We at Peace have often used a Lenten fast to reduce our environmental impact starting with our carbon fast in 2018. This year, we’re gearing up our year-long Replacing Plastics Campaign with a Lenten focus on using fewer plastics.

The UN’s Environment Programme calls plastics pollution the “second most ominous threat to the global environment, after climate change.” We produce 407 million tons of plastic each year globally, which is 30% more than the weight of all humanity. Less than 10% of all that plastic gets recycled. The rest ends up in our environment. Plastic is killing marine life as it enters food chains or entangles animals. Plastic particles can be found in soil, water, air, our atmosphere, and even human breast milk.

“The more plastic we make, the more we find it in our bodies — we are polluting ourselves,” Monica Medina, head of the Wildlife Conservation Society, commented in a Nov. 27, 2023, Washington Post opinion piece.

A technological marvel that has revolutionized medicine along with how we eat, clean our homes, and organize our days, plastic is also a major contributor to climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Plastic is responsible for 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely because it is mostly made with fossil fuels.

We must stop constantly adding more plastic to our environment. To help us all do that, we invite you to accept our Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge.

Every week beginning Feb. 11, we’ll share an activity for the week in the Sunday bulletin, on our website and in our Facebook posts to help your household use fewer plastics and seek more sustainable alternatives. We ask you to share the weekly challenge with friends and family to encourage an ever-widening community to use fewer plastics for the sake of all creation. And in the spirit of sharing, here’s the entire Challenge at a glance. Please join us!

Feb. 11 Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge – Week 1 Assess. The first step in using fewer plastics is to evaluate your plastic usage. Since most plastics are single-use packaging and only about 5% of the plastic we put in the recycling is actually recycled, it’s important to understand just how much we use individually. This week, set aside every piece of plastic you would normally throw away or put in recycling in a separate place. At the end of the week take 2 minutes to look through your plastic use to get an idea of what habits are leading to your plastic consumption. Make a note of which categories contribute the most to your plastic waste.

Feb. 18 Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge – Week 2 Refuse plastics. We have choices other than plastics more often than it might seem. In restaurants, refuse plastic straws and other disposable plastics for take-outs. Bring your own mug to the coffee shop. Avoid all products that contain microbeads, those tiny plastic balls found in some facial scrubs and toothpastes that find their way into our water systems and into the creatures living in the Salish Sea.

Feb. 25 Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge – Week 3  Replace plastic beverage bottles. Buy refillable water bottles and give them to every family member. Buy drinks in cans instead of plastic bottles (aluminum is almost endlessly recyclable!). Buy milk in recyclable cardboard cartons or glass bottles.

Mar. 3   Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge – Week 4 Replace plastic shopping and produce bags with reusable totes and produce bags for grocery shopping. Even better, shop at the Farmers Market to avoid plastics and support local farmers. Cloth bags can go in with your regular laundry and you use them over and over.

Mar. 10   Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge – Week 5  Stock your pantry without plastics — When you have the choice of buying sauces or vegetables and such at the store in a plastic jar or a can, opt for the can. Bring your own containers to buy bulk coffee, beans, rice, lentils, and even spices! Just have the container measured and marked for weight by the cashier before you fill it.

Mar. 17  Replacing Plastics For Lent Challenge – Week 6 Make a “Replacing Plastics” household plan. Using your notes from your Week 1 Assessment, and the experience you’ve gained during Lent, consider how you can build upon the changes you’ve made these past few weeks and keep replacing plastics in your home.

Learn more about single-use plastics at https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/.

For more information:
– About Creation Care at Peace Lutheran Church
– About our Creation Care Team