Thinking About God's Green Earth
St. Matthew's folks have been sharing information weekly about the little things they do to help care for the planet and respond to the climate emergency. Here's the list so far, organized under the headings FOOD, TRANSPORTATION, NATURE, HOUSEHOLD, POLITICAL: 

FOOD
· Bought "Good Parma" , a new NS organic formula that imitates parmesan cheese - it's delicious - does not use cow's milk.
· Brought Tupperware to restaurant to bring home leftovers.
· Refused to buy food presented in plastic.
· Purchased local produce at the market and I only drove my car twice.
· Attended a vegan meal.
· Bought locally produced food
· Bought my wheat bran in bulk at the Bulk Barn instead of buying it in a container and throwing it out.
· Took my own containers to the Bulk Barn to fill with the dry goods we needed
· Planted a large vegetable garden using our own compost
· Looked for signs for local produce at the grocery store and chose not to buy vegetables from far away.
· Bottled green beans from the farmer's market for use in the winter
· Ate beans harvested from my small 4' X 4' garden in the backyard
· Had a feed of swiss chard from my small backyard garden.
· Bought my fruits & veggies at a farmers market with no packaging rather than in a supermarket with all the plastic wrapping.
· Switched to soy milk for my coffee
· I became vegetarian in 2015 and have continued this, with the occasional exception of a piece of bacon or a serving of deep fried and battered fish. I also talk to people when they ask about why I made this choice, which was mostly for environmental reasons. My daughter has also done her best to eat vegetarian, and my husband and son eat less meat overall as a result.

TRANSPORTATION
· Bought a new hybrid car - had to as the old one died - and walked through the Public Gardens
· Four of us carpooled to Hubbards
· Drive a hybrid vehicle that belonged to my parents.
· Took the bus to travel around the city
· Sold my old car to reduce our carbon footprint and bought bus tickets
· Both cars in our family are hybrids, and our next one will probably be electric only.
· We are fortunate to live near our work and school, and we walk to and fro as much as possible.

NATURE
· Fed the birds
· Took my grandson for a walk in the woods to find wild flowers and hugged a tree.
· Hung clothes out on the 'solar dryer' - have done this for years!
· Weeded and planted vegetables in my garden. Enjoyed the beauty around me.
· Make it a clean and fun place for people to live, work and sleep on.
· I took a dog for a walk and sat on the grass which was green and fresh.
· Planted flowers in window boxes even though it rained (but that probably helped)
· Transplanted more flowers in our flower beds – more food for the bees
· My garden is full of flowers, wild and intentionally planted. The bees and butterflies are enjoying them.
· A clear day to go for a walk and see all the different plants and smell the air and to enjoy a walk on God's ground
· The earth is very important to all of us to walk, run and enjoy it very much

HOUSEHOLD
· Recycled my newspapers and assorted pieces of papers and walked along the boardwalk.
· Cut back on how much water I use when I take a shower
· Recycled "stuff" at home
· Delighted to use my wind and solar dryer twice this week.
· Use no straws for cold drinks or plastic bottled water
· Used less water while showering
· Added extra insulation to our attic
· Went to the Tare Shop on Cornwallis St. to fill up my containers of dish soap and laundry detergent.
· Reused old margarine containers when we went to the Bulk Barn instead of using their plastic bags
· Had an energy audit done on our house by Efficiency Nova Scotia to make sure it is as efficient as possible for a 50 year old house.
· You may think that tube of hand cream, toothpaste or make up is empty. Cut off the end of the tube and see how much is stuck to the edges and nestled around the cap -often enough for several more days.
· Donated 2bags of clothes to a charity to be recycled.
· Took my containers to Bulk Barn to fill up
· Switched to cold water to wash my hands - no need for wasting hot water.
· Contacting Kitty Litter companies to include appropriate number of biodegradable bags for disposal.
· Breakfast guests now take home sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper instead of plastic bags
· We switched to Wilson's BioFuel for home heating a few years ago (although I'm not really sure how much of a difference this makes).
· We use reusable grocery bags and try to buy products with reduced packaging.
· We ask for paper straws for drinks that we buy, or decline the straw entirely when possible.
· We bring water bottles as much as possible, as well as metal cutlery from home for our work and school lunches.
· We recently bought some great beeswax fabric food wrap from beezy.ca, a Nova Scotia company. This can be used instead of plastic wrap.

POLITICAL
· Contributed to an environmental organization
· Talked to the MP who came knocking on our door about the necessity of tackling the issues around climate change, doing the hard work not just for political gain.