How are you safeguarding the integrity of creation?

[teresa]

Inspire, share and relate how you are protecting and advocating for the safety and integrity of planet earth.

 

[teresa]

This past summer I started to engage with beach clean ups, cleaning up plastic bottles and other trash.

I hope to advocate for the protection of the waters more and more by joining various organizations and promoting beach clean ups and engagement in advocacy through email and social media campaigns to get protective laws passed as well as to recruit more people to join in the efforts.

 

[teresa]

I am looking into getting barrels to collect rain water to use on flowers and lawn

 

[teresa]

anyone use only re-usable canvas or recycled plastic bags for groceries?

keeps plastic out of our waterways and landfills

 

[Bob Crowley]

anyone use only re-usable canvas or recycled plastic bags for groceries?

keeps plastic out of our waterways and landfills

We won't have a choice soon. Legislation in the state of Queensland will outlaw disposable plastic bags for shopping centres as from the 1st July. Not sure how this affects speciality shops, but the large grocery chains won't be using them.

My wife already uses re-usalbe canvas (if that's what they are) bags for her shopping, but sometimes gets the plastic bags, as they come in handy (bin liners, carrying stuff etc.).

Other than that we have solar power (which only feeds back into the grid - ideally we should be self sufficient, but that's an expensive proposition) and a 5000 litre water tank for external use only (gardening mainly- ideally it should be plumbed into the toilet and laundry to make any significant water savings). In both cases, they were heavily subsidised by government funding, or we may not have had either. Overall we generate a little bit more power than we use.

Although the water tank was installed when we had a drought here. Fortunately the drought broke in 2008, and in 2011 we had floods, but I'd be very surprised if we don't get another prolonged drought sometime, as Cape Town in South Africa is finding out to its cost. And while there's been a "water grid" constructed which connects 12 dams across SE Queensland, one dam doubled in capacity, and one or more desalination plants built (which are very heavy users of power I believe), we still haven't built a new dam.

I think we'll pay for it eventually.

Other than that I have a heavy fuel use vehicle, which was a bit of a white elephant (I thought we might be going camping more often with a camping group in my wife's Baptist Church, but that was a fizzer. They've also just had a very wet camping weekend, but that's by the by). Eventually it will have to go, and I'm thinking about a hybrid vehicle, but I'm concerned about the cost of getting it serviced. Also they only save fuel in stop start traffic really. On long easy runs, they're not much different to ordinary vehicles.

We could do a lot more - grow more of our own food, I could use a push bike for some trips, have a hive for honey (and pollinate the plants), get the water plumbed into the house, upgrade the solar system, make a more efficient compost system, plan trips better, re-use disposable canisters and packaging etc. But I'm a bit too lazy. I'd rather just sit and think about it!

I did go to a seminar in our local library a few months ago presented by Czechoslovakian immigrants Roman & Jana Spur. Their blog is linked here. I won't be going to the lengths they have, but they've got a lot of good ideas.

SpurTopia - Our Sustainable Living Story: Our Story

 

[GardenLady]

I am a master gardener, which is a volunteer program through the university extension. In this role, I give talks to garden clubs; work on programs for scouting badges in gardening, trees, and soil; and work on a program in which 4th graders are taught about soil and water quality, pollution, and habitats. As this is through a public university, it is necessarily secular in content. But still, it teaches stewardship of our environment.

 

[Haydee]

Inspire, share and relate how you are protecting and advocating for the safety and integrity of planet earth.

I'm an avid gardener. I created my garden from the ground up pretty much whilst keeping in mind the local wildlife. I've planted local flowering plants to ensure the bird life such as the honey eaters are fed. I had 3 species of birds on my Grevillea shrub this morning which was awesome to see.
I grow some of my own vegies such as tomatoes, zucchini, beans etc; whatever is in season at the time.

 

[Haydee]

We could do a lot more - have a hive for honey (and pollinate the plants) I'd rather just sit and think about it!

I looked into a hive, they are quite pricey. If I was to set up a hive, I think I'd prefer the native bees. Those little black ones we have in Qld.

 

[DennisTate]

Inspire, share and relate how you are protecting and advocating for the safety and integrity of planet earth.

I've been advocating an alternative theory on stabilization of the climate other than a carbon tax.

Does America have a 4.3 TRILLION Petro-dollar problem?

"So how is our problem of continental drying causing global warming? It all has to do with vegetation and sunlight. When sun light hits a plant, it causes a process which we call photosynthesis where the energy from the sun light creates oxygen for us to breathe, water for us to drink, and is stored as sugar for plants and animals to use. When the same sun light hits the soil, all of its energy turns into heat and is radiated back into the atmosphere.. ."

"Therefore, the less vegetation you have on the planet, the more sunlight is being turned into heat and the warmer the planet becomes...."

"Just take a look at any satellite picture of the earth showing heat and you will see that our deserts are the warmest spots on the planet by far. More heat is being generated by just one of the top four or five deserts than by all of our cities combined.... "

"The truth is that you can do more to decrease global warming by just reducing the average temperature for the Sahara Desert by one or two degrees than if we humans completely quit using fossil fuels and returned to the cave…."

"So, how would you start working to resolve this problem? Easy, cool the deserts and get some vegetation growing on them as soon as possible. But the method is much more complex than that. You have to use the prevailing trade winds in relation to the deserts to get the best results as quickly as possible and it will be extremely expensive…."

"Then we build desalination plants along the coast near these water sheds and pipe water to the tops or ridges of the water sheds…"

"We need to start working on this as soon as possible because, if the planet reaches a point to where it is warming faster than our technology can possibly stop or reverse this warming trend, then our planet is lost and all life will cease to exist on this planet within a relatively short period of time. We will need to start with the largest and hottest deserts because cooling them will have the greatest benefit in the least time (Global Warming II by biologist Carl Cantrell)."

 

[crossnote]

Inspire, share and relate how you are protecting and advocating for the safety and integrity of planet earth.

Been warning others that our stay here is temporary as well as the fact that planet earth will one day burn up.

2 Peter 3:10-11 (KJV) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,