Mother Earth Community

OCTOBER GREEN SPOT: Feel good about environmental progress and make a plan to vote

There are many months when we talk about environmental concerns.  This month our Mother Earth Ministry thought we’d share many of the positive things happening locally for the environment.  Sit back, relax and enjoy the information.  There are a great deal of great things happening! 

• The City of Rochester has a climate action plan.  It includes a drop-off composting program to reduce the amount of food in landfills which is free to residents. MORE INFO HERE.
• The Sierra Club which is the nation’s largest and most effective grassroots environmental movement has a very active local chapter.  They work on protecting wildlife, keeping our water clean and fighting the devasting effects of climate change.  And they are doing that right here in Rochester!  MORE INFO.
• Monroe County has a workshop called Recycling 101 and you can access that material at their website. MORE INFO.
• Pittsford has a trial program happening now with composting throughout the town.  MORE INFO.
• The following towns have achieved Bronze certification in New York’s Climate Smart Communities program: Irondequoit, Gates, Brighton, Pittsford and Henrietta. Requirements include decreasing energy use, shifting to clean energy, enhancing resilience, informing the public, and many others. If your town was not listed, consider asking your town officials to join in. MORE INFO.
• EcoPark is open every Saturday morning to bring things that cannot be recycled curbside.  MORE INFO.
• High Acres Landfill has a system now that can capture Methane gas and use it to generate electricity.  MORE INFO.
• TerraCycle is a company that you can send plastics to that cannot be recycled in other ways (like GoGo Squeeze containers, empty toothpaste tubes and other plastics). MORE INFO.
• Ezzy’s Restaurant on Buffalo Road uses compostable takeout containers. 
• Panara’s Bread shares their unsold pastries with non profit organizations at the end of each night so they don’t end up in landfills.
• The number of parishioners bringing their own place settings to the masses in the park this summer increased (and we thank every one of them for reducing the amount of waste generated!)
• Last weekend there was a Climate March to end fossil fuels here in Rochester that was well attended and sent a message to our leaders.  
• Climate-issues voters are having a powerful impact on election outcomes (according to the Environmental Voter Project). Make sure you are registered to vote! You can check HERE or HERE.
• The Mother Earth Ministry has been doing trash pick-ups once a month after Sunday masses.  We’ve picked up over 20 bags of trash from the area around our church.          

That’s an amazing list of positive things happening locally and there are lots of other things happening as well.  We can feel good about the progress being made.  

ECO-FRIENDLY EVENTS

Family parties and large gatherings to celebrate events are great opportunities to enjoy being together. They’re also wonderful times to take effective action to alleviate some of the plastic pollution and food waste that’s contributing to the climate crisis. Food waste is contributing gigatons of CO2 into our atmosphere. It produces unhealthy methane gas in landfills, so let’s do something about it. Whether we’re hosting parties or attending we can help. Below is a simple step by step for planning.  There is also a more detailed outline (see link below) if you’d like to train folks who will be helping to coordinate the event. Spread the good news that we can have parties and do our part to stop waste and pollution. 

STEP BY STEP PLAN

The Mother Earth Committee would like to help you plan eco-friendly summer parties.  Below is a step by step plan to help you get started.  Good luck and we hope your summer events are successful and Earth friendly.  

PREPARE:

• Check Monroe County Eco Park’s latest update on items accepted for recycling.
• Identify an individual or commercial source that accepts food compost. 
• Get 4 containers, sized for the number of people expected, for each station and place them near each other. Label them clearly.(Having pictures or photos of the items you’re collecting on the containers really helps!)
• Recycling, Composting, Film(bread wrapper type) plastic, Landfill
• Use washable plates, cups, utensils (or compostable).
• Have a team of helpers to wash dishes, monitor container use and help answer guests’ questions about the container use.
• If you’re encouraging ‘carry in, carry out’ let guests know ahead of time to bring their own place settings.

DURING EVENT:

• At the beginning of the event announce the location of waste station(s).
• Have someone near by to guide those unsure of how to dispose of different items and to answer questions about the process.

AFTER EVENT:

• Congratulate everyone who participated. You made a difference!
• Publicize the success of the recycling/composting and encourage othesr to continue the effort to reduce waste.

Mission Statement

We share in the life of the Spiritus Christi Community by organizing opportunities around outdoor activities and by cultivating our connections to the Earth and each other. We increase awareness of the interrelatedness of life, further inspiring us to protect the natural world through stewardship, education, and action. Our monthly meetings are currently held on Zoom.

VIDEOS

ARTICLES

Hamlin participating in Nex Trex school and community recycling challenge program

by Dan Krist

The Town Clerk of Hamlin, Patty Jo Groenendaal signed the town of Hamlin up for Nex Trex’s “recycling challenge” designed for schools and communities to collect plastic bags to be recycled and used for creating park benches that can be used by the community or school. Plastic bags used in this program must have some elasticity. Common bags that cannot be used in the program are ones that crinkle such as ones that are used for colored peppers in grocery stores. If you live or work in Hamlin or near Hamlin, bags can be brought to the Hamlin Public Library, Life Solutions of Hamlin or the Hamlin Town Hall when they are open for business. Please do not bring the plastic bags to be recycled in black plastic trash bags. The bags should be clean and not have dirt, food or other debris on or in them. Below are the hours and addresses of the drop off locations:

• Hamlin Town Hall, 1658 Lake Road, Hamlin, NY 14464. Hours: Monday – Friday 8am – 4pm
• Life Solutions of Hamlin, 1696 Lake Road, Hamlin, NY 14464. Hours: Thursday & Saturday 10am – 4pm
• Hamlin Public Library, 1680 Lake Road, Hamlin, NY 14464.
  Hours: Monday & Wednesday 10am – 6pm; Tuesday & Thursday 10am – 8pm; Friday 10am – 4pm; Saturday 10am – 2pm

For more information on the Nex Trex recycling challenge for schools & communities, CLICK HERE.

Go All Electric – Sounds Great! How?

With an estimated 40% of the United States carbon emissions coming from our homes and the vehicles we drive, switching to all electric will reduce emissions. Rewiring America, an electrification non-profit, recently released a guide to going all electric and making the most of the Inflation Reduction Act.For questions about home electrification, contact Heat Smart Finger Lakes and request a 15 or 30 minute conversation with an unbiased expert in the field who can answer your questions about available incentives (state and federal) and various technologies. Schedule anytime at this link. Nationally, all this electrification without major grid upgrades through permitting reform means that we’ll have to burn coal in the coming years, reducing the climate benefits. The Bipartisan Policy Center has these 23 recommendations and Solar advocates have these 20. 

PLASTIC

Plastic likely takes some form in most of the things we buy every day. It has been well documented that plastics pose one of the most serious threats to our Earth’s environment. Arguably the greatest single threat is single-use plastic, that is, plastic we use once and throw away: plastic wrap, plastic cups, packaging, etc.

Click on this link to find out how we consumers can do our part to keep single-use plastics out of our environment. And click on Good, Better, Best — Eliminating Plastic Waste to learn even more. And as you welcome 2023, please remember, REDUCE – REUSE – REPURPOSE – RECYCLE!

HOW DO WE MAKE OUR HOUSE GREENER?

Are you thinking you’d like to make some changes at your house to be greener but don’t know where to start?  The organization HeatSmart is a good place to start.  You can arrange for an energy audit and they will give you unbiased feedback on improvements you can make.  

Governor Hochul’s 2023 Climate and Environmental Achievements: COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE AND PREPARING FOR FUTURE DISASTERS

• Directed State agencies to create a cap-and-invest program to accelerate climate action and fund a sustainable and affordable future for all New Yorkers.
• Achieved a historic milestone with the successful delivery of clean power to Long Island from the first operational wind turbine at South Fork Wind, the first utility-scale offshore wind farm to begin delivering power in the United States.
• Announced the first rounds of available Bond Act funds, including $200 million for water infrastructure and $100 million for zero-emission school buses.
• Invested $500 million for clean water infrastructure.
• Created the $200 million EmPower+ home retrofits program to reduce energy costs for 20,000 low-income New York families.
• Secured $200 million in relief for high electric bills for 800,000 households.
• Completed a 10-stop listening tour across the State, a key step in creating a collaborative and transparent process in the delivery of Bond Act funds.
• Announced the creation of New York’s State Weather Risk Communication Center (SWRCC) at the University of Albany, a first-of-its-kind operational collaboration between university researchers and State emergency manager.

CLIMATE ACTION PLAN

Susan Hughes-Smith, Monroe County Legislator, reports of the County”s Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee and the changes in the legislature:
As Vice-Chair of the County’s Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee, I’m particularly pleased that in September, the legislature adopted Phase 1, which outlines the steps needed to reduce the climate impact from our government facilities and operations.I then worked to turn that plan into immediate action, and was pleased with the unanimous passage in December, of my referral committing 1 million dollars to:accelerate the cost-saving transition of streetlights to LEDs, add 2 additional EV charging stations to each of 9 locations across the county, begin the transition to electric maintenance equipment, purchase the geothermal unit for the zoo expansion, and complete a study on organic waste diversion and composting.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US!

To contact a member of the Mother Earth Community, to be added to our mailing list, and to receive Zoom meeting links, email motherearth@spirituschristi.org or call our office at 585-325-1180.