Monday, March 17, 2008
"Green" bills get states' attention
Here is an article from the March 17th Kansas City Star outlining various "green" legislation in Jefferson City and Topeka. Read it before it goes into their paid archives.
Bridging the Gap
Green Cathedral
The Angelus, April 2008
If you are motivated to “green up” parts of your life but don’t know where to go for tips, here is a good place to start: Bridging the Gap.
Bridging the Gap began in 1991 as a volunteer group to operate recycling centers, and has grown into a professional organization. Its mission is to make the Kansas City area sustainable by “helping citizens, businesses and government understand the impact of our decisions and behavior on our present and future community and world.”
A useful resource for Kansas Citians is their website: www.bridgingthegap.org. On the site you can find lots of information to help you live a more sustainable lifestyle. You can find the locations of recycling centers and what they do and don’t accept. You can also learn about several volunteer opportunities and various other programs that Bridging the Gap sponsors. These include efforts to encourage buying local produce (Buy Fresh, Buy Local Kansas City), plant trees (Heartland Tree Alliance) and reduce the litter in Kansas City (Keep Kansas City Beautiful).
Perhaps the most useful section of their website has tips on things you can do at home, ranging from disposing of things you can’t put in the trash to building a backyard wildlife habitat. There is also a page where you can sign up for their quarterly newsletter and other e-mailings.
More E-sources
Don’t forget that you don’t have to go far from the Cathedral for environmental news. From the home page of the Cathedral website (www.ghtc-kc.org), you can sign up for several newsletters, including Caring for God's Creation, which brings you occasional e-mails about environmental topics. The information in them comes from MARC, the Mid-America Regional Council and includes advice that you can use to live greener.
The Angelus, April 2008
If you are motivated to “green up” parts of your life but don’t know where to go for tips, here is a good place to start: Bridging the Gap.
Bridging the Gap began in 1991 as a volunteer group to operate recycling centers, and has grown into a professional organization. Its mission is to make the Kansas City area sustainable by “helping citizens, businesses and government understand the impact of our decisions and behavior on our present and future community and world.”
A useful resource for Kansas Citians is their website: www.bridgingthegap.org. On the site you can find lots of information to help you live a more sustainable lifestyle. You can find the locations of recycling centers and what they do and don’t accept. You can also learn about several volunteer opportunities and various other programs that Bridging the Gap sponsors. These include efforts to encourage buying local produce (Buy Fresh, Buy Local Kansas City), plant trees (Heartland Tree Alliance) and reduce the litter in Kansas City (Keep Kansas City Beautiful).
Perhaps the most useful section of their website has tips on things you can do at home, ranging from disposing of things you can’t put in the trash to building a backyard wildlife habitat. There is also a page where you can sign up for their quarterly newsletter and other e-mailings.
More E-sources
Don’t forget that you don’t have to go far from the Cathedral for environmental news. From the home page of the Cathedral website (www.ghtc-kc.org), you can sign up for several newsletters, including Caring for God's Creation, which brings you occasional e-mails about environmental topics. The information in them comes from MARC, the Mid-America Regional Council and includes advice that you can use to live greener.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Greener living: Take small steps to big energy savings in your home
The Kansas City Star recently ran this story about how you can make your home more energy-efficient. (Free for now, but it may eventually move into their paid archives.)
Drink Coffee, Save the Planet
Green Cathedral
The Angelus, March 2008
Okay, that may be a little bit exaggerated. But it is true that our choices often have an impact halfway around the world.
Take coffee, for instance. Most coffee is grown thousands of miles from the United States in communities where poverty is the rule. Thanks to Bishops Blend Coffee, which is offered in partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development, you can help foster a better way to grow and sell coffee:
- Fair Trade - Bishops Blend is grown by small coffee farmers in Central America, Ethiopia and Indonesia. They are guaranteed fair treatment and a fair price by selling through a cooperative, instead of on the open market.
- Organic - Bishops Blend is grown with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
- Shade-grown - Bishops Blend is grown beneath the tree canopy, which protects the coffee plants, helps return nutrients to the soil and reduces the need for clear-cutting.
Bishops Blend, which is sold by Seattle-based Pure Vida Coffee, also furthers ERD’s mission of responding to issues such as poverty, hunger, and disease worldwide. ERD receives 15% of the purchase price from the sale of Bishops Blend, which goes to its general fund. Note that’s 15% of the purchase price, not the much-lower profit.
The Bishops Blend section of the ERD website (see the link below) has much more information about Fair Trade, stories about how it has helped the lives of many coffee farmers and, of course, various ways to order it. You can order a bag or two at a time, or even have it delivered to you on a regular basis! The price of Bishops Blend is comparable to other premium coffee brands. Not to put down other national brands, but when you consider the benefits, Bishops Blend does offer a great deal for both you and the growers.
You can read more about Bishops Blend Coffee at http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/waystogive_63273_ENG_HTM.htm.
The Angelus, March 2008
Okay, that may be a little bit exaggerated. But it is true that our choices often have an impact halfway around the world.
Take coffee, for instance. Most coffee is grown thousands of miles from the United States in communities where poverty is the rule. Thanks to Bishops Blend Coffee, which is offered in partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development, you can help foster a better way to grow and sell coffee:
- Fair Trade - Bishops Blend is grown by small coffee farmers in Central America, Ethiopia and Indonesia. They are guaranteed fair treatment and a fair price by selling through a cooperative, instead of on the open market.
- Organic - Bishops Blend is grown with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
- Shade-grown - Bishops Blend is grown beneath the tree canopy, which protects the coffee plants, helps return nutrients to the soil and reduces the need for clear-cutting.
Bishops Blend, which is sold by Seattle-based Pure Vida Coffee, also furthers ERD’s mission of responding to issues such as poverty, hunger, and disease worldwide. ERD receives 15% of the purchase price from the sale of Bishops Blend, which goes to its general fund. Note that’s 15% of the purchase price, not the much-lower profit.
The Bishops Blend section of the ERD website (see the link below) has much more information about Fair Trade, stories about how it has helped the lives of many coffee farmers and, of course, various ways to order it. You can order a bag or two at a time, or even have it delivered to you on a regular basis! The price of Bishops Blend is comparable to other premium coffee brands. Not to put down other national brands, but when you consider the benefits, Bishops Blend does offer a great deal for both you and the growers.
You can read more about Bishops Blend Coffee at http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/waystogive_63273_ENG_HTM.htm.
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