What Can You Do?

Live simply that others may simply live!

Individually - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle;
Collectively - Advocate

1. You can take Mayor Daley’s 2007 Environmental Pledge

Energy

  • I PLEDGE to replace 4 light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs.
  • I CAN eliminate 1800 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the bulbs.
  • TOGETHER, all Chicagoans can prevent 2,558,262 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is the equivalent of removing 81,164 cars from the road.

Water

  • I PLEDGE to turn off the tap when brushing my teeth.
  • I CAN save 4 gallons of water a day.
  • TOGETHER, all Chicagoans can save enough water to fill 33,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Air

  • I PLEDGE to replace at least one car trip a month with walking, bicycling, or public transit.
  • I CAN decrease carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 pounds.
  • TOGETHER, all Chicagoans can decrease emissions by 1.89 billion tons—the equivalent of 12 round trips to the sun.

Land

  • I PLEDGE to plant or care for a city tree by watering, mulching, and removing litter.
  • I CAN help to capture 3.6 pounds of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere.
  • TOGETHER, all Chicagoans can help capture more than 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 515,000 gallons of gasoline.

Waste

  • I PLEDGE  to replace plastic shopping bags with reusable shopping bags.
  • I CAN eliminate 208 bags per year.
  • TOGETHER, all Chicagoans can eliminate 601 million bags and save 4,508 tons of waste from going to a landfill.

Five More

Wasn't that easy? Here are more actions you can take to help protect and improve our environment.

Energy

  • Buy Energy Star products and appliances.
  • Turn lights and computers off when they are not in use.
  • Clean your refrigerator coils. Dust on the coils located in the back of a refrigerator makes it less efficient.
  • Change or clean the filters in your air conditioners and heaters.
  • Use sleep mode on your computers at home and at the office. Turn them off at night.
  • Open the dishwasher and air-dry dishes instead of using the hot air dry cycle. Only run the machine with full loads.
  • Dry your laundry on a clothesline.
  • Wash clothes on warm or cold cycle, not hot. Wash only full loads.
  • Turn down your hot water heater to 120F.
  • Shorten showers by a few minutes to conserve hot water.
  • Adjust thermostat when you leave the house (10F down in winter, 10F up in summer).
  • Keep up with basic furnace maintenance. Have it professionally tuned and cleaned, and replace air filters regularly.
  • Cook more efficiently. Cover pots, use a pressure cooker when appropriate, keep burners clean, cook several dishes at a time in the oven, and use a microwave to heat food.
  • Keep drapes or blinds closed at night in winter and during the day in the summer to reduce heating and cooling needs.
  • Install faucet aerators in sinks to reduce hot water use.
  • Insulate the 4 ft of hot water pipes closest to hot water heater.
  • Insulate all hot water pipes.
  • Caulk and weather strip all your doors and windows.
  • Have a professional seal your heating ducts to reduce the loss of heated air.
  • Install a programmable thermostat.
  • Replace appliances--dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines--that are more than 10 years old with an Energy Star model. The older models are less efficient than newer ones.
  • Replace your old furnace, air conditioner, refrigerator, and water heater with efficient Energy Star models. (www.energystar.gov)
  • Install a solar hot water heater.
  • Eat one less beef meal per week. It takes far more energy to produce meat for consumption than it does to raise a crop.

Water

  • Install an efficient showerhead and low flow faucet aerators.
  • Run the dishwasher and washing machine only when there is a full load, or use low water level features.
  • Water your lawn in the early morning, when temperatures are cooler, to minimize evaporation.
  • Repair dripping faucets and leaky toilets. Install an ultra-low flush or toilet displacement device
  • Take your motor oil or household chemicals to city-sponsored household hazardous waste drop-off events for disposal. Do not pour them down the sewer drain.
  • Disconnect your down spouts when appropriate.
  • Plant a rain garden.
  • Install a rain barrel or cistern in your yard.

Air

  • Inflate car tires to the manufacturer’s recommended levels.
  • Choose fuel efficient, hybrid cars
  • Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips in your neighborhood. Use public transportation.
  • Do not warm up your car--idling releases emissions. Automatic transmissions do not need to be warmed.
  • Use an electric or push lawn mower.
  • Purchase low odor paints. These reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or fumes in your home.

Land

  • Eliminate lawn and garden pesticides.
  • Pick up free blue bags at the check-out counters at Walgreen’s, Dominicks’ and Whole Foods Market.
  • Remove your name from junk mail lists by calling: DMA Mail Preference Service at 1.888.5 optout or go to www.dmaconsumers.org.
  • Leave grass clippings on your lawn or compost them.
  • Reduce disposable items by using canvas shopping bags, silverware and ceramic coffee mugs.
  • Buy recycled products.
  • Use rechargeable batteries.
  • Donate old clothes and used cell phones.
  • When it rains, let nature work for you and limit watering your lawn and/or garden.
  • Cover plant beds with composted leaves or grass to help retain moisture and reduce the need for watering.
  • Go organic. Most lawn and garden centers now offer several organic fertilizers and pesticides.
  • Limit your lawn. Most people over water their lawns, so consider planting native shrubs, ground covers or vegetables, which use less water.
  • Plant native plants. Plants that have evolved in Chicago need less water and maintenance.
  • Plant trees to shade your house in the summer.
  • Join a gardening club.
  • Plant a green roof. Green roofs reduce roof-top temperatures, create habitat for wildlife and reduce storm water runoff.

Waste

  • Compost your food waste.
  • Pay your bills online to reduce paper.
  • Choose products made with recycled content. Look for the chasing arrows symbol.
  • Recycle newspapers, cans, and bottles.
  • Buy products with minimal packaging.

For more info on Pledge and other ideas, click: egov.cityofchicago.org/Environment/

2. Take Action! Check the Stop Global Warming Calculator

The Stop Global Warming calculator shows you how much carbon dioxide you can prevent from being released into the atmosphere and how much money you can save by making some small changes in your daily life. It’s our hope that the calculator will promote action, awareness and empowerment by showing you that one person can make a difference and help stop global warming.

There are many simple things you can do in your daily life — what you eat, what you drive, how you build your home — that can have an effect on your immediate surrounding, and on places as far away as Antarctica. Here is a list of few things that you can do to make a difference.

Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs:
Replace three frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. You will save 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $60 per year.
Inflate Your Tires:
Keep the tires on your car adequately inflated. Check them monthly. You will save 250 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $840 per year.
Change Your Air Filter:
Check your car's air filter monthly. You will save 800 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $130 per year.
Fill the Dishwasher:
Run your dishwasher only with a full load. You will save 100 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $40 per year.
Use Recycled Paper:
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. You will save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
Adjust Your Thermostat:
Move your heater thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in the summer. You will save 2000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $98 per year.
Check Your Water heater:
Keep your water heater thermostat no higher than 120°F. You will save 550 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $30 per year.
Change the AC Filter:
Clean or replace dirty air conditioner filters as recommended. You will save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $150 per year.
Take Shorter Showers:
Showers account for 2/3 of all water heating costs. You will save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $99 per year.
Install a Low-Flow Showerhead:
Using less water in the shower means less energy to heat the water. You will save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $150.
Buy Products Locally:
Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your store.
Buy Energy Certificates:
Help spur the renewable energy market and cut global warming pollution by buying wind certificates and green tags.
Buy Minimally Packaged Goods:
Less packaging could reduce your garbage by about 10%. You will save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.
Buy a Hybrid Car:
The average driver could save 16,000 lbs. of CO2 and $3,750 per year driving a hybrid.
Buy a Fuel Efficient Car:
Getting a few extra miles per gallon makes a big difference. You will save thousands of lbs. of CO2 and a lot of money per year.
Carpool When You Can:
Own a big vehicle? Carpooling with friends and co-workers saves fuel. You will save 1,590 lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.
Reduce Garbage:
Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. You will save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.
Plant a Tree:
Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breathe. You will save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.
Insulate Your Water Heater:
Keep your water heater insulated could save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $40 per year.
Replace Old Appliances:
Inefficient appliances waste energy. You will save hundreds of lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.
Weatherize Your Home:
Caulk and weather strip your doorways and windows. You will save 1,700 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $274 per year.
Use a Push Mower:
Use your muscles instead of fossil fuels and get some exercise. You will save 80 lbs of carbon dioxide per year.
Unplug Un-Used Electronics:
Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. You will save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $256 per year.
Put on a Sweater:
Instead of turning up the heat in your home, wear more clothes. You will save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $250 per year.
Insulate Your Home:
Make sure your walls and ceilings are insulated. You will save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $245 per year.
Air Dry Your Clothes:
Line-dry your clothes in the spring and summer instead of using the dryer. You will save 700 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $75 per year.
Switch to a Tankless Water Heater:
Your water will be heated as you use it rather than keeping a tank of hot water. You will save 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $390 per year.
Switch to Double Pane Windows:
Double pane windows keep more heat inside your home so you use less energy. You will save 10,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $436 per year.
Buy Organic Food:
The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce
Bring Cloth Bags to the Market:
Using your own cloth bag instead of plastic or paper bags reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

3. Gift Giving

Give gifts that give twice! Give Fair Trade items!

Give gifts that don’t hurt our environment!

  • Shop at Old St. Pat’s Fair Trade Fair on Sunday, Oct. 28th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
  • Buy products made by our Old St. Pat’s international partners: Friends of Fabretto, tgleason@ameritech.net (Beautiful Creche Puzzles) and Lift, ktronan@sbcglobal.net.
  • Buy Fair Trade Coffee, Tea, Chocolate and other products whenever it is available. Ask your local merchants, work places, churches to carry/serve Fair Trade.
  • Shop at Ten Thousand Villages Stores in Evanston, Oak Park, Glen Ellyn and Grayslake. Go to www.tenthousandvillages.com
  • Shop at Catholic Relief Services “Work of Human Hands” or other Fair Trade groups such as “Bright Hope International”, etc.
  • Go to Center for a New American Dream and Eco-shopper for many ideas on environmentally friendly gifts.

b. Wrapping gifts

Americans generate 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than at any other time of year. That’s five million extra tons of garbage! Wrapping paper, ribbon and packing materials account for a huge heap of it. Go to Defenders of Wildlife Enviro Tips for great waste-trimming pointers on how to save our environment#8212;and money#8212;by using alternative ways of presenting gifts.

4. Other articles on Individual Actions

5. Public Advocacy

“Screw in a new light bulb, but then screw in some new laws”

Unofficial Slogan of “Step It Up!”

A. Participate in Care Creation Advocacy Initiatives promoted by the Justice Initiative in Old St. Pat’s Bulletins, Web site, and at Advocacy Tables. Some initiatives are: Take and Live Mayor Daley’s Environmental Pledge; Support Fair Trade legislation; Campaign against Waste Dumping in Great Lakes; etc.

B. Parish and Local Community Groups: Legislative Advocacy (USCCB) We urge policymakers and public officials to focus more directly on the ethical dimensions of environmental policy and on its relation to development, to seek the common good, and to resist short-term pressures in order to meet our long-term responsibility to future generations… We need to use our voices and votes to shape a nation more committed to the universal common good and an ethic of environmental solidarity.—Renewing the Earth, United States Catholic Bishops (1992)

The policies of government and industry can do a great deal to protect or harm the environment, to pursue or ignore the common good, and to promote or diminish justice. Our faith calls us to bring our values to the debate about environmental policy and to make our voices heard in defense of all creation, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Across the country, parishes and dioceses are advocating for environmental justice through their legislative networks and are joining other local groups to educate and activate their parishioners to work for socially and economically sound environmental policies.

For more info, go to: www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/resources/legislative.shtml

C. Parish and Local Community Groups: Organizing for Justice (USCCB) As citizens, each of us needs to participate in this debate over how our nation best protects our ecological heritage, limits pollution, allocates environmental costs, and plans for the future. Renewing the Earth, United States Catholic Bishops (1992)

Across the country, Catholic parishes are joining other local organizations and churches to form grassroots community organizing that address a wide range of neighborhood issues, including environmental justice. Often with funding from the Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), these organizations provide parish leaders an opportunity to identify their own concerns, develop leadership skills, and use the power of numbers to shape local and state decision-making.

For more info, go to: www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/resources/organizing.shtml

D. Priority Issues and Policy Focus (USCCB) Within the policy framework recommended by the bishops, EJP, under the supervision of the Department of Social Development and World Peace, promotes policies and legislation that (click on the link to see more):

  1. Protect the Poor: We advocate for just solutions to the disproportionate burdens of environmental degradation borne by the poor and people of color. This includes urban revitalization efforts like brown fields and the protection of low-income neighborhoods from toxic hazards.
  2. Environmental Health and Safety: Protecting the public, workers, and especially vulnerable populations (i.e. the elderly, children -- born and unborn, workers in chemical intensive industries, the ill, etc.) from environmental harm is an essential part of our policy focus. Currently, EJP—in cooperation with the Domestic Policy Office and other national Catholic organizations—is focusing on children's environmental health.
  3. Common Good and Private Property: EJP seeks to support efforts that achieve a balance between the right to private property and a just use of property within a common good ethic. This is seen most concretely in our approach to various "takings" legislation before the Congress as well as through other land management issues. This framework has been useful to state Catholic conferences and dioceses when local state takings legislation arises.
  4. Sustainable Environmental and Economic Development: EJP seeks to promote development which eradicates global poverty while preserving the ecological heritage of the earth. EJP continues to devote considerable attention to issues of debt relief and trade legislation as it effects the environment, as well as climate change.

For more info, go to www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/background/policy.shtml

E. USCCB Climate Change Justice and Health Initiative program Click: www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/climate/ and then click on Public Policy and Advocacy for Catholic advocacy issues.

F. “Green the Congregation through Public Ministry and Political Advocacy Reflection” Web of Creation Ecology Resources: Transforming Faith and Society.
www.webofcreation.org/PublicMinAdvocacy/reflection.htm

'Things You Can Do' by Bill McKibben

  • Organize…if a presidential candidate is coming your way, ask him or her: How are we going to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050?
  • Organize…Does your member of Congress vote the right way on environmental issues? Not good enough. They need to become aggressive champions of aggressive legislation. Let them know that’s what you expect.
  • Organize…In many states, churches are now working through Interfaith Power and Light, Religious Witness for the Earth, and other groups to influence state and local legislation ― as well as to cut energy use in sanctuaries.
  • Party…Celebrate the beauty of the world as it is right now and the joy of working to keep it strong. And make sure your helps with…organizing.

'Things You Can Do' by Bill McKibben. Sojourners Magazine, July 2007 (Vol. 36, No. 7, pp. 16) Source: www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0707&article=070710a

 
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