Environmental Moment
By Eileen Haflich, Green Team Leader
As I sit here at my computer, it is still Earth Day. First established in 1970, and each year since, Earth Day has been a strong reminder of the urgent need to protect and preserve our natural world.
I spent some of today pondering my sermon and Moment for Mission from yesterday. I hope at least some of you who attended came away with some fresh ideas and inspiration to live sustainably. I thought deeply about my Moment for Mission message about our plastic waste crisis. It is a topic I am very passionate about. Ironically, on this very day, someone forwarded to me a Washington Post Op Ed about this exact same topic. I have linked it here, I strongly encourage you to read it.
During yesterday’s Moment for Mission, I highlighted the myths and consequences of plastic waste. We are lulled into a mistaken believe that the plastic packaging we consume gets recycled into something useful. The fact is that plastic has an abysmal recycling rate (see below). And the film plastic recycling bins outside grocery stores are more wish-cycling. The rate of recycled film plastic is also about 6%. (Note: film plastic must not be put in your blue recycling bin, it clogs up the recycling machinery.)
Recycling Rates in California
PLASTIC 6%
CARDBOARD 93%
ALUMINUM 73%
GLASS 80%
The fact is that plastic never decomposes over time into harmless chemicals, rather it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called mico or nano-plastics which are found in our air, water, and soil and also throughout our bodies with unknown health consequences. I also just read today that between 8-11 tons of plastic has sunk to the bottom of the ocean where it will stay forever.
Just as I mentioned in my sermon yesterday, we all have a part to play in reducing waste, particularly plastic, and each of our parts are not trivial. If you haven’t looked at the Earth Care web pages on the St. Andrew website, please do! There is a wide array of helpful information about living sustainably including a guide for reducing your plastic consumption.
Plastic Patty was created with only small fraction of the single use packaging that has ended up in my garbage bin, it’s a stark reminder. Patty enjoyed Earth Day at Sonoma Charter School as a graphic tale of plastic waste.
Happy Earth Day 2024
Gratefully,
Eileen Haflich
