Creation Protection Campaign
Never before in history, have human beings had the capacity for destroying the Earth as they are today. This continuing destruction of the environment, on a global scale, seriously brings into question whether humankind and the majority of living creatures can survive in the years to come.
Destruction of this magnitude of the Creator’s home for all living things points to a moral and spiritual crisis in humanity. It also presents an unprecedented challenge to those who profess to believe in a Creator, live a faith-based life, and seek to honor the Creator’s works.
The ongoing destruction of life on Earth demands that the leaders and congregants of every faith community consider their roles as stewards of creation and how they can lead society, through inspiration from their own traditions, to life-affirming and immediate changes in how humanity interacts with sacred Creation. Perhaps no other element of society can have a larger influence on how humanity responds to this call than faith-based communities.
The Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment (OCICE) developed the Creation Protection Agreement for the purpose of educating congregations of the importance of Caring for and Protecting Creation through Responsible Stewardship. Read the letter that OCICE mailed to all Orange County congregations.
OCICE offers workshops to help guide you through the process of speaking to your congregation about environmental stewardship, greening your house of worship, home, school, and office, as well as many others. Please visit our Programs Page for details.
Still not convinced that Climate Change is real or do you know someone who still isn't convinced? Join us for a special luncheon for Orange County Clergy and their house of worship's Social Justice and Environmental Lay Leaders on Wednesday, May 18, 2010. Please contact us for more information or check this page for details - coming soon!
No Glee for Dasani
Dear friends of Mother Earth,
We have been celebrating Earth Day for the last month, and all year, with many communities events: beach and creek cleanups, restoration, tabling, collecting signatures for our Youth Against Styrofoam Campaign, and NOW EDUCATING DASANI about their NON-GREEN BOTTLE.
We encourage you to sign the petition below, send this to all your friends and family (education is the most important), renew your Zero Waste commitments, and keep up the efforts on facebook, twitter and the blogs. NOW GET OUT THERE AND ENJOY ALL THE WONDERS OF MOTHER EARTH!!!!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/275/195/754/
Your passion, commitment and actions protect her creatures, our health, our economy and the next seven generations – you are the inspiration to keep fighting the good fight - Earth Resource Foundation team
Special Thank Yous to all who have signed on and helped up promote this Earth Day Action.
No Glee from Environmentalists for
Coca-Cola “Plant Bottle”
Photo courtesy of Beth Terry - Hawaii
Some California environmental groups got a last minute invite to an unusual spectacle taking place on Earth Day to launch Coke’s new “plant bottle” packaging for Coca-Cola brand “Dasani” bottled water. The invitation cheers the “exciting packaging advancement” that will allow Coca-Cola to bottle its plain old municipal water without the coke syrup in a bottle that is “made with up to 30 percent plants – and up to 30 percent less petroleum.”
“Although our event is taking place this Friday – and we apologize for the short notice – we really would love to see you there. The event is a fashion show featuring models clad in garments made from plants that cover up to 30 percent of their bodies. The show will be hosted by actor and singer Matthew Morrison from FOX TV’s “Glee.”
Again, we apologize for the short notice, and we sincerely hope you can fit it into your busy schedule. Please RSVP… “
On behalf of environmentalists in the know about plastic packaging and bottled water, we send our regrets, as follows:
- We Regret that while many areas of America face drought, your bottling of municipal water uses three times as much water in the process of bottling it as the amount of water that came from the tap to fill the bottle. http://clatl.com/atlanta/tap-water-wears-a-bow-tie-when-its-put-in-a-bottle-and-sold/Content?oid=1271054
- We Regret that despite your green leaf logo, your “plant bottle” is still just a PET plastic bottle and is not biodegradable or compostable on land or at sea.
- We Regret that Coca-Cola will not be collecting and recycling their own PET “plant bottles,” and that only approximately 20.9% percent of PET bottles are “recycled” (mostly into lower grade material that is not used in bottles again) in America. The remainder, at over 20 billion bottles, last forever in our landfills or in our environment, including our oceans. We also regret that Coca-Cola failed to achieve its own pledge of using at least 10% recycled content in PET bottles and has just announced the shut down of it’s PET recycling joint venture in South Carolina. http://www.container-recycling.org/
- We Regret that Coca-Cola is substituting its chemical-laden petroleum plastic bottle with a chemical-laden petroleum and plant plastic bottle.
- We Regret that estrogenic compounds in your PET “plant bottle” may leach into the water and impair human health and reproduction. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/04/29/2555698.htm
info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1003220
- We Regret that advertising has tricked people into believing that bottled water is safer when in fact your product has been recalled for contamination and gets a grade of “D” on Environmental Working Group’s evaluation of bottled waters.
http://www.ewg.org/bottled-water-2011-search?id=36
- We Regret that Coca-Cola Corporation has been so slow to properly label the source of the tap water that it bottles. http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/04/20
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We Regret that single servings of water are sold in disposable packaging that will last longer than any of us will be on this planet, and that future generations will have to deal with our waste. www.storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/
- We Regret that you aren’t screening the documentaries Tapped and Bag It! at your event.
- We Regret that Matthew Morrison, a beloved singer and actor, is involved with such a green washing sham. We wish he talked with us first.
And although we appreciate the promise of 30% clad models, we believe it would be more appropriate for your models to be nude, as in “the emperor has no clothes” because this kind of green washing doesn’t fool us at all.
The undersigned*,
Lisa Kaas Boyle, Esq., Plastic Pollution Coalition
Stephanie Barger, Earth Resource Foundation
Beth Terry, My Plastic-free Life
Leslie Tamminen, Seventh Generation Advisors
Mark Murray, Californians Against Waste
Rachel Vida, Campaign for Recycling
Daniella Russo, Plastic Pollution Coalition
Sherri Loveland, Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment (OCICE)
Angela Howe, Surfrider Foundation
Laura Rea, Sustainable Business Leadership Council
Tedd Ward, M.S. – Program Manager, Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority
Dan Silver, Executive Director, Endangered Habitats League
Andrew Rea, Andrew Rea Design
Evelyn Wendel, WeTap
Richard Gardner, Director, South Coast Water District
Andy Shrader, Co-lead Plastic Bag Ban grassroots organizer, Los Angeles & Culver City
Christopher Chin, Executive Director, COARE
Cathy Lam & Mike Kane, Founders, Our1World.org
Monica Wilson, GAIA
Melanie Winter, Director, The River Project
Margaret Henke, co-chair, Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment