A Rocha Eco-Congregation (USA) module 10



[pic]

an environmental toolkit for churches

Module 10

Green choices

Suggestions for a green lifestyle

A Rocha Eco-congregation is an ecumenical program to help churches make the link between environmental issues and their Christian faith and respond in practical action in the church and wider community.

Eco-congregation (USA) is a project of A Rocha USA, a 501(c) organization

A Rocha USA, PO Box 1338, Fredericksburg TX 78624

830.522.5319 / usa@ / arocha-

Contents

Lifestyle… or style for life 3

Introduction 3

A Christian ecological lifestyle 4

How green is my life? – Calculating your environmental footprint 4

What is the carbon footprint of the energy you use in your home? 5

Greening the home 5

Heating, Lighting and Electrical Goods 5

Simple no-cost changes for the better 6

Some low-cost, high payback home improvements 6

Renewable or ‘Green’ Electricity 7

How do I find providers of renewable electricity in my state? 7

Water 7

Facts – how much water do we use at home? 8

Action Points to save water 9

Action points to reduce water pollution 10

Waste 11

Paper 12

Glass 12

Plastic 12

Recycling 14

Bottled water 15

Metal 15

High-tech equipment/e-waste 16

Clothes and cloth 17

Organic Waste 17

Laundry 17

Diapers 18

Greening the garden 18

Greening the shopping basket 19

General guidelines 19

Food 19

Fish, fisheries and feeding yourself sustainably 21

Further Resources on Ethical Purchasing 23

Greening personal finance 23

Bank Accounts 23

Greening our journeys 24

Travel tips 25

Greening Christmas 26

Reduce and Recycle 26

Eat better 27

Christian environmental organizations 27

Further Resources 30

A directory of useful organizations 30

About A Rocha Eco-congregation 31

© A Rocha USA 2012

Feedback on Eco-Congregation (USA) is encouraged.

We have attempted to credit photographs and quotes correctly. We apologize if we have not given credit appropriately; please write to us to amend any errors.

Lifestyle… or style for life

Introduction

The 1990s years witnessed an explosion of interest in lifestyle issues that continues today. Makeover and consumer programs have blossomed on television, giving advice on every aspect of personal lifestyle from cooking, health and personal finance to changing rooms and gardens. Together with the flourishing lifestyle magazine market, the message broadcast is that living is about the three Cs: choosing, changing and consuming.

We Christians have always been counter-cultural, and this is an area where there is a pressing need for us Americans to change our lifestyle. Current consumption is:

1. Unsustainable, because there is a limit to the resources available on Earth and the Earth’s capacity to absorb our waste products

2. Devastating our environment. Scientists are virtually unanimous in this view. For example, The Global Environment Outlook 2002 (GEO 3) report, published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) gives an overview of the state of the planet, highlighting the problems caused by the wasteful and invasive consumer society, threatening to destroy the resources on which human life is based.

3. Out of balance, because only a small proportion of the world’s current population consumes a large proportion of the resources and generates a large proportion of the pollution. It is estimated that, if everyone in the world lived the lifestyle of the average European, we would need three Earths to support us all.

‘If we assume that in 2030 there are three cars for every four people in China, as there now are in the United States, China will have 1.1 billion cars. The world currently has 860 million cars. To provide the needed roads, highways, and parking lots, China would have to pave an area comparable to what it now plants in rice.

‘By 2030 China would need 98 million barrels of oil a day. The world is currently producing 85 million barrels a day and may never produce much more than that. There go the world’s oil reserves.’

- Lester R. Brown, in Plan B 3.0: mobilizing to save civilization; Earth Policy Institute, W. W. Norton & Company 2008.

A Christian ecological lifestyle

Individuals can make many positive lifestyle choices to care for the environment. One buzz phrase that is sometimes used is to ‘live more simply that others may simply live’. Jesus gave a profound understanding to simple lifestyles. When preaching the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that you cannot worship both God and money (Matthew 6:24) and called people not to store up riches on earth but in heaven, for our heart will be where our riches are (Matthew 6:19-21).

The following passage is part of the sermon preached at the service to dedicate Eco-Congregation to God at St Paul’s Cathedral by the Rt. Revd. and Rt. Hon. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, drawing on Matthew 6:24-30:

“Jesus Christ is meditating on anxiety and faith. Anxiety and competition inevitably flow from a picture of the self as fulfilled by being an individual consumer of goods and having access to a range of commodities. That is how the self is encouraged to see itself by the propaganda which surrounds us and stimulates our cravings… By contrast our soul is not something which just exists and whose appetites demand to be satisfied. The soul is formed in relationship with others. The soul develops to the extent that we are related to God the Beyond All and to his Creation...

Our profoundest motivation comes not from fear but from the gospel that we can only express and explore together. Be not anxious for yourself what to consume or what commodity to have next, rather pay attention to your soul which forms as we relate to God and neighbor and which comes as a gift from Jesus Christ who has brought us home to God.”

Green choices are not simply about living today that others may have life tomorrow, but more profoundly that true life is found when we seek a fulfilling relationship with God rather than seeking fulfillment through material possessions.

This Green Choices module helps individuals to think about their personal lifestyle and to make choices that reflect a care for the Earth and respect for their neighbors around the world. Some of these choices will save money too!

How green is my life? – Calculating your environmental footprint

Every household uses energy and water, consumes goods and services, and creates waste – but some lifestyles and households have a bigger impact on the environment than others! Several organizations have devised simple ways to estimate your ‘environmental footprint’, i.e. the amount of space you take up on the planet.

What is the carbon footprint of the energy you use in your home?

There are various on-line calculators. The Environmental Protection Agency has a fairly sophisticated one:

climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html

And here is a more succinct one, more oriented towards carbon offsets:



This site ties carbon footprint calculations with tree-planting in Africa to ‘offset’ your consumption:



(more on Climate Change in module 13)

[pic]

Greening the home

The home is a place where people can make positive changes for the environment in a number of key areas. This section deals with heating and lighting, water and waste and includes suggestions for lowering a household’s impact on the environment. The tips are designed to lower peoples’ impact on the environment and in many cases can lead to lower household bills too!

Heating, Lighting and Electrical Goods

We need heating, air conditioning, and lighting: few of us are prepared to live in a hut. However - wasting energy damages the environment and costs money. Almost all sources of electricity generation pollute, although oil- and coal-burning power stations produce the most health- and environment-damaging emissions.

Simple no-cost changes for the better

These ‘green living’ tips are taken from Nancy Sleeth’s “Go green, save green” (ISBN 978-1-4143-2698-6)

1. Turn down the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees.

2. Do laundry in cold water. You will save a substantial amount of money and the gas/oil you don’t burn means less pollution. The vast majority of clothes will clean just fine in cold water.

3. Experiment with reducing the settings of your refrigerator and freezer. We don’t need our fresh celery deep-frozen in their salad drawers, and our frozen meat, if it’s frozen…is frozen enough.

4. Turn off lights, televisions and music players/hi-fi when you leave a room. Switch off all the vampire devices whose stand-by lights suck up energy needlessly (the so-called ‘phantom load’). And do you really need that internet router always on? Even when you’re asleep?

5. Hang clothes out to dry if at all possible. It really is akin to laziness to run a power-hungry clothes drier if you have a clothesline and sunshine. As you peg out the clothes, take the opportunity to thank God for his creation!

6. Shower for a few minutes less than you’re used to.

7. Lower your heating and cooling costs: use drapes and blinds to block out the sun (in summer) and keep in the heat (in winter).

8. Research 100% renewable electricity – see below

Some low-cost, high payback home improvements

1. A programmable thermostat to give you exquisite control, hour by hour, of your heating and cooling.

2. Use ceiling fans to circulate warm air/cool air and better equilibrate the temperature.

3. Replace what incandescent light bulbs you can with CFLs. Fitting low-energy light bulbs requires an initial capital outlay, but can reduce energy consumption by up to 80% and the bulbs can last up to 10 times longer, saving both money and the need to change bulbs frequently

4. Plant shade trees – deciduous trees that shade the house in summer….let the sunlight warm your house in winter… and bring beauty and wildlife to your garden.

offers a plethora of excellent suggestions for households and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint.

Choose EnergyStar appliances when you purchase anew: .

These will consume less electricity – saving you money and reducing pollution.

Renewable or ‘Green’ Electricity

Did you know that you can choose to use only renewable or ‘green’ electricity for your home?

Green electricity is electricity produced from renewable energy sources, as opposed to from our finite fossil fuel reserves - coal, gas, oil. It is environmentally desirable because the fuel source is renewable, and avoids the production of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates and mercury (coal and oil) as well as carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas (oil, coal and gas).

Traditionally the main source of green electricity has been hydroelectricity but in recent years wind installations have increased. Solar power is also entering the mix.

When you switch electricity provider to one that sells renewable electricity, nothing changes in terms of how the electricity gets into your home, and how you are billed. However, you are purchasing ‘green’ electricity and making an enormous difference in terms of pollution and your carbon footprint.

How do I find providers of renewable electricity in my state?

See and

Remember – no electricity is totally ‘green’, that is, entirely pollution-free or ‘creation-friendly’. Wind turbines kill birds and bats and solar panels use rare elements mined from the earth. Conservation is always the greenest option.

Water

The Bible includes stories that illustrate the significance of water:

[pic] In the story of creation (Genesis 1) and the story of Jesus in the storm-tossed boat on Galilee (Luke 8:22-25), water is portrayed as having a chaotic elemental character, which only God can subdue

[pic] In the story of Noah and the flood (Genesis 7-9) and the story of John the Baptist (Mark 1:4-5), water is portrayed as a medium into which old life dies and new life rises

[pic] In the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman by the well (John 4:1-15), the refreshment that water offers to a weary traveler is used to symbolize the refreshment that Jesus offers to tired souls

The elemental quality of water reminds us that we can never absolutely control creation; the cleansing quality of water symbolizes the new life offered through Christ; and the drinking of water reminds us that life cannot exist without both physical and spiritual refreshment.

At the same time, as Christians, we must conserve water in solidarity with the hundreds of millions of our brothers and sisters in the Third World who have no access to clean water at all.

Facts – how much water do we use at home?

(from )

Daily indoor per capita water use is around 69 gallons, broken out as -

|Use |Gallons per Capita |Percentage of Total Daily Use |

|Showers |11.6 |16.8% |

|Clothes Washers |15.0 |21.7% |

|Dishwashers |1.0 |1.4% |

|Toilets |18.5 |26.7% |

|Baths |1.2 |1.7% |

|Leaks |9.5 |13.7% |

|Faucets |10.9 |15.7% |

|Other Domestic Uses |1.6 |2.2% |

Interestingly, in the UK – with smaller yards and, more often, more efficient toilets and washing machines, the average use per person is around half this figure.

This usage of water is dwarfed by the effects that our consumer lifestyle and our diet have on water use. As an example, it takes 1, 857 gallons of water to raise one pound of beef and 469 gallons to raise a pond of chicken (vs. only 43 gallons to grow a pound of beans)….. and a pair of jeans takes 2,900 gallons of water to make.

This water will usually all be drinking-quality water.

Visit to learn more. There, you can calculate your own ‘water footprint’ - (quick) or (extensive).

These facts shouldn’t necessarily make us feel guilty: instead, they should make us appreciate the gift of life that water constitutes, and conserve it when we can.

Action Points to save water

Visit for some very practical steps. Also, when buying appliances that use water, look for ‘WaterSense’ labeling - .

We are very grateful to these web sites for many of these suggestions.

• Fix leaking taps – one dripping at one drop per second will waste 300 gallons a year! In fact, an American home wastes, on average, more than 10,000 gallons of water every year due to running toilets, dripping faucets, and other household leaks

• Turn off taps fully

• Half the water used in a home is used in the bathroom (or wasted…):

o Have a shower rather than a bath

o Use a plug in wash basins and sinks rather than washing under a running tap

o Fit a ‘water hippo’ in your toilet cistern to save 1 liter per flush (a brick will do)

o Turn off the tap whilst cleaning your teeth, or use a mug of water instead (save as much as 3000 gallons of water a year!)

• In the kitchen and laundry:

o Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run until the water is cool

o Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator overnight rather than using a running tap of hot water

o Add food wastes to your compost pile instead of the garbage disposal

o When using a washing machine or dishwasher, always run a full load

• Of the estimated 29 billion gallons of water used daily by households in the United States, nearly 7 billion gallons, or 30 per cent, is devoted to outdoor water use. In the hot summer months, or in dry climates, a household's outdoor water use can be as high as 70 per cent. Here are some important suggestions to conserve water:

o Install a water butt, linking it to a down pipe to collect water from a roof

o Water plants in the evening after the heat of the day (reduces evaporation)

o Plant perennials and native plants rather than ‘thirsty’ annuals (see for a comprehensive guide)

o Mulch water-loving plants in the garden to save on the need for watering

o Sweep driveways, sidewalks, and steps rather than hosing off

o Wash the car with water from a bucket, or consider using a commercial car wash that recycles water.

o If you have a pool, use a cover to reduce evaporation

o If you have to use sprinklers, use them wisely (see the depressing photograph below from )

[pic]

Action points to reduce water pollution

• Minimize your use of phosphate based detergents and bleach (try eco-friendly washing-up liquid, washing powder and cleaners instead)

• Minimize your use of toxic substances such as pesticides and creosote, which might get washed into the drainage system or water system

• Safely dispose of waste oils, paints, solvents and batteries at a collection point rather than pouring them down a drain. Some charities can use left-over paint and some batteries can be recycled.

Waste

In 2009 alone, the Environmental Protection Agency reports, Americans generated about 243 million tons of trash and recycled and composted 82 million tons of this material – around 34%. Unfortunately, around 54% of our household waste ends up in landfill ( and Environmental Protection Agency, Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2009).

Depending on the product, recycling rates vary tremendously, from 96% for car batteries to a depressing 29% for plastic:

[pic]

About 80% of household waste could be recycled. If this was undertaken it would save natural resources and reduce the problem of the disposal of waste. However, recycling is not the whole answer. We all need to learn to use natural resources more sparingly and sensibly – and we can all make a significant contribution in a number of simple ways.

Paper

The production of ‘virgin’ paper requires the farming of land for trees and the use of vast quantities of water and certain chemicals, some of which are harmful if released in the environment. We can all help by:

• saving waste paper and recycling it

• reusing envelopes, paper, wrappings and egg boxes

• choosing to buy recycled paper products, including greetings cards

• reducing the amount of junk mail we receive (see and )

Glass

Glass manufacture requires raw materials and energy to extract, transport and manufacture the product. To minimize the use of raw materials, energy and the amount of waste generated:

• choose returnable bottles if available

• recycle glass through household collections or at a bottle bank

Plastic recycling tends to be ‘downcycling’, that is, recycled plastic tends to be poorer quality than the original. However, glass recycling produces glass as good as the original – so this makes it an all-together better material for containers.

See and

Plastic

‘There are two main problems with plastic. First, most plastics are made from a non-renewable (petroleum) source, and second, they take a very, very long time to break down.’

- Nancy Sleeth in “Go green, save green”, page 44 (ISBN 978-1-4143-2698-6)

Very succinctly put! There is no doubt that plastics have revolutionized all aspects of our lives as consumers - in fact in many ways it is a waste to burn oil for our transportation and heating needs when the chemicals in petroleum are needed to make plastics (as well as a wealth of other things, such as pharmaceuticals).

However once used – and most use of plastic is pretty ephemeral, like bottled water, plastic containers for food, detergents, etc. – then those containers will sit in landfill for centuries.

Many plastic bags and other plastic detritus end up choking sea turtles, sea birds and other animals. Even when they ‘photodegrade’, they usually just break into tinier and tinier pieces of plastic – which then get eaten by aquatic organisms with unknown consequences.

I've seen what humans can do and what our behavior can do to devastate marine life. ....Midway Island is the only inhabited island of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that President Bush designated as a National Marine Monument.

It's 140,000 square miles of National Marine Monument that he named. And when we were there -- we happened to be there at the very same times the Laysan Albatross were nesting. The Laysan Albatross is a tall bird. They nest on the ground because there are no natural predators of theirs at Midway where they nest. And so when we were there, we literally had to look where we walked or we would step on one of these funny little chicks, little Laysan Albatross chicks that were in their nest on the ground.

And they don't leave their nest because their parents do leave and fish on the oceans and then come back and feed them, and so they have to be where their parents left them, and they just instinctively stay in these nests.

We became very fond of these funny little birds that we watched, but we also saw the carcasses of a lot of these infant Laysan Albatross, because when their parents fish, they fish on the surface for squid, and that's where the plastic floats. And so they eat plastic and then feed their babies, regurgitate this plastic that they've eaten.

So we would see the little carcasses, and when we sort of looked in them, you would see cigarette lighters and toothbrushes and bottle caps and toys -- toy cars or little tires from toys -- and every single type of plastic that we all know we use every day.

And this is not from falling off of a boat. I mean, this isn't plastic that fell overboard, although certainly a lot of debris in the ocean is fishing gear that did fall from boats or was tossed from boats. But this could be a cigarette lighter somebody dropped in a curb, you know, on their street somewhere in the United States or anywhere in the world, and it slowly washed through the drains out into the oceans, and then finally ended up at these Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

- First Lady Laura Bush, speaking at J.L. Scott Marine Education Center’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2007.

[pic]

(photo of Laysan Albatross chicks and plastic garbage on Midway Island by Forest and Kim Starr)

Recycling

Happily, curbside collecting of all plastic types (#1 through #7) is getting commoner and commoner. Unfortunately, in the USA our plastic recycling rate is still only around 29 per cent. That’s a lot of landfill and choked sea birds.

Plastic bags are even more polluting, as discussed above. There are often stations recycling plastic bags at supermarkets, which, to their credit, are pushing more and more for us shoppers to use reusable bags. In fact many cities are moving to ban the plastic bag altogether (for an amusing, but also deadly serious film on the fate of the plastic bag, see ‘The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary’, )

Earth 911 () has a lot of useful information on plastic recycling - including bottle caps, which are usually made of a different type of plastic from the bottle!

Bottled water

Bottling water is probably one of the least useful uses of plastic.

[pic] In 2007, people who live in the U.S. spent an estimated $15 billion on varieties of bottled water.

[pic] According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006, that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.

[pic] Tap water is a bargain. Bottled water costs about 500 times more than tap.

[pic] Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil last year -- enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year.

[pic] Each year in the U.S., 4 billion pounds of plastic bottles that are recyclable - 60 million a day – end up in landfills or as roadside litter. Only a small number is recycled.

[pic] About 40 percent of bottled water comes from the same sources as tap water. In blind tests, most consumers couldn’t taste the difference between tap and bottled water.

[pic] Tap water is a tooth saver. It has more fluoride than bottled water, which helps prevent tooth decay, especially in children.

[pic] Bottled water isn’t subject to the same stringent quality controls as tap water. It is no safer than tap water and sometimes much less safe.

[pic] The United Nations estimates that more than 1 billion people worldwide currently lack access to safe drinking water and that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will not have access to drinking water.

- The Franciscan “Think Outside the Bottle” Pledge

Metal

Metal is a valuable resource that can readily be reused, so recycling saves the mining of natural resources, energy used in mineral processing and land-fill costs. Tens of billions of steel and aluminum cans are made in the US each year…. and both types of can may be recycled. To recycle metal:

• use local ‘can banks’ or curbside collections if available

• take or arrange for unwanted appliances or other bulky metal items to be deposited at a local authority metal collection/recycling site

For details on aluminum recycling contact the Aluminum Association ( ;

)

and for details of your nearest recycling center for steel cans contact your local township recycling officer or the Steel Recycling Institute (). The Institute does several different sets of educational material ()

For all recycling needs, don’t forget this resource:

High-tech equipment/e-waste

High-tech equipment such as computers and mobile phones are transforming the way that people conduct their lives, but the rapid obsolescence of the equipment means that there is a burgeoning “e-waste” mountain. These items contain very valuable but very toxic components, and often they end up (illegally) in landfill or being exported to the Third World where metals are recycled in very polluting, dangerous conditions.

(see )

[pic]

This picture from

A number of charities or organizations are pleased to receive unwanted computer equipment for reuse or recycling – type ‘computers’ in the search bar of . Staples, BestBuy and other office/electronic retailers are also running programs for the recycling of anything electronic.

Additionally, unwanted mobile phones and toner cartridges can be given to a variety of charities that forward them to a recycling program to raise money for their work.

Clothes and cloth

Many tons of clothing and cloth is disposed of each year. Consider undertaking the following actions to reduce this waste:

take clean clothes to charity shops and clothing banks

rummage sales are another place to recycle material

clothing and cloth which cannot be sold can be recycled into industrial wipes, blankets and stuffing for furniture

only buy clothes that you really need and consider buying clothes from a thrift store

Organic Waste

Approximately 20% of domestic waste is made up of organic matter. Disposing of this in landfill takes up valuable space and as it rots, the greenhouse gas methane is produced. Composting organic matter in gardens can reduce these large scale hazards and produce compost which improves soil fertility – see ‘greening your garden’ section below.

Laundry

Reduce your impact on the environment when washing clothes by…

… using the lowest temperature recommended for the clothing being washed

… running the washer full

… measuring detergent according to water hardness and the degree of soiling

… pre-sorting laundry according to the recommended washing cycle

… using phosphate-free detergent

Where possible dry the clothing outside, to take advantage of the sun and the wind rather than using a clothes drier.

Diapers

Diapers are one of our major waste problems. The average baby gets through almost six thousand of them – and 28 billion are used each year in the USA. Disposable diapers account for some 2 - 4% of landfill waste where we think they will take half a millennium to decompose. It takes a cup of crude oil to produce the plastic for one disposable diaper, and millions of trees are felled each year to produce the wood pulp they use.

Real diapers, i.e. made of washable cotton, have come a long way since the old toweling squares our grandmothers remember! Modern convenient diaper designs and washing services make cloth a very practicable option for most people. Clearly washing diapers uses water and energy – but no non-biodegradable waste.

For any times when real diapers are more difficult – for instance, when travelling, consider using the ‘alternative’ disposables, which may be gel-free and use unbleached paper pulp. Even if you only use real diapers part of the time, you are still helping the environment.

Greening the garden

Many people have access to a garden, yard or balcony. Whatever the size of the patch, it is possible to look after it for the benefit of wildlife. Useful tips:

|Install wildlife feeding stations, for example a bird table. |provide a variety of habitats for wildlife including thick |

|Birds benefit from food provided throughout the year. Provide |foliage, and habitats at various heights by planting shrubs, |

|whole nuts, or black oil sunflower seeds, in a bird feeder. Try|hedges and trees, mindful of the size of the plot |

|to clean out the feeding station at least once a week to reduce|plant species to provide a variety of food sources including |

|the risk of disease |nectar, berries and seeds: these can be planted even in |

|to encourage wildflowers manage a section of grass as a meadow,|relatively small pots |

|allowing it to grow until July before cutting |use native plants i.e. ones that grow naturally in your country|

|create habitats for insects and small mammals by leaving a |and region, as these are of most benefit to local wildlife |

|section of grass uncut |install a compost bin to compost organic kitchen waste |

|consider creating a bog area |() |

|leave a pile of wood to rot, to act as a home to ‘bugs’ and a |minimize pesticide use and where possible use biodegradable |

|grocery store for many small creatures |sprays; |

|maintain a supply of water such as a pond or bird bath to allow|consider planting drought-tolerant plants in dry soil with |

|wildlife to drink and bathe, but ensure that it is not a hazard|sunny aspects to reduce the need for watering |

|to young children |install a water butt connected to a down pipe for watering the |

|provide wildlife nesting sites – consider bird, bat and |garden |

|hedgehog boxes | |

Many more ideas can be found in Module 9 ‘Planting and conserving Eden’ and at

“The Earth is the Lord’s” Psalm 24:1 (Authorized Version)

This includes any patch of garden that you look after!

Greening the shopping basket

General guidelines

We can reduce the environmental impact of our purchasing. There are five golden ‘R’s to consider before making a purchase:

Refuse – do I really need the item?

Reduce – do I need to consume as much, e.g. if buying a car I could buy one with a 1.4L engine rather than a mini-van or behemoth SUV….so saving resources used in manufacturing and running and fuel costs

Recycle – can the item be recycled? What proportion of recycled and raw materials is used in its construction?

Reuse – instead of buying a brand new item, can I reuse an existing item that I already have or buy it second hand?

Repair – instead of buying new, can I have an existing item repaired? Can the item that I am considering buying be easily repaired and are spare parts available?

Food

Not so many years ago the range of so-called exotic produce was largely limited to bananas and citrus fruit, with occasional pineapples, melons and seasonal clementines. Today you can buy any fruit or vegetable, whatever the season. Beyond losing the sense of what time of year it is, this change has also increased pollution from the transport of food – ‘food miles’. And while there is a debate about the difference in taste and nutritional value of organic versus non-organic produce, it is clear that the use of pesticides, along with other intensive farming practices, has had a damaging impact on wildlife. Furthermore, buying coffee other than shade-grown may mean that you are contributing to the removal of rain forest. Our shopping choices make a difference.

[pic]

Good practice:

|buy locally grown produce where possible and support farmers’ |choose organically grown crops and avoid buying too much |

|markets – be a ‘locavore’ (see ) |produce that has been flown in from around the world |

|consider growing your own produce if possible and practical |make pickles, jams and preserves when produce is in season |

|when buying coffee, seek out shade-grown, which is grown under the|and cheap |

|rainforest canopy and so preserves, rather than destroys, this |avoid choosing food with excessive packaging |

|irreplaceable habitat. Examples are Audubon Coffee |avoid, at all costs, endangered fish species (see below) |

|() Sacred Grounds | |

|(), and Tonyan Coffee | |

| | |

The Soil Association, , has some fascinating background on this area.

Fish, fisheries and feeding yourself sustainably

Why does what fish I eat matter?

Firstly, we are overfishing the oceans. The plundering of the oceans by factory ships is leading to the starvation and despair of Third World fishermen and their families (see below for more on this issue)

Secondly, making any species extinct, especially through our own greed and carelessness, is a blasphemy. What we are doing to our fish stocks is not only an irreversible ruining of the sea’s ecology…it is an insult to our Lord’s creation. Unfortunately, as is noted below, farming fish is often an even worse idea.

So – for all of us –

If you eat fish that was caught sustainably, you know you are conserving God’s creation and helping feed someone’s family.

If you eat fish that has harvested unsustainably, you are not only driving that species towards extinction – you are quite likely to be depriving someone poorer than yourself of a livelihood.

Farmed salmon and shrimp are to be avoided. Salmon farms cause extensive local pollution in sea lochs in Scotland and elsewhere, as well as having other deleterious environmental effects. Third World shrimp farms not only pollute, they are often created by cutting down mangroves or destroying coral reefs – a seriously un-green thing to do!

Look out for fish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council,

[pic]

[pic]

SOURCE: Global marine yield halved as fishing intensity redoubles

R. A. WATSON ET AL. FISH and FISHeries. (2012)

What to do?

Learn the fish and shellfish species to eat and not to eat - visit , and also

The Ocean Conservancy does excellent work in this area and has a lot of good advice:

A Biblical perspective can be found here on the web site for the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa: uploader/uploads/fecciwaoverfishing.docx .

“In the ocean, fish are often grown in open net pens, packed together more tightly than in nature. Disease can spread quickly through a captive school and even endanger wild fish in the surrounding ocean. Most troubling, many farmed fish (like salmon) consume more wild fish — ground up into fishmeal — than they produce as farmed product, defeating the very purpose of aquaculture.

“Unless we develop strong and enforceable regulations to control fish farming, it may wreak havoc on some of our wild fish supply. The real challenge lies not in banning farming fish altogether but in finding smart solutions that deliver a safe and environmentally acceptable seafood supply…”

Ocean Conservancy

Further Resources on Ethical Purchasing





These sites rate companies on a variety of rankings including their impact on the environment, their employee policies and other social justice measures, their human rights record, their community involvement and their animal protection rating.

And don’t forget .

And for fish, .

Greening personal finance

Personal finance is an area where individuals can make decisions that reflect their ethical values. Two key areas for making choices are the bank that you use and how you will invest any savings that you may have.

Bank Accounts

An easy way to manage your money according to your environmental or other principles is to have an account with a bank with a clear and rigorous environmental policy. There are two positive routes that you can take to ensure this. One is to work with the bank that you currently use, and press them about their environmental policies, including their policy on Third World debt. Concerted pressure from customers can bring about change. A second option is to move your account to a bank that conducts business according to a set of ethical criteria that come close to your values. Whilst Eco-Congregation cannot endorse any one financial institution, some banks operate more positive environmental policies than others.

Ideas about ethical personal finance can be found in Module 8 - ‘Greening the purse strings’

Greening our journeys

Americans drove three trillion miles in 20101 . Incredibly, almost ten per cent of car journeys are for less than a mile, and a full three-quarters under ten miles! (ref. 2)

Automobiles lead to carbon dioxide emissions (a greenhouse gas) and even worse, other gaseous pollutants including nitrogen oxides and particulates. This ‘soot’, carbon monoxide and fumes-induced ground-level ozone from traffic contribute to the death, by heart disease and asthma attacks, of thousands of people each year3.

As Christians, we should particularly be aware that many highways have been run through poor areas – so it is the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of our car-oriented culture.

References:

)



and

Further reading -

[pic]

Photo from

Travel tips

Travel sensibly by:

Walking or cycling more often, particularly for short distances

Using the bus/train more often – relax and read a book rather than endure traffic jams!

Planning to use one journey for a number of tasks and, if possible, sharing journeys

Asking if your employer would encourage the use of public transport through the provision of season ticket loans and encourage cycling to work by providing secure facilities for bicycles, together with showers and lockers

Prevent pollution:

When choosing a car, choose one with the best possible fuel consumption (visit ) – and look at the company’s overall attitude, e.g., in having a zero landfill factory. Consider pre-owned, provided it still runs relatively cleanly and does not consume too many parts!

Drive at slower speeds - driving at 70 mph uses 30% more fuel than driving at 40-55 mph

Develop a good driving technique - accelerate gently and avoid sharp breaking. These methods can lead to a 25% reduction in fuel used

Have your car serviced regularly – an incorrectly adjusted carburetor can waste up to 25% of fuel. Incorrect tire pressure can increase fuel consumption too

Greening Christmas

‘The first way toward celebrating the holiday in a way that respects creation and honors the Creator is changing your mind-set. Yes, advertisers want you to believe that a true Christmas celebration requires a mountain of gifts under an ornately decorated tree. Even friends and family may pressure you to indulge in holiday excess just because that’s what you have always done…To get back to the heart of Christmas, start by simplifying…Sit down with your family and discuss…Which activities have meant the most in years past? Who helps you experience Christ’s love around Christmas time? Instead of creating a Christmas gift wish list, think of ways you can reach out to others. Your goal should be to end the holiday with deeper relationships rather than mounds of wrapping paper, ribbons and bows. You will spend less money, create less waste, and have more stories to share in the future.’

Nancy Sleeth, in ‘Go Green, Save Green: A Simple Guide to Saving Time, Money, and God's Green Earth’, pp. 222 – 223.

At Christmas it is easy to go into an all-consuming, all-disposing frenzy. However committed a Christian, it is very easy to go overboard and spend way too much on food and drink …and unwanted, extravagant presents. Our headaches re-double when we open our credit card statement.

Here are some tips on how to celebrate our Lord’s birth more appropriately.

Reduce and Recycle

Cards: send e-cards to friends; pin up a ‘communal’ card at church or work instead of sending individual ones; make sure cards you buy are recycled and support charities; and recycle old cards in the New Year.

Trees & Decorations: buy a local-grown tree and recycle it afterwards– most local authorities have programs to shred trees into garden mulch. Better still, buy a tree with roots that you can plant in the garden and re-use. Finally, old newspapers, magazines and scrap material can make great paper chains and decorations.

Presents: the best presents are often simple and carefully chosen; buy local, Fair Trade or second-hand; support charities; make your own; avoid battery-powered goods (most use 50 times more energy to make than they give out); and give membership of a Christian environmental / conservation charity (see below).

Alternatively, give a ‘living gift’ through a wildlife charity (e.g. plant a native tree or sponsor a wild animal on someone’s behalf)

Wrapping paper: re-use where possible; wrap your presents with string, wool or ribbon so that the paper can be reused.

Cosmetics: choose eco-friendly cosmetics that are better for your health and for the water going down your sink… and that are not tested on animals.

Bags and packaging: take bags on shopping trips to avoid returning with a whole load of plastic bags; buy food and drinks in appropriate sized containers (e.g. one large instead of several smaller) and choose products with less packaging to reduce your rubbish mountain.

Eat better

Turkey: millions of turkeys are gobbled up at Christmas, and most are raised in cramped conditions without natural light. Buy an organic bird – it will have led a happier life and your lunch will taste better too.

Pop a cork: when buying wine, ensure it has a natural cork. Cork oak forests, found in Spain, Sardinia and Portugal, are home to a rich variety of wildlife and the cork is harvested without harming the trees. You protect wildlife and help support 100,000 jobs in the Mediterranean region. See

[pic]

Buy local: visit your local farmer’s market – the products will have travelled fewer ‘food miles’ and will often be less packaged. Visit .

Christian environmental organizations

There is a growing number of organizations where Christians bring a faith-based perspective to environmental work. If you would like to know more, contact one of the following:

[pic]

A Rocha is a Christian nature conservation organization, the name coming from the Portuguese for "the Rock", as the first initiative was in Portugal. As Christians all over the world have recognized the urgent need to protect and restore important habitats, A Rocha has become a family of national organizations working in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North and South America and Asia. A Rocha projects are frequently cross-cultural in character, and share a community emphasis, with a focus on science and research, practical conservation and environmental education. There are volunteering opportunities at many of the projects.



[pic]

‘a ministry dedicated to the care of God's creation. EEN seeks to equip, inspire, disciple, and mobilize God's people in their effort to care for God's creation.’



[pic]

‘For the students of Renewal, caring for God’s creation isn't just a burden and a responsibility- it's a blessing and an invitation to live in right relationship with our Creator. This means taking care of everything that God so lovingly creates and sustains - the earth and each other.’



[pic]

‘Blessed Earth is an educational non-profit that inspires and equips people of faith to become better stewards of the earth’. The charity founded by Matthew and Nancy Sleeth.



[pic]

‘We believe that while environmental degradation negatively affects us all, it is ultimately the poor who suffer most from this unhealthy relationship between people and the environment. We believe that restoring relationships between people, God and the environment is key to resolving many of the world’s social, economic and environmental problems. We believe lasting solutions that address the issues of poverty must involve poor individuals themselves in both design and execution. The poor can provide the solutions to many of their own problems when given more opportunity, access to resources, and appropriate coaching. We believe that God has called us to be agents of encouragement and empowerment, enabling the poor to both feed their families and restore their degraded lands. We believe that God entrusted us with caring for his creation, and that one of our responsibilities is restoring harmony between man and nature…’



Further Resources

Go Green, Save Green: A Simple Guide to Saving Time, Money, and God's Green Earth by Nancy Sleeth, 2009. ISBN 978-1414326986

Green Revolution by Ben Lowe, 2009. ISBN 978-0830836246

Serve God, Save the Planet by Dr. Matthew Sleeth, 2007. ISBN 978-0310275343 (and film series, )

A directory of useful organizations

[pic]



[pic]



Nature Conservancy

[pic]



This organization has a wonderful personal actions page -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About A Rocha Eco-congregation

A Rocha Eco-congregation is an ecumenical program to help churches make the link between environmental issues and their Christian faith - and respond in practical action in the church and wider community. It is run in churches in Britain and Ireland, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere, and provides free resources, support and an Award Program to help churches to consider

Eco-congregation (USA) is a project of A Rocha USA, a 501(c) organization.

A Rocha () is a Christian nature conservation organization operating in over nineteen countries, our name coming from the Portuguese for “the Rock,” as the first initiative was a field study centre in Portugal. A Rocha projects are frequently cross-cultural in character, and share a community emphasis, with a focus on science and research, practical conservation and environmental education.

A Rocha USA, PO Box 1338, Fredericksburg TX 78624

830.522.5319 / usa@ / arocha-[pic]

-----------------------

“Individual actions may seem insignificant but together the small steps of many people can have an astonishing impact. Each person’s joyful choices can be a visible example to others and give them courage to follow.”

The Call of Creation, Catholic Bishops’

Conference of England and Wales, 2002

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download