Call your Senators and ask them to support strong climate legislation this year. The U.S. Senate was supposed to take up climate and energy legislation this fall, but now they are saying they won't address climate change this year, if they even do it at all. This delay is unacceptable--climate change is a matter of great urgency for the future of God's creation and for people living in poverty around the globe who are already facing the impacts of a warming planet. Call: 1 888 784-0527
They need to hear from as many people as possible to ensure they address climate change now and not later. Give your Senators a call this week and tell them to pass climate legislation this year.
As people of faith, we are called to use our voices to speak out for justice for God's people and God's Creation. Call your Senators and tell them God's whole earth is good.
Call Today.
Here's How:
1. Dial the toll-free number 1-888-784-0527. Click here to if you do not know your Senator.
2. Once connected to the Capitol Switchboard, ask for one of your Senator's Offices.
3. Then, when you are connected, leave a message with the person who answers the phone.
Here's an example:"Hi. My name is ___________ and I am a constituent. As a person of faith, I believe that the Senate must address climate change this year. It is time for us to be good stewards of God's Earth and seek justice for all of God's people."
4. Repeat the steps with your 2nd Senator's office. Thank you for helping to ensure a strong climate bill.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Starbucks Pilots Coffee Cup Recycling Program
Approximately 3 billion Starbucks coffee cups are sent to the landfill each year, but a new recycling program in New York may help to curb that statistic.
Through a partnership with Green Global USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery (CoRR), seven Starbucks stores in Manhattan began participating in a pilot program last week. Paper coffee cups will be collected and combined with old corrugated cardboard (OCC) for recycling.
Starbucks has a goal to create a comprehensive recycling solution that will make the cups easier to recycle by 2012. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com
Until now, the thin polyethylene plastic coating that prevents liquid leakages has made it difficult for most commercial services to process the cups. For this reason, disposable coffee cups are only accepted for recycling in some communities in the U.S.
However, preliminary trials done at Western Michigan University’s Coating and Recycling Pilot Plant on samples of the cups found they are recyclable and re-pulpable.
Global Green USA reports that every year, 58 billion paper cups are used in the U.S. at restaurants, events and homes. If all paper cups in the U.S. were recycled, 645,000 tons of waste would be diverted from landfills each year.
According to Annie White, director of CoRR, “The lessons learned from the cup recycling pilot can be applied to the recycling of hamburger, pizza and French fry containers, and all sorts of other paper food packaging.”
Cups will be collected in special paper liner bins along with OCC and delivered to Pratt Industries to be recycled. “Within 72 hours after being discarded, the cups collected in this demonstration program will be component in linerboard used to form New York’s take-out pizza boxes,” White said.
The results of the pilot program will be available in November.
Through a partnership with Green Global USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery (CoRR), seven Starbucks stores in Manhattan began participating in a pilot program last week. Paper coffee cups will be collected and combined with old corrugated cardboard (OCC) for recycling.
Starbucks has a goal to create a comprehensive recycling solution that will make the cups easier to recycle by 2012. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com
Until now, the thin polyethylene plastic coating that prevents liquid leakages has made it difficult for most commercial services to process the cups. For this reason, disposable coffee cups are only accepted for recycling in some communities in the U.S.
However, preliminary trials done at Western Michigan University’s Coating and Recycling Pilot Plant on samples of the cups found they are recyclable and re-pulpable.
Global Green USA reports that every year, 58 billion paper cups are used in the U.S. at restaurants, events and homes. If all paper cups in the U.S. were recycled, 645,000 tons of waste would be diverted from landfills each year.
According to Annie White, director of CoRR, “The lessons learned from the cup recycling pilot can be applied to the recycling of hamburger, pizza and French fry containers, and all sorts of other paper food packaging.”
Cups will be collected in special paper liner bins along with OCC and delivered to Pratt Industries to be recycled. “Within 72 hours after being discarded, the cups collected in this demonstration program will be component in linerboard used to form New York’s take-out pizza boxes,” White said.
The results of the pilot program will be available in November.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
DUSTY MAGAZINES? October Magazine Drive at Our Savior's
Fall is here! I have always loved fall. Not just because of the gorgeous fall colors, warm sun and crisp air, and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils... but also because it feels like a time of new beginnings. Yes, fall means the end of summer, but it is also the beginning of a new season, a new school year, and new opportunities to get inspired about caring for God's amazing creation.
This Sunday was Rally Sunday at Our Savior's - the first day of the new Sunday School year. To help teach our children about the importance of caring for creation, each Sunday School class will build its own recycling box to be used for recycling paper used during class on Sunday mornings.
To decorate their recycling boxes, the students will cut out pictures and words that portray or describe something of God's creation from magazines. Here is where you come in: we need magazines!
Our Savior's is holding a magazine drive during the month of October for materials to use in the Sunday School Recycling Box Project. When the students are finished decorating, the left-over magazines will be taken to the recycling center. So bring your magazines to church during October; collection boxes will be placed in the back of the Sanctuary. You were going to recycle you magazines anyway, right? Let us reuse them first and then we'll recycle them for you!
Take this opportunity to care for creation by recycling your used magazines, but so much more importantly, by helping us teach our children the importance of our Christian role as Earthkeepers.
This Sunday was Rally Sunday at Our Savior's - the first day of the new Sunday School year. To help teach our children about the importance of caring for creation, each Sunday School class will build its own recycling box to be used for recycling paper used during class on Sunday mornings.
To decorate their recycling boxes, the students will cut out pictures and words that portray or describe something of God's creation from magazines. Here is where you come in: we need magazines!
Our Savior's is holding a magazine drive during the month of October for materials to use in the Sunday School Recycling Box Project. When the students are finished decorating, the left-over magazines will be taken to the recycling center. So bring your magazines to church during October; collection boxes will be placed in the back of the Sanctuary. You were going to recycle you magazines anyway, right? Let us reuse them first and then we'll recycle them for you!
Take this opportunity to care for creation by recycling your used magazines, but so much more importantly, by helping us teach our children the importance of our Christian role as Earthkeepers.
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