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Good Morning. I’ve always considered myself lucky to have had jobs or skills that have led to travel outside Britain – to Cambodia, Thailand, South Africa, Pakistan and Myanmar to name a few. One of these jobs was within a non-governmental organization that encouraged people to experience and learn from other cultures by working abroad. In the light of our climate emergency, should I now feel guilty about the carbon footprint of all this? Over the last few days one text from the Hebrew Bible has repeatedly come into my mind. It says that although God is ‘abounding in steadfast love,’ God by no means clears the guilty but visits the sins of the parents upon children to the third and fourth generations. As a Christian, I’ve rejected such texts in the past– saying this is not the God I worship. But I’ve now found another way of looking at them. Eastern religions, Buddhism for instance, speak of the principle of karma or action, which asserts that every action has a fruit. Good action done for the benefit of all produces good fruit. Action rooted in greed and selfishness results in bad fruit. This, according to Buddhism, is a cosmic principle that cannot be escaped or conveniently pushed down the road. And karmic fruits can be experienced by whole societies, not just individuals. So as this text turned over in my mind, I was not thinking of a punishing God but of the consequences of actions done by my generation that will cause suffering for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Even if CO2 emissions were stopped immediately, the consequences of what has already been pumped into the atmosphere will be felt for decades. Carbon capture might mitigate them but will not stop them. Should all people of my generation, therefore, feel guilty? I would prefer to speak of looking at ourselves with clear compassionate awareness and the willingness to change. In the 1980s, I was enthusiastic about the benefits of learning from other cultures as an antidote to western arrogance. I shouldn’t feel guilty about that. Only gradually did I realize that this should not be done through unlimited travel and that other ways could be found for such learning closer to home. I made some changes as a result but probably not enough. So I’m certainly guilty of weakness. I must recognize this and will myself to go further now. As COP 26 ends, we cannot escape the consequences of what we have already done but whether we are powerful or not we can all act today with creativity and selflessness to prevent suffering in those who inherit this precious world from us to the fourth generation.