What We’re Doing Differently

Our weekly blog posts aim at providing practical steps that we each can take to defend our common home, as well as discuss ways in which we can change our way of thinking about science, about our relationship to the world around us, and about our understanding of our faith. Our hope is that, through our posts, we can deepen our understanding of the crisis facing us and embrace new behaviors that help us to preserve our common home.

For the three of us who currently do the research for and write this blog, we’ve found not only that our knowledge has grown, but that we’ve become aware not only of the way in which our common home is in danger, but of the way in which everyday activities that use everyday products also pose a threat to our health and well-being. For us, it has been important not only that we produce our blog posts on a regular basis, but that we also allow what we’ve learned to change our own behavior.

This week, we list the changes we’ve made to preserve our common home since we’ve begun writing these blog posts. In parentheses, we’ve listed how many of us have adopted a particular practice, and we’ve provided a link to blog posts that provide more information. Note that this list excludes things we were doing to preserve our common home before we began this blog. For example, you won’t see recycling listed here, since each of us recycled beforehand. Some other items were not applicable for each of us. For example, switching from plastic to cardboard milk cartons is only applicable for those of us why buy milk.

Note the diversity of the steps we’ve taken to protect our common home. It testifies to the fact that there are numerous starting points, and for those of us who are already very concerned with preserving our common home, there are always numerous additional steps that we can still take. As You Don’t Have to Be an Environmental Superhero!  argues, we don’t have to do everything at once. We just have to start somewhere and continue to expand our actions and our practices over time.

Laundry

• Do only full loads of laundry (1).
• Use a plant-based or eco-friendly laundry detergent (3).
• Do laundry primarily with cold water, using hot water only when necessary (1).
• Use a bath towel at least three times before washing, and wear clothes more than once (2).
• Stop using dissolvable laundry pods (1).
• Always use the tap cold instead of the cold setting (1).

See Laundry and Environmental Responsibility, Part 1, and Laundry and Environmental Responsibility, Part 2.

Dishwashing

• Use eco-friendly dish detergent (3).
• Use eco-friendly automatic dishwasher liquid (3).
• Use a dishwasher more frequently, since it consumes less water than handwashing (1).
• Handwash dishes with dishwater in a pot instead of using constantly running water (1).

See Dishwashing and Environmental Responsibility.

Cleaning

• Use only eco-friendly cleaning products (1).

Water preservation

• Turn off shower while shampooing hair and soaping the body (1).
• Fill a glass with water to rinse (instead of using constantly running water) when brushing teeth (2).
• Flash the toilet only if necessary (3).
• Wash the car only if needed or necessary (1).
• Water plants once a week except during high temperatures (1).

See Water Usage and Environmental Responsibility.

Food and food waste

• Buy only the quantity of groceries needed for immediate consumption (2).
• Buy organic canned goods (1).
• Buy organic produce if a choice is available (1).

See Food, Garbage, and the Environment and Can We Really Be Thankful to God When We Waste Food?

Plastics

• Began reusing Ziploc bags when possible (1).
• Began using washable glass storage containers instead of plastic ones (2).
• Use own cloth grocery bags instead of single-use or multi-use plastic bags (1).
• Use paper bags for trash instead of plastic bags (1).
• Buy milk in cartons instead of plastic containers (1).

See Plastic and the Environment, Liberating Ourselves from Plastic, and The Spirituality of Plastic.

Species preservation

• Put up a bird feeder (finally, after years of procrastination) (1).
• Put out a water source for pollinators (1).
• Relocate most spiders that make their way indoors (1).

See Bee Populations and the Looming Catastrophe and A World without Birds?