Earth Hour Tonight at 8:30pm - Turn off your lights for 60 minutes

Join in this world wide call to action to support our planet.  Turn off your lights, and other electrical devices, for Earth Hour on Saturday, March 27th at 8:30pm local time.

Grace Church Eco-Bottles Available While Supplies Last

The shipment of Grace Church's "eco-water bottles" has arrived and will be available during coffee hour on Sundays and dinner on Wednesday nights while supplies last.  The reusable eco-bottles are $12.50 and proceeds go to support the GreenUp CleanUp project this spring.  The eco-bottles are 26oz stainless steel and are BPA free and FDA compliant.  They feature a wide mouth so that you can add ice to keep your water cold.  They are not insulated and are not intended for hot beverages.


Be careful of the slip of paper with cleaning instructions and warnings inside (like not dishwasher safe).  Ellie was so excited about her bottle that she filled it up with the paper still inside.  If you want to reserve your a bottle for you (even better several for your family), be sure to fill out the eco-bottle reservation form and we will set them aside for you.

The eco-bottles are compatible with Klean Kanteen, a popular brand name stainless steel water bottle, so you can get a sports cap if you prefer that to the wide mouth for drinking. They run about $4 on Amazon.com.

Have a Blessed Day!
The GreenUp CleanUp Team

First Batch of Juice Pouches Heading to New Jersey

The first box of 547 juice pouches collected by the kids of Grace Church has been boxed up and mailed to TerraCycle in New Jersey where they will be made into cool things like backpacks, folders and pencil cases.

So far, we have collected 547 juice pouches which weigh in at over 6 lbs, raising $11 for Grace Church in a month and a half.  That is 6 pounds of stuff not going into our local landfills.

Great Job Kids! Keep up the good work. 

If you need help or ideas on how to collect more juice pouches from your classmates at school, ask Hannah, Ellie or Christor at Godly play or coffee hour.

GreenUp CleanUp

Grace Church has embarked on a parish-wide environmental stewardship program, Greening Grace. Our team includes: Ann Frenning Kossuth, Jonathan Hunt, Rachael Pettengill, June Pietrantoni, Linda Rogers, and Margaret Smist. This spring's GreenUp CleanUp, which aims to organize 250 members of the Grace church and community to clean up some of Medford's shared open spaces (such as parks and playgrounds), represents the first fruits of this endeavor.

The team will be holding an open information session about the GreenUp CleanUp

at Grace Church Sunday, April 11th following the 10 o'clock service 

If you are interested, please stick around for green ice cream in fun flavors!

Please sign up in advance! There will be a random prize given to one lucky person on the pre-sign-up list!  Remember, get the '411' on 4/11!

Seek out any member of the team for more information or email the group at GreenUpCleanUp@gracemedford.org.  We look forward to learning how we can work together as a parish to achieve our mission of preserving God's green earth!

Complete listing of blog posts on GreenUp CleanUp

Earth Day Eve Movie Night at Grace

Come celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by joining us for an environmentally focused movie night Wednesday, April 21st showing Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth and for those younger ones, Hoot, a kid safe movie about protecting animal habitats.

Because of school vacation week, we do not have our usually scheduled Godly Play & Community Dinner that Wednesday, but we will have dinner at the Movie Night.

6pm-8pm – Wednesday, April 21st at Grace Church Parish Hall

Pizza will be served promptly at 6pm and the movies will start a few minutes later.   We want to get started quickly so that those with young kids can leave by 8pm, others are welcome to stay for discussion afterwards. Alicia and Jonathan will be hosting the event in the Parish Hall and Common Room.

Please RSVP to Alicia or Jonathan at jmhunt@mit.edu or (781) 874-0493 or signing up via the web so that we can have enough food, popcorns and beverages.

Get Your Eco-Bottle to Support GreenUp CleanUp

Reusable water bottles ("eco-bottles") save money and the environment by reducing the need to purchase water bottled in plastic.

The GreenUp CleanUp Project will be selling 100 shiny blue 26oz stainless steel eco-bottles for $12.50 each as a promotional fund-raiser for the church.

These lovely bottles make wonderful gifts for friends and family members and the wide mouth means you can even use normal ice cubes to cool your drinks.

We will unveil the new eco-bottles at 12 noon at the start of the Saturday, March 27th Clean-Up, organized by Steve Viggiani.  Members of the GreenUp CleanUp team will actively be taking pre-orders in advance.

For questions about the bottles or the GreenUp CleanUp project please ask one of the  team: Ann, Jon, Linda, Margaret, June, or Rachael.

Also, be sure to join us for the GreenUp CleanUp Kick Off Event after the 10am service on Sunday, April 11 to get the '411' on 4/11.  We need your help, so please sign up today.


Thanks,
GreenUp CleanUp Team

Video Tour of the TerraCycle Factory

Christor asked Alicia:

How do they turn the juice pouches into money?

She explained that they recycled the pouches into products that they sold at stores and that is how they get the money gets donated for each juice pouch.  I happened to come across this new video tour of the TerraCycle factory today and can't wait to show it to Christor and all the others who have been helping collect juice pouches for Grace Church.

Our first box of juice pouches is going to be shipped to TerraCycle later this week. The kids have been doing a great job!

Save Water at Home with Free Water Conservation Kits

(Update 3/11/2010 - DPW no longer has the water conservation kits)

I was visiting the Medford Department of Public Works in regards to the GreenUp CleanUp project when I noticed they were giving away free low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators.   I picked up a bag to see what was included and was pleasantly surprised to find the same massaging shower head we installed in our own home, though with a slightly higher flow rate (2.0 gallons per minute - gpm).  We love this shower and installed one in my mother-in-law's bathroom.  She loves it too. You can literally save thousands of gallons of water per year with a low flow shower head.

The shower head and faucet aerators (one for a kitchen faucet at 2.2 gpm and one for a bathroom faucet at 1.5 gpm) came in a bag that you can use to measure your current showers' and faucets' flow rate, i.e., how many gpm they use.  Basically, you put the bag over your shower head and run the water for 5 seconds and then read on the side of the bag how much water it uses.  Included in the bag were little dye tablets to test your toilets for leaks because leaky faucets and toilets waste tens of thousands of gallons of water per year.  I also picked up some brochures on composting, indoor and outdoor water conservation, recycling and hazardous waste disposal for Medford.

If you have not already switched all your shower heads and installed aerators on your faucets, stop by Medford City Hall and pick up your free water conservation kits from our local Department of Public Works, Room 304.  You can also drop off button batteries and old cell phones for recycling while you are there.

Have a Blessed Day!
Jon

Grace Church is Using Eco-Palms for Palm Sunday

This year Grace Church is switching to using Eco-palms for Palm Sunday which are sustainably harvested palms. The harvest of palm products is an important income source for many tropical families and communities. For example, more than a half of the farmers in Guatemala’s Central Peten region earn income by harvesting palm fronds and more than a quarter support themselves exclusively by collecting palm fronds.

Over-harvesting can threaten the livelihood of these communities as well as the forests where the palm plants thrive. Similarly, decreased harvesting caused by reduced market demand could have a detrimental effect because forests that no longer provide a source of palm income are at risk of destructive conversion to large agricultural fields or pasture. Protecting these forests and jobs require a delicate balance between retaining a market for palm fronds and encouraging sustainable harvesting practices.

By purchasing Eco-palms we are supporting small farmers in developing countries and protecting the environment – a great practice in environmental stewardship and reaching out to those in need.

For more information visit: www.ecopalms.org

Peace,

The Rev. Noah H. Evans