News

Meat Free Monday  Think twice about taking a bag if your purchase is small, reuse bags and being a cloth bag or bags Become a bag lady (or gent) DID YOU KNOW Plastic shopping bags are usually not biodegradable. Even the ‘biodegradable’ ones never completely disappear, they break up into little pieces. Plastic is made from petroleum Plastic often ends up in the ocean, killing marine animals or birds who get tangled up in them or swallow them . Watch this video about the impact on baby albatrosses in the middle of the ocean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUM58LIU2Lo The ink used in plastic bags contains cadmium a toxic heavy metal, so when they are incinerated , heavy metals spew into the air. WHAT TO DO Think twice before taking a bag if your purchase is small. Just hold it in your (wait for it…) hands! All plastic shopping bags are reusable many times. Keep one in your handbag for that unplanned purchase Bring cloth bags when you do your grocery shopping. Buy bags made by community upliftment projects and make a difference!

Smart Fish Friday Conserve your light, turn off fixtures when not in use, and use LED and other wattage lowering options LESSEN YOUR LIGHTS “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house”. Matt 5;15 How to save electricity on lighting Lighting is  probably the easiest area to save in. Switch to energy saving bulbs. Save 70-90% right away by using LED or CFL lights. Here is why: “Traditional incandescent bulbs are  small heaters that give off a little bit of light—something you know if you’ve ever touched a bulb that’s been on for a while.  These bulbs were technological wonders when they were patented in 1880, but today they are inefficient dinosaurs.  They waste energy and money, and they are responsible for millions of tons of global warming pollution.” LED is better but the bulbs are expensive. You will pay them off eventually but if the cost is too high, go with CFL. Make sure you get them bright enough   -multiply by 6, a 10 watt LED is a 60 watt equivalent. But CFLs with a warranty, the cheap ones burn out fast. Turn off lights when you’re not using them, even for just a few minutes. The idea that lights (whether regular or fluorescents) use extra electricity to start up is a myth. Use a motion sensor Exterior security lights automatically shut off after 1-15 minutes, so you’re not paying to run them all night. Use the lowest-wattage bulbs for lights that are always on (e.g., stairways). Replacing 75-watt bulbs with 15-watt bulbs reduces energy usage by 80%.  Replacing them with LED or CFL lights saves even more. Install a skylight. Using natural lighting saves a bunch of energy and produces a much nicer environment besides. Modern skylights are available which let in only the light and not the heat. How to save electricity on lighting

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