God Does Not Do Waste, Archbishop Says in ‘Green’ New Year Message

The Archbishop of Canterbury has linked his new year message to environmental concerns.

Dr Rowan Williams’s message, saying God “does not do waste”, was filmed in Canterbury Cathedral and at a nearby recycling centre.

The message will for the first time be placed on YouTube, following in the footsteps of the Queen, whose Christmas Day message was posted on the trendy video-sharing website for the first time this year.

YouTube, which allows anyone to upload and share video clips, was founded in 2005.

It became an internet phenomenon and has even made stars of members of the public who have posted their own footage on the site.

It was bought by Google last year for $1.65bn (pounds 880m).

Dr Williams, who was born in Swansea, warned that the short- termist exploitation of the Earth’s resources, which produced fantastic quantities of waste, had implications for other areas of life.

He said, “In a society where we think of so many things as disposable, where we expect to be constantly discarding last year’s gadget and replacing it with this year’s model – do we end up tempted to think of people and relationships as disposable?

“Are we so fixated on keeping up with change that we lose any sense of our need for stability?”

Dr Williams said the need for a sustainable approach also underlines important truths about God and the world.

“A lot of the time, we just don’t let ourselves think about the future with realism.

“A culture of vast material waste and emotional short-termism is a culture that is a lot more fragile than it knows. How much investment are we going to put in towards a safer and more balanced future?”

God, he said, “does not do waste” and does not regard human life as disposable.

“He doesn’t regard anyone as a ‘waste of space’, as not worth his time – from the very beginnings of life to its end, whether they are successful, articulate, productive or not.

“And so a life that communicates a bit of what God is like is a life that doesn’t give up, that doesn’t settle down with a culture of waste and disposability – whether with people, or with things.”

The message is being shown on BBC2 at 8.30pm today and again on BBC1 at noon on New Year’s Day.

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