Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Mother Earth, the neglected mother of the Week

Yes, Sunday was Mother's Day, and how many of you thought about Mother Earth? i know, i know, there are those of you offended by the use of that name or term (can it for the moment because i am defending the Earth and therefore, God's creation, so keep your semantics to yourself).
How big is your own ecological footprint? Do you know? It's a term used a lot now, and it's highly important. There's all sorts of easy ways to reduce it, so let's try it together, shall we?

Things i do well already (if i can do it, you totally can):
Recycle all papers you clear out when cleaning up (including newsletters, newspaper, etc)
Recycle all cardboard (cereal boxes, pasta boxes, etc)
Instead of throwing out or hording greeting cards for years, recycle them, PLEASE!
Wash out and recycle cans and bottles
*if you really feel your tap water is not sufficient, buy a Britta filter or jug and reuse bottles you can wash yourself. Stop buying bottles water by the case every week. That's extra packaging you are less likely to recycle and the delivery cost in resources and money is a huge factor in your ecological footprint
Buy fewer hair, cosmetic, and cleaning products and when possible, buy the refills
*ps: you can recycle your toilet paper tube, i know, more steps to the bin than to the trash beside you, suck it up
Carpool as much as possible

Things i don't do so well (let's all try):
Turn off lights when you leave a room
Turn off computer monitors when you aren't using them
On cool nights, open a window and turn off your A/C
Take the stairs more often
ONLY PUT AS MUCH FOOD ON YOUR PLATE AS YOU WILL EAT, you can always go back for more. Seriously, wasting food is a huge contributing factor. More food must be grown, shipped and disposed of when you waste or don't eat what you take.

Go to green.yahoo.com to learn what else you can do and make your own plan for how to make your life greener.

Wanna help stop hunger? Do you go to the grocery store once a week or more? Have 30 or 40 cents extra in your budget? Really think about that before you answer, it's yes, i promise) Buy an extra can or two of vegetables, pasta, etc, every time you hit the grocery store. Keep them on another shelf at home and take them to church with you on Sunday or the food bank once every month or so. If half the members of your average church (20 families or more) did that, they would take in 320 cans per month at the very least, or more than 36,000 per year. There are more than 100 Presbyterian churches alone in the Charlotte area. That would be 3,600,000 cans per year from only the Presbyterian churches in Charlotte. Are we getting the idea?

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