Monday, April 6, 2015

Eco-Challenge Kick - Off

Let's look at how to be a little more environmentally friendly.

This is a challenge to reduce plastic in our lives. 

Reduce not eliminate... plastic is not evil. It has many good uses: in medicine, industry, etc.

However, plastic was originally developed for long term use. The fact is, it lasts. And much of the plastic we use now is for short-term or single use items. Sometimes, as in medical treatments, that's fine -- good even. But a lot of the time it is simply wasteful. It's getting into our oceans, our food chain, our water supply.

Reduce not recycle... ok recycling is a good thing. But reducing and reusing are better. Recycling takes energy and often produces byproducts. This challenge is about reducing, but keep recycling, too.
 
So will you join me in trying to decrease unnecessary plastics in our lives? 

I am considering this a challenge, not a commitment. By joining in you are not promising to never touch a plastic water bottle again.  Not saying I'll be perfect at this either. I am challenging myself and inviting folks along for the ride

I won't be posting on this everyday. I am going to aim for Mondays and Thursdays, for the next 10 weeks or so. Shall we begin?

Step 1: Awareness

Over the next few days, simply become mindful of the amount of single use and short term use plastic that comes into your home, your business, your life ....

Stuff at your house

Stuff at your place of work

Stuff at the coffee shop and restaurant

Stuff in your beauty products 

Stuff at the supermarket 

Stuff in the mail

Just become aware of it. Reflect on how much disposable stuff there is. Begin to think about ways you might reduce your use. 

Join the discussion... comment here on what you see. 


 More on Thursday....










The earth is not to be worshiped, but it is to be cared for. 





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At the Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park one of our Statements of Purpose is
"We cultivate an active enjoyment and stewardship of God’s creation and a respect for the beauty of God’s world." Please consider this quality discipleship training program and experience of Christan community designed for high school students. August 2-15. 2015 on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. Scholarships available.


This is my fifth post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge






 

 

8 comments:

  1. We should all be conscious of our surroundings and be mindful of our use of plastic. I reuse plastic bags and bottles. Plastic would ever be replaced - but as you said, we should be more aware of its effect on our planet.

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  2. I do reuse plastic bags until they're unusable. The same with containers like butter and such. I'm not so good with bottles. We tend to use and dispose. I need a plan there. Something that doesn't include a horrendous amount of washing out bottles.

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    1. I use a stainless steel bottle. If each person has their own it can just be rinsed in hot tap water most of the time. Thanks for visiting!

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  3. Unfortunately, single use plastic is everywhere! Related... I recently learned that polyester fabric is now being made from plastic that has been cleaned up from the ocean! I love that!

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    1. Yes, it is ubiquitous. I want to know more about that polyester! Thanks for visiting.

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  4. I still am wondering about houses that put 2 garbage bags every week... and no green bin and just a touch of recycling...

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  5. We've done a couple of things in our home. 1). We each have our own stainless steel water bottle. As you mentioned, it can be rinsed and the cap washed. 2). We replaced reusable plastic containers (that eventually wear out and get tossed) with Pyrex glass. We have a variety of sizes for both storing leftovers and making up lunches. The nice thing about those is they can be thrown in the dishwasher!

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