On Sunday, April 18, after completing the Greening Congregations process, Wooden Cross was honored with an Earth Ministry banner, which is currently displayed in the church.

Dead Trees~WildlifeHabitat

Before you cut down that old dead tree in your backyard, consider leaving a 10-15’ snag (a dead tree left upright to decompose naturally).  Many animals, including birds, bats, squirrels and raccoons make nests in hallow cavities and crevices of snags. 

And before you hall away that log (fallen tree or part of a snag), know that by attracting insects, mosses, lichens and fungi, dead wood becomes a gourmet restaurant for wildlife looking for a snack.  The removal of dead material from nature can mean a loss of habitat for up to one-fifth of the God’s creatures in our ecosystem.

Restrain Methane

People are continuously encouraged to recycle. But did you know that composting may be just as important?

After 40 years in landfill, a buried carrot is still intact and bright orange on the inside (preserved better in landfill than in your refrigerator).  Organic matter needs air to decompose properly. When food and other organic material finally do begin to decompose anaerobically (without air) in a dump, methane, a greenhouse gas, is released.  Methane is more than 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Because composting is an aerobic process, which exposing the matter to air, it only produces carbon dioxide and not methane.

Yearly Impact: If the average family composted regularly, or put food scraps in their yard waste container to be composted by the city, each household would prevent about 30 pounds of methane emissions per year, the equivalent of around 620 pounds of carbon dioxide (the same as what a small car driving 1,200 miles would emit).

SOFT ON the TUSHIE…but ROUGH ON FORESTS

America has an obsession with ultra-soft toilet paper, but that fluffiness comes at a high environmental price -- the destruction of millions of trees in North America, including rare old-growth forests in Canada.

It's more than just the loss of forests.  Turning a single tree to paper requires about 2,000 gallons of water and 60% more energy than using recycled paper.  Furthermore, chlorine is used in the bleaching process, releasing the carcinogen, dioxin and other toxins into the environment that pollute our air, soil, and water.

No forest should be used to make toilet paper. There is another choice -- post consumer, unbleached, recycled tissue products.  Purchase paper products from Green Forest, Seventh Generation, Earth First, Planet, 365 (Whole Foods), as they use post consumer recycled paper and do not use bleach in making their products.

If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees.

AVOID paper towels, tissue, and TP made by these companies: Charmin, Cottonelle, Kleenex, Bounty, Puffs, Bounty, Scott, Viva.

These companies cut down old growth forests and use virgin fiber and chlorine to make their products.

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Take the Pledge for a Bottled Water-Free 2011

Recent studies estimate that bottled water costs almost 2,000 times more than tap water, and most companies refuse to fully answer basic questions such as where their water comes from, what contaminates are in it or whether it's been treated.

Besides its exorbitant cost and its questionable contents, bottled water is terrible for the environment. The energy needed to produce the plastic consumption is enough to fuel three million cars for a year. Nearly one million tons of plastic bottles are discarded as litter each year, ending up in landfills, lakes and streams.