Green growing edges

Any current or former seminarian will know about those d****d growing edges. Places where you can improve, explore, consider. And since public self-reflection is both a discipline for Holy Week and honored in the New England Christian tradition, here are some of my next steps for greener living. If that’s not too sick making.

  1. Find a way to recycle paperboard and choose it in the packaged goods I buy over plastic packaging.
  2. Find a way to recycle non-#1 and non-#2-narrow-necked-bottle plastic. Especially #4, which seems intimately linked to my favorite dairy products.
  3. Find an “cereal moistener” that’s not dairy milk. We all know how resource-draining keeping dairy cattle is, so if I’m going to cut back I’d rather it be at breakfast and not, say, from good cheese.
  4. Find something soothing that’s not a warm bath. Our building uses fuel oil for its boiler, so hot water use is, with food production, supply and packaging, one of my major remaining petroleum uses. I suspect I’ll be using the hot water bottle more.
  5. Cull phantom loads to reduce electrical use.

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

3 comments

  1. When I had to cut out dairy due to one of the kids sensitivities, I switched to rice milk for my cereal. It’s wet, the right color, and does not have the strong flavor that soy milk has. It saved breakfast! I’m told it’s not that hard to make yourself if you have a blender and some time but I never tried.

    As for your #4 plastic, check your local grocery store. Many plastic grocery bags are #4. If they have a buyer for the bags, they may be able to take your rinsed bottles too.

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