Creation Care Guidelines
For the Home

Never before in history have human beings had the capacity for destroying the environment of Earth as they are currently doing 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 following examples are meant to be guidelines to help bring your home closer to honoring the Creator.  Please feel free to send us an email with suggestions or corrections to this list.

1. In The Kitchen:
1. Use “real” dishes even for large groups.  Contrary to popular belief, using disposable products does not save time and they certainly do not save money.  These items take up more space in cabinets than if we simply use the dishes that we already have.  To make this process easier on parents, teach your children to rinse their dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
2. Refuse to use Styrofoam!
1. Styrofoam (also known as polystyrene) never biodegrades.
2. Polystyrene breaks down into very small pieces and is quite often eaten by birds and marine life.  It is toxic to their systems and in many cases does not digest, making the animal feel full, yet it is starving to death.
3. Styrofoam also leaches toxins into food and water. Do you really want to eat something that you know is contaminated?
3. Use cloth tablecloths and napkins.
1. Many people think that they do not have room for these items, but if you think about it, if you have room to store plastic tablecloths and paper napkins, why would not you have room for cloth?  Cloth napkins actually take up less room than paper!  Sure, there is an initial expense, but in the end, you save an enormous amount of money.  Cloth napkins also do not increase the laundry size.
2. Most households have a certain place for every member of the family at the dinner table.  Keep your cloth napkin at your setting for several meals, not just one.  When the napkin is soiled, replace it with a clean one.
3. Consider the life cycle, or as I like to call it, the death cycle of a paper napkin.
1. It takes approximately 5 gallons of water to make one napkin!
2. Most napkins are made from virgin wood – not recycled paper!  That tree could have been left standing in the forest, where it belongs, producing oxygen and absorbing the dreaded carbon dioxide that is warming the earth.
3. To top it off, it takes a lot of electricity that produces, among other pollutants, carbon dioxide, to producing paper napkins that are used once and thrown away.
4. Once the paper napkin is thrown away, it goes to a landfill.  Landfills take up a lot of space, space that the earth is running out of.  Landfills, these days, require airtight “lids” that prevent decomposition of many items that could, otherwise decompose and therefore take up less landfill space.  Because of these enclosures, landfills stay full much longer than they used to, before these practices were put into place, and that of course requires waste management companies to look for even more land to fill!
4. Plastic tablecloths will not biodegrade – ever.  They will break down, leaching toxins into the atmosphere and ground water.  Plastic is made from petroleum, which makes Americans even more dependent on a non-renewable resource - oil. We need to reduce our dependence on oil, foreign or domestic and look for alternatives, one of which is cloth.
4. Use dishrags and dishtowels rather than disposable sponges (that hold onto germs) and paper towels.
1. The information from napkins also applies to one paper towel.  Marketing companies want you to believe that paper towels are better for your health; this is just a ploy to get the consumer to buy more, more, more.
5. Use environmentally friendly, biodegradable dishwasher detergent (Shaklee, Seventh Generation or equivalent) and dish washing liquid.
6. Use environmentally friendly household cleaning supplies.
1. Baking soda and white vinegar do a wonderful job of killing the germs that cause mold and mildew --- and they are edible!  Vinegar is a natural disinfectant and baking soda helps scrub away hard to clean debris, like soap scum on the shower or cooked on food from the stovetop.
2. Do no run the water while washing or rinsing dishes. 
1. If rinsing dishes to place in the dishwasher, fill the sink with about 2 inches of hot water and use a dishcloth to wipe the excess food off the dishes.
2. If washing dishes with a one tub only sink, wash the dishes and set them aside until you are finished washing.  Once finished, fill the sink with about 2 inches of clean hot rinse water; place the dishes back in the sink and rinse.
7. In The Home Office:
1. For all of your printing needs (letterhead stationary, envelopes, tithing envelopes, brochures, bulletins, newsletters, etc.), use Post-Consumer paper and insist that your printer use Soy-Based Ink.  There is a difference between Recycled and Post-Consumer paper.  Recycled means that the paper may have come from trimmings from a printing company; the paper was never actually used.  Post-Consumer means that the paper was once a magazine or newspaper.  Insist that your printer show you samples of post-consumer stationary options.  One company that supplies post-consumer paper and tree-free paper is New Leaf Paper; visit their website at http://www.newleafpaper.com.
2. Around The House:
1. Use environmentally friendly household cleaning supplies.
1. Baking soda and white vinegar do a wonderful job of killing the germs that cause mold and mildew --- and they are edible!  Vinegar is a natural disinfectant and baking soda helps scrub away hard to clean debris, like soap scum on the shower or cooked on food from the stovetop.
2. Unplug small appliances that are not in use.  Appliances still use energy when not in use and account for approximately 5% of our energy bills annually.  In the U.S., we use an estimated 5 billion watts annually - the output of five standard power plants - to power electronics while they are turned off.  The energy used creates so much greenhouse gas, it is as if we put an extra 2 million cars on the road and asked them to drive in circles.  Below is a list of items that you may want to consider unplugging if they are used infrequently:

1. Once these energy saving features are in place, consider installing solar panels or wind energy.  It is best to bring all of your appliances and lighting up to the new Energy Star standards first, so that you get the full benefit of your renewable energy source.
1. Outside:

Here in Southern California, we receive and average annual rainfall of approximately 14.5 inches each year.  We need to put serious water conservation measures into practice due to worldwide water shortages.  With that in mind, consider doing most, if not all of the following:

1. Adjust or deactivate sprinklers during the rainy season.
2. Adjust sprinklers so that water lands on the plants, not on the sidewalks and drive ways.
3. Install a SmarTimer irrigation system.  These systems read daily weather reports via satellite and water your lawn and garden accordingly.  If it is raining, the SmarTimer automatically goes into “rain delay” mode, turning off your sprinklers until the rain stops.  For more information on this system, please visit the SmarTimer website at http://www.mwdoc.com/SmarTimer/.  Many municipalities give rebates on these water wise systems.  While on the SmarTimer website, click on the link of “Participating Water Providers” to see if your district participates in this program.
4. Do not water on windy days; this causes too much evaporation.
5. Install a bioswale:  A bioswale is a shallow depression created in the earth to accept and convey storm water runoff.  It uses natural means, including vegetation and soil, to treat storm water by filtering out contaminants being conveyed in the water.  For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website at:  http://www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov/news/brochures/bioswale.html
6. When considering your landscaping choices, choose drought tolerant or better yet, native plants.  When designed properly, these landscapes can be quite beautiful and provide you with year-round color.  They can also be designed to attract butterflies and humming birds – a great place to teach pre-school children about the various plants and animals that God created.  For more information, visit the California Integrated Waste Management Board website at http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Organics/Gardening/default.htm.
7. Use a broom to clean sidewalks, patios and driveways instead of a garden hose.  The average home uses up to 150 gallons of water to wash sidewalks and driveways. 

• New Construction:  If you are in the process of building a new home or are remodeling your existing home, consider “Green Building” or “Green Remodeling” practices.  Download the National Council of Churches guide entitled "Building a Firm Foundation" for more information.