Social Justice Tag: Earth

By Jason Giovannettone, Climate and Sustainability Director 

Planting season is underway. Prior to moving into our current home a few years ago, I did not know a lot about planting flowers, let alone the various benefits that might come with planting one type of flower over another other. That changed about two years ago when I got involved with a native plant giveaway sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation at my local church.  I brought home milkweed and several other native plants. With very little care other than regular watering, these plants grew substantially over the summer. The milkweed, for example, produced over 100 purple flowers from one stem by late summer and into fall. This one stem multiplied into 13 large stems the following spring, which I would estimate produced over 500 flowers.   

Milkweed is a great native plant; it is easy to grow and maintain and it supports the monarch butterfly population and other types of butterflies are highly dependent on it as a source of food and as a place on which to lay their eggs during their long migrations. Did you know that it takes 4 generations of monarch butterflies to complete a full migration? They travel from central Mexico to their summer breeding range in the northern US and back to Mexico. Sustaining so many monarchs during this migration requires milkweed and other native flowering plants. Both urban and agricultural land development have led to substantial losses of habitat that supports these plants, resulting in an approximate 90% drop in monarch populations since the 1990s. Please watch the following video for more details regarding monarch migrations and issues related to their demise. 

Green Tips 

Become more aware of the issues surrounding the loss of monarch butterflies and their native habitats. Learn about what is currently being done to reverse these trends. The Mercy Monarch Milkweed Project, which is where I obtained some of the information above, is a great place to begin: https://mercyecology.org/monarch-milkweed-project.    

During the months of April and May, there tend to be various native plant giveaways, which often include milkweed.  Please try to take advantage of such giveaways or support a local nursery through the purchase of native plants such as milkweed. 

By Mike Poulin, Justice Resource Manager

One way to skip waste when you are eating out is by refusing a plastic straw. Because of their size, straws can inflict damage on the noses, eyes, throats and digestive tracts of animals. 

Even more present in the environment than plastic straws are single-use containers. Avoid adding to this waste when you eat out by bringing your own container for leftovers. You’ll reduce the number of containers that are thrown away, and you won’t be wasting that yummy food!

Special thanks to Mercy Associate Carol Conway for suggesting these ideas! 

By Sister Karen Donahue 

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 1.3 billion tons (2,600,000,000,000 pounds) of food are lost or wasted every year. At the same time, almost two billion people are malnourished or go hungry. The food sector accounts for about 22% of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly because of the conversion of forests to farm land. While we may think of food waste and loss just in terms of the food itself, large amounts of energy (for fertilizer production and transportation) and water are also wasted.  

Food loss and food waste are often used interchangeably but they do not mean the same thing. Food loss refers to food lost in the earlier stages of production including harvest, storage and transportation. Food waste, on the other hand, refers to foods that are edible but are thrown out by supermarkets or consumers. 

Green tip: 
While reducing food loss is a systemic issue, reducing food waste is up to each of us. Commit to adopting at least one of these 15 steps for reducing food waste suggested by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

By Jason Giovannettone, Climate and Sustainability Director 

To reduce our consumption and usage of plastic, it is important to eliminate the need for the plastic bottle. One of the most common reasons we consume plastic bottles is to increase our consumption of “healthy” and “clean” water. Then when we are finished we can just recycle the bottle. It seems like a win-win situation: we are able to consume clean water with little or no waste. This is actually not the case. In order to get some sense of what actually takes place in the life cycle of a water bottle and the environmental issues that are involved, please watch the following video.

Green Tip 

Abstain from drinking bottled water and other beverages bottled in plastic, including soda, and juice; for now, milk can be an exception. Glasses, cups, and reusable bottles, along with an effective filtration system for your tap water, are great alternatives. 

By Mike Poulin, Justice Resource Manager

This Lent, fast from single use bottled water. While bottled water can be useful in emergency situations, the proliferation of single use plastic bottles for routine hydration is an ecological catastrophe. In 2018, 1.3 BILLION plastic water bottles were used EACH DAY. That’s over 470 billion bottles for the year. 

Eliminating single use plastic bottles reduces the amount of plastic waste in the ecosystem. It also decreases the use of fossil fuels required to transport water in bottles. Consider filling a reusable bottle with tap or locally filtered water for hydration on the go. 

By Sister Karen Donahue 

Palm oil has emerged as an ideal fat for processed foods because it is cheaper to produce than other fats and oils. But it comes with deep environmental and social justice costs. 

Palm oil trees, which are native to West Africa but now grow throughout the tropical areas of the world, produce oil from both the fruit and the pit to yield multiple crops each year. Large tracts of tropical forests are now being cleared and burned for palm oil plantations, harming indigenous communities and ecosystems. These tropical forests rest on peat bogs; when this carbon-rich organic matter is burned, astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere.  

In addition to serving as a cheap fat for processed foods, palm oil is also a significant component in many toiletries, cosmetics and other personal care products. 

Green tip: 
Install an app on your phone or tablet so you can assess products with palm oil when you go shopping. This is for Apple products, and this for other devices. As you consider your purchases, refer to this list of products certified by the Rainforest Alliance as environmentally and socially sustainable. 

By Jason Giovannettone  

For this next week of Lent, I would like to focus on fasting from the use of plastics during mealtimes.  

Rather than using plastic tablecloths, look for reusable linens that are sustainable, manufactured in an ethical manner, and not harmful to the environment.   

1. Sustainable table linens will not need to be replaced on a regular basis, thus reducing overall consumption.  They should not fade or wear out after a few washes. 
2. Ethically-made table linens are manufactured in facilities that treat their employees fairly and provide reasonable pay to allow workers to provide sufficiently for their families. 
3. Environmentally-friendly table linens are made using natural materials.  Look for table linens that are made from organic natural fibers (ideally, they are ECOCERT certified), certified Fairtrade, and/or have received the OEKO-TEX certification, which means they are made without harmful chemicals and other substances. 

Look for linens made from natural and biodegradable materials such as organic cotton, linen, hemp, palm, and bamboo.  Only using fibers that are organically grown ensures that no harmful chemicals or practices were used when growing and harvesting the fiber material.   Try to avoid linens made from recycled plastic, which can release microplastics into the water during washing.  Some examples of companies selling natural fiber table linens include Rawganique (organic, natural fiber), Hazia from the North (organic cotton), I Love Linen (OEKO-TEX and ECOCERT certified), Made Trade (organic cotton, Fairtrade), Magic Linen (OEKO-TEX certified), and Ten Thousand Villages (Fairtrade certified), among others.     

If you feel strongly about the materials used to manufacture the tablecloths and other linens used in communal kitchen and dining areas, please ask your food service provider about purchasing table linens made from organic fibers through one of the companies listed above. 

Green Tip 

For an easy way to fast from one form of plastic this week, say “no” to plastic straws you are offered or abstain from drinking from any type of disposable plastic bottle. 

Acknowledgements 

Much of the research above was taken from the website “Sustainably Chic.” 

You can reach Jason at jgiovannettone@sistersofmercy.org

By Mike Poulin, Justice Resource Manager

In recognition of the beginning of Lent, the Mercy Tips team invites you to consider ecologically minded fasting this season. To assist, each week of Lent we will offer a fasting idea that can reduce your carbon footprint. In doing so, we hope that your Lenten fast might become a regular habit to benefit Earth. 

Additionally, we invite you to send in your ‘green’ fasting ideas so that we can share them with the community. Email your thoughts to us at justice@sistersofmercy.org. 

For this first week of Lent, I offer a fasting idea from the frozen plains of Nebraska. It is cold here in February. The colder it gets, the more I want to turn up the heat. But I am going to fast from my normal temperature setting by turning down my thermostat (and putting on a sweater!). As I “fast” I’ll be using less fuel to heat my home. As a bonus, every degree I turn down my thermostat saves up to 3% on my heating bill. 

By Marianne Comfort, member of the Mercy Justice Team 

Incorporating native plants into your landscaping is a healthy alternative to a sterile grass lawn or non-native vegetation. Native plants generally require less maintenance — including the use of pesticides, herbicides and water – since they are adapted to the local climate. They also provide a friendly habitat for local birds, butterflies and other wildlife. 

You may learn more about native plants in a 1 ½-hour virtual program offered by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Three experts share why native plants are important to urban and rural areas alike; which plants support which types of wildlife; and how to develop and execute a planting plan.  Most of the tips will be useful no matter where you live, while some will be specific to the East Coast.

By Jason Giovannettone, Climate and Sustainability Director 

In response to our post on hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs), we received these questions: What are the issues related to battery disposal, and are we solving one problem by creating another? Disposal is just one of the potential issues related to these batteries, which also include emissions from battery charging and human rights concerns related to their manufacturing (more details on this later). 

Battery Disposal 

Conventional vehicles use lead-acid batteries.  Because these batteries contain lead, which is a carcinogen and very harmful to the environment, a large portion of them is recycled.  Even so, tens of thousands of tons of lead are lost to landfills each year or released into the environment during the mining and manufacturing process.   

Batteries used in more recent hybrid and electric vehicles are typically lithium-ion batteries, which are very recyclable though their rate of being recycled is far below that of lead-acid batteries.  This is partially because lead is a more toxic heavy metal than lithium. However, lithium-ion batteries also contain small amounts of other toxic heavy metals such as cobalt, graphite, nickel, and manganese.  One advantage of lithium-ion batteries is that they have considerably longer lifetimes of at least 10 to 12 years.  A big disadvantage is that the cost of replacing a lithium-ion battery can be several thousands of dollars.   

A used lithium-ion battery can easily be recycled by contacting the auto dealer from which you purchased your vehicle. 

Emissions from Battery Charging 

Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles need to be plugged into a 120-volt or 240-volt source in order to maintain a full charge. The emissions caused by the use of electricity to charge these vehicles is often overlooked. If you live in a region where a significant portion of your electricity comes from renewable sources such as solar and/or wind, you have your own solar panels or you have bought into a solar farm, this is not an issue.  But if you live in a region that still relies heavily on fossil fuels for energy, emissions created by charging your vehicle can almost completely offset the benefits of higher fuel efficiency.  For more details, please refer to Page 19 of this report.

Green Tip 

 Recycle your lithium-ion batteries. For more information on the disposal of lithium-ion batteries used not only for vehicles but also for a wide range of other applications, visit the EPA’s website.

By Mike Poulin, Justice Resource Manager

In our first posting on this site, Jason provides good questions to consider when shopping for a greener vehicle. But if you are like me and keep your cars for 150,000 miles (about 241401.6 km) or more, a newer used car might be years away. What do we do in the meantime to reduce our travel footprint? Combining trips can reduce fuel consumption and save time. 

Because it does not involve returning to our home or office after each stop, combining trips results in less distance being traveled. A car’s engine also works more efficiently when it is warm. Running several errands in succession takes advantage of a warm engine and increases gas mileage. This is especially true in places with chilly winter months. So, plan to avoid single stop outings. In future posts we will explore other green transportation options. 

by Carolyn McDonnell, Mercy Associate

Our Chicago area Mercy Association has been focusing on care for our Common Home. We’ve had workshops and discussions on best practices, and discussions on Laudato Si. Mercy Association bought about 75 cloth napkins and 18 cloth tablecloths, along with stainless dinnerware, to be used at Mercy Association events. If disposable cups are used, they are paper not plastic. We no longer ever serve water in plastic bottles and encourage all to bring their own travel cup or mug.  

Our meeting place allows us to use the dishes, cups, glasses, and silverware there for our gatherings with meals. At cleanup we sort out recyclables from trash. Any leftover food is distributed in reusable takeout containers or wrapped in foil. The ultimate goal is zero food waste.

When we need to indicate a preferred entrance to the meeting place, we no longer use balloons but have purchased reusable signs.