Eco-Act 21-07: the “global” in global warming

eco not ego

global climate change

Today we begin to look at how and where we as individuals fit into the work of eliminating global warming. To do this, we’ll dig just a bit into agriculture, which accounts for 19% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually, according to Bill Gates in How to Avoid a Climate Disaster*. As we start, we should remember three points.

1. We truly are all connected. Atmospheric warming can’t be eliminated by or for Seattle, Washington state or the US alone. We can and should take steps that help local conditions, and we can be confident that these measures contribute to the bigger solutions needed. But despite our best efforts, we will feel some negative impacts of global warming in Seattle, the Northwest, the US—and in the northern hemisphere—until climate problems are addressed globally. It should also be stated that the global majority will face more severe consequences of global warming, first.

2. Global climate solutions must pair with global equity solutions. Effective, lasting climate solutions must be robust enough to work for a growing world population (the Pew Research Center estimates it at 10.9 billion in 2100), supporting higher living standards and expanding economies that enable increasing worldwide consumption of goods and energy. We have a mandate to act, from both a climate and a social justice perspective: no (social) justice, no (climate) peace.

3. Game-changing climate solutions will require global scale. Carbon taxes, solar and wind farms, transition to “clean” steel and cement, carbon capture technologies …. These and many other initiatives will be essential to the elimination of GHG emissions. And they will require investments, technology advances and legislative actions exceeding by orders of magnitude the contributions any one of us alone can make. Does this make our individual efforts pointless? Absolutely not! Our actions can help make a direct difference. Here, for example, are three actions we as individuals could take right now that have the potential to reduce GHG emissions in the agriculture sector:

   • Waste less food. Americans throw away something like 40%** of the food they buy—twice the percentage of Europeans and some other populations. As wasted food rots in the landfill, it releases GHGs—3.3 billion tons each year. So we can help reduce global warming simply by shopping for food more carefully and making sure we use everything we buy.

   • Modify our diets. Raising livestock for food is a major source of GHG emissions in the agriculture sector. Reducing the amount of meat we eat thus makes a direct, if gradual, contribution to GHG elimination. Consider also that our reduced consumption here will help compensate for other parts of the world where improving standards of living support increased meat consumption. Can our meal planning include a few meatless (or “engineered” meat) entrées each week?

   • Get smart about fertilizing our gardens. As they are used, fertilizers can release nitrogen, which ultimately leads to GHG emissions and water pollution. Yet plants—including those in our Union Gardens—benefit from fertilizing. The challenge is to fertilize just enough. A wealth of information on this topic can be found here and elsewhere online.

Intentional acts like the three noted above produce direct benefits and confirm the value our individual roles, in this case as consumers and savvy gardeners. But they do more: they signal the food industry, agribusinesses, corporate farmers and livestock producers, and other organizations that our requirements, and thus our shopping behaviors, are changing. And to continue to enjoy success in the marketplace, these major corporations and other businesses will have to change their behaviors as well, by changing product offerings or raising smaller herds, for example, or growing food grains instead of livestock feed.

Climate change is truly global. But even so, we do fit into the work of eliminating global warming—by our actions on a personal scale, and by our influence on regional, national and global-scale players.

* How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Bill Gates, page 55. The formal title for this category is actually “agriculture, forestry and other land use.”

** How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, page 121.

Eco-Act 025: Re-capping Waste

Waste. It’s been a joy to explore this summer but as we take our cue from the seasons and transition into fall, we want to explore some of the things we’ve learned since July.

Here are a few reminders from our journey through waste:

• Where does it go?: The City of Seattle has excellent resources when it comes to waste. Have a question about disposing of an item? Check out their accessible site!

• Recycling: According to Seattle Public Utilities, our city does a great job, though there’s always room for improvement.

• Trying Ridwell: We’ve heard of many Union folks trying this waste subscription company! Though I (Adrienne) had an experience working as a driver that raised some questions, I would affirm that the company does channel all the waste where it needs to go.

• Swaps: There are many ways to switch out single-use plastic, look for alternatives, and support zero-waste (local) stores!

• Join the Circular Economy: What ways are you participating in creating less waste, sharing more, and giving items new lives?

Waste

is what you do with it

• Food Waste to Security: We have more than enough resources to feed those who are food insecure. In addition to the above link, check this post out for more volunteer opportunities.

• E-Waste: Learn more & proceed intentionally.

• Heart Posture: Beyond simplicity and resisting consumerism, we can and must frame our actions and our hope from the lens of justice. Often communities left out of the dominant culture’s centering of care are the first and most impacted by climate change.

• Small acts are communal: beyond supporting the county’s plans (SCAP), we as individuals can make adjustments in our everyday lives that have huge impacts.

So what has stuck for you? Hopefully, you can take one or a handful of these ideas and put some of them into practice this fall. Creativity abounds with every plastic yogurt container: be it in the creation of sculpture art or as a new indoor garden of seedlings.

To bring it back from our first post in July, waste (in all its forms) means a lot for Christians. As waste continues to have devastating impacts for our global neighbors who receive legal or illegal waste generated by the US, for sea creatures and ecosystems, and for the land/air in general that gets polluted with industrial toxins, we’d point to the Gospel according to Matthew:

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you” (7:12), and

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (22:39)

And that should be reason enough. Do you have any more waste tips or tricks to share, or any new ideas you learned in this waste deep dive? Let us know in the comments below or email Adrienne!

Eco-Act 019: All about e-waste

As we continue our coverage around waste, there’s no way we could go on without breaking down electronic waste (e-waste). Of course alternatives to recycling e-waste include reduced consumption, repair, and reuse, however, we felt electronics are more and more a part of our lives and deserve thoughtful consideration for end of life disposal.

E-waste is created when items with a battery or plug (computers, phones, refrigerators, printers, TVs, etc) become obsolete. Often, e-waste has been collected and exported to overseas countries for disassembly and “recycling” of plastic, metal, and glass components. This work is done in formal or informal markets where regulations can be lacking for workers’ safety and health, as well as the earth’s. Such exposure to heavy metals and other chemicals can disrupt cognition and organ function, as well as leach into water and food systems, impacting already impoverished communities.

Some e-waste facts:

• Americans now own approximately 24 electronic products per household (Natl. Conference of State Legislators).

• Global e-waste has gone up 21% in 5 years according to the Global E-waste Monitor.

• The excessive amount of lead in e-waste, if released into the environment, could cause severe damage to human blood and kidneys, as well as central and peripheral nervous systems (Phys.org’s coverage of a study done by the Institute of Physics).

• Producing a computer along with its monitor takes at least 1.5 tons of water, 48 pounds of chemicals, and 530 pounds of fossil fuels (Francis O. Adeola).

• Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save enough energy to run 3,500 U.S. homes for a year (EPA).

e-waste

learning more & reducing our impact

We encourage you this week to read up and act on the state of e-waste today globally:

• You can check out The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 which provides up-to-date data on global e-waste, and how international progress fits into the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

• You might also watch “Manufactured Landscapes” as “photographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing” (IMDb).

And locally:

• WA State Department of Ecology is doing a great job of providing free and accessible e-waste collection and recycling services. Click here for more info on what is accepted by the E-Cycle Washington program.

• Recyclers must meet performance standard guidelines and most recycling is done in the state, reducing the risk of exporting e-waste to less regulated countries.

• Only ~2% of e-waste in WA goes to the landfill (“mostly particle board from cabinet TVs”) according to their FAQ section.

• So far, WA has recycled 419,962,778 lbs of e-waste.

In being good local/global neighbors and living as people of the Way, we hope these resources are helpful for future education and action. Happy e-waste recycling!

Eco-Act 018: plans to give us hope and a future

Here’s some hopeful news: King County rolled out its 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP) in August. This ambitious and extensive (329 pages) document sets out a broad range of urgent work to be completed, acknowledging the inevitability of some amount of climate change but identifying ways to work for a sustainable future for all of us. To be clear, the plan’s goals and performance measures apply countywide: reaching them requires countywide participation. We are interconnected, all of us.

SCAP Section I concentrates on six specific areas: 1) greenhouse gas emissions—targeting reductions of 50% by 2025 and 80% by 2050; 2) transportation and land use; 3) building and facilities energy—reducing energy use 25% and fossil fuel use 20% by 2030; 4) green building; 5) consumption of goods and materials; and 6) forests and agriculture. This week we’ll look at specific aspects of item 5.

Waste

& the county’s plan to reduce it

To address countywide consumption of goods and materials, the Strategic Climate Action Plan calls for a circular economy, discussed in our post 016. The specific goal: “Achieve a circular economy, whereby waste is minimized through prevention, reuse, and recycling, and materials stay in use longer through improved product design and shared responsibilities for end-of-use material management” [emphasis added to highlight the points where we can play a role].

SCAP writers identify food waste as a significant contributor to climate change. They estimate King County food waste from all sources at 136,000 tons in 2019 (a 20% reduction from 2015). They also note that when food is wasted, all the energy and water used to produce, package and transport it is also wasted. The net result? Only personal transportation accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than the total attributable to food waste. Thus, plan writers see food waste as a key target and the SCAP pledges increased education, outreach, and other efforts across the county to reduce it.

Specific SCAP goals include zero edible food waste by 2030, to be achieved through food waste reduction strategies such as:

• Increased food donation—individual donations and collaborations with local food banks

• More mindful food shopping and meal planning

• Increased composting efforts—both at-home and municipal

So how might we react to King County’s Strategic Climate Action Plan? We could choose to be skeptical, observing that the County will fall short of 2020 goals stated in its 2015 plan…. We could note that achieving the goals in this plan will require buy-in from businesses and private individuals—players beyond the County’s direct control….

Or we could choose to be positive, noting that the consequences of failure are more clearly recognized today, that the tools required for success are continually improving, that perhaps we are in a moment when our need to cooperate and collaborate to get something important done is appreciated—and that we all can play a role. Who can know, until we try, if SCAP will work?

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

— Jeremiah 29:11

Let’s choose to be hopeful and get to work.

Eco-Act 014: Being Part of the Change

Last week, we proposed a challenge: adopt one new behavior in August that will reduce plastic waste. 

One way to think about this challenge is to divide it into 3 separate approaches:

• properly disposing of plastic;  Seattle Public Utilities helps with this approach, and urges us to make sure our recycled plastic items are empty, clean and dry. Companies such as Ridwell help with more difficult-to-recycle items. And sites such as TerraCycle and Where Seattle Recycles identify additional recycling resources we can make use of.

• avoiding plastic in the first place; our “one-new-behavior” goal can be achieved in the grocery store by consciously and consistently choosing metal/glass/paper packaging over plastic, making bulk buys that allow us to (re)use our own containers, or by refusing to purchase single-use plastic beverage containers.

• repurposing plastic that’s already out there; we know that vast quantities of plastic have been and continue to be dumped into the world’s oceans, creating massive floating garbage patches, or gyres that endanger sea life, the earth—and ultimately humans. But what modest step can any of us, as mere individuals, take to counter this despair-inducing situation? How about … buying a bracelet?

shopping with intention

Shops like 4Ocean recycle and repurpose plastics

Next time you need a gift for someone, or just want to treat yourself, check out 4Ocean, where you can pick up a bracelet made from plastic recovered from an ocean, river or coastline. According to the company’s website, 4Ocean recovers a pound of plastic for every item purchased.

Actually, it turns out that today an encouraging number of products incorporate recycled plastic (and other recycled materials, such as wool). Visit World Wildlife Fund for one list of such items, which include sportwear, sneakers, rugs, yoga mats, dog collars, blankets, building materials, backpacks, and more. Some other products? How about Nike and Adidas shoes, Allbird shoes (a favorite of Barack Obama), Bionic Yarn, cutting boards, outdoor furniture—even Pilot pens. 

The take-away? There really are things we can do—a lot of them. Can we make plastic disappear from the environment tomorrow? Will any one of us be the tipping point that triggers this rescue? No, of course not. But could we see positive changes, worthwhile improvements, in our lifetimes, or even sooner? With hope, we say yes. And with purpose, intention and commitment, we act.

Eco-Act 013: Make August Your “One New Action to Reduce Plastic” Month

frameworks and ideas

to use less plastic

Somehow, humans got along for eons without plastic. But within the past century, we have seen this material emerge from non-existence to achieve environmental threat status, endangering oceans and sea life, for example. We respond to this danger through our recycling efforts, and we can feel good about these purposeful acts. But if we stop for a moment and think (an opportunity this pandemic certainly provides us!), perhaps additional actions we can take will come to mind.

In their book Active Hope, Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone describe a three-step framework we might apply to thinking about plastics in our lives:

• Holding actions: stopping unconscious behaviors that contribute to the problem. An example of this might be “aspirational recycling”—I’m not positive this plastic item can be recycled but I’ll toss it into the bin anyway and hope for the best. Reference guides are available to support proper recycling.

• Life-sustaining practices: intentionally changing an established routine, such as switching to an environmentally friendly reusable water bottle and no longer buying water in single-use plastic bottles, or consciously buying products packaged in paper, metal or glass instead of plastic.

• Consciousness shifts: acting out of a sense of connectedness and responsibility—taking an action that might not be convenient, but one that makes a difference. Examples might include cooking more/buying fewer prepacked meals, shopping more at farmers’ markets (when this option becomes more feasible again), buying foods in bulk/(re)using your own containers, etc.

Earth911.com suggests a “good-better-best” approach for thinking about reducing plastic waste; check it out here.

• “Good” actions include actions most of us already take, but here are their examples: https://earth911.com/home-garden/plastic-free-home-5-simple-changes/

• “Better” ideas include making use of organizations such as Ridwell (featured last week) that handle more difficult-to-recycle items (Ridwell accepts plastic film). And here are a few additional locator sites along the same lines:

  • Earth911 Recycling Search

  • Terracycle

• “Best” approaches are more ambitious, like the consciousness shifts noted above. They may involve changing attitudes, even values, to positively impact the environment.

Now August begins, our sixth month of living in a different world. Along with the many negatives we have had to adapt to, might this now be a time to take a positive action? What if each one of us were to change one habit, or start one new practice that would reduce plastic waste from this month forward?

Eco-Act 012: Try Ridwell

Live lighter:

find a place for all your waste!

To continue in our waste series, we are excited to share this eco-faith invitation from a member of our Union community. Kay Olsen shared this local waste company when we first launched the Eco-faith initiative and says:

I don't know if this is too “commercial” of an idea, but a few months ago, I subscribed to a local service called Ridwell, which picks up and redistributes or recycles many products that our local recycling service won’t take. One example is the plastic film used for many forms of packaging and I sometimes find unavoidable. In addition to bi-weekly pick-ups of light bulbs, batteries, plastic film and clothing, Ridwell includes a pick up from a rotating list. 

And that’s pretty much what Ridwell does! You can pay a small fee for pickups every two weeks to avoid the hassle of making multiple trips to various collection sites in your quest to produce less waste. In addition to the above regular categories of waste, you can also add on larger items that Ridwell sends to partner organizations — e-waste gets recycled by strict standards, latex paint gets re-mixed and tinted, and styrofoam/plastic wrap is used to make composite decking and new trash cans, as well as renewable fuel sources.

Feel free to look around on their very simple website for more info about items they collect, their local story, and their blog — this one on 5 Great Reads About Waste was very helpful. You can also learn more about partner community organizations that repurpose bottle caps for art and kitchenware for Refugee Women’s Alliance.

To conclude, we invite you to follow Kay’s lead and let us know how you are reducing waste, or if you decide to try out Ridwell! The Notkins recently started a service with them after hearing about it from Kay and also give glowing reviews.

We leave you with John 6:12-15, after Jesus miraculously and abundantly feeds the crowd with loaves and fishes:

When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.

The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done.