Faith Communities Go Green BPEcochallenge 2025

My sister lives on the coast; my visits to the beach with her spark many conversations about plastic (and lots of picking up litter, too). We have exchanged small, practical gifts over the years. I just bought an extra package of my favorite plastic-free dental floss to send to her.

Over the weeks, my awareness of the plastic in my life has increased. I am trying to do more baking to reduce the plastic packaging that comes into our house. I have a few items in mind that I would like to add to increase my "reusable" kit (a collapsable metal cup; quality bamboo flatware that I will actually use; more non-plastic...

I used the Plastic Bank footprint calculator and came in at just below the average for the US. Considering the effort I put in to reducing our plastic use in our home, I can understand why it's so hard to make an impact as an individual (also, some of the choices I can make--like finding condiments in glass jars--don't show up in the calculator...

I haven't been as diligent as I would have liked to have been, but I check some boxes already - carry my water bottle, recycle curbside and at the hub, carry go containers and reuseable bags in my car, try to buy cotton or at the thrift store, buy soap sheets for laundry now, took some plastic containers to the thrift store and try to use...

Went with friends to see the movie How to Poison a Planet focused on 3M's role in poisoning the planet with "forever chemicals." It included the indigenous perspective of the natural world as part of who we are.

Thanks to my husband for learning about Planet Care micro plastic filter. The company takes back the filters for recycling. Next up: looking into ways to reduce the plastic in our clothes.

I appreciate how Becca and Fred lead our community in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. The organized viewing of 'Kiss the Ground' on Sunday 7/20/2025 was witnessed by about 18 people. The discussion afterwards was inspiring. Thank you.

Only about 10% of the plastics we use gets recycled. Recyling plastics takes away the guilt we ought to feel for consuming so much plastic in the first place. Our focus should be on eliminating plastic use as much as we can. Also recycling the correct way is critical. Wrong items or unclean items in the recycling bin can create a lot of...

I look forward to learning more the situation/challenge every day

I gave my daughter who recently moved out on her own reusable shopping bags. I stressed the importance of actually using them and what a difference something that seems so small makes. I also told her to get in the habit of leaving them in her car so she doesn't forget to use them.