Tips for Green Holiday Giving

Is anything more wonderful than finding the perfect gift for someone, or receiving the present that’s just what you needed? How about gift-giving accompanied by the knowledge that your gift is also a gift for the planet? There’s more to green giving than just switching to the stuff with the “green” label. Here are some pointers for finding the right gifts that make everyone happy.

• Be sure your gift will get used. A gift that the receiver does not use is simply wasted.
• Give a consumable gift. The gift will not be left unused in the corner of their closet.
• Share a piece of yourself. Offer your services.
• Make a gift of any service. You will still reduce material consumption.
• Give a gift where it is needed on behalf of someone better off. Improve another family by the gift of a llama or a sheep on their behalf.
• Buy a local gift. A gift made or grown locally you have discovered right here.

Gifts are wonderful expressions of friendship. Just keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas, and that is so much more important than gift giving.

Why do people of Faith care about Creation?

Caring for the Earth is a fundamental part of our Christian faith. We hold a set of core values that speak to the heart of our religious morals and ethics: spirituality, stewardship, sustainability, and justice.

Spirituality - Creation itself inspires us and calls us to care. God created all things of Heaven and Earth and God is our inspiration to care for both wild places and our own cities and backyards.

Stewardship - Psalm 24 states that “the Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” We simply hold the Earth in trust for God. We are tenants here, called to care for the creation on behalf of future generations and all species.

Sustainability - At the heart of sustainability is the goal of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In a world of finite resources, those among us who have more than enough must address patterns of consumption so that we can provide for all.

Justice - Justice means that in addition to providing aid to our neighbors, we are called to change societal systems that cause poverty, injustice, and environmental damage in the first place. It goes beyond helping to meet physical needs to creating a society with laws and policies that allow the needs of all Earth’s inhabitants to be met. Care and responsibility for the “least of these among us” is a central tenant of Christianity and has a direct connection to environment issues.

The “Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.” Read more at: http://earthministry.org/

Earth Care: Taking Small Steps

All of us want to help God’s world -- reaching out to the dispossessed and impoverished, fighting to keep the beauty of His creation unsullied -- but the devil is always in the details. We have to work within the constraints of our lifestyle, our relationships and our pocketbooks and begin to ask ourselves, “How radical can I be?”

First, don’t give up. God smiles when we do the right thing. Even if all seems lost, we must fight on the side of what is right. Shifting from a comfortable lifestyle to a life that honors God’s creation isn’t always convenient or comfortable.

Secondly, you will actually make money if you use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Just compare the electricity bills! Admittedly, their slow ‘warm-up’ can be strange at first; and some lights can be difficult to replace. But each bulb helps, and that electricity saved means less pollution all around.

Third, cut back on your use of plastics. If you do use them, recycle them at the grocery store. You can recycle every bit of flimsy plastic: plastic bags that held the veggies in my grocery shopping, the plastic bags wrapping my daily newspaper. This garbage is therefore prevented from choking sea turtles and trashing God’s planet. Such efforts cost you nothing.

So, we do small things, and we occasionally gather the courage to do some of the bigger things. And we are blessed. Join us in doing the same.
For more information, check out www.blessedearth.org

How easy is it to reduce consumption?

Here are just a few simple ideas to reduce your oil consumption. You’ll help our environment and save a few dollars.

Walk or ride your bike: Avoid using cars and if you must, always try to carpool. Transportation accounts for 40 percent of our petroleum consumption and is easily one of the biggest areas we need to improve upon.

Enjoy the outdoors: Avoid buying new sporting equipment, since oil makes up nearly 25% of rubber. Used equipment is often just as good and will reduce demand for oil needed to make new rubber.
Use reusable bags: Avoid disposable plastic. Plastic bags are a huge waste for very little benefit. Nearly 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption, approximately 2 million barrels a day, is used to make plastic products alone.

Drink tap water: Avoid beverages bottled in disposable plastic, they make up nearly 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year, so get a reusable bottle and fill it up.

Go to the movies or stream them on Hulu: Avoid buying new DVDs/Blu-Rays, as oil is a key ingredient in their production, packaging and shipping.

Head to your local library or read online: Avoid using a printer and buying printed material including daily newspapers. Printing doesn't just waste paper, nearly 100,000 gallons of ink each day is used on daily newspapers alone.

Read more at www.weekendwithoutoil.org

Earth Care: Gulf Coast Prayer and Action

July 2010

“All Creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it.”

United Methodist Church Social Principles ¶160 – The Natural World

The ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a visible testament to our failure to serve as caretakers of God’s good creation. For many of us, the daily images of devastation to both the ecosystems and economies in the region leave us wondering what we can do.

We must reduce our use of the planet’s resources. Here are some simple facts:

• U.S. petroleum consumption: 19.5 million barrels/day (Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA))
• Annual consumption of bottled water in the U.S. requires the equivalent of between 32 and 54 million barrels of oil. (Source: Pacific Institute)
• 100 billion single-use bags — using 12 million barrels of oil — are used each year in the U.S (Source: Worldwatch Institute)

We all must consider ways to reduce our consumption. It could be driving less, eating less meat or eating more products grown or produced locally. It all will make a difference.

If you are on the web, check out “Looking in the mirror for fuel gluttony” from United Methodist News Service. Read more at www.umc-gbcs.org/gulfcoast

Earth Care: Prayers For the Gulf

The slow-motion tragedy of the gulf oil spill lays bare our collective failure as caretakers of God’s good creation. While unknown thousands of barrels of oil leak into the rich and diverse ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico, how are we as Christians called to respond? While it is easy to express anger and cast blame at the companies who owned, operated and profited from the deep sea exploration, we must also reflect on our own complicity through our endless demand for cheap oil.

So much remains unknown: How long will the oil flow into the gulf? How far will the oil slick spread? How damaging will the spill be to fragile wetlands and the flora and fauna in the region? How will the spreading oil slick jeopardize the future of thousands of watermen and those who depend on the Gulf for their livelihoods?

In the face of these uncertainties, we turn to the One who is certain – the One whose creative and recreating power is stronger than any of our human folly. May we heed the call of the Scriptures, humble ourselves and pray that God will forgive our sins and heal the land.

Please keep the Gulf of Mexico, the spill, the Gulf Coast, and all of God’s creation in your prayers as we deal with what some are calling the worst environmental disaster of our time.
Read more at www.umc-gbcs.org/gulfcoast

Earth Day 40 Years Later

With the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day behind us, here are a few quick tips to help you in the months ahead.

Give Up Plastic (and Paper) Bags - Cost: $1
Neither paper nor plastic is a good choice. Twelve million barrels of oil were used to make the 88.5 billion plastic bags consumed in the United States last year. And it takes four times more energy to make paper bags. The best choice is reusable shopping bags.

Give Up Hot Water (At Least in the Clothes Washer) - Cost: $0
Did you know that only 10% of the energy used by a typical washing machine powers the motor? About 90% of the energy is used to heat the water, and most clothes will come clean in cold water. So switch your washing machine's temperature setting. For heavily soiled clothing, change it from hot to warm, but otherwise try to wash and rinse most of your clothing in cold water.

Give Up Paper Towels - Cost: $7
No matter how you look at it, paper towels create waste. Try some reusable microfiber towels, which grip dirt and dust like a magnet, even when they get wet. When you are finished with them, wash and reuse them again and again. When you absolutely must have use disposable towels, look for recycled products. If every household in the US replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels with 100 percent recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.

You don’t need to give it all up at once. Just reduce and make progress in the right direction.