Going Green

So "Green Week" fell at the end of September for most, but LA is a little slow as it's official week in the sun was last week. However, with the WGA strike, the media's responsibility to publicize "Green Week" dissipated. "Green Week" highlights important issues related to the environment and simple decisions we can make as human beings to help our surroundings instead of damage them. I'm not just blogging about this because I'm from Seattle, where tree huggers and recycling fiends are produced, although I commend the Northwest's commitment to these issues. I believe that Christians have a special responsibility to be stewards of what they have been given; the environment should be part of that. If Christians truly want to engage in the world, environmental decisions must be part of this. Here are some statistics to think about:

• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours (or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline).
• If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
• Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
• The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.
• Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
• If a family of four takes 5-minute showers each day, they will use more than 700 gallons of water every week--the equivalent of a three-year supply of drinking water for one person.
• The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes.
• Substituting a compact fluorescent light for a traditional bulb will keep a half-ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb.

Making small changes every day goes a long way. Check out The Green Guide for some ideas.