Social Justice Tag: Earth

By Sister Suzanne Gallagher, Mercy Justice Team  

A few Christmas seasons ago, I gifted my sister with a new set of plastic storage containers. The gift made me smile for a variety of reasons: the gift was practical, which is a must for my gift-giving practices; many of my sister’s storage containers made their way into my take-away bag at the end of  previous holidays and now I had a good collection of her containers; and she was using her containers until they lost their lids or were looking shabby. But they are so convenient! 

Becoming more aware of the profusive use of plastics helped me to realize how plastic was still my go-to option for so many things, including storing food. I decided to make the switch to using glass containers for storage  whenever I could. The benefits are numerous and eco-friendly.If you are like me, you are cautious about using plastic containers in the microwave. We know that plastic is porous and prone to leaching dangerous chemicals into food and then into your body; this increases as your plastic containers age or are heated. With glass, there is no chemical interaction between the container and its contents. Glass containers are usually made of natural, sustainable raw materials and can be recycled repeatedly. Plastics can often be recycled, however, they degrade with each event, referred to as “downcycling.”  Using glass is more sustainable for our earth and a healthier option for our bodies. 

The downside to using glass storage containers is that glass can break. We need to be careful about handling them. Also, glass containers are more expensive. Taking all the pros and cons into consideration, it is a false economy not to make the switch. I am building my collection of glass containers slowly and looking at spaghetti sauce and jelly jars differently.  

By Marianne Comfort, Mercy Justice Team 

Transportation is now the largest cause of greenhouse gasses in the U.S., accounting for 33% of all emissions. Most of that is due to suburban sprawl and the country’s car culture. 

Public transportation produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than private vehicles, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. For instance, a bus with 28% of its seats occupied emits one-third less greenhouse gas per passenger mile than the average single-occupancy vehicle; when the bus is full, it saves 82% of emissions compared to a private car. 

Green Tip 

Check the internet for the bus schedule in your community. You will most likely find routes and timetables there, as well as a “trip planner tool” that you can use to find out how to get from Point A to Point B at a given time. It might look something like this: 

Under “more options,” you can indicate what time you want to leave your departure point or to arrive at your destination. 

See what options you have for getting to work, to church or to other frequent destinations, and invite a friend or family member to join you on an outing to try it out. 

By Jason Giovannettone, Climate and Sustainability Director

While there are a lot of ways plastic pollution has visibly affected our planet, there are also less visible impacts that may be a much larger concern for us as human beings.  

We are consuming a large amount of plastic on a daily basis amounting to the size of a credit card every week. Microplastics are especially concerning. They have been measured in significant concentrations in packaged food, as well as meat and seafood, tap and bottled water, and the air. Once ingested, microplastics easily move from the digestive system into the bloodstream where they are transported throughout the body to all critical organs. Check out this article for more information.

You can substantially reduce your consumption of plastic by following two simple rules: 

1. Reduce your consumption of packaged foods. Instead, opt for fresh fruits and veggies as often as possible. 

2. Use water bottles, dishware and food storage containers made from glass, ceramics, metals and other non-plastic materials. 

Green Tip 

Watch the following video on microplastics. Then make a list of the plastic items you depend on throughout the day and identify one item that you can replace with a non-plastic alternative. 

By Jason Giovannettone, Climate and Sustainability Director 

To help care for Earth, remove plastic from many commonly used items in your bathroom. Several ideas for alternatives are provided below. The following video from Brush with Bamboo shares the impact of toothbrushes with regards to plastic pollution. 

Soap: A bar of soap is the best way to avoid plastics and minimize the amount you need to buy.  Choose soap bars that are packaged in paper or cardboard and labeled as natural to minimize the use of chemical ingredients. Also look for soaps that do not contain palm oil; the development of palm oil plantations results in the burning of substantial areas of forest. 

Shampoo & Conditioner: The best way to remove plastic from your shampoo and conditioner is to buy bar versions of both that are not packaged in plastic. Bars are longer-lasting and typically contain zero sulphates and fewer chemicals than liquid/gel form.  Look for products with the Climate Pledge Friendly certification, which means changes were made to the product size and weight to minimize carbon emissions due to shipping and packaging. 

Toothbrush: Choose toothbrushes made from bamboo, a renewable resource that can easily be grown without pesticides and is compostable.  If possible, find a toothbrush that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means the bamboo is grown and harvested in a sustainable manner. FSC certification also ensures the bamboo is not a type eaten by pandas or harvested from land that is inhabited by pandas. The certification guarantees that virgin forests were not cut down to clear land for growing bamboo. 

Toothpaste & Dental Floss: Toothpaste tablets are available as a plastic-free option, though most (not all) do not contain fluoride, which is important to fend off tooth decay. Plastic-free options for dental floss rely on silk covered in vegan candelilla wax.  

Green Tip 

Select one bathroom item above and try a plastic-free option for at least one week. 

By Mike Poulin, Justice Resource Manager

Last week, Brother Ryan’s tip referenced one type of plastic that plagues our washing machines. Another source of plastic associated with laundry comes in the form of big, plastic bottles of detergent. But there is a way to avoid those giant jugs of soap: laundry detergent sheets. 

Essentially, they are dehydrated soap sheets that dissolve in water. Several brands of laundry sheets are now on the market. Sheets are sold in envelopes or boxes and are perforated for different sized loads of laundry. In addition to reducing plastic use, laundry sheets also have a smaller shipping footprint; without the added water, they weigh much less than liquid detergent. 

By Brother Ryan W. Roberts, OLF, Institute Justice Team  

In the process of inviting people to order our new Mercy Justice polyester fleece jackets, we’ve received some questions about their environmental impact.  

Microplastics are an unfortunate side effect of all plastics, not just microfibers like fleece. Microfibers like polyester threads slowly shed tiny plastic fragments through normal use, but the shedding increases dramatically during vigorous rubbing like in a washing machine and will end up polluting our water systems and greater environment.  

There are advantages to polyester fleece, including water-repellant qualities and weight-to-warmth ratio. The plastic used in the Justice jackets comes from recycled water bottles. This is much better for the environment as the plastic is being reused rather than taking up space in a landfill or floating away in the ocean.  A tag attached to each jacket tells us how many water bottles went into its production.   

Green Tip:  

Wash your fleece infrequently. Spot cleaning is all that’s really necessary most of the time because usually it’s apparel that doesn’t directly touch skin.  

The way it’s washed also makes a difference, e.g. vigorous agitation like a top-loading machine will break the fibers much more than immersion in a front-load machine or washing by hand. There are devices you can use in the washing machine or attach to your drain line that capture microplastics, preventing their direct draining into the water supply. Here’s a New York Times article with a lot of information. 

By Jason Giovannettone, Climate and Sustainability Director 

During the month of July, we are going to look at various aspects of plastic pollution and attempt to abstain from one type of single-use plastic each week.

Efforts to either recycle or break down used plastic products will not come anywhere close to solving the issue. Recycling only considers the end of the life cycle of a plastic product, which does nothing to hold the plastic manufacturers accountable. They are still fully profiting from a practice that is very damaging to the planet. In essence, the manufacturer is only concerned with creating demand for plastic, but once it is purchased, disposal becomes someone else’s problem. The only real solution to reducing plastic pollution is to focus on the beginning of its life cycle; we need to “turn off the tap” on plastic. Reducing plastic consumption (in contrast to recycling) holds the plastics industry accountable. 

Green Tip 

Begin the process of reducing your plastic consumption by thinking about and listing the types of plastic products that you use regularly. Attempt to prioritize them in terms of reducing or eliminating their use. 

By Peter Diaz , Service Learning & Immersion Coordinator and Religion Teacher, Mercy High School Burlingame 

For years, San Francisco has required its residences to compost food scraps. Each household was given a small green bin that fits underneath the kitchen sink. Everything from food scraps to eggs shells and even paper towels is collected. The city’s food scraps are turned into rich compost for the wineries and residences.  

Here’s what I have learned about keeping your kitchen compost clean and reducing potential odors.  

1.  Line the compost bin with a newspaper, old paper bag that held your lunch or old deli meat wax paper. This helps empty the compost pail neatly without scraps sticking to it. 

2. Keep the pail open. When you close the lid, it activates the decomposition by containing moisture.  

3. Empty your pail every night into a bigger compost bin kept outside. 

4. Keep the bigger compost bin lid outside open to slow the decomposition and reduce the smell.  

5. If you happen to throw away food scraps that contain meat, which we are allowed to compost in San Francisco, add baking soda into the bin. It helps keep the odor under control. 

 Enjoy composting! 

By Matthew Hansen, Coordinator of the Community Garden of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Baden, Pennsylvania

Composting takes time! The pile on the right is located on the property of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, PA. It has been building for over a year and a half, and we’ve been using the finished compost across the grounds and gardens. A lot of the “green” comes from kitchen scraps, which we empty here every day to every other day. The brown mostly comes from leaves and straw we use in our garden beds. . Along with adding the “green” and “brown” to the compost pile , we’re also mixing it around – keeping it loose and allowing air to reach all the parts. Without mixing in air, you create an anerobic environment which promotes the growth of bacteria, which will produce a sour smell. . There is a lot of matter in these piles, so we use a tractor with a bucket loader to both turn the pile and transport the compost around the grounds. 

The fresh “greens” coming from the kitchen are stored in 5-gallon buckets in a walk-in cooler (shown above in the picture on the right). Notice how we are covering two full buckets to keep in the smell/odors. The cooler temperatures in the cooler also help reduce the smell before we’re able to pick up the buckets and bring them to the pile.  

For reference, the chart below represents a general guide of what to compost. 

By Jason Giovannetonne, Climate and Sustainability Director 

The next step when beginning a compost pile is to gather the materials that will be used to create the compost pile.  Four components are required to make a basic compost pile: greens, browns, water, and air.  Greens consist of moist and fresh kitchen scraps, which are a rich source of nitrogen.  Browns consist of dry leaves and twigs that provide the required carbon.  The microorganisms that break these materials down into soil require a balanced diet of nitrogen for protein and carbon for energy.  The ideal mix is to add twice as much brown material as green. Then layer them like lasagna.  To minimize odor and unwanted critters, always cover the greens with the browns when adding material.  Finally, if you would like to speed up the composting process, you can mix the pile once every few weeks. Even without mixing, the pile will decompose in about 10 to 12 months. 

Here are some examples of greens and browns. 

Greens: grass clippings, weeds, manure, vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, tea bags  

Browns: grass clippings, dry leaves, saw dust, shredded newspapers, brown grass clippings, cut-up cardboard 

Green Tip 

Continue discussing the potential of locating a compost pile at your property and considering what type of bin or structure you would like to use to contain your pile. Happy composting! 

By Jason Giovannetonne, Climate and Sustainability Director 

 Composting is important to waste reduction.   For the next few weeks, we will outline simple steps for composting. The first step is to locate your compost pile and select the bin or type of structure you would like to use.  The following video does a great job providing a detailed overview of how to start composting. 

Compost Pile/Bin Location: Select a location that is in the shade and at the top of a slope if there is one. Planting in the shade prevents plants from growing on your compost pile. The uphill end of a slope is recommended because compost is much more dense and heavier than the ingredients you use to create the pile; it will be easier to haul the finished compost downhill when needed. Your compost pile should not be too far from where you will be using the compost.   

Bin Type: You can use a simple open structure such as the wooden one shown in the video or a more elaborate (and typically plastic) option that facilitates mixing and aeration to increase the speed of the compost process.  There is no correct answer here; it really comes down to individual preference.   

Green Tip 

Identify a good location on your property for a compost pile. Determine which type of bin you prefer.  A quick internet search should provide many options to consider.