We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Season of Creation

Earth Day – The Plastics Problem

We need to stop thinking of plastic just as a waste problem, one that can be solved by changing consumers’ habits alone and stopping using plastic bags. We need to think of plastics as a climate problem, as a product that creates damage along all its journey, from the drilling up of hydrocarbons to the spread of microplastics. And that can only be addressed in a systemic way. Single-use plastics account for half of the plastic we use each year with an average useful life of 12 to 15 minutes but can take up to 500 years to disappear!
 
In March, 2022 representatives from over 170 nations at the UN Environment Assembly adopted an initiative to end plastic pollution, committing all these countries to participate in creating, by 2024, a legally binding agreement that addresses the full life cycle of plastics, from production to design to disposal.
 
1. Plastics breed GHG – For 99 percent of all plastics the starting point is fossil fuel hydrocarbons. Oil, gas and coal are extracted and refined to produce plastic and other synthetic chemicals.  Studies indicate that if nothing is done, the production of single-use plastic alone will contribute to more than 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 
 
2. Once plastics enter the environment, landfill, are dispersed in soil or water, they start a process of breaking down into micro and nanoparticles.  And this process of breaking down emits powerful gases such as methane, ethylene and CO2. And that’s true for both traditional and biodegradable plastics. 
 
3.  On the surface of microplastics, new microbial communities can grow. We call them the plastisphere.  And their biological activity also releases additional CO2 and nitrous oxide into the environment, creating the possibility of further magnifying the climate problem. It means that microplastic can also impair the growth and the photosynthesis capacity of phytoplankton, which are the microorganisms producing much of the oxygen we breathe. But also microplastics can have toxic effects on zooplankton, and the health of these organisms [is] essential for the functioning of all aquatic food webs.
 
4. Microplastics bind with the so-called marine snow, which are made out of the clumps of bacteria, plankton and other organic material that sinks down into the ocean depth, acting like a biological carbon pump. But microplastics risk affecting this marine snow and potentially decreasing the capacity of the ocean to absorb and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. And microplastics can be decreasing the reflective properties of snow and ice, potentially accelerating the melting of glaciers and polar ice.
 
5. Plastics are everywhere and so are microplastics.  plastics are present in furniture, construction materials, cars, appliances, electronics and countless other things.   Microplastics are everywhere, from the mountaintops of Everest to the deepest sediment in the Mariana Trench. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. They are now found in our bloodstream and our lungs. And personally, the most terrifying, in the placenta of our unborn children.
 
It is estimated that 75 to 199 million tons of plastic are in our oceans. It is increasing 9-14 million tons a year. If nothing is done, it could increase to between 23 and 37 tons per year by 2040!.

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Earth Day 2023. Focus on Plastics

Earth Day was founded in 1970 and included environmental teach-ins that educated  Americans about environmental and species conservation issues, and connected those issues to their health and well-being.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to call for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and  universities organized demonstrations and teach-ins against the deterioration of the environment.

Earth Day 1970 activated a bipartisan spirit that motivated the passing of the Clean Air,  Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.  2020 is the 50th anniversary Earth Day

The theme for 2023, “Invest in Our Planet” is the same theme as 2022. What gives?  We are behind on  reducing greenhouse gases to keep global warming below 1.5C. 

We need to be in a neutral position or a net zero emissions position by 2050,  A net-zero emissions balance is achieved when the amount of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere is balanced by what we take out. This can be done by carbon sequestration, i.e. by removing carbon from the atmosphere, or through offsetting measures, which typically involve supporting climate-oriented projects. We need to absorb more and emit less. 

We need to bring the  different groups together – governments, businesses, and citizens – in a concerted, organized effort to speed up the process of neutrality. We need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). We need to act in defense of the planet. 

It starts at home. One of the continuing themes of  Earth Day is reducing plastics, our focus at St. Peter this year.  On one day walking 20 minutes in our neighborhood, we bagged up these plastics shown in the picture.  

The Earth Day site has a plastics calculator this year – https://www.earthday.org/plastic-pollution-calculator-2/

Use this calculator to learn about how many plastic items you  consume and discard every year.

For May, consider all the types of plastics you use. For every material listed, you’ll see three boxes. In the first box, fill in your daily consumption of the specific item. The second box will auto-populate with your total consumption every year. The third row is your projected reduction of this type of plastics for the year.  

Let’s document your actual reduction in May and then return it to Catherine at the end of May and see what difference we can make as a church. 

A Poem for Earth Day

“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Reduce single use plastics for Earth Day 2023

Earth Day, April 22, 2023 originated in 1970 after Sen. Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin witnessed the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He hoped it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. It did lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air Act and a dialogue on a host of issues.

In our time it focuses on climate change. The Earth Day theme for 2023, “Invest in Our Planet” is the same theme as 2022.

It starts at home. One of the continuing themes of Earth Day is reducing plastics, our focus at St. Peter this year. On one day walking 20 minutes in our neighborhood, we bagged up these plastics shown in the picture

Plastics in the environment never fully decompose. Instead, they break down into smaller and smaller pieces – eventually into microplastics – that remain in the environment.

Because of their small sizes, toxic microplastics in aquatic environments blend with plankton at the base of the food web. These microplastics are consumed and work their way up into larger and larger consumers, including humans. An estimated 10 million tons of plastic enter the oceans every year. By the year 2050, by weight, there may be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Steps to Reduction of your use of platics.

The Earth Day 2023 Theme is “Invest In Our Planet. What Will You Do?”

1. Awareness– Enter our contest.

This Saturday, Earth Day, April 22—take a walk and participate in the St Peter’s “trashy contest.” Prizes will be given in the following categories: amount of trash, grossest piece of trash, smallest and largest piece of trash. Bring your entry to church next Sunday, April 23.

2. Going further – Calculate your usage.

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More book, Part 3 – Reduce

The first two chapters were required material to get to Part 3 – Reduce. Understanding the significance of our need to reduce greenhouse gases from Part 1, led to calculate our carbon footprint in Part 2. We meet to strive towards net zero emissions by 2050. Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance. Part 2 focuses on reduction to get to net zero. How much do we need to reduce our carbon footprints? For Americans, that number is about 90 percent.The United Nations’ intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that if we don’t act now, we’ll be facing the severe effects of a warming planet as early as 2040.  One example? 50 million people around the world, will be affected by coastal flooding This chapter lists 26+ ways for us to act

M.O.R.E Book, Part 2 – Measure. How and Why it matters ?

Join us Sept 19, 7pm on Zoom to discuss and learn about how much of a carbon consumer we are. This is the second of four parts discussing the M.O.R.E Book. Last week was an introduction to climate change

Basically, a carbon footprint is a way of calculating the Green House Gases created  on behalf  of a person, place or thing. The Green House gases  are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.  These gases are responsible for warming the environment  Your ecological footprint includes not only your carbon footprint, but other factors too, like how quickly you consume natural resources like plant crops, animal foods  and water.

You can calculate a  carbon food print for virtually anything: an individual, company, industry or country The bigger the footprint, the bigger the contribution to global  warming and climate change.

What is carbon neutral ? You’re carbon neutral if the amount of CO₂ emissions you put into the atmosphere is the same as the amount of CO₂ emissions you remove from the atmosphere

Why carbon neutrality  important ?

 -Less environmental pollution and improvements to health.

 -A boost to sustainable economic growth and the creation of green jobs.

  -Enhanced food security by lessening the impact of climate change.

 – A halt to the loss of biodiversity and an improvement in the condition of the oceans.

We will be calculating a carbon footprint using an online program- Cool Climate

https://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/calculators/household/ui.php

We will construct an action plan to reduce your footprint