Caring for God’s Creation
On March 18 the New York times reported the death of a young whale with 88 lbs. of plastic in its stomach—44 lbs. of which was grocery bags. “The 1,100-pound whale, measuring 15 feet long, was found in the town of Mabini (Philippines) with plastic bags and a variety of other disposable plastic products inside its stomach.”
Members of FPCPT, led by SAJE, wanted to do something about it.
A group of us began making bags from no-see-um mesh to give to members of our congregation. Each time the reusable bag is used in place of a piece of single use plastic (kept out of the waste stream) a bean is collected.
In the first month we kept over 500 single-use plastic bags out of the waste stream. That is about a bag per week per person.
What’s in a Bean?
Not much, says a cynic. Everything! says the hopeful lover of God’s creation. A jar of beans might not amount to much compared to the tons of plastic that end up polluting our lands and ocean, but each bean is a step further in changing mindsets and habits from desecrating nature to nurturing and protecting it! There’s where the big difference lies.
Our narthex table, moving bags, beans, and habits
The group made additional bags that they offer for a $1 or $2 donation. The fabric for this project was donated. So, the money collected has provided enough cash to fund other items that the congregation can use to keep single-use plastic out of our waters. Some possibilities are travel mugs, reusable straws, mason jars and reusable sporks.
Now, we, the group want to challenge other communities to join us!
Single use becomes multi-use!
George Martin crochets strips of plastic he collects into bags that can be used again and again. Here he is in worship showing the kids his gifted fingers.
We will gladly share our journey, teach others to sew these simple bags and give away beans to help track the effort. We have starter kits that we will send to any interested group and volunteers who will gladly help and (even better) listen to your story. We want to keep going until we have 88 pounds of beans to offer as a way of honoring the unnecessary death of this young whale.
For information contact: 88lbsofplastic@gmail.com