Styrofoam

Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more .
1 T h e s s a l o n i a n s 4 : 1


Last Thursday, the Creation Care Committee attended the Women's board meeting to present on the topic of styrofoam. Our Savior's has, for many years, used styrofoam cups for the fellowship hour on Sunday mornings and has them available for use during the week as well. Styrofoam is also used on occasion for potlucks and community meals held in our building.

Vonnie Thordal, Co-President of the women's board, was enthusiastic and positive about adding the subject of styrofoam to their meeting agenda and we want to shout out a great big "Thank You!" to her her openness and willingness to consider another way!


Why is it important to stop using styrofoam?
Caring for the environment is part of our call to serve God and love our neighbor. A significant way we carry out that call is in the way we manage activities and functions on church grounds. This is easy to forget because our culture tells us it's our right to do what's easy and convenient. Christ tells us though, that it is our responsibility and vocation to honor God and the abundance He has given us.


Styrofoam is a bad deal
Styrofoam is a bad deal from beginning to end. Firstly, styrofoam is made from benzene, a known carcinogen, which is breathed in by the factory workers who often live lives of poverty which offer them little or no other choice for employment. The Benzene is converted to Styrene, polymerized and finally turned into foam by injecting gasses known to contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer and the production of smog. Benzene itself is made from oil and sometimes coal which is processed in plants which pump even more toxins and pollution into the air and ground and consume more oil to power the production process.

Secondly, there is no good way to recycle styrofoam. It is difficult to do and only a very few places do it. Furthermore, there are very few uses for recycled styrofoam and it is not suitable for making more cups. So recycling your cup does nothing to mitigate the need for more raw materials to make your next styrofoam cup.

Third. So styrofoam is made to be discarded and the damage to the environment is significant. According to the Recycler's Handbook, Americans send over 25 billion styrofoam cups to the landfill each year (and that's just the cups!). Consider Our Savior's: if 100 people drink coffee on Sunday mornings and use just one styrofoam cup, though some use more than one, times 52 weeks per year = 5,200 cups, they would use and throw away enough cups to fill 16 32 gallon trash cans. Then, the 5,200 cups are hauled away to the landfill in big, gas-guzzling trucks and dumped into the ground, where the chemicals leach into the ground and groundwater to become a problem for future generations.

Why is styrofoam still around if it's so bad?

Companies get away with it because they can. Styrofoam is cheap to make, cheap to ship and cheap to buy and they know if they put it on the shelves people will buy it. It's time for the Christian community to be the voice that says "No. This is not acceptable." We have to stop endorsing products that destroy what God gave us and charged us to protect.

There are several alternatives to styrofoam. The best and cheapest, of course, is to use ceramic mugs. One woman present at the meeting asked "how much would those cost?" and I was very happy to answer "nothing! We already own them and they're sitting in the cupboard downstairs in the kitchen!" Of course, using ceramic mugs requires the added time and effort of running the dishwasher as well as carting them upstairs to the Lounge on Sunday mornings and then back down again after the fellowship time is finished. We discussed the viability of asking the service unit volunteers who serve the coffee on Sundays to do this job or of finding someone who took on that task on a regular basis.

The next best thing would be biodegradable disposable cups - we still end up feeding the landfill but they would not be a toxic to God's creation and His people (factory workers!) as styrofoam. They are also thicker than paper cups and do well to hold hot liquids.

Yet another alternative is paper cups - though it was generally agreed at the meeting that those cups get pretty hot to hold.

Now what?

Though we did not reach a solid decision to discontinue stocking the church building with styrofoam cups, the women present at the meeting last Thursday were very gracious and open to learning more about the environmental issue around styrofoam and to the discussion of alternatives. Friends, this is where the process begins! And "Creation waits with eager longing..." (Romans 8:19).

June 21, 2010 Meeting Highlights

The Creation Care Committee met at Atomic Coffee in Moorhead and enjoyed the sun and heat - and wind - while sitting outside for our meeting. Thanks be to God - even for the wind!

Youth Project: Clean Up The Red
Plans for a Youth project with River Keepers are underway. Minister for Youth & Family Discipleship, Melissa Pickering, is on board and excited to do a "Clean Up the Red" day with the Youth. She has been very busy with the Mission Trip and will be able to plan more details in the coming weeks.

We anticipate the event would be on a Sunday afternoon in late summer and be no more than two hours long. Information on safety and what to wear when cleaning up the Red River is available from River Keepers. The Creation Care Committee will put this information into a packet to be sent home with the students. Carrie will check with Melissa about sending permission forms to be signed by the parents with these packets as well.

Rain Barrel Class
Carrie has been in contact with Lauri Winterfeldt at River Keepers about doing a rain barrel making class at Our Savior's. We feel it would be best to hold the class on a week night before the fall, while people are still interested and can still get some use out of them this summer. We don't have a date nailed down yet so we will put a general "head's up" announcement in the coming church newsletter. River Keepers is busy with other projects until July 28, so our class will have to be after that date.

The Use of Styrofoam on Church Grounds
Our goal is to address the use of styrofoam on church grounds this fall. We will propose that the church grounds be kept a styrofoam-free zone. This would mean using the ceramic coffee cups the church already has or supplying biodegradable cups rather than the styrofoam cups we currently supply. This would be the rule for Sunday fellowship times as well as for groups meeting in the church building throughout the week.

The Women's Board is currently without a president so we feel it is best to wait until after their fall elections.

Carrie has an article about the toxicity of styrofoam and why it's important for churches not to use it in the Web of Creation materials to include with the proposal. We will also include a short synopsis of the other ways Our Savior's cares for creation so it is understood that this is a church-wide effort and part of a grander plan.

Blessing the Animals, October, 2010
St. Francis of Assisi is remembered as a lover of all creation. Learn more about St. Francis and the custom of animal blessings here. The Creation Care Committee would like to hold a Blessing of the Animals on October 16. We would like to hold the blessing in Hansman Park and invite the surrounding neighbors to bring their pets as well.

We would need to create fliers and organize a time and volunteers to distribute them to neighborhood homes. This may be a wonderful opportunity for outreach!

Pr. Keith Zeh has done animal blessings before - Carrie will check with him to see if he would be willing to help us with this one.

Greenies Among Us
Laura will come up with some interview questions to use for email interviews of Our Savior's members who Care for Creation in various ways. Their answers and photos will be posted on the blog and advertized in the church newsletter.

Next Creation Care Meeting
Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 5:15 at Atomic Coffee in Moorhead.


If you have comments about what was discussed in our meeting, or if you would like to suggest a project to help Our Savior's care for God's creation, please click on the "Comment" link below or contact us by email.

Benefits of an Energy Audit

Benefits of an Energy Audit

The article above is written by Jason Parmer and appears on the Blessed Earth website (see the post below to learn more about Blessed Earth).

When was the last time you took a tour of your home's crawlspaces?

My own home was built in 1921. It's a fairly small house so one would think the energy bills wouldn't be too high - wrong! Our energy bills are through the roof during the winter months, despite several "do-it-yourself" attempts to winter-proof.

So what's the next step? An energy audit! Why haven't we done it yet? Honsetly, there is no good reason. We just haven't gotten around to it. I think that might be the default answer for many people who care about creation, but still haven't made any significant changes in lifestyle. We just "haven't gotten around to it yet." But how long will the earth wait for us?

The effects of climate change are increasing every single day - what are we waiting for? Most utility companies provide this service for free - there is nothing to loose, except energy loss of course.

Read Jason Parmer's article, Benefits of an Energy Audit, and find out what he learned by doing an audit on his home.

Blessed Earth

Blessed Earth is an organization I just discovered this spring. A person in Illinois was reading our blog and sent me a link to their website suggesting that we might find it interesting. Let me tell you, "interesting" is quite an understatement!

I perused their website, read their blogs, viewed a few videos about an educational series they created and could hardly stay in my chair I was so excited.

"Blessed Earth is an educational nonprofit that inspires and equips faith communities to become better stewards of the earth. Through outreach to churches, campuses and media we build bridges that promote measurable environmental change and meaningful spiritual growth" (Blessed Earth mission statement).

Not only do they provide resources for churches in pratically every context I can think of, but it is also completely founded in Scripture. The founder of the company, Dr. Matthew Sleeth, is a surgeon turned Creation Care Expert. He may know more about this issue than anyone in the nation.

Please, if you're looking for inspiration, check this out!! blessedearth.org. Read - learn - watch the videos - join the mailing list - be inspired. I was.



Of particular interest is their page with Creation Care tips - talk about an incredible resource! Click here to check it out!

Happy Earth Day!

The heavens are telling the glory of God;

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;

their voice is not heard;

yet their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

P s a l m 1 9 : 1 - 4

Indeed - this IS the day the Lord has made! And what a glorious day it is! Happy Earth Day to you. We hope you will find a way to celebrate the miraculous creation today. For ideas, click here.

There is a "Green Expo" coming up on May 9 at the Fargo Civic Center. Click here for more details.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Earth Week events here at Our Savior's. Our worship services on Sunday and Wednesday celebrated the great Creator. Over sixty-five worshippers pledged to become better stewards of creation during those services. Discussions during our three global warming classes this week were thoughtful and spirit-filled.

We are the people of God and we are making a difference right here Moorhead. When the task of "going green" begins to look overwhelming or unattainable please remember this: God's grace is a renewable resource! He will give us what we need to make a difference. We are the hands and feet of Christ - let's let Him work through us today!

A Prayer for Earth Day
God our Creator and Parent, who is as far as the stars and as near as our breath, You are holy. Let all creation worship you and live in harmony with you and each other. Give us today what we need; and forgive us for withdrawing from mutuality with You, as we forgive those who have withdrawn from mutuality with us; let us find our happiness in You. For all that matters is in You, and through You, and of You and for You, forever. Amen.

Global Warming Might Spur Earthquakes and Volcanoes

The following article was emailed to me by an Our Savior's member who attended last night's Earth Week video: "An Incoveneint Truth." Please note that this article was written in 2007 on LiveScience.com. When are we going to start believing scientists' predicitons?

By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 30 August 2007 08:57 am ET

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and landslides are some of the additional catastrophes that climate change and its rising sea levels and melting glaciers could bring, a geologist says.

The impact of human-induced global warming on Earth's ice and oceans is already noticeable: Greenland's glaciers are melting at an increasing rate, and sea level rose by a little more than half a foot (0.17 meters) globally in the 20th century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

With these trends in ice cover and sea level only expected to continue and likely worsen if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, they could alter the stresses and forces fighting for balance in the ground under our feet—changes that are well-documented in studies of past climate change, but which are just beginning to be studied as possible consequences of the current state of global warming.

"Although they've described it in the past, nobody's thought about it in terms of future effects of climate change," said Bill McGuire of the University College London's Hazard Research Center.
McGuire's speculations of increased geological activity have not yet been published in a journal, but he has written an article about them published in the Guardian Unlimited.

Rebounding crust
One particular feature that can change the balance of forces in Earth's crust is ice, in the form of glaciers and ice sheets that cover much of the area around Earth's poles plus mountains at all latitudes. The weight of ice depresses the crust on which it sits.

As the ice melts, the crust below no longer has anything sitting on top of it, and so can rebound fairly rapidly (by geological standards). (This rebounding is actually occurring now as a result of the end of the last Ice Age: The retreat of massive ice sheets from the northern United States and Canada has allowed the crust in these areas to bounce back.)

Areas of rebounding crust could change the stresses acting on earthquake faults and volcanoes in the crust.

"In places like Iceland, for example, where you have the Eyjafjallajökull ice sheet, which wouldn't survive [global warming], and you've got lots of volcanoes under that, the unloading effect can trigger eruptions," McGuire said.

With the changing dynamics in the crust, faults could also be destabilized, which could bring a whole host of other problems.

"It's not just the volcanoes. Obviously if you load and unload active faults, then you're liable to trigger earthquakes," McGuire told LiveScience, noting that there is ample evidence for this association in past climate change events.

"At the end of the last Ice Age, there was a great increase in seismicity along the margins of the ice sheets in Scandinavia and places like this, and that triggered these huge submarine landsides which generated tsunamis," McGuire said. "So you've got the whole range of geological hazards there that can result from if we see this big catastrophic melting."

Roland Burgmann, a geologist at the University of California, Berkeley, agrees that changes in ice cover can have significant effects on the underlying crust, but says that more research needs to be done to determine the actual scale of the threat and where the effects are most likely to occur.

Water pressure
Ice melt can have an added consequence because all that melted ice has to go somewhere—namely, the ocean.

And ice melt won't be the only factor changing sea levels: as ocean temperatures rise, the water itself expands (a process called thermal expansion).

As all that extra water piles up, it could apply pressure to faults near coastlines.

"The added load of the water bends the crust, and that means that you tend to get tensional conditions in the upper part of the crust and compressional a bit lower down, just as if you bend a plank of wood or something," McGuire explained.

These compressional forces could push out any magma lying around underneath a volcano, triggering an eruption. (This mechanism is actually believed to be the cause of the seasonal eruptions of Alaska's Pavlof volcano, which erupts every winter when sea levels are higher.)
McGuire conducted a study that was published in the journal Nature in 1997 that looked at the connection between the change in the rate of sea level rise and volcanic activity in the Mediterranean for the past 80,000 years and found that when sea level rose quickly, more volcanic eruptions occurred, increasing by a whopping 300 percent.

If today's worst-case global warming scenarios of catastrophic melting of glaciers and ice sheets come to pass, sea levels could rise rapidly, wreaking all sorts of geological havoc "comparable with the most rapid increases in sea level that we've seen in the last 15,000 years," McGuire said.

Burgmann isn't too worried about sea level rise causing more earthquakes or volcanic eruptions though, noting that catastrophic rates of sea level rise in the future are uncertain and that the current rate of rise—about 0.12 inches per year (3 millimeters per year)—isn't enough to destabilize the crust.

"It would take a long time to add up to a significant amount," Burgmann said—so while it's an area of research to keep an eye on, it's unlikely to have any disastrous consequences, at least for now.

Natural Disasters: Top 10 U.S. Threats
Top 10 Surprising Results of Global Warming
Timeline: The Frightening Future of Earth

Green Soap

I had an unexpected visit this morning that made my day. A member of Our Savior's stopped by the church office after returning home from a trip to Arizona and she just had to show me the green treasure had brought back with her.

She and her husband stayed in a fancy, hundred-year-old hotel during their visit to the Grand Canyon. Like so many people and businesses in the area whoare passionate about maintaining and preserving the natural habitats that bring in the tourism which supports their livelihoods, this hotel has taken steps to "go green."

Ever felt guilty about throwing away a "mostly"-used bar of soap? Hey, we've all done it - that little bit of soap left at the end is just too much of a pain to keep using so we toss it and put out a fresh bar. Well this Arizona hotel has found the solution: "Green Natura," waste-reducing exfoliating body cleanser.

I'll let the box speak for itself:
"This innovative, ergonomically-shaped 'waste-reducing' soap has been designed to sliminate the unused center of traditional soap bars. This soap is cruelty free and contains no animal fat or byproducts."

Even the packaging is green - made with natural, recycled materials and printed with soy-based inks.

And it even smells great too - way to go!