Creation Care Ministry

​"This is not secular do-goodism, this is the Jesus movement. As followers of Jesus, we care for God's world because God cares for God's world, and this means that we care about climate change."
- Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry,
​Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church

Grace Church in the Mountains is forming a Creation Care ministry. Come here to find inspiration and resources about how we can work together to be better stewards of God’s gifts to us. Eventually, you’ll find links to resources of all kinds, a schedule of events, and more.  We’re under construction so stop by occasionally to see what’s new.             
(Photos by Mary Lou Daily)

---

Recycle More; Recycle Right
​
Recycling has always been confusing, especially since China and other Asian countries have refused to accept U.S. recyclables any longer.  The rules are now different, but still confusing.  Plastic?  Depends upon type.  Styrofoam?  Never. (Except at Publix, which has a bin labeled ‘Styrofoam.’)  Cardboard? Always. Paper?  Yes, but nothing smaller than a business card and not shredded. To add to the confusion, each local government has different recycling rules.  

Now, with pandemic concerns, we are discouraged from using reusable grocery bags.  However, that should not discourage us from continuing to recycle.

In June 2020, here are the basics for recycling in Haywood County:
Plastic - Bottles, tubs, jugs, and jars. Empty and rinse. No pumps. Nothing larger than a gallon milk jug.
Metal - All cans. Empty and rinse. Do not crush, since the machine is optically designed and since crushed cans are flat they’re recognized as “paper.”
Glass - Bottles and jars. Empty and rinse.
Paper - Paper, cartons, and cardboard. Break down boxes and flatten cardboard.
Recycle more, but do it right.  When in doubt—throw it out!

---

​Local Creation Care Update: Recycle Foam at Publix!

Thanks to Diane Collins for our most recent Creation Care tip to our parish. As far as we can tell, Publix is the only LOCAL collector and recycler of that foam—meaning clean, dry, cartons, packing material, cups, etc. Their collection bins are out in front of the store (see picture) by the EXIT doors which makes it super simple to drive up and deposit recyclables, even if you don't shop there.  Please consider washing, drying and recycling your foam food containers and packing foam in their containers instead of tossing them into garbage and our overwhelmed landfills.

---

As we gratefully gaze over the bounty of our harvest at this time of the year, we are reminded of our pledge to care for our creation.
Despite the 2020 pandemic’s disruption in our lives, let’s renew our commitment to our earthly home by Recycling, Reusing, Reducing, Refusing.

1. Reuse bags in grocery stores and other places of business. All grocery stores will now accept reusable bags, with only Ingles asking you to bag your own groceries.  Use reusable mesh bags for produce instead of the store’s plastic produce bags.
2. Refuse to buy or use single-use plastics.
3. Recycle at Publix - foam containers, plastic bags, plastic sleeves from newpapers.
4. Recycle according to Haywood County directives.
   ABC: 1, 2, Tree! It’s as easy as

• A-- Aluminum          B--Bottles (tubs/jugs/jars)   C--Cans (steel/tin)
• 1--Soft drinks, juice, water, detergent, peanut butter, cleaning supply bottles
• 2-- Milk, bleach, detergent, shampoo, butter tubs, water jugs
• Tree-- Items from paper/cardboard - catalogs, magazines, newspapers, paper grocery bags, third class mail, household cardboard, boxes.

(All of this is explained on the back of your recent Haywood County Property Tax Notice.)
Let’s take care of our earthly home as our earthly home takes care of us.
                                                                                                                                       --Janine Geenen

---

Turn Out the Lights!

Outdoor light pollution is the amount of artificial (man-made) lighting that affects our night skies. Light pollution is now so prevalent that about 80% of Americans can no longer see the Milky Way due to outdoor lighting that dilutes starlight. 

The impact of all this nighttime brightness affects much of the natural world. We now know that lights must be limited along shorelines when sea turtles eggs begin to hatch. The hatchings find their way to the ocean by following the glow of moonlight on the waves. If there is too much nearby light pollution they mistakenly navigate towards land instead. 

Countless other animals also need the darkness to hunt, feed, breed, and migrate. Fireflies can only breed if they can find each other by their glow. Critters like possums and raccoons need the cover of night to safely find their food. Bats are our allies when it comes to insect control, but they need cover of darkness to hunt—and eat—thoousands of insects every night. And thousands of migrating birds die every year from disorientation due to lighting that causes them to crash into buildings.

The darkness also affects the human psyche. Have you ever stepped outdoors at night away from a city and been dazzled by the brilliance of a canopy of stars? Didn’t it reinforce how small we are in our universe. Doesn’t it create in us a sense of wonder? 

So what can we do? 
First, we can our own use of outdoor lighting. Put outside lights on timers, dimmers, or motion sensors, angle them so they point downward, and don’t use any more lighting than you need. Support lights-out campaigns for sea turtles and migrating birds. Become an advocate for better lighting in your community. For example, the town of Jasper, Alberta now hosts a Dark Sky Festival every fall and is working to replace the town’s outdoor lights with Lumican LEDS that provide a lighting in the warmer, safer amber range that limit blue wavelengths. 

All towns should be installing new streetlights that direct the light downward and limit light beams that point up and out. 
Why couldn’t Waynesville and other western North Carolina towns do this?  What could we be doing to encourage our local leaders to seriously consider it. As western North Carolina’s population grows, light pollution should be a consideration in all future development plans.

In the meantime, turn off the lights, go outside, and look up at the beauty of the nighttime sky. You may see a firefly dancing in the dark. If you’re lucky, you may also see the Milky Way.  

---

Creator God, you call us into relationship with others as co-creators of the world we inhabit. We see the damage done to this fragile earth and all who reside within it, and we want to change it. Show us the ways to simplify our physical lives in ways that will broaden our souls, magnify our interconnectedness, and strengthen our bond to you. All this we ask through the one who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, Jesus Christ. Amen.
                                                    www.episcopalchurch.org/creation

---