Rain Barrels - What a deal - Protect our Huron Watershed

Protect our Huron Watershed AND Save $$$ – Install a Rain Barrel!

What's a watershed? What's a rain barrel??

Watershed – land within which water flows down into a specified body of water. We live in the Huron River watershed.

Rain Barrel – a container used to collect and store rain water runoff from rooftops via gutters and downspouts.

Why install a rain barrel? The Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) explains that rain barrels "…save homeowners water, energy and money by reducing summer tap water needs. The stored water can be used by homeowners to irrigate gardens and lawns where the water will slowly infiltrate into the soil and plants. In addition, rain barrels also slow the rapid flow of water entering the stormwater system—storm drains, culverts, rivers and lakes—and help reduce soil erosion and flooding."

For a VERY limited time, the HRWC and other local entities "…are teaming up to host a public sale of discount rain barrels. Purchasers can go online now through May 13 to order their rain barrels in advance for pick up Saturday, May 18, 9am-2pm at the Washtenaw County Road Commission, 555 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor. Rain barrels are priced at $75 for a 65-gallon 85% recycled content model in charcoal or $85 for a classic edition barrel in granite. These prices are at least 20% off regular retail prices, and without shipping charges homeowners save even more. Go to www.hrwc.org/rainbarrels to get the promotional code and purchase a rain barrel."

As an added incentive, Ann Arbor residents qualify for a quarterly stormwater credit of $1.96 simply by installing at least one rain barrel on their property. Go to www.a2gov.org/storm and click Residential credits under Stormwater Rates and Credits for details.

Act quickly to support the Huron River watershed!

Ray Digby and Steve Lavender for the St. Francis Sustainability Team  

The Evils of Being Idle

The Evils of Being Idle
By Karen Digby, member of the St. Francis Sustainability Team
found on page 10 of Forum bulletin April 7th, 2013.

    The dictionary defines the word idle as something “not in use or operation”, “not working or active”. The book of Proverbs 18:9 states, “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”  Together, both this definition and quotation perfectly describe the effects that the idling of a car has on the atmosphere.  Did you know that idling your car, even for a few minutes, is destructive to your environment, the­­ very air you breathe, and ultimately to your health?  Idling is a costly and wasteful habit too.  It has been determined that more gas is lost in the idling of a car (approximately two-tenths of a gallon per half hour) than in restarting its engine. Over 27 gallons of gas are lost annually, by idling a car, for as little as even ten minutes each day.  Additionally, the wear on the engine with each restart costs approximately $10 annually, while wear from an idling engine can cost hundreds of dollars each year, due to the damage it causes to exhaust systems, spark plugs, cylinders and other parts of the car’s engine.  Although a car can ultimately be replaced, your health and atmosphere cannot. 

     The engines of cars are created to work more effectively to combust fuel at high temperatures.  However, when idle, the car engine works at a low temperature.  This causes fuel entering the car’s catalytic converter to undergo incomplete combustion, thereby, permitting the emission of harmful complex chemical components such a nitrogen oxide, benzene, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, to name a few, into the air.  When people breathe this toxic air, they suffer damaging effects to their bodies (cancer), particularly the lungs (asthma), heart and blood vessels (high blood pressure and decreased oxygen flow to heart and other tissue).  This is particularly troubling for children who breathe in more air per pound of their body weight, as compared to adults.

     So what can you do to prevent your car from being “idle”?  First and foremost, if your car will remain still (while the engine is on) for more than half a minute, turn off your engine.  Worried about a cold car when temperatures are colder?  No worries.  Cars with electronic engines are engineered to warm even more quickly when a car is being driven, compared to when it is standing still, especially if  increased speed and quick acceleration is avoided during the first three to five miles in which the car is first driven.  If waiting to pick up a passenger, use a blanket to stay warm or get out of the car and go indoors to wait.  Waiting in a running car can increase the risk of you yourself breathing in toxic fumes that can leak into your car’s interior.  As an added bonus, for every ten minutes the car engine is not idle, ten pounds of carbon dioxide will be prevented from polluting the air.

     Prevent being “slack in [your] work” to preserve your environment, fossil fuel resources, and money.  Do not let yourself become the “brother to him (fuel/carbon emissions) who destroys” the health of you and your children. You will reap what you sow both now and for generations to come.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/idleness

http://www.openbible.info/topics/idleness

http://www.makealeap.org/idling_myth

http://www.greencalgary.org/take-action/campaigns/idle-free-campaign/learn-more-about-idling/health-effects-of-idling/

http://www.edf.org/transportation/reports/idling­­­­­

http://www.nutramed.com/environment/carschemicals.htm

Join your fellow parishioners as we build a Sustainability Project here at St. Francis.   

Contact Scott Wright (734-821-2121).

www.stfrancisa2.com/sustainability

AnnArbor.com Story on St. Francis Parish Protecting the Environment

St. Francis News Story in AnnArbor.com
Faith Based Sustainability Program to Protect the Environment
http://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-church-creates-faith-based-program-to-protect-the-environment/

Getting off the bottle…

Getting off the bottle…

By Karen Digby, member of the St. Francis Sustainability Team for the Forum bulletin March 10th, 2013)

So you love to drink water.  Great!  This a healthy beverage for you.  Drinking bottled water though, not so healthy for your environment.  People often have the misgiving that bottled water is better for them, purer, without contaminants and better tasting.  This is not necessarily the case however, as determined by a four year study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).  According to the study, which examined 103 different types of bottled water from the United States, one third of those waters was found to be contaminated with carcinogenic and neurotoxic chemicals!  

Twenty five percent of bottled water was also determined to be sourced from a tap rather than solely from a pure spring or other clean source, according to industry and government estimations.  In fact, FDA water standard rules do not apply to up to 60 to 70 percent of American bottled water as they do to city water from the tap.  For example, tap water from the city must be examined for coliform bacteria at least 100 times monthly, whereas bottled water requires testing for the same, just once a week!  Bottled water usually must be tested for chemical contamination once per year, while city tap water must be tested at a minimum of every three months.

Financially this is not very healthy for the pocketbook either, as the bottled water habit can cost a drinker anywhere from 240 to over 10,000 more per gallon for water in a bottle, as compared  to that from a tap.  Additionally, empty bottles create 86 percent of the waste material found in landfills or incinerators, while 1.5 million barrels of oil are utilized, in the US, to manufacture new bottles (from polyethylene terephthalate).

Would you like to break this unhealthy habit?  Consider these solutions:

·               -purchase a ceramic filter or activated charcoal filter for your kitchen tap or a filtered water pitcher to make home made purified water (these will further filter the water and make the water taste better if you do not normally find the taste of tap water to be appealing)

·               -use a BPA free reusable bottle or mug to carry your home made water around with you to sip on during the day

-                refill these reusable bottles at local purified water re-filling stations or drinking fountains (the Meri Lou Murray Center in Ann Arbor, for instance has one of these stations, as do many buildings at the University of Michigan)

·               Water is supposed to be good for you.  Trying these solutions can help to keep it that way.   Salud!

·               Bottled water, what a waste.  http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-water.html

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

www.stfrancisa2.com/sustainability

Don’t get drowned by water waste (Sustainability article)

Don't get drowned by water waste

By Karen Digby, member of St. Francis Sustainability Team for the FORUM on February 24, 2013, Page 16 at:   http://www.stfrancisa2.com/sites/all/files/users/user28/130224.pdf

Water.  We rely on it every day, from bathing, to washing things, cooking, to drinking.  According to Sustainable Water, LLC, people in the USA utilize over four hundred gallons of water daily.  In fact, they further state that our water usage has exceeded from 127% over the past fifty years!  And, although it seems as though we have enough water all around us, reality is that only 2.5% of it is potable. However, much of this water is frozen in polar ice and glaciers, making only 1% that amount that can really be consumed.  This is a crucial factor given the reports over the last several years of drought, leading to famine, stealing food out of the mouths of people worldwide and driving up food prices.  For these reasons, water conservation is key.  There are many things that we can do at home and in our communities to begin saving water and even recycling what we use.  Here are just a few tips…
·         when using the washing machine, ensure a full load and wash on the cold cycle (washing and rinsing with cold water uses about 0.3kWh /load which at about $0.15 per kWh equals $0.05  cost of water each load vs. $0.68 using hot wash/warm rinse water at 4.5kWhs)
·         change out shower heads to the "low flow" style- this can save approximately 45 gallons of water per household per day (toilets and faucets can be converted to "low-flow" too)
·         fix a leaky faucet by replacing old washers and this can save up to twenty gallons of water daily
·         turn off the water when not using it directly to brush your teeth, shave, or wash your hands or face
·         use mulch around your trees and plants to soak up water and keep the soil around your them moister for longer
·         place a water cistern or barrel on your home's downspout to capture rain water which can then be used to water your yard (can be purchased at Walmart ready made or a DIY kit there sells for about $26 [called DIY Rain barrel diverter & parts kit])
·         re-use water in a vase of old flowers, left over bottled water, bath water, or even fish bowl water (when cleaning it out), to water your plants or garden
http://www.o-sw.com/solutions/commercial-solutions
http://www.benefits-of-recycling.com/importanceofconservationofwater/
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Simple-Dollar/2012/0119/Here-s-exactly-how-much-you-ll-save-doing-laundry-in-cold-water
http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-water.html

Plastic Bottle Recycling

Plastic Bottle Recycling

By Karen Digby on behalf of the Sustainability Team at St. Francis... for the FORUM on February 3rd, 2013.

    Did you know that according to the Washington State Department of Ecology, people within the United States use four million plastic bottles per hour?  And, of every four bottles used, only one gets recycled! Why is this big deal?  Well for one thing when plastic bottles are thrown into the garbage, instead of being recycled, they end up in landfills where they can take anywhere from 100 to 400 years to decompose.  What a waste-literally!  Recycling plastic to make new plastic requires only two thirds of the amount of energy that would be needed if starting from scratch. Almost four barrels of oil can be saved by when one ton of plastic bottles are recycled. Recycled plastic can be used to create new products such as auto parts, carpeting, even clothing.  Recycling plastic can even create enough energy to light a sixty watt light bulb for six hours!  Does recycling sound like something you could do?  Great, then here are just three ideas to help you start.   Happy recycling! 

1.       Place plastic non-returnable (for cash) bottles into recycling bins.  Washtenaw County has a curbside recycling program… see:  http://www.recycleannarbor.org

2.       Storage.  Plastic bottles are a handy way to store small items such as paper clips, nails, etc.

3.       Creative (or not)? Save money on gifts this year by creating your own unique, hand-made items. Check out this web site with savvy ideas for the beginner to the advanced artist in you:   http://earth911.com/news/2010/07/26/6-ways-to-reuse-plastic-bottles/

http://earth911.com/news/2012/12/27/12-amazing-recycling-and-waste-statistics-from-2012/

http://schools.fwps.org/panther/files/2012/05/recycling-fast-facts-handout-2012.pdf

http://www.recycleannarbor.org/?module=Page&sID=resources-plastics-explained

http://www.recycleannarbor.org/?module=Page&sID=resources-a-to-z-recycling-guide

For more information or to join our Sustainability Team, call Scott (734-821-2121), or visit:  stfrancisa2.com/sustainability

Sustainability: creating new beginnings for the beginner

Sustainability: creating new beginnings for the beginner    By Karen Digby on behalf of the Sustainability Team at St. Francis... for the FORUM on January 27th, 2013.

           Over the past few months, you may have been noticing more and more information about sustainability in our parish bulletin.  What exactly is sustainability, you may ask, and what does it have to do with me?  Well, quite a lot actually.  In fact it is relevant to everyone living and breathing on this earth today, as it will be for generations to come.  The concept of sustainability was first developed in 1987, by the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations.  Basically the concept is defined as being able to meet people's needs for various resources, in the present time, in an efficient, effective, yet responsible manner, that will still allow them to meet the same needs of their children (our children) in the future.  This means reducing or even eliminating certain things such as water pollution and waste, food wastage, carbon emissions into our air, overuse of electricity and gas.  It also means learning to save, reuse and recycle things such as plastic, clothing, even things we consider to be garbage!  All of this so that future generations will be able to survive and live in harmony with the earth and their environment, as people have been used to doing in the past.

         You may think," I don't know how to start doing this."  "What difference can I make, if I do?" The Sustainability Team here at St. Francis, wants to help show you the way.  Our articles here in the parish bulletin will suggest different ideas for you to try out at home, at work, at school, anywhere during the week.  Learn more and you will want to join our Sustainability Team!  What better a way to become a steward of the resources God has given to you.  What better a way to make a difference in the lives your family, friends, community. 

               The future of our world and that of our children's is our responsibility to God and self.  As is written in Leviticus 25: 23-24, "The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land."

            For more information or to join our Sustainability Team, call Scott (734-821-2121), or visit:  stfrancisa2.com/sustainability

 

·    marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/greenwash-brigade/define-sustainability-please

·    christianteens.about.com/od/understandingyourbible/qt/ScriptureEnvironment.htm