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Recharge your batteries :Rechargeable batteries can last 500 times longer than single use, and always find a place to recycle them. “Let us not become weary in doing good,” Galatians 6:9  Did you know? Every year over 15 billion batteries are produced and sold worldwide Household batteries that are thrown out with the rubbish end up in landfills where they corrode and break apart, releasing dangerous lead and acid  into the soil. Batteries that are incinerated reduce toxic chemicals into the air.. Many are alkaline batteries which are discarded after a single use. Fortunately, thanks to ongoing advances in both batteries and battery chargers, alkaline batteries can be replaced with higher capacity, environmentally friendly, rechargeable  Lithium-ion  batteries. Recycle Once a lead acid battery has died, there is no chance of a resurrection ,however it can be effectively recycled. It will be sorted and placed into a battery breaker and pulverised into small coin shaped pieces. These pieces are placed into a tank and the dissimilar densities are separated––heavier pieces, such as lead sink, while lighter pieces, like rubber and plastic float. Liquids, such as water and acid go into a neutralising solution, and once the PH is neutral, it is innocuously discarded into the sewage system. The plastic is melted down, the lead is cleaned of impurities, smelted into ingots and both are remoulded into new batteries. Lead-acid batteries are an environmental success story with more than 90% of all scrap batteries successfully recycled in South Africa. This is compared with 70% of beverage cans, 65% of newspapers, 30% of plastics, and 26% of glass. WHAT TO DO Use rechargeable batteries. they last 500 times longer than alkaline batteries Use mains power instead of batteries whenever possible Find out where to recycle your batteries and organize a system to help others to recycle too.

Keep your car tuned up, track your petrol mileage. Your wallet will be fat and your emissions low. Care for your car! “Go to the village ahead of you. As soon as you get there, you will find a donkey’s colt tied up. No one has ever ridden it. Untie it and bring it here. 31 Someone may ask you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ If so, say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” Luke 11:30-31 When Jesus came into Jerusalem, he did not choose a top of the range Arab stallion. The Gospels make much of the fact that he chose to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, on the colt of a donkey. For Jesus transport was not associated with status. We also need to move away from the values of society that says “you are what your drive” A car is a method of transport and we need to choose the most efficient. Getting good mileage out of your car  is not just a matter of the environment – a fuel efficient vehicle is less destructive than a petrol guzzler.  And it feels good on your pocket too! Did you know There are more than 1 BILLION cars on the road in the world. The environmental impact of transport is significant because it is a major user of energy, and burns most of the world’s petroleum. This creates air pollution, including nitrous oxides and particulates, and is a significant contributor to global warming through emission of carbon dioxide for which transport is the fastest-growing emission sector. By subsector, road transport is the largest contributor to global warming. What to do Keep your car tuned up. A well tuned car uses 9% less petrol. Keep track of your petrol mileage. If it suddenly changes you can quickly sort out the problem with your car. Do not idle your car unnecessarily. It takes less petrol to start a car that to let it idle for more than one minute. Switch off! Keep fuel filters clean Stay light. Don’t leave heavy things in your car. An extra 50 kg in your boot (110lb in your trunk J) will reduce fuel economy by 1% When it comes to buying a new car, research petrol economy before you decide which make to search for. Here is a useful link for comparing cars: Kilometers  Miles

Properly maintain major appliances and use reasonable temperatures. Fill your empty fridge space with water and the freezer with ice. FIX YOUR FREEZER “By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast”  Job 37:10   For most people the fridge is the item in the house which uses the second largest amount of electricity because it is on all the time. Here’s what to do: Switch on ‘Energy saver” feature if you have one.. Many fridges have small heaters that keep moisture from forming on the cabinet. This can be turned off with the “Energy Saver”. Set the temperature for only as cold as you need it. Fridge should be 36-40F, and the freezer should be 0-5F (-17 to -10C).  To test the fridge temperature, put a thermometer in a glass of water in the center of the fridge and leave it there for 24 hours. To test the freezer temperature, put the thermometer between two frozen packages. If the temperature is colder than needed, then set the fridge to a warmer temperature. Don’t put hot foods in the fridge. One to two hours of cooling off time will definitely make your refrigerator work less.  You can greatly cool items by putting them in a container and soaking them in a pot of cold water for 15-30 minutes, which means they can go into the fridge faster if you are worried about them going off.. Thaw frozen foods in the fridge rather than on the counter. They’ll help cool the fridge as they defrost. Pick a good spot for the fridge. Position your fridge out of direct sunlight, and away from the oven. If you cant then  make sure there as at least 2″ of space all around to allow for circulation. Door Openings. Every time you open the door you are wasting electricity as the fridge tries to cool down the whole room! Defrost your freezer regularly More frost makes the freezer work harder. Cleaning the coils helps a little. The coils are the winding black pipe either on the back of the fridge, clean with a brush or vacuum. Make sure the gasket/sealer is in good shape. If parts of it are coming off,then cold air is escaping, re-attach it with  adhesive. Replace your fridge Older fridges are incredibly inefficient  pre 2001 fridges use 1400 kWh a year, while a modern energy-efficient model uses only 350 kWh — a whopping 75% reduction.  Find out how much electricity does my refrigerator use?  

Meat Free Monday Check your tyre pressure, under inflation can cause a 5% decrease in petrol mileage, releasing more pollution. Time to re-tyre!  You’ll travel safely, you’ll neither tire nor trip. Prov 3:23 We often don’t think of tyres as being an environmental issue. By maintaining them properly you help conserve the energy and resources that would go into making new ones, save petrol, and reduce the problems created when they are thrown away. Tyres are bulky, do not decompose and provide places for mosquitoes to breed. Tyre trivia It takes half a barrel of crude oil to produce the rubber in one lorry tyre Worldwide every year 3 billion tyres, yes 3 billion! are  discarded What to do? Keep your tyres inflated. This preserves the life of the tyre and can improve your fuel consumption by 5%. Ask your tyre dealer if they recycle, if they don’t then say you will buy from the one that does! When you change your tyres, change to radial, they do improve mileage Recycle! Producing recycled tyres saves 70% of the energy it takes to make them new. They can be used for carpet padding, sporting goods, and added to playgrounds and running tracks. Re-use tyres for community projects They can be used for creches, for foundations for planting veggies! THROWN AWAY/ RUBBER & TIRES

Psalms 20:7 -:  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God FAST FOR THE CLIMATE And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away. Acts 13:3 Fasting in the Bible is not associated with inaction. It is associated with drawing close to God in order to make a difference in the world. This week we consider our lifestyle in the area of  ‘moving”. We live in a mobile society where our form of transport is often associated with status.  As we consider a more simple lifestyle, we need to move towards smaller cars, lift sharing, public transport, scooters, bicycles and best of all our feet!! Today is the first of March, we would like to encourage you to join the fast and pray for the climate movement. When Typhoon Haiyan had just devastated the Philippines in November last year, climate commissioner Yeb Saño was at the UN climate talks in Warsaw. His own family was caught up in the disaster that killed thousands and destroyed homes and livelihoods across the country. In a moving speech he said he would not eat until countries at the Warsaw conference delivered actions that would ‘stop the madness’ of the climate crisis. Hundreds of others from around the world chose to fast with him in solidarity. Despite this, the Warsaw meeting saw countries, like Japan, actually winding back their climate commitments, seemingly in denial that all countries will need to commit and contribute to the comprehensive, global climate action plan which is due in Paris in 2015. The Fast For The Climate has grown into global movement with participation of youth groups, environmental groups and faith-based groups, who all want urgent action on climate change by governments this year. FAST FOR THE CLIMATE

Use a smaller plate, you will have leftovers to eat later, will reduce calories and will not provide as much demand on the production of food SHRINK YOUR PLATE “I have learned the secret of being content no matter what happens. I am content whether I am well fed or hungry. I am content whether I have more than enough or not enough”. Phil 4:12 The global increase in obesity rates over the past 30 years has been paralleled by an increase in the portion size of many foods. A friend of mine who runs a small business making kitchen cupboards says that the cupboards he takes out of older houses can often not be reused, because our modern plates don’t fit! Items available at fast food restaurants are estimated to be 2 to 5 times larger than 2 decades ago! Here are a few suggestions on how to shrink that portion size – Use smaller plates! Use the smallest plates you have in your cupboard. Psychologically the helping will feel bigger! -Fill up your plate with healthy stuff, like vegetables or salad. – Fill the plates and then put the leftovers in the fridge. If you leave them on the table everyone will come for seconds, hungry or not! Enough is enough. Eating too much is bad for your body and bad for the planet…..