November Creation Care logo
In the midst of the incessant onslaught of bad news, it's time to give thanks for all that is good.
Challenge family and friends to swap out a traditional meat-based dish for one from plants. In a four-person household, making the change just once a week is the equivalent of removing the emissions from driving a car for five weeks. You’ll have more to celebrate and be thankful for.
Creation Justice ident
Tell your story about what you are doing for creation justice. You don’t have to convince or win an argument, just be an example. Talk and listen. Whether others agree or not, you are planting seeds of change. Others will water, and God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Ship your packages without single-use plastic tape. Switch to reinforced brown paper tape. Check out this alternative at netzerocompany.com. It comes plain or decorated with garden or marine life artwork, so you can make a statement for creation care too!
Shipping boxes recycle easily because cardboard is clean, easy to reprocess, and every ton that is reclaimed saves 17 trees. Simply break the boxes down flat so that they use less room in the recycling trucks. The trucks will make fewer trips and use less energy. That’s a win-win for the environment.
Plant trees. During Job’s many trials, creation gave him a reminder: “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again…” (Job 14:7-9). For people of faith, planting trees is a faithful act of hope and a sign of trust in the Creator. Learn more about trees here.
Invite people you know to join with you to write to policy makers. Choose an issue, ensure that everyone understands the issue clearly, direct the writers to how to write an effective letter or email, equip everyone with the pertinent addresses, and set a time to report to one another. Policy makers pay attention to letters individuals write. They have been known to say they don’t hear from people of faith. You can change that!
Give the brush to the dentist. Usually, after a cleaning, the dentist will give you a plastic bag of dental goodies, including a plastic toothbrush and a small plastic case of plastic dental floss. Turn the tables and give your dentist a bamboo toothbrush and silk dental floss packaged in a small glass container. Talk to your dentist about your concern for sustainability and invite your provider to investigate making a change away from plastic.
Put your money to work for justice. When you buy organic, you guarantee more farmers can grow healthy, safe food. When you buy fair trade, you provide living wages and fight poverty. When you buy from a business owned by women or people of color, you help build an inclusive economy. When you bank with a community bank or credit union, you are likely not to be funding fossil fuel projects.
You want to be a good neighbor and pick up your dog’s poop. But the usual plastic bag lasts and lasts and lasts in a landfill. When it does finally break down, it becomes harmful microplastics. Here’s an alternative: Use plant-based, compostable poop bags. You can be a good neighbor to the earth.
Are you regularly in a queue to pick up a child or grandchild from school? Fluctuating temperatures can entice you to turn on the engine one day to run the air conditioner and the next to crank up some heat. Emissions from idling cars, however, send particulates into the air, which research has shown negatively affects the cognitive development and performance of children. Keep the engine off while you wait.
Share these Tips with your family, friends, and congregation. Choose any or all. Forward them to someone you care about. Cut-and-paste to put them in your emails, worship bulletins, newsletters, social media, or website.
For more about the UM Creation Justice Movement, go to umcreationjustice.org.