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Care For God’s Creation:
One of the themes in Catholic Social Doctrine is “Care For God’s Creation”. A brief summary of the Church’s teaching on this topic, published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, states: “We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. The environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.”
Environmentalism has emerged as a distinctive new feature of Pope Benedict XVI’s social teaching. He has said, “Before it’s too late, we need to make courageous choices that will recreate a strong alliance between men and earth.” “We need a decisive ‘yes’ to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible.”
Assembled is a series of Earth Saving Facts and tips. The tips are mainly provided by Great Plains Earth Institute and governmental energy, health and environmental sources. They are simple and adaptable to our every day lives, and are meant to assist us to “Care For God’s Creation”.
Earth Saving Tips on Water:
Water shortage is predicted to affect 400 million people in the U.S. by mid-century. If every American household replaced older, inefficient toilets with high efficiency toilets, water bills would be reduced by 10%. It would save more than 900 billion gallons of water a year, enough to supply almost 10 million households.
You can help ensure sufficient water supplies for the future by practicing the following simple tips in your home:
1. Don’t leave water running needlessly when brushing teeth, shaving, washing dishes, etc., and operate the clothes and dish washer only when you have a full load.
2. Install a water-saving mechanism in your toilet. In older tanks , a brick or similar object will help or use a 1.6 gallon per flush tank.
3. Install water-saving shower heads.
4. Have your water heater insulated and set the water temperature at 130 degrees or lower.
5. Use cold water in the wash machine when possible and always rinse with cold water.
6. When washing clothes, doing dishes or other household cleaning, use phosphate-free cleaning products.
7. Do not flush medicine down the toilet unless accompanying patient information specifically instructs that it is safe to do so. Non-narcotic drugs that are unused, unneeded, or expired can be taken to the Sedgwick Co. Hazardous Waste Facility at 801 Stillwell St..(tel.#660-7464).
Earth Saving Tips for Reducing Emissions in Your Home:
According to a recent Environmental Protection Report, if every American household changed five regular light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs which use less energy and last ten times longer, it would be the equivalent of taking eight million cars off the road.. (For information on handling and recycling compact fluorescent light bulbs because they have mercury in them, go to www.lamprecycle.org/). We can reduce our use of energy in many other ways:
1. Remember to turn off lights, T.V., radio, and the computer when you are out of the room.
2. Disconnect unnecessary equipment and appliances such as cell phone chargers and toasters when not in use..
3. Buy energy efficient appliances.
4. Let the dishes in the dish washer air-dry rather than going through the drying cycle.
5. Upgrade your insulation and secure weather stripping and seals on windows, doors, and refrigerators.
6. Change the thermostat in heating and cooling your home—even two degrees makes a significant impact. You can save as much as 3% off your heating and 6% off your cooling costs for every degree that you lower or raise your thermostat respectively.
7. Open blinds and drapes to sunshine even on cold winter days to raise the inside temperature.
8. Clean refrigerator coils and furnace filters regularly.
Earth Saving Tips for Reducing Emissions from Cars:
Americans use more than 380 million gallons of gas every day. According to experts, if everybody bought the most fuel-efficient car available, the United States would save approximately 1.47 billion gallons of gasoline each year.
1. Drive sensibly, including combining errands.
2. Don’t idle vehicles.
3. Carpool or walk when possible.
4. Keep tires properly inflated and wheels in alignment.
5. Use service garages that recycle. Two hundred million gallons of motor oil are improperly disposed of each year.
Earth Saving Tips for Shopping:
1. If you must buy disposables, buy paper products rather than plastic or styrofoam, unless you plan to wash and reuse the plastic containers.
2. Avoid buying items with excess packaging (one-third of all garbage is packaging)., and use plastic bags for produce only when necessary.
3. Use and reuse a fabric bag, not paper or plastic bags.
4. Buy things made of renewable resources: wool, cottons, plant matter, organic compounds, and wood instead of plastic.
5. Ask questions about products. Don’t buy those that are hazardous to the environment or animals.
6. SPEAK OUT! Talk to merchants and write to legislators about excess packaging , use of plastics etc.
Earth Saving Tips for your Yard:
1. Use natural insect controls as an alternative to pesticides.
2. Use organic fertilizers. Non-organic fertilizers and pesticides run off in the rain. Manure conditions your soil and fertilizes it at the same time.
3. Start a compost pile: Green for grass clippings, vegetable and fruit scraps etc.. Brown for dead leaves, straw, hay and wood. These materials turn waste into materials that can support plant life.
4. Water the lawn early in the day to promote growth and conserve evaporation
5. Put up birdhouses, bird baths, and shrubs and trees that provide food and shelter for animals.
Earth Saving Recycling Tips:
Did you know that styrofoam takes 2,000 years to decompose and that plastic bottles never decompose? Landfills emit methane and carbon dioxide, two greenhouse gases that scientists say contribute to global warming. We should avoid using products that are not biodegradable. According to the U.S. Government, 60%-70% of a products ingredients must be able to break down and return to the environment within 28 days. Many products that are used extensively by us every day, such as paper, cans, glass, aluminum, scrap metals, motor oil can be reused by being recycled.
To locate the various types of recycling and hazardous waste facilities in Sedgwick County or to learn more about the environment, go to www.sedgwickcounty.org/environment.They have an extensive list of facilities and other helpful information. The Sedgwick County Environment Program (316-660-7200) can answer your specific questions about products and environmental concerns. They are also willing to provide speakers for organizations.
Another informative and educational non-profit environmental organization in Wichita that sponsors interesting and diverse events and courses is the Great Plains Earth Institute (www.gpei.org).
To stop junk mail delivery, do a computer search on junk mail , and you will get leads to web sites that can help with eliminating catalogs, credit card and insurance offers, telephone solicitations etc.. The average household receives junk mail equal to 1.5 trees every year, and more than 100 million trees for all households. Fourty-four per-cent of junk mail received by households is never opened, and only twenty-two per-cent is recycled. In order to prevent identity theft, make sure you check and destroy mail that may contain personal credit numbers/bar codes.
An interesting animated audio video for children and adults is “ thestoryofstuff.com”http://www.gpei.org) |
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