Weekly Resources

Remove one light bulb from a well-used area of your home. Live without it during Lent as a symbol of your intention to abstain from over-consuming. At Easter, replace it with an energy-efficient bulb.

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/CFLs.asp

Carry a mug. Use only cloth napkins during Lent. Give up wasteful disposables like Styrofoam and paper products that take precious resources to make and end up in landfills.

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169:week-1-simple-habits&catid=950:baby-steps&Itemid=157

Be aware of the consequences of wasted packaging materials. Notice how much stuff you toss away within 15 minutes of contact.

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=937&Itemid=131

Stop throwing stuff away. Where is away? It’s going somewhere on the planet. This Lent REDUCE consumption, REUSE whatever you can, and learn how to RECYLE. Whatever you don’t recycle or compost goes into grimy landfills.

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=52&Itemid=113

Abstain from over-scheduling your life. Consciously connect with the natural world at least once each day during Lent.

Daily prayer. Sit quietly in gratitude for the gift of life.

If there’s only one thing you can do …

Give Up Plastic and Paper Bags – Opt for Reusable Bags

As a sign of penance, Old Testament prophets would wear sackcloth and ashes. On Ash Wednesday, get your ashes. But instead of wearing sackcloth all Lent, carry a reusable sackCLOTH bag whenever you go shopping. 12 million barrels of oil were used to make 88.5 billion plastic bags for the U.S. last year. No wasteful plastic or paper this Lent (and beyond).

http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/bags.php

Steps Continued

Watch “Home,” an extraordinary movie about the only planet on which you’ll live. This 1½ hour video will help you understand why caring for creation is so important.

http://www.youtube.com/homeproject#p/u/4/jqxENMKaeCU

Read a portion of Richard Foster’s spiritual classic, Freedom of Simplicity.

http://www.mrrena.com/2002/Fos1.shtml

Read Duane Elgin’s essay “Choosing a New Lifeway, Voluntary Simplicity.”

http://www.awakeningearth.org/PDF/choosing_a_new_lifeway.pdf

First Week - Food:Buying and Eating

If There’s Only One Thing You Can Do – Abstain from meat this week

“Meat and the Planet” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/opinion/27wed4.html

“Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler” by Mark Bittman http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html

What and Where to Buy

As much as possible, purchase and eat only seasonal, unpackaged food. Hint: most foods from the middle aisles of the supermarket are preprocessed and packaged; shop the perimeter of the store.

Explore local farmers’ markets.

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/Neighborhoods/IWantTo/Farmers_Markets.htm

Transportation of food guzzles energy. Buy food that was grown and processed nearby. Set your own limit: 200, 500 or 1000 miles from your home. www.foodroutes.org

Like coffee? Drink only organic fair trade coffee/tea. Give these farmers a fair price for their product and work.

http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/fair_trade.php

Lent = Fish. Select seafood that’s good for you and good for the oceans. Download a consumer’s guide to sustainable seafood.

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521&redirect=seafood.

Buy in bulk whenever possible, reducing needless packaging waste.

At Home

Purge the kitchen of disposable storage containers. Learn about the toxicity of some plastic containers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08kristof.html?_r=1

Purchase and set up a food composting bin at home. Send food waste back to the soil instead of to landfills.

http://www.howtocompost.org/

Learn how to fast safely. Develop eating patterns that fit with your values, and notice when you slip into eating food that is fast, cheap and easy.

Fasting: http://www.uccmsla.org/images/jw/aboutfasting.pdf

Children and Fasting: http://www.pcusa.org/foodcrisis/intro.htm

Set an extra place at your table this week to remember Christ’s presence and the millions who go hungry.

Dining Out

Try out a local vegetarian restaurant this week. Bring your own container for leftovers.

Pack real food for a healthy lunch at work or school in reusable containers.

http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/lunch.php

Check out the Slow Food movement. Bring balance to fast food and fast life.

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/

Steps Continued

Learn about your food: where it comes from, what levels of pesticides it contains.

www.foodnews.org

Calculate your food footprint.

http://www.eatlowcarbon.org

Watch a 4-minute video, “The Meatrix,” on factory farming of animals.

www.themeatrix.com

Read about the dark side of food issues in our country – two articles from Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation are available online.

http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/rollingstone1.html

Learn more about the global food crisis.

http://sainthubert.org/Parish_Organizations/Peace%20&%20Justice/EFJ-FoodCrisis08_111.pdf

Explore joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and enjoy fresh, locally grown food this summer.

http://www.localharvest.org/

Consider turning part of your yard into a vegetable garden. http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/organic-gardening-tips-460309

For over 82 years the National Catholic Rural Life Conference has been working on food justice issues and the integrity of creation. Learn more by visiting their website at www.ncrlc.com.

Read the article “Catholics should care what they eat” by Amy Schlumpf Manion. http://www.ncrlc.com/Catholics-SCWTE.html

Easy Ways to Improve Your Diet, Save Money and Decipher Food Labels

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/latest/green-food-tips-44091608

CONSUMPTION - WEEK 2

If There’s Only One Thing You Can Do … U.S. consumers receive 19 billion catalogs each year. It takes 53 million trees and 56 billion gallons of water to produce them, and they end up in landfills. Visit www.CatalogChoice.org to put a stop to unwanted catalogs. Less clutter in your mailbox means less pollution and less waste.

Avoid Unnecessary Consumption

Give up shopping this week…except for necessities, and BYOB (bring your own bag). Replace recreational shopping with Sabbath time with your family, being together in meaningful ways.

Read more about sustainable consumption: http://www.newdream.org/consumption/index.php

Clean out your closet. Remove anything you have not used for 2 years http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=974&Itemid=195

Clear out with Freecycle, a network of people who give away their stuff.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclelouisville/

Eliminate impulse buying. Try the 30-day rule: wait 30 days after the first time you decide you want to buy a product – then see if you need it.

What to Buy? Where to Buy?

Buy local, organic and fair trade products. Use our online links to find information on products that help you live a more creation-friendly lifestyle.

To find companies certified by TransFair USA, go to: http://transfairusa.org/content/certification/

Learn more about Fair Trade: http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/fair_trade.php

Trade as One: Change lives with everything you buy: http://tradeasone.com/get_involved/trading_post/

Buy in bulk, and save trips to the grocery store, save money and keep excess packaging out of the dumps.
Make you own cleaning products this week. Simple money-saving recipes for non-toxic, non-polluting all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants, and window cleaners are available online.

http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/cleaners.php

The basics of making your own cleaning products: http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=975&Itemid=196

Trash

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The first “R” is important – reduce your consumption. Reuse everything possible, and avoid disposable items such as paper towels, napkins and plates. Finally, learn how to recycle – experts say that nearly 75% of our trash can be recycled, but we only recycle 25%.

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=52&Itemid=113

Minimize waste by selecting items with the least amount of packaging.

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=937&Itemid=131

Think before you print. Paper represents 70% of office waste. Print and copy on both sides, set default margins wider, use recycled paper.
Pay your bills online. This minimizes paper consumption, saves trees and reduces fuel consumed by vehicles that transport paper checks.

Steps Continued

Visit The New American Dream, a website dedicated to help Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice.

http://www.newdream.org/index.php

Consult the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood to learn to prevent manipulation of children’s values by advertising. Alert your children to the needs of others; talk to them about sharing.

http://www.commercialexploitation.org/

Read Brian Swimme’s essay on the religion of the ad.

http://patrickpower.com/pdf/religionofthead.pdf

Read “The Gospel of Consumption,” an article by Jeffrey Kaplan explaining how we got into this consumer rat race.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2962/

Watch “The Story of Stuff” a 20-minute video by Annie Leonard.

www.storyofstuff.com

Organize your stuff with a step-by-step approach created by GoGreen.org.

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=134&Itemid=65

Blog

If you have ideas about how to consumer more responsibly, you can help form a supportive community of change by sharing them online at our Lent 4.5 blog.