The following was shared at the National Catholic Reporter website. These are super easy things people can do, to reduce our personal impact on the planet and many may even save you money. Please share them with others also!

By Rich Heffern:

The Church of England several years ago organized a 40 Day Carbon Fast for Lent. The Fast lists an action that can be taken each day during Lent that will reduce one’s carbon footprint and impact on the local landfill. I’ve adapted the Fast for churches in the United States. It’s a good way to observe Lent with an eye toward making permanent changes in our lifestyles and living in order to benefit the planet and to pave the way for the celebration of Easter.

Day 1: (Ash Wednesday): Remove one light bulb from your residence or office and live without it for the next 40 days.

Day 2: Check your house for drafts with a ribbon or a feather held near doors and windows. If it flutters, buy a draft excluder and install it.

Day 3: Tread lightly, whether that’s by foot, by bike, on the gas as you drive. Find some way to reduce your carbon dioxide emissions when you travel today.

Day 4: Are you recycling everything that it’s possible to recycle? Look into it today; see if you can find additional materials that can be recycled.

Day 5: Can you talk about your Carbon Fast at church today? Can you blog about it or announce and describe it on your Facebook? Encourage others to join in.

Day 6: Turn your central heating thermostat down one degree.

Day 7: Say goodbye to standby. Check that all electrical equipment is switched off when not in use. The television alone will save a hefty 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year.

Day 8: Unplug your mobile phone charger. It uses electricity even when it’s not charging.

Day 9: Climate change isn’t a distant threat. It’s affecting poor communities now. Pray for those who help vulnerable communities adapt to the changing weather. Pray for the communities themselves.

Day 10: Give your dishwasher a day off or promote it to an energy efficient appliance. Look for the EPA’s Energy Star rating when buying a new appliance.

Day 11: Use local shops or farmers’ markets instead of driving to distant supermarkets. They will thank you. Supermarkets won’t notice your absence.

Day 12: Find a way to tell a politician to take action on climate change today.

Day 13: Put the heat on your electricity or gas supplier. Ask them if they have a green plan.

Day 14: Take a shower instead of a bath. You’ll heat and use less water.

Day 15: Snub plastic bags. Get into the habit of taking your backpack or a reusable cloth bag to the supermarket. Ask your supermarket to stock items with reduced packaging.

Day 16: Switch off lights as you leave a room or office.

Day 17: Only fill your kettle with as much water as you need to make tea or coffee.

Day 18: Cut the air miles. Don’t consume any food that you know has been imported by plane.

Day 19: Grace Maglasey and her husband Andrew struggle to grow enough food because their village in Malawi in Africa is caught in a cycle of floods and droughts. Join in with Grace’s prayer today: “We pray that those of us who farm should harvest a lot of food so that this year we will not have hunger. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Day 20: Compost. Put the nutrients from food waste back into the soil, not into a methane-emitting landfill.

Day 21: Only run your washing machine when you have a full load.

Day 22: Fine one way to save paper today; reuse an old envelope or print double-sided.

Day 23: Turn the taps off. In one day, a dripping tap could fill a bathtub.

Day 24: Counsel your local city or town council. Thank them for their recycling facilities but ask they if they could provide more.

Day 25: Who works hardest in the house? Mom? Dad? No, the refrigerator. It’s churning away 24/7. Treat it to a good de-icing to make sure it’s running efficiently, or vacuum the heating coils in the rear.

Day 26: We are five percent of the world’s population, yet we use 40 percent of its resources. Reflect on ways to love our neighbors in today’s interconnected world.

Day 27: Check tire pressure. Low pressure means higher fuel consumption.

Day 28: Do a home energy check at http://hes.lbl.gov/consumer/ You could save a lot on bills.

Day 29: Turn down the temperature on your hot water heater.

Day 30: Find out a new fact about the impact of climate change today.

Day 31: For home and office use, buy recycled paper.

Day 32: If they’re on their last legs, replace old electrical appliances with energy-efficient models.

Day 33: Have an embrace-the-silence Sunday. Turn off everything – TV, radio, no ringtones, no cars. It’ll be good for the soul.

Day 34: Reduce junk mail. For tips on how to go about it, go to http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/ or http://www.donotmail.org/

Day 35: Put an insulation jacket on your hot water heater.

Day 36: Re-use an item you would have thrown away – such as a jam jar, an envelope, or a yogurt container.

Day 37: Put a lid on it. That’s pans when cooking; it saves energy.

Day 38: Draw the curtains to keep heat in.

Day 39: Could your church or office be greener? Talk to church leaders or bosses.

Day 40: Replace your missing light bulb with an energy-saving bulb. Over its lifetime, you will save 60 kg of carbon dioxide per year. Make a personal pledge to serve others by pursuing a more sustainable way of life.

Calculate your own carbon footprint here.

Toxic impacts to wildlife, the environment and human health are readily increasing. That’s why there’s a Bill in California to ban plastic bags and single use plastic known as AB 1998.

Please watch the below video and then take the pledge on the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s website:

Ban the Bag AB1998 Plastic Pollution Coalition from Dianna Cohen on Vimeo.

Don’t forget to take the pledge and help Ban the Bag. It’s important EVERYWHERE, not just in California.

Now, anyone who knows me even a little, knows that I’m definitely no “Debbie Downer”. But, the downside part of the message of this movie was that “We” are depleting what nature provides. All our actions have repercussions on the entire earth, no matter where we are at. After all, 20% of the world’s population, consumes 80% of it’s resources.

WAIT – DON’T LEAVE YET !!

There is some very good news also. What’s important is not what’s gone, but what still remains and how we use it. And, we do that by being responsible consumers.

Please take the time to sit down and watch this spectacular media. You’ll see that near the end, they share numerous positive changes that are being taken worldwide, to improve our planet and save it from global warming. As they said in the movie:

“We all have the power to change, what are we waiting for?”

Click here to watch the movie.

Honestly, I don’t know the answers. But, I’m not naive enough, not to know, that there’s a lot of ’special interest’ involved in these discussions and decisions, (or lack thereof). In the meantime, I have to choose to believe that COP 15 was a launching pad for accelerating efforts and achievements, in dealing with global warming issues.

President Obama stated that there needs to be, “The building of trust between between developed and developing countries.” That ‘trust’ cannot just be bought. It must also be demonstrated by action.

Rhetoric has to be replaced with action. And those actions, are necessary by everyone on this planet, as well as each and every country. Whether those citizens be from a developing or developed country, action is key.

A quote from an associate of mine, Antonio Bettencourt, in a recent LinkedIn discussion, voices my sentiments quite well:

“I suspect that the more aggressive actions we take, the more “moral authority” we will have in the world and the better we will be able to pressure other countries to step up to their obligations.”

Also, as Gandhi said, “be the change you wish to see in the world”. Another way to personalize this is: The more I change, the more I see I can do.

What will you do?

Tyrel Trainor organized this grass roots group to come together last Saturday, at the Saturday Market in Boise, ID. And without his bold step, the rest of the group wouldn’t of had a central point to meet and organize this small but effectual reach out.

Thabata Regiani, a wonderful graphic designer, and a Lead Activist for Greenpeace, lent her talent and skills to the event. Not only did she design our easy-read handout flyer, but she was out on the front lines talking to everyone she could on Saturday.

The group had it’s obstacles, a failing 10×10 canopy that’s on it’s way to recycle & canopy heaven. But, the weather held beautifully and we were inspired throughout the whole event by our local Scottish bagpipers and dancers.

The supply of handouts was almost completely given away at the end of four hours and numerous people stopped to exchange their ideas about preventing Global Warming. It was definitely worth our time, and we’re ready to get out there again, very soon!

First of all, the naysayers in the belief of Global Warming and Climate Change, are definitely vocal! But, what I found to be interesting, is that many of these vocal “experts” that believe in the “global warming hoax”, cross referenced each other quite a bit. All well and good, but many of them weren’t experts, they were just people with opinions against Global Warming.

They do readily cite the writings of one or two global warming skeptics and put all of their eggs into just those baskets. Along with the alleged political issues that they espouse, I found most of their proponents to be more emotional and cause related, than being based on scientific facts.

I believe that the discussion and debate raised recently from the Global Cooling proponents, comes out of a recent NASA report that says there as been cooling on the planet since 1998. That information appears accurate, BUT, there aren’t mentions to the overall pattern of warming and cooling trends, in years preceding 1998. You see, these trends apparently run in “8-year trend lines”, and they have variables. Sometimes the variables are small, sometimes large, sometimes significant, and sometimes not so significant. But, overall, the “trends” have continued to move up higher on the annual global-mean GISTEMP temperature record.

The sources that I gleaned this information from, were based on scientific studies and people who have an education and employment history, in biological and environmental issues. All of their sources were linked back to other credible scientific sources, opposed to the other side of the fence.

True, a scientist or expert, I’m not. But, what I am, is a concerned contributor and inhabitant to planet Earth, and I love Her dearly. I want only the best decisions made in Her behalf. Therefore, I will continue to share what I can, with whomever will listen.

Today, October 15, 2009, bloggers around the world are uniting by writing blog posts to raise awareness about environmental issues. Specifically, we want to put it out in front of every person, in every corner of the planet, that climate change and global warming are forces that must be reckoned with.

Scientists, environmentalists and politicians have already acknowledged the issue of global warming. But, what is still up for debate, is what extent will Global Warming really have on the planet and our quality of life.

To address the issues of Climate Change and Global Warming, there will be UN Climate negotiations in Copenhagen, this coming December. Non-governmental organizations, delegates and businesses from every nation will meet to finalize a climate change agreement. But, there are concerns, that these decision-makers may not lay out a stringent enough agreement. Thus, allowing negative climate issues to increase faster than the positive steps being taken, to combat it.

In preparation for this upcoming landmark meeting, there will be events all over the world on October 24th, which is 6 weeks prior to the UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen. In conjunction with United Nations Day, it will be a international day to address climate action. Communities around the world will be holding rallies to let their leaders know what kind of action they need to take on climate change.

There isn’t a better time than right now, to become educated and be heard about these potentially catastrophic issues for us and our planet. October 24th is just a little over a week away, so the time is now. Find a local event in your community, which will be participating in the International Day of Climate Action. I’ve also listed below some websites for you to check for more information about climate change. Please don’t hesitate to seek out even more info from the never-ending database of knowledge, via the internet.

Once you’ve located an October 24th event in your area, please make a commitment to be there. And, let us know where you’ll be and what you’ve learned. The action we choose to take, may very well influence the environment that our children’s children will be left with.

350.org
Act For Climate Justice
United Nations