March 9, 2025 - First Sunday of Lent: Fasting from Plastics

Lent is a season in our church to rethink our lives and choices, hoping to transform our spiritual lives with outward actions. Traditionally, three Lenten actions we adopt are prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Risen Savior’s Environmental Concerns Committee would like you to consider fasting this year, but instead of giving up chocolate or lattes, we’re encouraging you to begin FASTING FROM PLASTICS, especially those single-use items that are clogging our landfills and polluting our environment.  

Plastic–it’s everywhere! When we think of “Caring for Creation” we often forget about plastic pollution.  Plastics are made with fossil fuels and if they were a country, plastics would be the fifth largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. As a faith community, we have a moral obligation to take action to end plastic pollution.  

During Lent, the ECC will be providing you with ideas to limit your use of plastics, especially single-use plastics. Each week, we will provide some facts about plastic production and pollution and some practical ideas for how you can (1) reduce your use of plastic products and (2) work to promote legislation that will reduce the production of single-use plastics and regulate the chemical content and toxicity of plastics. We want to give you the facts, not just because we Care for Creation, we Care for YOU and all of God’s creatures.  

The first step along this journey is acknowledging the truth:  

• 33 billion pounds of plastic end up in our oceans each year. Experts say there is one lb. of plastic for every 3 lbs. of fish in the oceans.  
• Heavily polluting plastic production affects the health of communities surrounding production facilities. Often these are communities already struggling with poverty.  
• Plastic is massively contributing to global climate change to the tune of four times the emissions of the global aviation industry.  
• Plastics, which leach and shed from products, contain any of 16,000 different chemical additives. Some of these chemicals are toxic and pose threats to human health. We are absorbing plastics through our skin and ingesting them.  
• Microplastics and nanoplastics are so small that they are in the air we breathe, the water we drink (including bottled water) and the food we eat. They are everywhere on Earth including inside the human body. Scientists have detected plastic particles in lungs, intestines, blood, muscles and placentas.    
• Half of all plastics manufactured today are single-use items and packaging that will be thrown away after only a few minutes or hours of use. Plastics recycling has been an abysmal failure. Only about 9% of plastics are recycled.  

What you can do: 

• Stop buying and using single-use plastic water bottles. Recent reports on water quality in the U.S concluded that the majority of our water supply is reliable, high quality, and cheaper than bottled water. Get a reusable water bottle and fill it from your household tap.  
• Refuse plastic straws at restaurants and drive-throughs. Plastic straws cannot be recycled and can take 200 years to disintegrate.  
• As the snow melts, pick up plastic and other pollution in your neighborhood. Recycle what you can. 
• Pay attention to legislation and policies that focus on the reduction of plastics at the source, that is, laws that extend manufacturer responsibility related to reducing single-use plastics and to the chemical content and toxicity of plastic.  
• Research what else you can do at https://www.beyondplastics.org/learn 

March 16, 2025 - Second Sunday of Lent: Fasting from Microplastics

Our Environmental Concerns Committee continues to invite us to consider our use of plastics and possible fasting during the Lenten season.

This week we consider our use of microplastics. Microplastics are tiny fragments and threads of plastic, typically 5mm or smaller, that have been found in almost every corner of the globe, even Antarctica. They are in our soil, water and food and in our bodies. Consider:

• 35% of microplastics come from synthetic textiles.
• 80% of all microplastics come from textiles, tires, and city dust.

What can you do to Care for Creation as one of God's creatures and reduce your  consumption of microplastics?

• Try not to buy synthetic clothing aka fast fashion, these are a major source of microplastics.
• Avoid personal care products that contain microbeads, typically listed as copolymers, as fish often mistake these for food in our water systems.
• Buy a fine mesh bag to trap the fibers from your synthetic clothing in the washing  machine.

Source: The Climate Action Handbook

March 23, 2025 - Third Sunday of Lent: Black Plastics

To continue with the Risen Savior’s Environmental Concerns Committee (ECC) Lenten theme, Fasting from Plastics, this week our topic is black plastic. Why are black plastics so problematic? 

• Plastic from discarded electronics such as old computers, phones, TVs, monitors, and appliances is melted down and combined with other plastics to make new products. Plastic from electronics can contain unregulated toxic chemicals such as phthalates, flame retardants, and heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, nickel, chromium, and mercury. This plastic is then used to make children’s toys, black plastic forks, coffee stirrers, food containers, spatulas, slotted spoons, or hot cup lids. While there are government safety regulations to limit the amount of chemicals in electronics, there are no such regulations for recycled black plastic used to make these items. A 2018 University of Plymouth study found toxic chemicals present at up to 30 times the levels considered safe in a stunning 40% of black plastic toys, thermoses, cocktail stirrers and utensils tested! 
• These same chemicals can also leach into food and cause serious reproductive and developmental problems, poisoning the brain and kidneys, disrupting thyroid function, and causing long-term neurological damage. Yikes! 
• Black plastics are not recyclable due to their color. Recycling facilities cannot “see” black, making it difficult to separate it from other plastics. 
• Black plastic often ends up in our landfills, incinerators, oceans, or rivers after just one use.  

So, what can we do? With our goal of Caring for Creation, consider these suggestions to safeguard your health and the health of your family and the environment.  

• Get rid of any black plastic cooking utensils in your kitchen. Switch to wood or stainless steel. 
• Avoid microwaving food in any plastic, but especially black plastic. 
• If you bring home take-out food in a black plastic container, switch it to glass, ceramic or metal storage containers when you get home.  
• Bring your own container for leftovers from a restaurant to avoid using plastic. 
• Bring your own metal or bamboo cutlery and straw so you’ll never have to take a plastic fork, spoon, knife, stirrer, or straw again. 
• Avoid single-use hot cups, especially ones with black plastic lids. Bring your own metal or ceramic mug instead. 
• As you see black plastic being used in your community, share this knowledge and ask the organizations to switch to BPI certified compostable silverware and containers (e.g., your employer’s cafeteria, restaurants, schools, church committees, etc.). 
• Research what else you can do at https://www.beyondplastics.org/learn