots of ways we can.

In the supermarket, how often do we use plastic bags for carrying our foods? We know that plastic bags are an environmental hazard so why isn’t more being done about it? Why can’t Africans be offered a choice of paper or plastic? In Rwanda plastic shopping bags are illegal. In 2008, while the rest of the world was barely starting to consider a tax on single-use plastic bags, the East African nation decided to ban them completely. Why haven’t other countries followed suit?

Isn’t it about time other African governments enacted such “green legislation” to help preserve our environment? Perhaps—along with switching off lights, walking rather than driving to shops, and saving water—challenging our politicians on this issue is something else we can do to protect our world.

No one said rolling back environmental damage would be easy, but then what Christ endured in the wilderness wasn’t easy. Nor was his sacrifice at Calvary. Both saved us from disaster, so I’m with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa when it advises that we take Lent seriously and “reflect on God’s purpose for our life and not just fast from coffee, alcohol or chocolates.”