Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS
Water well
Jefferson B. Knight (left) checks on the output of a water well during the rainy season in Robert's Town Village near Marshall City, Liberia. Knight is director of the Peace With Justice Program for the United Methodist Liberia Conference.
Water is life!
Even if you don’t live in one of the 40 states that, according to the EPA, are or will be experiencing water shortages within the year, if you eat food, you will be affected by drought.
Even if you have clean water that gives you life, others in our world community have unsafe or too little water, which takes away life.
Conserving water and assuring its safety and availability are issues of creation justice.
Creation Justice ident
World Water Day on March 22 points to a creation justice issue: Across the globe, according to the United Nations, 2.2 billion people are without access to safe water. Help make clean water a reality. Learn about and support any of these 15 nonprofits. Clean water prevents death and disease.
The greatest consumer of water (about 40%) in your house is your toilet. Older models use about 5.5 gallons per flush. Switch to a new toilet that uses only 1.6 gallons.
Fill your dishwasher full and don’t “pre-wash” with running water. A good scraping—preferably into a compost bucket—or just a splash of water is plenty. Or soak the worst in a sink or bowl to conserve water.
If you brush your teeth with the water running, the cost to the earth’s water supply is six gallons. Brush your teeth with the water off (except to rinse) costs only 0.25–0.5 gallons. Similarly, lather your hands first and then do just a quick rinse to save water.
Join the Biggest Hour for Earth, March 25. Switch off your lights and spend 60 minutes to do something positive for the planet. Join people in 190 countries in raising awareness and making a difference. Invite family, friends, your Sunday school class, or congregation to participate too.
With a hint of spring in the air, start a garden inside. If you can, involve children or grands in the endeavor, planting seeds in cups or pots. As you talk and work together, you will be growing not only food and flowers, but also a new generation that loves nature and wants to care for it—because you do! If need be, make showing your young gardeners the progress of the plants a part of a weekly Zoom call to those far away.
Look for new possibilities for your church’s land. One church sits at the top of a hill with a long lawn soaking up the sun. But the congregation turned a portion of the hill into a garden. Now, the vegetables they grow feed 20 families, who were identified by the local school as food insecure. And no one has to mow the lawn.
Love God; love God’s creation: Become a “creation-care thinker.” At home, at work, at school, at church, in your organizations, with your friends, through your voting—approach any opportunity with the mindset of caring for creation. Speak up with ideas. Help others see the possibilities and take action.
More and more products are available, for example, shampoo, laundry detergent, food wraps, hand soap, toilet paper, and phone cases. Companies like these are looking out for the earth, not just for their bottom line. Many of them also donate a portion of their revenue to other causes that support the environment. Align your purchases with your values.
The #1 contributor to climate change is the drastic increase in the last 70+ years in greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) for electricity, heat, and transportation. Drive less AND advocate for renewable energy sources through new laws at local, state, and federal levels.