10 Best Ways to Give Up Carbon for Lent – Ash Wednesday 2009

Ash Wednesday 2009 is coming up, and using these 10 ways to give up carbon for Lent, is a great way to fast.

Two senior Church of England Bishops have called on people to give up carbon rather than chocolate for Lent.

The Bishop of Liverpool, Rev James Jones and the Bishop of London, Rev Richard Chartres, say that Lent is the time when Christians traditionally give up such things as sweets, chocolate or alcohol in recognition of the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert to prepare for his ministry.

So if you are going to “fast” for lent, how about a carbon fast?

10. Sack it – Were all trying to get rid of plastic bags, but using reusable cotton or hemp ones serves more than getting rid of the carbon that’s produced in the processing of plastic bags, it keeps them out of the tree branches and the landfills.

9. Give the dishwasher a break – What’s that? You know that using a dishwasher uses less water than washing by hand? Your right! But what about the dry cycle? Heat comes from electricity, and electricity comes from burning coal. Air drying pollutes nothing and cost’s nothing!

8. Fill your plates -  What plates are those? Light switches and plug plates! These are one of the worst cold air draft areas in the typical home. For $2.38 I got 14 inserts to put behind my the plates and now we have no more drafts!

7. Don’t let it shine – “Oh Honey! You turned down the lights! How romantic!” Do you have any of those glass domed ceiling lights that take 2 or more light-bulbs? Chances are that you can take one of the bulbs out of it and you’ll never even miss it. Heck, your partner might even enjoy the ambiance more!

6. The Secret Sister of the Recycle, Reuse and Reduce triplets -Let me introduce you to Precycling! Not to be confused with child tricyclists. Simply put, Precycling is the act of “not purchasing” something that would otherwise be Recycled or thrown into a landfill.

5. Eat Slow, Joe – Fast foods are Carbon intensive. Think about all the processing involved from factory farm to drive-through window that the “food?” goes through. Slow down! Enjoy a home cooked meal or 40 with the family. Your wallet, your planet and your spouse will thank you!

4. Got a Bounty of Brawny Scott’s in your kitchen? Give’em the boot! - Giving up paper towel is one of the easiest things that we can do to cut carbon and help protect our woodlands. Compared to spending money on paper towels, five nice cloth napkins will pay for themselves in no time.

3. Wean yourself off the bottle – No, not that bottle, this bottle. Did you know it takes 5 bottles of water to make the plastic for 1 water bottle? Or that 82% of water bottles end up in landfills or in the environment? How about the fact that your paying 4000% more for what is essentially, bottled tap water? Isn’t it time you made the switch?

2. Don’t be Latte for work – How much water goes into that single Latte you buy on the way to work? 50 Gallons! Check out this video.

And the number 1 thing you can do to give up carbon for Lent? Give up Beef! For every 1 pound of beef that you eat, you are also consuming 7lbs of grain, and 2,500 gallons of water. Not to mention about 270 antibiotic injections. 1lb of beef also produces the carbon equivalent of driving a car at 60 miles an hour for 200 miles or burning a 100 watt bulb continuously for 20 years.

If you are a follower of Christianity, then you have been taught that God gave to us his greatest gift, this world. He put us in a Garden, he provided to us everything that we need. He asked us to refrain from using a part of his natural gift, and we took it anyway. Whether a Christian or not, we not only respect our God, and our planet by cutting back on our consumption, we respect ourselves and those we love.

photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

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