Ideas for discussion

1. We need more houses. Should we build them in the countryside or should we try to find spaces for them close to the centre of towns?

2. Are there places in the countryside that you particularly like? Why? How would you feel if somewhere you specially liked were to be chosen as the route for a motorway?

3. Many Derbyshire villages have an annual festival when they "dress" their well. Why do you suppose wells are celebrated and blessed at a special feast? (You can find out more about well-dressing here.)

4. What seem to you the gravest threats to our environment?

5. Jonathon Porritt, director of Forum for the Future, is giving a lecture on Bringing Religion down to Earth. What do you think it means to "bring religion down to earth"?

6. How should we regard ourselves? Are we lords of the earth, free to do exactly what we please with the resources of nature? Or are we a part of nature ourselves so that we need to learn to live as one with other living beings and with the earth?

7. Should we try to foster a reverence for the natural world? If so, what can we do to encourage others to respect and cherish it?

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