Earth Ministry Additional Resources
GOOD NEWS for the CLIMATE
CCR Earth Ministry’s first forum in April 2015 showed the film “A Climate of Trust” highlighting a group of 21 youth who are suing the US Government, charging that “the federal government’s dangerous energy system and climate policies” have infringed “the constitutional rights of young people” to a healthy environment. This ground breaking lawsuit has been making its way through federal court since August 2015. The Justice Department under President Donald Trump has been fighting hard to keep the case from going to trial. However, the judges keep ruling in favor of the landmark climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States.
On March 7, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of the Youth Plaintiffs getting their day in court, rejecting Trump’s attempt to evade a Constitutional Climate Trial. Julia Olson, executive director of Our Children’s Trust and co-counsel for the youth plaintiffs said “We will ask the District Court for a trial date in 2018 where we will put the federal government’s dangerous energy system and climate policies on trial for infringing the constitutional rights of young people.”
For the full story, see https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/federal-proceedings2018
BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag!
Refer to the ecumenical joint letter published in the Anglican Communion New Service for information on Seasons of Creation
Earth Ministry provided 3 Green Strides to the congregation and an opportunity to advocated for the Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) Law
1st: Consuming--both what and how much we buy and throw away--is destroying the land, water, and air we share with all God's creatures. This Season of Creation tackle one small but important part of this problem. Give up single-use plastic bags. Take your own reusable bags for your shopping.
2nd Think for a moment about this: A typical New Yorker uses roughly 620 single-use plastic bags a year--about two a day. Think about the last 24 hours of your life. Did you get a plastic bag at the deli? At Stop ‘n Shop? Did a bag come wrapped around your online order? All of the above? In a year, New York City as a whole manages to go through 5.2 billion single-use plastic bags. That’s about 10,000 bags a minute — the vast majority of which end up as landfill. [Adapted from Adam Sternberg, “The Ban on Plastic Bags vs. the Ban on Bag Bans”]
3rd Perhaps you have decided recently to wean yourself from the single-use plastic bags so readily available at most stores? Perhaps you have replaced them with a few sturdy shopping bags? Now take the next step. Send a postcard to your NYS governing officials to advocate for the NYC Bring Your Own Bag legislation currently stalled in Albany. See the Earth Ministry's table during coffee hour and help our city Ban Single-Use Plastics
The BYOBag Law Campaign advocates for a fee on ALL carryout bags (plastic, paper, thicker plastic that qualify as reusable, compostable) or a ban on thin plastic bags with a fee on all other carryout bags. Such legislation has proven effective elsewhere.
Send a postcard to our Governor, Senate Leader and Speaker of the Assembly
Together we can eliminate the needless waste and pollution of single-use carryout bags.
NYS History:
May 5, 2016-- New York City Council adopts the #BYOBag law, which requires that all retailers in NYC charge a 5-cent minimum fee for each carryout bag provided at check-out.
Late May 2016--Legislation introduced by state legislators delays implementation of the law from October 1, 2016 until February 15, 2017.
January 2017-- Albany reintroduces preemption bills (Senate #362, Assembly #1750).
February 2017-- New York State Senate (S. 4158) & Assembly (A. 4883) voted in to nullify NYC's #BYOBag law.
February 14, 2017 Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a moratorium bill into law which prevents NYC City Council from moving forward until a new bill involving fees is passed.
Current Status: such a bill has not yet been adopted.
