Earth Day: Thursday April 22, 2021: 4 Things! All day long!
1. Pray (2 ideas!)
Creator God, let us..
See a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of our hand,
And eternity in an hour… amen.
Adapted from William Blake
We thank you Lord for birds that fly,
We thank you Lord for our bright, blue sky
We thank you for the water and trees,
We thank you for the fish in the seas
We thank you Lord for grass so green,
And we’ll work to keep this land all clean
We thank you Lord for our planet Earth,
And for teaching us just what it’s worth
Now loving God, we promise you,
That we will act and follow through
To do our part and then some more,
This crisis we refuse to ignore
In your Son’s name we’ve come to pray,
Lord bless us all on this Earth day
Amen
Written by Gemma Snider
2. Learn: Carbon reduction - Eat less meat! … Food for thought….
a. Why local? The average meal travels 1,200 kilometres from the farm to plate. Food grown closer to home produces fewer transportation emissions, is fresher and supports local farmers. As the distance food travels decreases, so does the need for processing and refrigeration to reduce spoilage.
b. Why organic? Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers are often made from fossil fuels. Manufacturing and transporting them uses energy and produces greenhouse gases. Studies show that chemical farming uses more energy per unit of production than organic farms. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers in soils produce nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas about 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Organic farms rely on natural manure and compost for fertilizer. They store much more carbon in the soil, keeping it out of the atmosphere.
c. Buy organic over local? ! “Food miles” (the distance food travels from production to consumer) actually make up a small percentage of its overall carbon footprint — about 11 per cent on average. How the food is grown makes up roughly 83 per cent. There is a good example about lamb from England (local) or New Zealand – Check it out! Source: https://davidsuzuki.org/take-action/act-at-home/
Note: There is so much differing of opinion on local vs organic. Take a look at new research all the time! Our project Neutral calculator also supports these ideas above! Sustainable food sources.
3. Act
a. Edible garden: grow your own garden on windowsill or backyard – seeds or small plants: edible flowers, calendula and nasturtium and herbs: thyme, basil, sage and oregano (Carload has small plants on sale for $1.99 – and they have several in each container – not organic though )
b. Buy plants: Help the environment and refugees! Aura fundraiser with Plantables: https://www.auraforrefugees.org/index.php/get-involved/become-a-financial-donor/plantables
c. Make delicious local/seasonal maple carrot muffins! Recipe here: https://www.ontario.ca/foodland/recipes/maple-carrot-cupcakes
d. Check our your carbon use: Act and Learn: https://app.projectneutral.org/toronto Join St Aidan’s Group: STA123
4. Advocate
a. Get involved with TCAN - Toronto Climate Action Network:
b. Over 30 Environmental Organizations are involved! St Aidan’s just joined! https://www.tcan.ca/
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