​Join the Care for Creation Team on Thursday, December 2nd at 7:00 PM in Flaherty Hall to learn about an opportunity to help mitigate Climate Change (and save money)! 

40% of our national greenhouse gas emissions come from using energy in our buildings, including our homes. About 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy requirements for U.S. buildings.  To the extent we can enjoy a comfortable “built environment” while using less energy, we can save money as well as reduce a significant input to a warming atmosphere.  A cold winter is approaching, and this is a good opportunity to actually do something about it! The monthly “First Thursday” Care for Creation meeting on December 2nd at 7 pm in Flaherty Hall will feature presentations on how you can measure your own home’s performance  perhaps obtaining a HERS rating from a professional energy efficiency engineer to guide you in cost-effective steps  to  improve  that  performance.  “The  Home  Energy Rating System  (HERS)  Index  is  the industry  standard  by which  a  home’s  energy  efficiency  is  measured.  It’s  also the nationally recognized system for inspecting and calculating a home’s energy performance.”

We will look at lighting options, heating and air conditioning alternatives, windows, insulation and leak sealing, and compare these opportunities to improve energy efficiency.  You will understand why new homes are typically 30% more energy efficient than existing homes.  Indeed, zero net energy homes are being built across the US, including in areas like Minnesota with temperature extremes greater than Northern Virginia.  These are homes that effectively generate more energy than they require to make their interiors comfortable and well lit on a year round basis.  Building a new zero net energy home may not be an option for you, but improving your existing home almost certainly is an option. Come learn about it.

​Last week we explored the vital work of leaves in our environment. As I was looking for guidance on earth friendly landscape care, I came upon the topic of Gas Leaf Blowers (GLBs).

We are all familiar with their noise and efficiency, but did you know that Gas Leaf Blowers are banned in hundreds of communities nationwide? These communities have embraced the concept quiet, clean landscape care. They choose to avoid the harms of GLBs that include:  noise pollution, emissions pollution, particulate pollution, and the health risks these cause for the landscape workers who use GLBs for extended periods.

Our neighbors in Washington D.C. and Chevy Chase Village are joining in the ban as of January 2022. Here in Northern Virginia, an advocacy group (https://quietcleannova.wordpress.com) is circulating a petition to the VA General Assembly asking that localities be authorized to enact GLB bans if they so choose.
 
As a push to get quality zero emissions products to market, the state of California is banning new small internal combustion engines used in lawn and garden equipment as soon as 2024. The bill includes funding to help small businesses make the switch to zero emission equipment. 
California’s Air Resources Board reports that an hour using a gas leaf blower emits as much pollution as driving a 2016 Toyota Camry 1100 miles.
 
In sharp contrast is Little Foot Lawn Care, a small company in Northern Virginia that uses all battery powered equipment. They say:  “Since sunlight makes your grass grow, why not use sunlight to maintain it? We use solar panels mounted on the company van to charge our equipment.”
 
Lamb Mowers is another innovative start-up in our area; they use a flock of small sheep to provide quiet, organic weed control, fertilization and mowing of lawns. They are proving to be very effective and a sprinkling of leaves are like potato chips to the lambs, an added treat!
What changes will we each embrace as we strive to honor the gifts of creation and shrink our carbon footprint in our own landscapes?  Will we choose zero emission equipment?  The old fashioned arm-powered rake?  Lambs who feed and fertilize?

“An integral ecology includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation… contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us.” 225 Pope Francis, Laudato Si’

Northern Virginia is blessed with a leafy canopy that nourishes us with clean air (storing carbon, and producing oxygen) all spring and summer.  Now our leaves are blessing us with beautiful colors and falling, ready to do their next job of securing habitat for insects, butterflies and birds, providing nutrients for the soil, holding moisture and delaying erosion.

What are we to do with all these leaves? And how can we support their vital work?  I reached out to the Fairfax office of VA Tech’s Cooperative Extension Service and the agent pointed out several informative sources on using the gift of leaves to benefit the environment for all.

- The Xerces Society (www.xerces.org ) “Leave the Leaves” campaign tells us that: “One of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the winter cover they need.”
- The National Wildlife Federation endorses the value of keeping leaves in our landscapes as well, extoling leaves as natural mulch, fertilizer and weed suppressant. (https://www.nwf.org search:leaves).
- The Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources (https://dwr.virginia.gov search: leaves) says that leaves are important for frogs, salamanders, box turtles, butterflies and insect eating birds.

These various agencies and organizations, public and private, agree on the same message:  Leave the Leaves!

As for those expanses of grass lawns that are ubiquitous in our suburban neighborhoods, mowing with a mulching blade and allowing the leaf litter to fall into the lower canopy of the grass is the healthiest recommendation for the lawn and for the creatures that live here. And as we contemplate sharing our yards with their first inhabitants, consider scaling down the lawn size and increasing the areas where more native plants, insects, birds, bees and others can thrive.

​Are we ready to give up the blowing and bagging and hauling?  Shall we agree to re-use and recycle leaves for their intended purpose?  Raking is great exercise!  Shredded leaves are excellent mulch!  Un-shredded leaves provide mulch, moisture and protection benefits.  Let’s make 2021 the year we Leave the Leaves!

(*Everyone equals all that grow, breathe and exist in creation.)

For all who came to the November 4th Care for Creation program, or have heard Dr. Katharine Hayhoe speak, the phrase above is familiar.  Katharine energizes audiences with several truths:  Climate Change is affecting us all now, climate action is happening, we can make a difference with more hands working together, the one thing we can all do to get solutions working more quickly is to TALK ABOUT IT.
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What actions can we each find in our own homes, neighborhoods, communities, workplaces?  I bet we would each come up with a significant list!  Just this past week I have noticed a variety of things that give me hope, including:

• Engines Off signs on carpool lanes in our own parking lot at Saint Luke’s, reducing emissions. 
• A delivery order in 100% re-cycled and recyclable packaging, with no plastic in sight!
• EV charging stations popping up in local shopping center lots.
• A popular online shopping site that offsets 100% of carbon emissions from shipping and packaging while taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Noticing these things gives me hope and makes me want to talk about it; they also energize me to add my own actions.

What positive actions do you see? Once you begin to notice, you will likely find more!  What actions of your own can you add?

Share what you see happening, encourage your kids to do this, too! Whether it’s businesses who do not offer bagging options (i.e. bring your own), restaurants and food delivery that use compostable food packaging materials, rain barrels installed in local regional parks, permeable pavements, or public water fountains that have convenient faucets to fill a reusable water bottle, when you see a practice that supports the health of the earth and therefore of all of us, talk about it!

“The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it!"
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
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