A2 climate action plan

Happy New Year!

This is a great site, The Ann Arbor climate action plan.  Check out the homeowner and renter sections!

http://www.a2energy.org/climate

Seeking a Professional Facilitator

Seeking a Professional Facilitator

The Sustainability initiatives at St. Francis are off to a strong start and Fr. Jim has asked the team to move it to the next level.  We are preparing for a "2013 Sustainability planning session" in late January and are in need of a facilitator.  If you can help please contact Scott Wright    (734-821-2121)  swright@stfrancisa2.org

Better Buildings for Michigan Program Extended!

Better Buildings for Michigan Program Extended!

Are you considering improvements to make your home warm, comfortable, healthy and energy efficient this winter? Clean Energy Coalition and St. Francis have identified four local energy specialists that have met the high performance requirements of the Better Buildings program. The specialists are: Chelsea Lumber, Ms. Green Construction, Meadowlark Energy and Pro Energy. They are offering $50 assessments to show you ways you can make your home more energy efficient. Enrollment in the Better Buildings has been extended to March 31, 2013 or until funds run out.

Sustainability Team Accomplishments List

Sustainability Team Accomplishments List

written by Kelly Gauthier, Dec 12, 2012.

Our accomplishments in the past six months...

• Established a core team, and then added new members from the Time & Talent survey (I)
• Created a logo and tagline for Sustainability Project (I)
• Held individual meetings with some key parish and school staff to explain the project and see how their dept/area fits in (I)
• Announced the Sustainability Project to the parish in the July 8th Forum, including a highlight of the theological foundations (II)
• Added sustainability petitions to the mass, beginning in December (II)
• Produced 14 Forum articles between July and December (III)
• Learned about organic farming with a parish "field trip" to an organic farm (III)
• Scheduled a workshop at the parish Common Conference in January (II, III)
• "Greened" coffee and donuts by replacing Styrofoam and plastic with compostables -- and composting them (IV)
• "Greened" the school's 60th anniversary party by replacing Styrofoam and plastic with compostables (IV)
• Began "greening" the PAC kitchen (IV)
• Provided educational resources to the school, which are currently being reviewed (II, III)
• Scheduled a teachers' Professional Development day in March that will be dedicated to the topic of integrating sustainability into the curriculum (II, III)

Shopping Made Sustainable

Shopping Made Sustainable

We are called to be good and faithful stewards over all creation. The

connection to preserving air and water seems obvious. Stewardship over all creation however really does mean All Creation! Even those items shaped and produced by human hands through our God given talents are on the list. Take shopping for example. Its connection to sustainability is relevant all year long but particularly applicable right now.

There are only 9 days until Christmas. Many of us are still browsing, knowing we need that perfect gift for Uncle Pete or Aunt Rose. Does sustainability factor into our shopping decisions? In short, yes, it should be a consideration.

Ron Kramer from our Sustainability Team has compiled a wonderful list of questions for consideration by shoppers. They apply on Christmas Eve in the shop around the corner or on any other day of the year. Ron's list comes from the book Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic.

Before you buy, commit to reviewing this checklist:

• Do I (or does my gift recipient) really need it?
  
• Can I really afford it?
  
• Will it enrich the quality of my life or of others?
  
• Is it worth the time and money to store, clean, and otherwise maintain?
  
• Could I borrow it from a friend, neighbor, or family member?
  
• Is there anything I already own, which I could possibly use instead?
  
• Are the resources that went into making it renewable?
  
• Is the product socially and environmentally friendly?   (Not made with
  
• sweatshop or child labor? or from virgin timber?)
  
• Can I recycle it?  Or, will it clog a landfill?
  

As an alternative, buy used items or ask that gifts given to you be donations to your favorite charity.

compostable and recyclable products - Canticle News

The St. Francis of Assisi community has made a major change toward sustainable practices. Sunday morning Coffee and Donuts launched the program by eliminating all Styrofoam coffee cups and replacing them with compostable cups. Additionally, juice cups that were previously disposed of as trash are now being recycled. Adding emphasis to the effort, the 60^th Anniversary Committee's celebration for St. Francis School featured compostable coffee, beverage and wine cups along with compostable plates. The most challenging part of this change was becoming accustomed to the new receptacles and knowing where to place the empty cups. All St. Francis ministries are pursuing the change to compostable and recyclable products wherever possible. Congratulations to everyone at St. Francis for joining in the effort to care for God's creation through the use of compostable and recyclable products!  

Did You Know? – CFLs, Mercury and Coal: The Big Picture

Did You Know? – CFLs, Mercury and Coal: The Big Picture

(written by Steve Lavender on behalf of the Sustainability Team for the Nov 18th FORUM.)

CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps), the spiral lighting source that's rapidly replacing incandescent bulbs are a great way to reduce electrical costs in your home or office. Occasionally, concerns are voiced about the mercury contained in each CFL. To get the facts, I consulted a favorite technical publication, Popular Mechanics magazine. Here's what I discovered:

v       In order to generate light, each CFL is produced with an average of 5 milligrams of mercury. Five milligrams is just enough to cover a ballpoint pen tip.

v       By comparison, the traditional oral thermometer that may still be hiding in your medicine chest contains 500-600 milligrams of mercury.

v       Since CFLs use only about 25% as much energy as their incandescent counterparts, using CFLs reduces the amount of electricity you consume and therefore the amount of electricity our power plants must produce.

v       In Michigan, about 2/3 of our electricity is produced by coal-fired power plants. Mercury naturally contained in the coal is released when it burns. Reducing the demand for power through efficiencies such as CFLs means less coal is burned, reducing mercury emissions.

v       Replacing just one 75 watt incandescent bulb with a 20 watt CFL (they produce the same amount of light) will reduce mercury emissions over the CFLs' lifetime by almost 10 milligrams.

So what's the point behind these numbers? The emissions from coal fired power plants are a much greater hazard than any CFL. Incandescent bulbs prompt the release of almost 4 times as much mercury into the environment from coal fired power plants as do CFLs. That incandescent bulb is the "smoker" in the room and all of us are ingesting the toxins in the power plant produced second hand smoke. Look at the big picture. CFLs, with their minute level of mercury safely enclosed within the lighting tube actually reduce the level of mercury that all living objects, including humans continually ingest from power plant emissions. DTE's Monroe Power Plant, a coal fired facility, released 614 pounds of mercury into the environment in 2010. It's only 31 miles from St. Francis as the wind blows. Help reduce the emissions - use the CFLs!

Join your fellow parishioners as we build a Sustainability Project here at St. Francis.   Contact Scott Wright (734-821-2121).
www.stfrancisa2.com/sustainability