Dr. Steve Weeks, professor of Biology from the University of Akron joined us in worship this past week. He passionately shared with us some great ways to care for the environment. Here they are below:
Listen to the sermon and interview (Steve is at the end. The sound is a little soft.)
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=49f22b6544d1cbead2db6fb9a8902bda
Important Issues for the Environment
1) Main environmental issues facing our generation
a) Global warming
b) Habitat destruction
2) Ways to reduce one’s impact on God’s Creation:
a) Reduce
i) Buy less stuff!
(1) It is amazing how much stuff we buy and never use – my kids have a MOUNTAIN of toys they rarely use, but instead always go back to their “favorites.” It would be wisest to not buy them all this stuff and thus REDUCE the impact on the environment from producing and shipping those items to the U.S. (most of their toys are from China).
ii) Keep thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter
(1) Also lower water heater temperature
iii) Buy a more energy-efficient products
(1) Car
(2) Refrigerator
(3) Water heater
iv) Buy “locally-grown” produce that doesn’t have to be shipped thousands of miles
(1) Or better yet, grow your own food as much as you can!
v) Replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs
vi) Better insulate your home
vii) Consider alternate energy for your house
(1) Solar cells or solar water heater
(2) Geothermal heating/cooling
(3) Wind power
b) Reuse
i) Anything you can hold onto for a longer period reduces your impact on the environment
(1) Cars, computers, major appliances, furniture, etc.
ii) Buying used items also reduces your impact
(1) My wife buys used furniture and reworks it for our house all the time
(a) It is cheaper, uses less wood products, and is generally better made than the newer, press-board furniture!
c) Recycle
i) Similar to the “reuse” idea – if you have to get rid of something, try to see that it can be reused by someone else
(1) Give old, still-usable products to Goodwill rather than throw it in the garbage
(2) Recycle paper, plastic, glass and metal items whenever possible
(3) If you are in an establishment that has no recycle containers available, ask the owner to make them available (e.g., hotels, schools, etc.)
3) Will these things make an important difference?
a) I get asked this all the time. I have an analogy – You are in a train. The main breaking system has failed, the engine is still running at top speed, and there is no way of getting off. However, at each seat there is a little hand break that can, when used all at once, stop the train. You can NOT stop the train by yourself with your one hand break. What do you do? The smartest move seems to be to pull like mad on the hand break, convince your neighbors to pull like mad and pass the word through the train that EVERYONE needs to pull! No one can stop the train on their own, but without EVERYONE pitching in, the train will eventually derail. This is the issue we are facing now with the impending global ecological “train wreck” and unless we all start pitching in (and convince others to do so too), we will leave a much poorer world to our children and grandchildren!
4) What can you do as a larger community?
a) Make your church “environmentally friendly”
i) Provide recycling containers for your church
(1) It would also be nice to provide these recycling services to the portion of your congregation that may not have these services in their home communities
ii) Recycle your orders of service
iii) Do an “energy audit” to see how you can reduce heating/cooling costs to your building
b) Provide environmental services to your community
i) Provide recycling services to your local community if they do not have such services readily available
(1) e.g., plastic bag recycling
ii) Plant trees & other plants
(1) Start a community garden?
iii) Possibly do a type of “habitat for humanity” style campaign for poorer neighborhoods but rather than build new homes, insulate older homes for poor people
(1) It both cuts down their heating costs (allowing them more $ for food, etc.) while also reducing their carbon footprint!
