I mentioned in a previous post that I am a part of the “Care of Creation” team at my parish Blessed Sacrament. An initiative we are starting this year is the “Monthly Sustainability Challenge” for any interested parish members. The hope is that we can encourage folks to make positive changes in their daily lives and connect that back to care of creation.
We are kicking the first one off next week on March 1st – check it out below. I encourage you to join the challenge as well by commenting below that you are in!
March 2021 Sustainability Challenge: A “stuff” fast
This month we challenge you to buy only what you really need. This benefits the environment by reducing energy and materials used to create and transport goods. And, as Pope Francis explains in his encyclical Laudato Si’, it can also help improve our own lives:
“A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfilment.” [Laudato Si’ paragraph 222]
I’m in! This is a great idea. Especially during these WFH times where it feels like sometimes that retail therapy is the only way to brighten these tedious days at home. The environmental impact of buying manufactured goods is typically beyond what we can imagine and this is a really effective way to have folks be conscious about this.