What a melancholy way to begin an Advent Calendar! Yet Advent is meant to be a time of solemn preparation and reflection which ends with the joy of Jesus Christ's birth. It's a time to take a break from the hurly-burly of shopping and reflect on the world around us.

Sometimes we seem to be stumbling from one crisis to another and short term problems distract us from long term dilemmas that are just as important. One of these is the world environmental crisis. Like the houses creeping over Bethlehem Lane, without careful planning (did anyone think of brown field sites?), the changes occur gradually and before we know it, it's too late to do anything. Or is it?

· To find out more about Tuvalu, see the fascinating Government of Nunavut website at http://www.gov.nu.ca/
Or the Council for World Mission's website with a page of reflection on Christianity and environmental concern, using the example of Tuvalu, at http://www.cwmission.org.uk/action/globalwarming.htm

· To do something about the destruction of the country by a tide of red brick, there are all sorts of organizations you could join, for example Plantlife, which runs regular letter-writing campaigns which you can join from the comfort of your own home! http://www.plantlife.org.uk/html/homepage.htm

· And for young (at heart) visitors, Mr Shepherd suggests you try his completely daft sheep-herding game http://www.sheepgame.co.uk/