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Environmental Mission Team

Church School kids & teachers investigate one of the booths at our October 25th, 2009, Environmental Fair.

The Environmental Mission Team has:

• sent tips to you for your action through our Meetinghouse Monthly.
• encouraged the church’s aggressive environmental program. The church has done a great deal, improving our stewardship and saving money. We assisted in introducing an email version of the Meetinghouse News to replace paper, saving time, paper and postage. We are seeking compostable communion cups.
• compiled a list (below) of what you can do to help save resources and the environment. It even shows you which things save you money! This list keeps being improved. Pick out things in the list that you haven’t been doing and start doing them!

We welcome your input and ideas!

Contact Shona Quinn for further information at 203-637-9568 or SQuinn@eileenfisher.com.

Oil Spill – Click here for suggestions for what you can do to help.

New! Flower Pot Recycling – Click here for how to do it.

Click here for the following list to download and use as a checklist.

$ = Saves you money, E = Exercise for you, H = Healthy for you

Stop by often to check out our “green tips” and other thoughts about how we can all be better stewards of God’s creation. Please send your ideas to add to this list to:.

1. Heat Things Less. Heating things is a big user of electricity/gas/oil.

$ – Zone heat your home, if possible – heat fewer rooms.
$ – Leave bedrooms at 50 degrees and close door. Use blankets for warmth.
$, H – Dry your washed clothes on a clothes rack instead of a hot-air clothes dryer. Saves energy and adds needed moisture to your home in winter. Search for “clothes drying rack” on the internet.
$ – Run the dishwasher and washing machine at night when rates are lower (or at least electricity demand is lower).
$ – Use less hot water. Wash your hands & face with cool water by stopping your sink before “hot water” actually runs hot. Saves both energy and water.

2. Get more exercise.

$, E, H – Use a bike or walk for errands more – drive less.
$, E, H – Don’t use leaf blowers. Use a rake and/or broom.
$, E, H – Don’t use snow blowers in winter. Use a shovel.
$, H – Eat less meat and more vegetables. Best is to become a vegetarian – meat takes far more energy to grow than vegetables. You won’t need as much exercise to lose weight.

3. REDUCE:

Paper

- Get off junk mail mailing lists. Sign up at: www.directmail.com
$ – Make eco-friendly grocery lists by using a discarded envelope or the “Notes” feature on your cell phone.
$ – Use online banking to pay your bills instead of sending a paper check by snail mail. Go to the bank’s website for instructions or visit the bank and ask. [When you receive a bill, enter it immediately and schedule when you want to pay the bill and then forget about it. This might avoid biller’s late fees and questions about where the pile of bills might be or whether all bills are in the pile.
$ – Reduce paper in your mail box by signing up for electronic billing and statements. Go to the biller’s website for instructions.
$ – Reduce paper usage by tracking your finances using a financial program like Quicken or a spreadsheet.
$ – Reduce home-computer printing; read (and/or save) documents on the computer, with backup systems.
$ – Send documents as email attachments instead of printing and sending by snail mail.
$ – Bring reusable bags when shopping. Avoid plastic or paper bags; get credit instead. For bag info, see www.reusablebags.com.
$ – Don’t print computer documents unnecessarily – read them on the computer. Send documents via email as often as possible rather than using “snail mail.”
- Sign up for electronic billing to reduce the number of paper bills in your mailbox.
- Sign up for electronic financial statements.
- Use a computer program to keep track of your checking and other financial accounts. You can use a spreadsheet or commercial bookkeeping software.
$ – Print double-sided. Reuse waste paper already printed one-sided whenever possible.

Driving

$ – Don’t drive more than 55 mph – you’ll get better mpg. For more info, see drive55.org.
$ – Carpool to work, meetings, etc. Use carpooling websites to find riders.
$ – When buying your next car, use a high mpg rating as one of your top criteria.
$ – Set up carpools to church and to all your organizational meetings, rehearsals, etc. It’s a great way to get to know people better or to make new friends.
$ – Use public transportation or walk more instead of using your car.
$, E – If you have a powerboat, trade it in for a sailboat, canoe or kayak.

Electricity Use

$ – Use energy-saving light bulbs and appliances. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use 66% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
$ – Shut down your computer, monitor, printer, or fax when it will not be in use for several hours.
$ – Turn on fewer lights.
$ – Reduce number of light bulbs in fixtures, especially strip fluorescent fixtures.
$ – Buy green electronics; for more information, go to:
www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/Guide-Greener-Electronics-11-edition

$ – Avoid buying large screen TVs. Generally, the larger the screen, the more energy it consumes.
$ – Watch less television. Don’t play your stereo or VCR as much.
$ – Leave cell phones and other electronic gadgets off their recharging stands unless they need recharging. Often one night a week is enough to recharge.
$ – Connect all power adapters to a power strip that can be turned off when devices are not in use. Even in devices are not plugged in, their adapters can use up electricity too.
$ – Dry your hair naturally. Do not use a hair drier.
$ – Don’t use curling iron on hair – use curlers and bobby pins to curl it.
$ – After making a pot of coffee, pour remaining hot coffee into a thermos and turn off coffee maker.
$ – Run your dish washer and clothes washer only when full. Saves both energy and water.
$ – Turn off dishwasher drying cycle. When finished washing, open washer door to let steam out and the remaining heat will dry dishes fast.
$ – Purchase appliances without a digital clock”¦these use electricity and we have enough clocks in our homes.

Water use

$ – If you let water run to get hot water, save unwanted wasted cool water in a gallon jug to use for watering your indoor plants, for your pet’s drinking water or to water outdoor plants in summer.
$ – Use less water – don’t let it run. For your shower – get wet, turn off water, soap up, quick rinse. Take fewer tub baths.
$ – Don’t use bottled water or encourage its use. Use a thermos or a reuseable bottle with tap water.
$ – To hand-wash cooking utensils, use a small bowl with dish soap and small amount of hot water. Don’t leave the faucet running.

Plastic, etc.

$ – All office workers should use their own mug instead of styrofoam or plastic cups.
$ – Don’t use bottled water or encourage its use. Use a thermos or a reuseable bottle with tap water.

Heat

$ – During the day in winter, let the sun shine through your windows to provide free heat.
$ – At dusk in winter, draw your window shades down and close your curtains to keep warm air in. If you don’t have window shades, install them yourself or ask a handy friend for help doing this (or someone in the Environmental Mission Group).
$ – Consider insulated window shades, particularly for north-facing windows.
- Let your hands dry naturally in public bathrooms. They’ll dry quickly as you walk.

4. Make your home more energy efficient

$ – Repair everything you can to make it last longer. Don’t just throw it out.  There are many helpful websites with repair tips like www.repairclinic.com.
$ – Have an energy audit of your home to detect air leaks, etc. For more information, go to:
www.cl-p.com/Home/SaveEnergy/Rebates/HomeEnergySolutions and www.ctenergyinfo.com

Or call CL&P Customer Service at 1-800-286-2000, Monday through Friday, 7 – 7 or Saturday, 10 – 3:30.

$ – Caulk all air leaks around your windows and doors; very inexpensive and well worth it.
$ – Insulate (or add insulation to) your attic, if needed.
$ – On a cold windy day, check by hand for air leaks around doors; regularly re-install air blockage material.
$ – When installing new windows or doors, consider high insulation rating; double or triple pane windows.
$ – Consider installing solar energy or heat exchangers for your home. Potential long-term savings.
$ – Plant shade trees to reduce long-term need for air conditioning.

5. Recycle / Don’t pollute
$ – Use no (or far less) fertilizer on your lawn and garden.
E – Put a mulch pile in the corner of your yard for food wastes. The less garbage that needs carting away, the better. Ask your neighbors to add their bio-degradable non-animal waste to a communal mulch pile.
$ – Recycle bottles, cans, paper, plastic, metals, old electronics; everything that you can.  See: earth911.com – Recycling Info and WikiHow – Recycling Metals
$ – Get rid of old belongings via Freecycle.com or CraigsList.com instead of throwing them out.
- Dispose of fluorescent light bulbs and hazardous waste properly. Click here for Greenwich and other local collection dates.
- Use environmentally friendly cleaning products, like those from www.SoundEarth.com.
- Buy only safely biodegradable plastic products. www.greenplastics.com

- Appeal to manufacturers to make their appliances repairable and more energy efficient. This should give them a competitive edge! Too many small electronics are not repairable today.

7. Lobby your legislators

- Ask them to give tax breaks to clean energy companies and to do all they can to promote renewable energy in the USA. Email opinion letters to newspapers about this as well.
- Pressure your town to have/improve hazardous waste collections if they don’t already.
- If your town does not recycle or recycle enough, lobby for it. Help study ways to make it cost effective.

- LEARN MORE AND GET INVOLVED! LIVE GREEN!