Student Engagement in Climate Justice

By Sarah Berg, Acting Director, Center for Climate Justice and Faith

With two very young children and a pandemic, my family slipped into some less-than-sustainable habits over the last few years (e.g. Amazon deliveries, take-out, so many individually wrapped cheese sticks…). Now that lockdown is behind us and my youngest is officially a toddler, we embarked on the #FewerPlasticsForLent challenge to see what changes we could make to reduce our plastic use.

By Katie Insalaco, PLTS MDiv Concentration in Climate Justice and Faith

For those who don’t know me, I’m a first-year MDiv PLTS student studying in Portland, OR. I also have four children, a husband and a small urban homestead. So, I know a thing or two about cleaning. When it comes to cleaning products, I’m always looking for something that’s the best combination of three things: nontoxic (relatively), affordable and gets the job done. (Full disclosure: we actually live at our house. No one from Real Simple magazine is knocking on my door and the word “spotless” has simply never been uttered here.) That said, here are some of my go-to cleaning products that I use just about every day…

By Katie Evans, PLTS Green Justice Seminary Team

This week, we continue talking about simple plastic swaps and look specifically at options for produce! 

On Saturday, I explored the farmer’s market that happens every week on Center Street. Talking with vendors and walking through the rows of produce was a great way to start my Saturday. It felt like a spiritual practice in and of itself. While I might not always have time to stroll through the farmer’s market, I think it will be a practice that I will add into my schedule. After I went to the market, I went over to Trader Joe’s to compare the prices of the produce I had bought…

Each week during Lent the Green Justice Seminary Team will be sharing one step you can take to reduce your impact on Creation as a Lenten practice and will be taking these steps alongside the rest of the seminary. Thank you for joining us on this Lenten journey to reduce our plastic consumption and practice loving our neighbors impacted by plastic production and plastic waste around the world.

#FewerPlasticsForLent Week 2: Plastic Bottles

Last week we evaluated the plastic in our trash and recycling to see which habits contribute the most to our personal plastic waste. If you are like most people, you may have noticed a lot of plastic beverage bottles in your trash or recycling…

Each week during Lent the Green Justice Seminary Team will be sharing one step you can take to reduce your impact on Creation as a Lenten practice and will be taking these steps alongside the rest of the seminary. Thank you for joining us on this Lenten journey to reduce our plastic consumption and practice loving our neighbors impacted by plastic production and plastic waste around the world.

The first step in using fewer plastics is to evaluate your plastic usage. Most plastics are single-use packaging and only about 5% of the plastic we put in the recycling is actually recycled…