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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Shop Chicago Fair Trade’s 8th Annual Pop-up Store this Holiday Season
​Sunday, October 31, 2021

“Chicago Fair Trade cultivates a community dedicated to an economy that values the labor and dignity of all people, environmental sustainability, ethical production methods, fair wages and safe working conditions.” 
​– Chicago Fair Trade Organization

Chicago Fair Trade Organization is a group of inspired individuals and organizations that aim to improve the world. Founded in 2005, Chicago Fair Trade believes in the vision of a “fair market” rather than a “free market” economy. In a fair market economy, workers receive a living wage; the cultural identity of farmers, artisans, and other producers is respected; businesses are transparent; working conditions are safe and healthy; and goods are produced in an environmentally sustainable way.

This year, Chicago Fair Trade is opening its 8th Annual Holiday Pop-Up Shop, showcasing the work of local fair trade businesses who are creating a fair market economy. Shopping the Pop-Up Shop is a great way find elegant and unique products, from food to clothing and accessories, home goods, and toys for your holiday gift giving. The Pop-Up Shop offers a wide selection of quality goods in one location. Here are some customer favorites from the past. Terra Klay sells handmade baskets, throws, blankets, table runners, napkins, place mats, towels, tumblers and mugs. SOS PJ (Save our Souls PJs) offers tunics, kaftans, blankets, accessories, dresses, and long and short sleeve PJs. The Fair Shirt Project has long and short sleeve shirts in plaids and solids, and in 2020, began offering face masks from the cloth left over from their shirt production. 

26 vendors will be selling goods at the Pop-Up Shop. The Shop opens Tuesday November 2, 2021, closes December 24, 2021, and is located in the Galleria in Andersonville, 5228 North Clark Street, Chicago. Hours are 11 am-6 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; and 11 am to 7 pm Friday and Saturday. The Pop-Up Shop is closed on Mondays. You can also order online 24 hours a day from Pop-Up Shop vendors. OSP is also hosting a virtual Solidarity Market this year. Be on the lookout for more information on patronizing the virtual Solidarity Market. Give gifts that improve the world by shopping for the holidays at the Pop-Up Shop and the virtual Solidarity Market!  

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OSP Lights the Way: New Lighting on Campus

Tom Borah, Operations Director at OSP, reports that last spring OSP installed motion-sensing LED light fixtures throughout the space on the second and third floors of the 711 West Monroe building, replacing many old, inefficient fluorescent and incandescent fixtures.  The savings from reduced energy consumption should pay for the cost of installation in just over two years.  The long life of LED bulbs will greatly reduce the need to replace burned-out bulbs, and so save maintenance staff time and energy.  In addition to the energy and cost savings, the new fixtures provide much brighter light, creating a better work space for staff.
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OSP is in the final stages of evaluating a proposal to upgrade the lighting in Hughes Hall.  The current fixtures in the Hall use mostly incandescent spotlights.  In addition to being energy-inefficient, these fixtures do not provide strong light, and are hard to adjust. The revised setup will replace the post-mounted spotlights with LED spotlights, and will add dozens of new LED fixtures in the spaces between the architectural ceiling panels.  We will have multiple zones, dimming capabilities, and preset lighting configurations.  It should be a noticeable upgrade.

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Celebrating Franciscan Spirituality
Sunday, September 26, 2021
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“The earth and its life systems on which we all entirely depend (just like God!) might soon become the very thing that will convert us to a simple Gospel lifestyle, to necessary community, and to an inherent and universal sense of the holy.”                     – Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, “Creation as the Body of God,” March 4, 2011

St. Francis of Assisi was born in Assisi, Italy, around 1181, and died October 3, 1226. He was canonized less than 2 years after his death, on July 16, 1228. Catholics celebrate his feast day on October 4, the last day of the Season of Creation which begins the 1st of September. His was a remarkable life. He turned from wealth and privilege to evangelical poverty, converting after he was held as a prisoner of war in a local conflict for almost a year. That experience caused him to return to his home town to meditate and pray, so that he would know God’s will for him. He founded the Order of Friars Minor, the women’s order of St. Clair, and the lay Third Order, institutions that continue his mission to this day. At the time of his death, he had thousands of followers. He is the patron saint of Italy, and of the science of ecology.

His spirituality embraced the outsider, including those experiencing poverty of all kinds. One day while travelling, he encountered a leper. About to turn away, instead he hugged the man who had lost his hands to the disease, then continued his travels. When Francis turned around, the man was gone. Francis was convinced he met Christ in the guise of a leper. In the end, Francis lived with lepers, ministering to them.

Francis lived with simplicity and irrepressible joy. He wore rough clothing, and gave away his goods to fund the rebuilding of a local chapel. He described himself as the “Herald of the Great King,” and was filled with gratitude at the love of God, even when attacked by robbers and thrown into the snow on his way to a monastery. His followers saw him praying all night at times to the goodness of God.

He had a special affinity for nature, which he saw as the incarnation of God. He preached to birds and released rabbits from traps. A raven woke him for morning prayers. He saw the earth and all its inhabitants as part of a great connected family created by God. Humans are not above nature, but are embedded in it. In his great poem Canticle of the Sun, one of the first pieces of literature written in vernacular Italian, Francis addressed the earth, the sun, the moon, and the elements of fire and water as brothers and sisters, and saw them as united in praising God their creator. How appropriate that the refrain of this Canticle, “Laudato Si,” was chosen by the man who took the name of Francis as Pope, to be the title of his ground breaking encyclical on care for our common home and ecological conversion.
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In his empathy for the marginalized, his deep joy and prayerfulness, and his vision of our fraternity with nature, we have much to learn from the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi. 

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Celebrating the Season of Creation in 2021
Sunday, August 29, 2021

“We have to ensure a just home for all creatures for life on our planet to thrive, and that requires ecological, economic, and technical solutions that are rooted in a faithful vision of justice for the dignity of every creature.” – Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer, Chair, Ecumenical Season of Creation Steering Committee  

“Home for all means a peaceful, sustainable, and humane existence for all creation.” – Irene Sebastian, Green Anglican Movement

Each year, Christians from six continents celebrate the Season of Creation, which runs from September 1, the World Day of Prayer, to October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The theme of this year’s Season of Creation is “A Home for All? Celebrating the Oikos of God.” Oikos is a Greek word meaning home or household, and is the root for the word ecology. This year’s theme focuses on the complex ecosystems that support the well being of all the creatures that call our planet home. The Season of Creation is an ecumenical call to prayer and action to support the values and vision of Laudato Si and to protect our common home.

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Worldwide, there is more and more recognition that our planet and its ecology are in peril. Human caused global warming is an overarching threat. Rising temperatures due to greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels drive drought and wildfires in Greece and the western parts of our country. Warmer ocean temperatures generate more powerful hurricanes and tropical storms, while killing coral reefs that have protected coastlines for thousands of years. Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica cause sea level to rise, threatening billions of people who live along the world’s coastlines. Meanwhile international corporations continue to degrade areas where ecosystems are still fairly intact, from mountain top removal for coal in the Appalachians and oil shale deposits in the boreal forests of Canada, to rainforest destruction for palm oil plantations in Indonesia. Poor people across the globe bear the heaviest burdens from these dangers, even though they are the least responsible for these ills. 

Clearly, we need the ecological conversion that Pope Francis called for in Laudato Si.  Here are some ideas that can help us re-envision Earth as a home for all during the upcoming Season of Creation.

– Conduct a plastics audit at home or in a local park to see the source of single use/throw away plastic in our trash. Could you purchase products packaged in a different way to reduce throw away plastic?
– Support efforts to maintain biodiversity. Could you volunteer at a Nature Center, park, or forest preserve to preserve habitat for our native plants and mammals? ​

– Adapt eating habits that are good for the planet, by moving to a plant-based diet. The Meatless Monday Campaign offers free how-to recipes for flavorful plant-based recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter at mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday/about
– Analyze your investments to make sure they reflect your personal values as well as your financial goals. More and more investors are following an ESG investing approach, which looks at a company’s environmental, social, and governance policies as well as financial returns. The Church’s Laudato Si Action Plan asks Catholic individuals and institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies over the coming years. Over time, could you divest from fossil fuel companies and realign all your investments by ESG standards? 

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​The symbol for this year’s Season of Creation is the tent of Abraham. The tent is a sign of simplicity and sufficiency, of living within our means and travelling lightly on the earth. Abraham and his wife Sarah opened their tent to three strangers, who turned out to be angels from God. This act of deep hospitality is a model for the type of action this Season calls for from us: safeguarding a place for all living things, human and non-human, within the amazing space God has created for us, our common home.

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team:
Water in a Time of Drought Plus a Piping Plover Update
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The water that is delivered to the public… requires a lot of electricity to withdraw, treat and distribute. Please consider that all the water you use is precious and expensive drinking water. – Friends of the Fox River

Water is one of the key resources that makes life possible for countless plants and animals, including ourselves, that inhabit our common home; it is important and sacramental in many religions, including the Catholic faith. What can we do to recognize how precious and sacred water is, and to conserve water for all of Earth’s inhabitants? This year, the Chicago region experienced a significant drought in May and June. In our home landscapes, there are things we can do to treasure our precious water resources; these actions can even become acts of faith.

– Plant native plants which are adapted to handle periodic drought. Many gardeners who plant only native plants don’t water at all. Out in our natural areas, our native plants look lush now, even though no one is watering them.

– Take into account rainfall and temperature in your neighborhood when deciding when and how much to water. Water on the plants’ schedule by noting repeated drooping and cracked soil, signs of drought stress. When you do water, water deeply and thoroughly, once or twice a week. Deep watering encourages root growth, which helps plants adapt to drought.

– The best time to water is early morning, when rising temperatures quickly dry off leaves, reducing the chance of powdery mildew and other diseases. Watering in the heat of mid-day means water evaporates without reaching plant roots. When soil is cracked, water gently at first to allow soil to re-hydrate so it can absorb additional water effectively.
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– Choose how to water your lawn in a drought. If you want your lawn to look green, water 1 inch per week. If you are ok with your lawn going dormant, water ½ inch every few weeks. Your turf will green up again when normal rains resume because you have kept your lawn’s crown alive.​

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More on Chicago’s Piping Plovers, Monty and Rose

Chicago’s love affair with our Great Lakes Piping Plovers, Monty and Rose, continues. After losing their first four eggs to a hungry skunk, Monty and Rose rebounded and built a new nest in a different spot at Montrose Harbor; here Rose laid four more eggs. Three chicks hatched from this second nest on July 7-8. When the parents stopped incubating the 4th egg on July 9, Park District and Fish and Wildlife personnel took it to Lincoln Park Zoo to be incubated. On July 10, the fourth chick hatched at the zoo; it appeared strong, healthy and vocal, and so was returned to the parents that same day. Monty and Rose immediately accepted the chick, and were observed sheltering it during the day. All four chicks, including the youngest, continue to do well, scurrying across the beach searching for insects to eat, and sheltering under Mom and Dad when needed.

​Once about 800 pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers nested along sandy beaches on all five Great Lakes. By 1990, only 13 pairs remained, all of them nesting around Lake Michigan. Today there are over 70 pairs again nesting on all five of the Great Lakes. By giving these birds space, by restricting human activity around nests, we ensure these birds will continue to thrive in our common home. You can follow the latest on the world of Monty and Rose at www.chicagopipingplovers.org​

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Sustainable Lawns and a Chicago Love Affair

"When we first heard that Monty and Rose were back at Montrose Harbor, a smile lit up on our faces. The true beauty of these birds, and how, year after year, they come back to the same place to breed. This is something we love about it.”
– Simon and Peter Tolzmann, blog at chicagopipingplovers.org

​Our country is a landscape of lawns. Lawns are great places for kids to play and for families to gather; we devote about 30-40 million acres to lawns. We spend around $40 billion each year on seed, sod, and chemicals for our lawns. In summer, between 30-60% of water used is devoted to turfgrass, and 70-90 million pounds of pesticides. What can you do to make your lawn more sustainable, saving water, reducing use of chemicals, while still retaining the benefits of lawns? Here are some tips that will help make the grass in your lawn truly green.

• Think about reducing the size of your lawn, and replacing turfgrass with trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers. You can smother parts of your current lawn with cardboard or newspaper over several weeks, and then plant right into the cardboard, which decays into organic mulch. Replace lawn with native plants whenever possible, giving native insects and other critters a new home in your yard.
• Mow often, and at the highest setting possible on your mower, except for the first and last mowing of the year; for these two mowing, mow at 2 inches. A higher lawn has more shade at soil level and is better at resisting weed seedlings. For added sustainability, use a push or electric mower rather than a gas powered one, which can emit as much pollution as several cars. 
• Keep your clippings on your lawn; they are a great source of fertilizer, and also act as a mulch, retaining soil moisture and reducing the need to water. If you mow often, your clippings will be small and easily decomposed, adding to the organic matter in your soil.
• Water deeply once a week, one inch in the morning, taking into account local rainfall. During the height of summer, it is fine to reduce watering and allow some grass die-back. Most turfgrass is made up of cool season grasses, which will come back strong and green as temperatures cool again in the fall. 
• Treat weed problem areas rather than the whole lawn, and accept a diversity of plants in your lawn. Diverse lawns are more resistant to diseases, and offer more food to insects.

These steps can help you conserve water and reduce chemical runoff and air pollution, while keeping lawn clippings out of landfills, and making your lawn truly green on your side of the fence. 

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Chicago’s Love Affair with the Piping Plovers Monty and Rose

Great Lakes piping plovers are extremely rare birds; nearly extinct, and federally protected as an endangered species, only about 70 pairs are known. In 2019, two piping plovers, named Monty and Rose by Chicago locals, nested at Montrose Beach within the city limits of Chicago. Birders and other nature lovers rallied to give these beautiful survivors space to breed and raise their young by roping off territory for them, and monitoring and protecting their activity throughout the daylight hours. Chicago Park District, which owns the land where Monty and Rose nest, made the decision to increase the available nesting area by fencing off more territory for these birds. Monty and Rose successfully fledged two chicks that first year. The pair returned to Montrose Beach in 2020, and fledged two chicks. 

This year, after wintering apart in Texas and Florida, the pair reunited at Montrose, returning within a day of each other in late April 2021. The pair courted, scraped out a nest, and Rose laid four eggs. Sadly, disaster struck on June 2, 2021, when a skunk breached the enclosure protecting their nest and ate all their eggs. But Monty and Rose have come back from this setback and selected another nest site, and Rose has laid another four eggs. Now the pair are taking turns incubating the eggs, and we may see tiny fluffy chicks by mid-July if all goes well. You can follow the fate of Chicago’s piping plovers at chicagopipingplovers.org.

Chicagoans have embraced these small birds, that migrate long distances each year to raise their young along the shore of Lake Michigan in the heart of a great city. As Simon and Peter Tolzmann write, they are “beacons of hope” that people can make places for wildlife and conserve our remaining natural areas, as part of our care for our common home. 

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team:
Meet Openlands, an Urban Conservation Organization

“Our work is about raising the threshold of hope.” – George Overton, Co-founder of Openlands

Founded in 1963 as one of the first conservation organizations in the country to focus as much on people as on nature, for over 50 years, Openlands has played a key role in addressing environmental issues in the Chicago region. This non-profit is headquartered in downtown Chicago, but has projects in counties across the region, including Lake, McHenry, Boone, and Will as well as Cook. Openlands sees a future where land around Chicago includes “a network of land and water trails, tree-lined streets, and intimate public gardens within easy reach of every city dweller.”

One of Openlands areas of key focus is climate change. Openlands works on nature-based solutions to climate change. The trees and plantings in our natural areas, including city parks, forest preserves, and other forms of open space, have the ability to put carbon back into the ground and to absorb water from more powerful storms, as well as to make our urban spaces more livable. Through its TreeKeeper program, Openlands trains volunteers to care for our city trees so they continue to shade our sidewalks and homes, while mitigating the urban heat island effect.

Openlands also has programs directed at schools, with the aim of building a cadre of life long stewards of our common home. The Birds in My Neighborhood program offers kids in person lessons, bird walks, and field trips. The Space to Grow program helps schools change their blacktop schoolyards into inviting spaces where kids can play, learn, and be outdoors. Openlands has partnered with Chicago Public Schools to develop lesson plans that use the school garden and play spaces as outdoor learning spaces, covering topics like common birds of the Chicago region, poetry in the garden, and the man who planted trees.

A hallmark of how Openlands works is to collaborate with other organizations. Openlands has altered the conservation landscape in the Chicago region by parenting new environmental groups, including Friends of the Chicago River and the Great Lakes Alliance. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie was created by Openlands and other partners from the former Joliet Arsenal; now instead of storing weapons, this area is home to hundreds of native plants and wildlife. You can learn more about the powerful work of Openlands at their website: openlands.org

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Laudato Si Week Across the World

Laudato Si Year, the five-year anniversary of the signing of Laudato Si has been book ended by week long celebrations. Laudato Si Week 2021 extends from May 16 to May 25 and includes the actual signing date of May 24, 2015. Christina Leano, associate Director of Global Catholic Movement highlights some of the significant accomplishments of Laudato Si Year: tree plantings in Bangladesh; Laudato Si gardens across the world; creation of a Living Chapel in Rome; and commitment to solar energy by religious orders.

Officials within the Church are also working on a Laudato Si Action Platform, which will feature benchmarks against which Catholic schools, dioceses, parishes and other institutions can measure their progress. Goals of the Action Platform are total sustainability in seven years, as part of ecological conversion Pope Francis has called for in Laudato Si. The Platform will ask Catholics to strive for these and other standards: carbon neutrality; reduced plastic and meat consumption; ecological themes in the liturgy and school education; defense of all forms of life; divestment from the fossil fuel sector; and investment in renewable energy. We expect to hear more details on the Action Platform around the time of the feast of St. Francis, October 4, 2021. Challenging, but exciting times in the Catholic Church, again raising the threshold of hope.

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Clean Energy Legislation on the Horizon in Illinois
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“We see global warming not as an inevitability but as an invitation to build, innovate and effect change, a pathway that awakens creativity, compassion, and genius. This is not a liberal agenda, nor is it a conservative one. This is the human agenda.” – Paul Hawken, Drawdown

​For many people, the reality of our changing climate can be seen in the increasing intensity of hurricanes and cyclones, the breakdown of the jet stream resulting in extreme cold temperatures that brought the power grid in Texas to its knees this winter, the melting of arctic ice and resulting sea level rise across the globe, and droughts and deadly wildfires in our westerns states summer after summer. This reality is difficult to deny. Many recognize that reducing greenhouse gases which cause our planet to warm will make life on earth more sustainable. Transforming how we generate electricity, away from fossil fuels and toward other energy sources, especially wind and solar, is an important step we can take now, that will give us time to work out ways of making other sectors of our economy more carbon neutral.

   • Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016 (FEJA) made the clean energy industry one of the fastest growing jobs sectors in Illinois before the COVID-19 crisis.  Now, the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) aims to continue that progress. Here are some of the key provisions of CEJA, which is currently being considered by our legislature.

   • CEJA will ensure our state reaches 100% carbon free power by 2030, with the installation of more than 40 million solar panels and 2,500 wind turbines across the state. CEJA will also put us on track to achieve 100% renewable power by 2050, reducing and then eliminating our reliance on nuclear power. Meeting these time frames, scientists tell us, avoids the worst consequences of climate change.

  • CEJA creates an orderly transition away from fossil fuels by shutting down the most harmful polluters first.

  • CEJA will take the equivalent of 1 million gas- and diesel-powered vehicles off the roads by building out electric vehicle infrastructure, electrifying public transportation, providing car sharing and electric shuttles in transit deserts, and giving consumers rebates for purchase of electric vehicles. When electric charging stations are as common as gas stations, electric cars can complete with gas powered cars.

   • Workers and communities now dependent on the coal industry will benefit from CEJA, with $137.5 million per year for retraining and workforce development directed to these parts of the state. This funding assists displaced workers’ move to new careers and businesses.

   • CEJA will address the disproportionate impact of carbon pollution on communities of color by targeting $82 million per year to reduce racial inequity and supporting training efforts for individual workers and small businesses in black and brown communities. We need black and brown business owners in the renewable energy industry.

   • CEJA expands efficiency in power generation and distribution, cutting consumer costs, and also provides $50 million per year in rate relief to low income customers.

   • CEJA is supported by the Illinois Clean Energy Jobs Coalition, a group of more than 200 energy advocates, green businesses and community leaders. To follow energy policy developments and legislation in Illinois, visit: ilcleanjobs.org

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Celebrate Earth Day this April 22 and Beyond!

As we begin the second half-century of celebrating Earth Day, let’s recall the history of this event. Earth Day was the brain child of Senator Gaylord Nelson and other activists in the 60’s who worried about environmental degradation. Back then, cars ran on leaded gasoline, and had notoriously low gas mileage. Water pollution was rampant; in November 1969, an oil slick in the Cuyahoga river in Cleveland caught fire and burned several nearby boats and buildings, as well as the ship repair yard. By the mid 60’s, only 487 pairs of nesting bald eagles remained in this country, their populations decimated by habitat loss, shooting, and DDT poisoning.

Senator Nelson, with Congressman Pete McCloskey, decided to host nation-wide college teach-ins on April 22, 1970, to raise awareness about the threat of industrial development to people and planet. Their effort caught on, and diverse environmental groups joined forces for the defense of the earth. The country held huge rallies and demonstrations on the first Earth Day; about 20% of the US population at that time took part. That first glorious Earth Day led to a series of ground breaking legislative victories. By the end of 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency had been created and the Clean Air Act passed. Soon after, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other important environmental legislation became law.

Earth Day became a global movement in 1990, and reached 193 countries by 2010. It now includes a focus on climate change and clean energy, supported by the global organization EARTHDAY.ORG. More than a billion people take part each year, making it the largest secular celebration on earth.

This year, the global pandemic limits large rallies and demonstrations, but we are connecting via the Internet and social media, as well as smaller outdoor events. EARTHDAY.ORG feature 3 days of online activities April 20-22, centered around the theme of “Restore the Earth,” and exploring topics like regenerative agriculture, reforestation and environmental justice. Learn more at earthday.org/earth-day-2021. Use toolkits from EARTHDAY.ORG to expand your knowledge of environmental issues like climate literacy, biodiversity loss, environmental justice, and agriculture and deforestation at earthday.org/teach-in-toolkit.

Local opportunities also abound, at local parks, nature centers, forest preserves, and other spaces. Google “Earth Day Chicago” for a list of nearby events.

Continue to celebrate Earth Day throughout the year with these sustainable practices. Take the foodprint quiz at foodprint.org to see how your food habits impact the environment, people, and animals. Learn about alternate energy suppliers, and make the switch from conventional fossil fuel to wind or solar. Next time you trade in your car, look at hybrid or electric vehicles. Plant a native tree; native trees capture carbon, provide shade, and create habitat for birds and other wildlife. Donate to the environmental organization of your choice. Get informed about environmental issues and advocate for them at the local and national level.

Earth Day shows people can bring about change in the face of huge problems. Our planet is our one and only common home, our life giving spaceship in the vastness of the universe. Earth Day reminds us that we must take care of Earth’s air, water, and diverse plants and animals as if our lives depended on it; in truth, our welfare is deeply intertwined with the welfare of the planet.

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WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY 2021

Join the World Fair Trade Day 2021 Challenge on Saturday, April 17, register at the Build Back Fairer Challenge section of Chicago Fair Trade’s website.  Join with hundreds of Chicagoans by taking our three-part challenge:

• Educate: Use our links to articles, books, video clips, and feature length films to better understand the importance of fair trade and ethical consumption.
• Activate: Find out about local events, campaigns, petitions, and where you can purchase fair trade goods and services!
• Celebrate: Inspire others! Help spread the word. Join us for our Build Back Fairer Awards ceremony broadcast live on Friday, May 7 at 6 pm.

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March Green Notes
Sunday, March 28, 2021

Fasting from Food Waste, in Lent and Beyond
“We continue to embrace living simply so that others may simply live. We are growing in gratitude for the many gifts God shares with us, food being one of them.” – Lorie Bronson, Ignatian Spirituality Network

When I was a child, Lent was a time for giving things up, and one of my favorite things to give up was chocolate. But after Lent was over, I started eating just as much chocolate just as I did before, starting on Easter Sunday when I gobbled up chocolate eggs and bunnies in my Easter basket. No lasting change to myself or my habits. What if we saw Lent as a time to make enduring changes to our routine, and reflecting our care for our common home?​

This Lent, Catholics throughout the country have committed to fasting from food waste, an initiative of the Ignatian Spirituality Network. This non-profit organization is based on the principles of St. Ignatius, and works in partnership with Jesuit universities, high schools, parishes, and other Catholic groups interested in social justice.

Why fast from food waste during Lent? Consider these statistics behind this movement. About 40% of food in the United States is wasted. 8% of greenhouse gases are caused by food waste. 94% of food waste in the US ends up in a landfill, where, without access to oxygen, it decomposes and releases methane, a greenhouse gas 26-28 times more potent than CO2 in contributing to global warming. If food waste was a country, it would be the third highest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, after China and the United States.

Fasting from food waste involves developing simple mindful habits that carry forward throughout the year. Use all food that is on the edge of spoilage. Organize storage space (the fridge, cabinets) so that foods that will spoil soon are in front. Check your pantry before shopping so you buy only what you need. Store meat and dairy in the lower part of the fridge (the coldest part), never in the door (the warmest part). Wash veggies just before eating, but rinse berries in a vinegar rinse of 3 cups of water and 1 cup of vinegar right after purchase to reduce mold. Separate fruits and vegetables in storage so that the methylene gas emitted by the ripening fruit won’t cause the vegetables to ripen too quickly. Practice gratitude as you do food prep; remember the people who grew and harvested what you eat. Start a compost pile or use a composting service to compost your food scraps. For more information about how you can fast from food waste in Lent and beyond, check out this link.

ignatiansolidarity.net/ignatian-carbon-challenge/lenten-food-waste-fast

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Human+Nature Art Exhibit Opening at the Morton Arboretum

Later this spring the outdoor art exhibit Human+Nature by the multidisciplinary South African artist Daniel Popper will open at the Morton Arboretum. Popper has created a series of five sculptures, 15-26 feet tall, displayed all over the arboretum, some visible from a road, some off a trail. The goals of this work are to showcase the many connections between people and trees, and to challenge us to reimagine our ties to trees. We need trees for the shade, clean air, and beauty they provide, but trees need us to conserve spaces where they can continue to thrive, especially in this era of climate change. The link below has more information about this exhibit, great for kids and adults, expected to be up for a year at the arboretum.

mortonarb.org/events/humannature

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Earth Day Sunset Vigil with faith in place: Celebrating our Common Home
April 8, 2021 | 6 - 7:30 pm CT | Zoom

On April 8th, Faith in Place will be hosting a multifaith Earth Day Sunset Vigil from 6-7:30 pm CT. The night will celebrate our "common home" through education about Earth Day, story-telling, a gallery of eco-art from our community, inspiring reflections from different faith traditions, and a candlelit vigil. Register today to join at faithinplace.org/earth-day-2021

OSP Green Team Welcomes You!
Are you inspired by the message of Laudato Si? Want to be a faithful steward of our common home? OSP Green Team shares your passion. To learn more, contact Kayla Jackson at (312) 798-2399 or kaylaj@oldstpats.org

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February Green Notes
Sunday, February 28, 2021

Meet Hazel Johnson, Chicago’s environmental justice heroine
“One thing about the environmental justice movement…is that nobody wants to drink contaminated water. Nobody wants to breathe polluted air. And we don’t want our homes and land contaminated. That’s the commonality we have as human beings, and that we always have to protect.” 
– Cheryl Johnson, daughter of Hazel Johnson, mother of the Environmental Justice Movement

One of the most remarkable figures in the environmental justice movement lived in the Altgeld Apartments complex on the southeast side of Chicago, starting in 1962 and until her death in 2011. Hazel Johnson’s interest in environmental justice began with an event in her own life: the very early death of her husband at age 51 from lung cancer despite a minimal smoking history. Soon she began noticing other health issues in her friends and neighbors: breathing and skin problems, and high incidence of cancers. As she studied these issues, she learned that SE Chicago, where she lived, had the highest cancer incidence of any area in the city.

In 1979, Johnson founded the non-profit People for Community Recovery to address housing and environmental issues in her community. In the early 80’s, she used a citizen science approach to gather data about health and the environment, enlisting friends in surveying their neighbors. Together they discovered that almost everyone knew someone who was the victim of cancer between the ages of 35 and 55. In the mid 80’s, she worked with a young community organizer named Barack Obama; together they revealed that her home, Altgeld Gardens, was built on a Pullman Palace Car Company dump contaminated by asbestos. She lobbied the Chicago Housing Authority tirelessly to get the site cleaned up. She began to suspect connections between the heavily industrialized areas that surrounded SE Chicago and the health problems low income and minority area residents were experiencing. She coined the phrase “the toxic doughnut” to poisonous geography that surrounded her home.

In the early 90’s, she began to travel and join with other people of color across the country who were making the same connections between health problems, and abandoned/polluted industrial areas around low-income residential spaces. In the beginning, she was often the only Black person at the environmental conferences she attended; but gradually the environmental justice movement attracted more followers. She gained well deserved national recognition for her efforts, and was present in 1994 when President Clinton signed the Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898. This order directed federal agencies to identify and address the disproportionally high human health effects of environmental pollution on people of color. Johnson was also a pioneer in noting changing weather patterns that we now refer to as climate change.

Throughout her life, Johnson encouraged a “culture of care” and supported the sense that we live in a common home entrusted to us by God, as Pope Francis eloquently describes in Laudato Si. The nonprofit Johnson founded, People for Community Recovery, continues her work today in SE Chicago, led by her daughter Cheryl Johnson. The solidarity that we as human beings experience with each other because we share common needs and a common home animated Hazel Johnson’s life, and continues to motivate us today.

Visit the organization webpage: www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org

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SAVE THE DATE: One Earth Film Festival | March 5- 14
Join in for a virtual film and discussion centered on environmental justice during the screenings of One Earth Film Festival’s 10th Anniversary Season.

View film selections, dates and registration details at oneearthfilmfest.org/films-by-date

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MEATLESS MONDAYS: Lent Edition
During the Season of Creation 2020, we invited members of the OSP community to learn about the impact our food choices have on the world around us. Many of you accepted the Meatless Mondays challenge and refrained from eating meat on Monday for six weeks of the Season of Creation. 

As is our Catholic tradition, we abstain from meat on Friday during the Lenten season. We invite you to participate in our Lenten edition of Meatless Mondays by abstaining from meat two days per week: Mondays & Fridays.  We invite you to use this sacred time to explore how your food choices can improve your health and the health of the planet.  

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Meatless Monday Munches
​Here’s a mouth-watering, meatless recipe to try out this week:

Chickpea Curry [The Buddhist Chef]
Recipe: thebuddhistchef.com/recipe/chickpea-curry

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10 reasons to opt out of industrial meat

Click here to view this PDF (right) in full.


OSP Green Team Welcomes You!

Are you inspired by the message of Laudato Si? Want to be a faithful steward of our common home? OSP Green Team shares your inspiration.

To learn more, contact Kayla Jackson at (312) 798-2399 or kaylaj@oldstpats.org

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January Green Notes
Sunday, January 31, 2021

Green Notes from OSP Green Team:
A New Year, A New Administration, and a Continued Fight for Our Common Home

“Climate change is the existential threat to humanity… This is not hyperbole. It’s real.And we have a moral obligation.” – U.S. President, Joe Biden

Just a month into a new calendar year and Administration, it’s common to focus our eyes toward a new chapter. We make new goals, we hold new hopes in our heart, we seek new opportunities and anticipate the moments to come. We start anew. We also pick up where we left off: we water the seeds we’ve already planted, develop the foundations we’ve laid, and we resume the good work. We are each called into the ongoing work of stewardship for our common home. The new Biden Administration is answering this call with the introduction of a number of executive orders designed to combat climate change.   

Here are some of the executive actions introduced:

• Executive order prioritizing a response to the climate emergency
• Creation of a climate task force focusing on environmental justice and renewable energy job creation.
• Executive order recommitting the U.S. to the Paris Agreement on climate change — an international pact aimed at curbing emissions that cause global warming. Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2017.
• Executive order revoking the Keystone XL permit— a 1,200-mile pipeline system projected to carry crude oil from Canada to the U.S. that cuts through Indigenous lands.
• Executive order pausing oil and gas leasing on federal land and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

​Undoing previous environmental rollbacks takes time, and surely there are no quick fixes in the climate emergency. However, a commitment to continue the work of caring for our common home and ,in return, one another is a step in the right direction.​

Meatless Mondays: Lent Edition
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During the Season of Creation 2020, we invited members of the OSP community to learn about the impact our food choices have on the world around us. Many of you accepted the Meatless Mondays challenge and refrained from eating meat on Monday for six weeks.


As is our Catholic tradition, we abstain from meat on Friday during the Lenten season. We invite you to participate in our Lenten edition of Meatless Mondays for new & creative meatless recipes and more information on how your food choices can improve your health and the health of the planet.

For further reading, here are a few recent articles the Green Team has pulled together:

Our Cosmic Mother - Fr. Richard Rohr -  January 28, 2021

Faith groups applaud Biden's 'bold' executive actions on climate, environmental justice

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Click here for the December 2020 Green Notes!

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November Green Notes
​Sunday, November 22, 2020

The Dream of a Green Christmas: Green Notes from OSP Creation Care Team
Giving and sharing are at the heart of the Christmas season in our families and at OSP. How can we shape our urge during the holiday season to give and share, while still being kind to the earth, our only home? Here are a few ideas from Eartheasy.com and other sources.

1. Think of ways to buy less. Have a family gift exchange where each person draws the name of only one person to receive a gift. Give time or service rather than some material gift. Shop thrift and antique stores for one-of-a-kind gifts that don’t use new resources.
2. Connect with nature over the holidays. Decorate a tree with food for the birds such seed bells, suet, pine cones with peanut butter, and seed trays. Walk through your neighborhood, local park or other natural area before the holiday meal. Kids can keep track of what they see: birds, squirrels, clouds; then talk about these observations during the meal.
3. Use a live tree rather than a plastic artificial tree. Live trees are typically grown locally, and up to 90% are recycled into mulch for city parks and garden beds. Discarded artificial trees live forever in the landfill. Plus, live trees smell wonderful in the house!
4. Cut down on the size of outdoor lights, use LED bulbs in displays, and turn out lights when everyone has gone to sleep.
5. Store bought Christmas cards mean cutting down 300,000 trees each year. Save those trees by making homemade cards, using kids’ drawings or pictures from magazines and calendars, then gluing them to card stock. Get the whole family involved in the card making.
6. Find alternatives to store bought gift wrap; the trash from gift wrap and shopping bags currently totals over 4 million tons. Use fabric gift bags, old maps, newspaper, pages from books or wrapping paper from prior years. When you buy store bought paper, look for ones with recycled paper content, and don’t use foil paper, since it is hard to recycle, and can’t be used as mulch because of the metal content.

The Reimagined Solidarity Market
• Over 25 local vendors offer sustainable clothing and accessories; food and beverages; jewelry; home goods; and kid’s products. Many of the Fair Trade vendors you know and love from past Solidarity Markets are back with offerings from around the world. All Fair Trade vendors support just wages for artisans, employment for groups at the margins, and environmental protections for all.
• Shop OSP's Virtual Solidarity Market here!
• Also, shop Chicago Fair Trade’s Annual Holiday Pop-up Store, 2727 N. Clark, open through December 23.
• Hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 11-6 in November; Tuesday-Saturday, 11-7, Sunday 11-6 in December.
• Options at the Pop-Up Store to suit your needs: in person; or online with curbside pick-up. Visit online, chicagofairtradepopupshop.org

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Continue Meatless Mondays during the Holidays:
You can sign up for seasonal recipes and inspiration at mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday/about. Get an email every Monday with suggestions for meatless breakfast, lunch and dinner, from Chocolate Peanut Butter Snacks to Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters. There’s even a kid friendly section with suggestions like Mediterranean Hummus Pizza. Impact the planet by going meatless on Mondays!

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October Green Notes
​Sunday, October 4, 2020

As the Season of Creation comes to an end, we invite you to continue learning about ways to be good stewards to our common home. Join OSP parishioner Brian Kastenholz for a 40-minute presentation on Climate Reality Thursday, October 8, 6:30 - 7:30 pm CST.

The presentation will be followed by a 20 minute Q&A. Brian completed a 9 day virtual training with former VP Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project.  As a newly certified trainer, he hopes to educate others about the changing climate’s impact and the role we can play individually and as a community to preserve our home.

The presentation will take place Thursday, October 8th, 6:30-7:30PM CST via Zoom.

Please register by visiting bit.ly/climate-reality-presentation

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Meatless Mondays Make a Difference
For this year’s Season of Creation, we invite members of the OSP community to learn about the impact our food choices have on the world around us. With this knowledge, we can take meaningful action to affect positive change.

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns Inc. in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. Meatless Monday is also an international campaign that encourages people to refrain from eating meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet.

Meatless Monday Munchies
Here’s a mouth-watering, meatless recipe to try out this week:
Stuffed Peppers [The Buddhist Chef]
Find the recipe here.

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Sunday, September 27

Green Notes from the OSP Green Team:
Meatless Mondays, Feast of St. Francis, Climate Change and Voting, Solidarity Market

​Last month in this Season of Creation, we introduced OSP members to Meatless Mondays as a way to take positive action to help heal our planet while improving our own diets. How are your Meatless Mondays going? Know YOU ARE making a difference!

Some plant-based burger recipes for you to try:
The Best Plant-based Burger Recipes for Your Next Outdoor Cookout - Meatless Monday
Link: bit.ly/plantbased-burgers

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Sunday, October. 4 - Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
On Sunday, October 4 at 10 am we will celebrate this feast with a special Creation Mass. Francis is known for his kindness, openness, love of animals, and reverence for nature... the patron saint of the environment.
A St. Francis Reflection on Youtube (10 minutes)
Link: bit.ly/stfrances-reflection

You may want to consider taking the St. Francis Pledge
Link: bit.ly/stfrances-pledge

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Articles on Climate Change worth pondering
Pope Francis: The pandemic has given us a chance to develop new ways of living.
Link: bit.ly/2FNGeGZ
“Pope Francis welcomed this year’s theme chosen by the ecumenical family, “Jubilee for the Earth,” because 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which began in the United States in 1969. Pope Francis recalled that in the biblical tradition “a Jubilee is a sacred time to remember, return, rest, restore and rejoice.” He developed his message around these five verbs.  A jubilee is “a time of grace to remember” that “we exist only in relationships: with God the Creator, with our brothers and sisters as members of a common family, and with all of God’s creatures within our common home.” 

Election and Climate Change from Maryknoll
A very helpful brief on this issue: bit.ly/maryknoll-election-climate

A Meditation (3 minutes)
Dear Earth, I'm Sorry | Little Life Tales
Link: bit.ly/dearearth-imsorry

The OSP Solidarity Market will be virtual this year.
In early October we will be posting ways you can support the wonderful vendors and ways to purchase their beautiful products. Please stay tuned!

PRAYER | Pope Francis, Laudato Si
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

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Sunday, September 20

Meatless Monday Munchies 

Here’s another meatless recipe to try out this week!
BBQ Chickpea Veggie Bowls
[Meatless Monday | Jenn Sebestyen]

Find the full recipe here: mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday/recipes/bbq-chickpea-veggie-bowls

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Fun fact of the week:

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Sunday, September 13

Meatless Monday Munchies 

Here’s another mouth-watering, meatless recipe to try out this week:
Broccoli and Cheese Quiche [Epicurious |BON APPÉTIT]

Find the full recipe here: epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/broccoli-and-cheese-quiche

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Fun fact of the week:

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Sunday, September 6

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns Inc. in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. Meatless Monday is also an international campaign that encourages people to refrain from eating meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet.

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​Meatless Monday Munchies 
Here’s a mouth-watering, meatless recipe to try out this week:
Vegetarian Skillet Stuffed Shells [Epicurious | Anna Stockwell]
www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/vegetarian-skillet-stuffed-shells

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Fun fact of the week:

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Ingredients:
​18 jumbo pasta shells (about 6 oz.)
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine or vermouth
5 oz. baby spinach
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 cups marinara sauce
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups whole-milk ricotta
3 oz. finely grated Parmesan (about 1 cup), plus more for serving
3 Tbsp. finely chopped oregano, divided


Check out this Mercy Meatless Monday Guide for prayerfully living out meat-free during the Season of Creation. ​

Preparation:
Cook shells in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until very al dente, about 9 minutes; drain. Run under cold water to stop the cooking; drain again. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over high. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they release juices, then are dry again and nicely browned, 5–6 minutes; season with black pepper and 1 tsp. salt. Reduce heat to medium, add wine, and cook, stirring, until reduced by half, 1–2 minutes. Add spinach, cover, and cook until beginning to wilt, 1–2 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is completely wilted and most of the liquid is evaporated, 2–4 minutes more. Transfer mushroom mixture to a large bowl; reserve skillet.

​Cook garlic and butter in reserved skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fragrant and beginning to brown, 2–3 minutes. Add marinara sauce and red pepper and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until warmed through, 6–8 minutes.

While sauce cooks, add ricotta, 3 oz. Parmesan, 2 Tbsp. oregano, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt to mushroom mixture and stir to combine. Spoon about 2 Tbsp. ricotta mixture into each shell. The shell should be filled to capacity but not overstuffed.
Nestle stuffed shells into hot sauce in skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat until shells are warmed through, 4–6 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and the remaining 1 Tbsp. oregano.

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Sunday, August 30

For this year’s Season of Creation, we invite members of the OSP community to learn about the impact our food choices have on the world around us. With this knowledge, we can take meaningful action to affect positive change.

Meatless Monday Munchies
Here’s a mouth-watering, meatless recipe to try out this week: thebuddhistchef.com/recipe/one-pot-vegan-burrito-bowl

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 zucchini diced
1/2 cup frozen corn 75 g
1-400 ml/ 19 oz can black beans, drained
1 cup basmati rice (raw) 185 g
3 tbsp taco seasoning
2 cups vegetable broth 500 ml
1 tsp maple syrup (optional)
​salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions and red peppers for 7 minutes.
2. Stir in zucchini, frozen corn, black beans, basmati rice, tacos spices, and maple syrup (optional).
3. Pour in vegetable broth and then bring to a light boil. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the rice is all the way cooked.
4. When rice is done, S&P to taste. Top with your favorite toppings

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Celebrate the Season of Creation
“All of us operate as instruments of God for the Care of Creation.” – Pope Francis

Sunday, August 23

From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4 each year, the Christian community celebrates the Season of Creation by praying and acting together to cherish and protect our common home. The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration and a renewed commitment to stewardship.

Caring for Creation protects the inheritance the Creator has given us, … an inheritance essential to our well-being. Pope Benedict XVI told us protecting this inheritance is a way of fulfilling our role as stewards of Creation. Pope Francis urges us to recognize our connectedness with the natural world saying, “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it.” (LS 139)

For this year’s Season of Creation, we invite members of the OSP community to learn about the impact our food choices have on the world around us. With this knowledge, we can take meaningful action to affect positive change.

Why does our choice to eat meat matter?

• The raising of the animals requires vast amounts of land to do so humanely.
• The enormous amount of methane cattle produce is a huge contributor to greenhouse gases causing climate change.
• The production of the meat consumes millions of gallons of water depleting this critical natural resource.
• The pollution created by transporting the cattle to slaughter and the meat to market.
• Eating less beef is good for our health.

As facts by scientists continue to pour in, it is increasingly becoming evident that climate change is one of the most important existential crisis of our lifetime. If we are to leave a healthy and prosperous planet to the coming generations, we must take action now in haste to combat the changes we’re facing locally, nationally as well as globally.

The catastrophic impacts of climate change are due to the dangerous increases of carbon and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that are warming the earth at an alarming rate.

A major contributor to this crisis is the meat industry which represents 30% of greenhouse gases—more than all car, airplane and train emissions combined!

By simply cutting back on our meat consumption, we can make a positive contribution to solving this crisis. To this end, we invite you, your family and friends to join OSP’s Green Team as we celebrate the Season of Creation by participating in Meatless Mondays! Each week between now and October 4, we will send members facts about the meat industry and its impact on our planet as well as interesting recipes and cooking tips through OSP’s weekly e-blasts.

Meatless Mondays Make a Difference! Please join us and make a difference for our planet!

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Home Composting 101
Sunday, July 26

“Composting turns household wastes into valuable fertilizer and soil organic matter…. This dark crumbly, earthy-smelling stuff works wonders on all kinds of soil and provides vital nutrients to help plants grow and look better.”
​– USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Backyard Conservation Tip Sheet

Now that we are all at home cooking more, we may find ourselves wondering about all those food scraps in our kitchens. The EPA estimates that up to 30% of food waste in the trash could and should be composted, saving us time and money. Home composting reduces what goes into landfills, and gives the home gardener a valuable soil amendment that provides nutrients to your growing plants. So if you want to try composting at home, here are some tips to get you started.

1. Select the site for your compost pile. It should be flat, large enough to hold all the material you want to compost, with good access to water, and close to the part of your yard where you will use your compost. Don’t place it next to a wood fence or other structure, since compost can discolor wood.

2. Select a bin to hold your compost. You can purchase a plastic container at a garden center, or make you own from wood and chicken wire. Some containers are rotating drums on stands that can be manually turned, eliminating the need to aerate the pile (see 5. Below). Another option is to dig a pit and place your pile in the pit. 

3. Gather your material. The two types you need are green and brown. Green material includes fruit and vegetable scraps, including food that is too old or moldy; tea and tea bags; coffee grounds; garden waste, including fresh grass clippings and leaves; and egg shells. Citrus peels will compost faster if cut up into small pieces. Greens provide nitrogen for your pile.

4. Brown material consists of twigs and sticks; dried grass; egg cartoons and other cardboard; newspaper and other papers; dried leaves; and sawdust. Paper and cardboard break down quickly when cut up first. Brown material like dried leaves from fall can be stored and added gradually to the pile in spring. Browns give the pile structure by allowing air and water flow. But don’t compost these items: meat, fish, bones, the pits of stone fruits like peaches and cherries, oils, butter, dairy products, and weed seeds. Meats, oils and dairy will attract rats and other (unwanted) animals to your pile. Stone fruits take years to decompose. Weed seeds will likely still be viable when you use your compost in your garden.

5. Build your pile by layering browns and greens, starting with a layer of browns. A ratio of 1 part green to 2 parts brown is a good balance. Water your pile and aerate it by turning it with a pitchfork every week to 10 days.

6. In warm weather, your compost will be ready in 2 months; up to 6 months in cold weather. You can add your rich earthy finished compost to your containers; tuck it into the hole when you are ready to plant new perennials or shrubs; or top dress it in your lawn and garden beds to smooth out brown spots and low places and add nutrients to your soil.

People have been composting for hundreds of years. George Washington, our first President, engaged in composting. So give it a try! You will be sending less to the landfill, and improving your soil and the health of your plants at the same time. 

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Green Notes from OSP Green Team: Why Green Teams should be Anti-Racist
Sunday, June 28

“Earth is the only planet we get. And, thanks to polluters who profit from exploiting Black and Brown communities, we’re in the process of making it uninhabitable.” 
- Hop Hopkins, “Racism is Killing the Planet” in Sierra, June 2020
​
What a time we are living in. First the global pandemic, which has taken so many lives, and led to mandated social distancing measures, with forced cancellations of all kinds, from funerals to sporting events and concerts. No kissing, no hugging, no handshakes. We can’t see our relatives and friends in hospitals and nursing homes. Then the economic collapse with its bankruptcies among businesses large and small, unprecedented job losses, loss of health insurance and swift fall of the stock market. How do you find a new job when business are closed or operating at 25% of capacity? Who is going to pay for your health care if you are uninsured, get COVID-19 and need hospitalization? And now the images of police killings and racist attacks in all forms, including the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the threat to Black birder Christian Cooper by a white woman who was violating New York’s Central Park rules about dogs on leashes.

Were you surprised to see racial patterns emerge as we tallied the devastation of COVID-19? Did you expect that African Americans in the US would be 2.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites? Did you know that African Americans in Chicago make up 30% of the population but 60% of the COVID-19 deaths? A survey of Black and Latinx small businesses in mid-May found that 51% had sought financial assistance of under $20,000 under the CARES Act but only 1 in 10 received that assistance. Meanwhile 81 publicly owned businesses in California got $204 million in CARES funding; some declined or returned the funding after public outcry over large corporations benefitting from money intended for small businesses.

Hop Hopkins, from the Sierra Club, argues in his article “Racism is Killing the Planet” that there is a connection between these racial patterns and our on-going environmental problems. The connection is that both spring from the same fundamental attitude, a sense that certain places and certain people are of no value, are “disposable,” and so can be treated without any particular attention and concern. These places are sacrifice zones in our country. And the people who live there are also sacrificed.

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Think Cancer Alley, also called Death Alley, in Louisiana, hit hard by pollution from local oil refineries and chemical companies and named for the high cancer rates in its mostly black population, and now suffering from COVID-19 as well. Think the Navajo nation with its uranium mines and coal plants, which have polluted the air and ground water in the area for decades; now the nation’s infection rate from COVID-19 exceeds that of any single US state. Closer to home, think the far South Side of Chicago, for years a dumping ground for pet coke (a byproduct of oil refineries), experiencing high rates of pollution, related conditions like asthma, and now with high numbers of COVID-19 cases.

We need to give up thinking of parts of our country as sacrifice zones, inhabited by disposable people. No human life is disposable; all are valuable and deserve our love. That kind of thinking lets us ignore the ways we are trashing this planet, our common home. If we saw each part the world as sacred, then we wouldn’t be willing to create a Cancer Alley. We wouldn’t be willing to build pipelines across rivers that are the water supply for thousands of people downstream. We would use our superb science and technology to figure out ways to live lightly on this earth, and to create prosperity that does not depend on damage to some. We would distribute the benefits and the burdens of shared wealth equally among all people. And we would be closer to the green world that our hearts desire. So, for all these reasons, Green Teams should be anti-racist. 

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Join Encore on Thursday July 9 at 7 pm for Reflections from Rev. Brian Sauder

OSP’s Encore Group is staying connected during the pandemic with Zoom meetings on topics of interest to those aged 50 and older. On Thursday July 9 at 7:00 pm, Encore is hosting a session with Rev. Brian Sauder from Faith in Place. Faith in Place is a statewide not for profit group that believes “when people of faith lead the environmental movement, it is a movement focused on justice and care for our common environment.” Rev. Brian Sauder is an ordained minister of the Mennonite Church with degrees in environmental science, religion, and business administration. This should be an inspiring and relevant conversation as we celebrate the 5-year anniversary of the publication of Laudato Si. To sign up, go to the following link on MyOSP: osp.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/327/responses/new

Everyone who signs up will receive the Zoom link no later than 2 pm on July 9.

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