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Diana Melo, Portugal “Climate change is increasing the periods of drought and heat waves. The increase in average air temperature and the heat waves are increasing the rate of diseases carried by mosquitoes, which has led tos dengue fever in the Island of Madeira. When the rains do come they are very intense and violent, increasing the risk of flooding. Many of the people I know are suffering.” Adjust your thermostat. Air conditioning and heating are both very energy-intensive. Adjust by as much as possible in solidarity with your brothers and sisters around the world. BLOG Heating and cooling our buildings is incredibly energy-intensive. Changing your thermostat by just a few degrees is one of the most impactful things you can do to protect our common home and the people who share it. A programmable thermostat allows the user to enter settings for time periods throughout the week, with different temperatures when the building’s occupants are at home, away, or sleeping. This device, which is affordable and easy to install and program, ensures your home uses only as much heating and cooling as necessary. If buying a programmable thermostat isn’t the right option for you, you may wish to simply turn down heating and cooling before you leave the house or go to sleep. Simple changes in the way your home is used can help make up the difference at the thermostat. Closing the curtains during the day in summer and opening them during the day in winter can help a lot. Laying rugs during the winter and rolling them up during the summer can also help. Finally, using room-specific appliances, such as fans and radiator-style space heaters, can replace whole-house measures. Reducing your dependence on home heating and cooling will protect vulnerable people around the world. As you discuss these changes with the people who share your home, the light of our faith can help guide the conversation. Read a reflection like this: “The world is not something indifferent, raw material to be utilized simply as we see fit. Rather, it is part of God’s good plan . . . The justified concern about threats to the environment present in so many parts of the world is reinforced by Christian hope, which commits us to working responsibly for the protection of creation.”

Jamee Lee Callard, Australia “Coal mining in Australia presents both an environmental and social issue for local and national communities. Not only are towns uprooted when a mine first arrives, but the false economy of a mining boom often leaves towns diminished in culture, economy, and community when it is finished. I have seen these impacts while traveling around Australia and it has caused me great anxiety and worry.” Go renewable. Commit to getting one piece of solar equipment in 2018. This could be a solar light, a solar charger for your phone, or solar panels for your home or parish. BLOG Solar power is a clean, reliable, affordable way to generate power. Rooftop or garden solar for your home or parish is a wonderful way to reduce your contribution to climate change and protect creation. Special financing arrangements in your area may make this investment easier. Spend a few minutes investigating what options are available in your region. If a large solar array isn’t feasible, appliance-specific panels are a very good second option. A solar phone or laptop charger, lantern, or small generator all capture the sun’s energy to power the tools we use in our daily lives. However you choose to incorporate solar power as an energy choice, you will reduce your dependence on fossil fuels. This is an expression of our faith’s call to love our neighbors by protecting them from climate change. As Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said, “Responding to climate change is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God’s creation. Meanwhile, to love our neighbour — particularly, in this case, our neighbour whom we may never meet but who lives daily with the profound threat posed by this moral crisis — is at the core of what it is to follow Jesus Christ.”

Kuzipa Nalwamba, Zambia “I began to think about how the animals we eat are treated in the slaughterhouses. I became vegan ten years ago as a result. I have increasingly become aware that eating less meat makes an important contribution towards saving the planet, even though I attained my environmental credentials inadvertently.” Eat less meat. Our tradition includes a weekly day without meat. Renew that tradition to protect the Earth from the massive greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation that commercial livestock cause. BLOG Lent has long been marked by abstinence from meat dishes, and both Anglican teaching and Catholic teaching encourage a weekly fast from meat. This spiritual practice, which helps us step away from earthly indulgence and commemorate the passion of Christ Jesus, has practical benefits for creation as well. It surprises many people to learn that livestock production makes a significant contribution to climate change. The UN estimates the contribution at approximately 14% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. There are several reasons why. One is that livestock raised on industrial farming operations must be fed, and it takes a lot of fossil fuels to grow and process all that grain and other feed. Another reason is that ruminants, such as cows, produce large amounts of methane gas as they digest. Many cultural traditions include delicious vegetarian meals. Cooking one of these recipes every Friday in Lent and at least once per week throughout the year is a good way to preserve our faith heritage and protect creation.

Rhadhika Sri Paravastu, India “What strikes me most is that most farmers in my state are moving away from farming to pursue daily wage jobs as they do not have sufficient customers to grow crops for the local community.” Eat local and native. Foods that are grown close to home will be produced in-season, keeping with the rhythms of creation. Native foods will preserve the web of life in a local area. These foods will also support smaller-scale farmers. BLOG Eating local and native foods encourages the economy in your community to work with the rhythms of creation. In addition, it encourages connections between people, as consumers seek and meet farmers among their neighbors. The connections to nature and neighbors reinforce each other. As Pope Francis said in Laudato Si’, his encyclical letter on climate change and creation, “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. . . We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” (139) Adding local and native foods to your diet is one step toward solving these crises. Local foods are grown in season, without the intensive intervention needed to grow summer-season foods over the winter or vice versa. Native foods fill important niches in the web of life present in your region. Meeting local producers develops relationships and builds an economy that sustains creation.

Lasarus Ngube, Namibia “The Earth finds her beauty in trees, plants, and animals. Growing and planting them is clothing her in beauty. Growing plants, planting vegetables, and caring for animals is preserving life, beauty, and the completeness of creation. Let’s be pro-life.” Try organic. Buy organically grown produce, which is produced without the most harmful pesticides and fertilizers. BLOG Organic foods are produced without use of the most harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Organic standards are regulated by country, and the organic labelis seen as a reliable indicator that the food has been produced to standard. Buying organic meat, dairy, and produce does more than just reduce poisonous chemicals in our lands and waters. It also sends an important signal to markets that a sizable group of consumers favors regulation and creation care. Buying organic food is a vote in favor of human systems that preserve and protect creation.