The Green Mission: Cultivating Sustainability and Community

The Green Team at our Sisters of St. Joseph Residence in London was formed several years ago with the aim “to educate, empower and promote environmentally sustainable practices within the community and at home”. Composed of three sisters and several staff members, the initiative focuses on the education of integral ecology.  The hope is to have everyone involved and participating within and beyond our residence.

Along with many initiatives, the Green Team sends educational items to the staff newsletter and in poster form throughout our home as well. At Sisters’ house meetings there is information given re: ongoing ecological initiatives.

Our staff communication APP also carries eco information in the form of short educational videos etc. This is also communicated by closed circuit tv.   From time-to-time, in the staff room, incentive posters remind us, “Earth needs all of us”.

Special April Earth Day activities get people up and doing. Armed with compostable yard bags, compostable garbage bags, gloves and long trash pickers to pick up the refuse, off we go to collect garbage from the grounds and our section of Windermere Road, here in London, Ontario.  Every year, the debris lessens.  (In fact, I’ve almost given up my beer-can collecting business). Usually, a few drivers honk to encourage us in our green efforts. Indoors, coffee and Timbits are enjoyed while staff are invited to watch special Earth Day presentations and celebrate our various initiatives.

Sisters in Peterborough making “milk bag mats” to send overseas.

Another successful initiative with which many are familiar is collecting specific types of plastic bags which volunteers transform into durable mats for people in other countries.

Integral ecology involves composting which we see in action in our dining room and kitchen.  Following meals, food scraps are put in specific compost containers.  To ensure that every item gets to its proper place, a framed notice announces, “Compost is hungry for Kleenex and napkins too”.  Posted on the wall nearby are colorful educational compost posters: “Things that CAN be Composted” and “Things that CAN be Recycled”.

At the service entrance in the garbage room stand huge blue, green and black containers for specific kinds of waste waiting to be picked up by Waste Connections of Canada.  The oil products in the black container will be turned into biofuel and the contents of the other compost bins will be processed to nurture soil in fields, gardens etc.

On a creative note, what is prettier than hand-picked wildflowers arranged attractively, in front of our chapel altar?  Incidentally another way to replace costly store-bought bouquets. This too, is integral ecology!

-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ

Header image: Jan Kopřiva/Unsplash

My Trees

Image: Unsplash/Erwan Hesry

NATIONAL LOVE A TREE DAY is MAY 16th

I never had a favorite tree.  However, I have tried to grow trees from seed.  My first attempt was at growing an orange tree from one of the seeds in the orange I was eating.  Remember when there used to be seeds in oranges?  I think it’s ironic the way we want to control everything having to do with reproduction.  Seeds in oranges are definitely an inconvenience.  But I digress.  My orange tree actually grew quite tall (about 10 cm) and then I moved and gave it up to the elements.

My second attempt at growing a tree was to take a maple seed key from Southwestern Ontario to Edmonton, Alberta to see if I could grow a tall tree there.  Unfortunately, when I put the tiny 4 cm high seedling out in the yard to get more sun, I watch a bird sit on the side of the pot and pull out the plant by the roots.

I have to laugh at myself for thinking that I am the one growing trees when really I only planted seeds and kept them moist.  It really is God who gives the increase.  It’s all part of the plan in which we can actively participate.  

-Sister Elaine Cole, CSJ

Header image: Unsplash/Simon Wilkes

A Treasured Letter: Earth Day 2023

Image: Unsplash/@rinckad

Do you,  like myself, have a letter among your keepsakes that you fondly treasure and pull out to reread? Its words touching your heart and inspiring a commitment to live life more fully.

On April 22nd, Earth Day provides us with an excellent, appropriate opportunity to reread a published papal letter.

Read the letter here, or at least a summary of it signed  with deep caring, only as “Francis”.  This letter, called “Laudato Si’ ”, was  officially published on June 18, 2015, and marks its eighth anniversary this June. Its global release was highly anticipated and was accompanied by a news conference which caught the attention of the world.

In the past, papal letters were written primarily as internal documents containing the present pope's views on church teachings and doctrine and were addressed to Catholic clergy and the laity.  Surprisingly, or perhaps not so remarkably,  Pope Francis addressed his wise, timely and respected words in Laudato Si’ to “the citizens of the world”.

Image: Unsplash/Noah Buscher

Pope Francis, relying on thousands of years of Catholic teaching and scientific knowledge calls on all of us to live our life and our faith by caring for our common home. He draws our attention to the deep connection between the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. He weaves together the truths of science and spirituality throughout his public letter calling upon all humanity to heed creation and the Creator’s call.

The website, Space offers these realistic and encouraging words for us to take to heart. “When we hear terms like "code red for humanity" and "climate change", it can feel difficult to focus on the small actions individuals and communities can take to address the climate crisis. But Earth Day strives to highlight how everyone can be part of the change. “

Let us ask ourselves this Earth Day,

Image:Unsplash/Greg Rakozy

“What one thing can I change to contribute to the healing of the earth?”

Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si’” is indeed a letter to treasure.

 -Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Header Image: Unsplash/Andreas Gücklhorn

The Mother Tree

The Great Bear Rain Forest in British Columbia, although about one-tenth in size, is comparable to the Amazon rain forest, as one of the greatest contributors to the health of our planet.  This forest preserves the biodiversity of our animals and plants, stores carbon, is a source of medicine, and counteracts pollution.  Yet, in this forest, the lack of appropriate management and building of dams has resulted in increased pollution, floods, fires, and loss of habitat for animals.  Only three percent of this old-growth forest has never been harvested.  

Suzanne Simard was born in 1960, a member of a logging family.  As a child, she witnessed her grandfather, father, and uncles down trees with hand-held saws, and use horses to drag logs to rivers where men would walk on the floating logs to push them down river and break up log jams with dynamite. Amputated fingers were a common hazard.  In addition, building roads through the forest, using modern equipment, erecting dams, and clear-cutting large sections of the forest have caused much harm. The legacy of frequent forest fires, floods, loss of animal habitat, loss of biodiversity, and reduced carbon storage.   

In her 2021 book, Finding The Mother Tree, Simard describes her long journey to become a forest researcher, overcome resistance to letting go of harmful convictions and practices, and introduce new forest management practices.  Simard’s story is an amazing account of a woman who persisted in following her vision with great courage in the face of much opposition, family responsibilities, and a major health issue.  She leaves a legacy of trained researchers and a revolution in forest management. I highly recommend reading her inspirational book, Finding The Mother Tree. 

Below is a fascinating video Mother Trees and the Social Forest, in which the author describes her work and the application of research findings that provide hope for the restoration of our forests.  

-Sister Pat McKeon, CSJ

Making Notes on Sugarcane

Making Notes on Sugarcane - Another way to get your copy

Sister Linda Gregg,csj on behalf of the Federation Ecology Committee

Recently, I have been doing some work away from home and only brought my laptop, thinking what a great opportunity to make do without paper. Then I found how much I needed paper! It was a lesson in reverencing and appreciating more deeply the gift of paper. Paper is everywhere in our everyday living, from notebooks to newspapers and from books to a thank-you card from a friend. Even the scraps that hold our grocery lists.

Trees are the main source for creating paper. Yet we have been rapaciously destroying this resource. We are clearcutting vast sections of our Canadian landscape and particularly now the boreal forest.[i] Clearcutting is a practice of harvesting all the trees in a given area, leaving nothing behind. In the process it destroys the structure of soil, breaking apart the sensitive ecosystems of natural peatlands and wetlands. With the loss of trees, all these vital carbon stores are disrupted and vast amounts of carbon are released into the environment.

Image: Olena Sergienko/Unsplash

In the past, we have been assured that our unique and beautiful boreal forest is an immense carbon sink that takes up more of the carbon and greenhouse gases that we produce. That is what the politicians and forest industry would like us to believe. But we can no longer rest in that assurance.[ii] The combination of clearcutting of old growth forests, slash burning, insect infestations and wildfires now change the figures to reveal that the boreal forest has not been a carbon sink or offset since 2001.

What about alternatives to clearcutting and destroying the boreal forest? We haven’t always relied exclusively on trees for a paper source. Since early times humans have yearned to write their stories and share their experiences. We see this in the ancient cave drawings in various parts of the world. Then we progressed to stone tablets, papyrus paper from reeds, vellum scrolls, onion skins, wood panels, slate tablets, and now laptops and photocopiers. These are a few of the sources humans have invented to share their thoughts and ponderings. Originating earliest in China, it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the paper making process from trees became developed and by the 13th century was the norm.[iii]

When it came to the moment when I had to submit my thesis in book form I was seeking estimates when I chanced upon a copier business tucked away in a basement level mall on Bloor Street, run by a little elderly man from India. The proprietor extolled the benefits of sugarcane paper and its similar price to regular tree paper. He was quite proud of the sustainable process used in his native India. I was intrigued and the price was right, so my thesis was printed on sugarcane paper. The experience led me to re-think what paper could be. Given the carbon cost of our forestry industry and the destruction it works on fragile ecosystems, might we consider options once more?

“do I need to print this?”

The University of British Columbia published a study on the use of sugarcane paper for the university, looking at carbon inputs, foreign investment and sustainability.[iv] Their study concluded that sugarcane was the best option environmentally & economically. The drawback is that it is imported and workers conditions need to be monitored. Although I have purchased sugarcane paper easily from office supply stores, currently sugarcane paper is available in notepads and various compostable serving ware, Covid seems to have disrupted the supply.

“there is a cloud floating in each sheet of paper, as well as the rain and sunshine”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

There are options to tree paper and we can encourage seeking alternatives. Of course, asking the question “do I need to print this?” and printing both sides save more trees than we might imagine! But perhaps it is our awareness that each piece of paper is a gift, not only the tree but the whole earth community is most precious. For as Thich Nhat Hanh has said, “there is a cloud floating in each sheet of paper, as well as the rain and sunshine.” It takes an ecosystem to make a sheet of paper.

-Sister Linda Gregg,csj on behalf of the Federation Ecology Committee

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[i]  “Canada’s Boreal Cutting Is A Climate Threat,” Joshua Axelrod, Nov.1,2017. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/josh-axelrod/canadas-boreal-clearcutting-climate-threat#:~:text=Clearcutting%20disturbs%20soils%2C%20wetlands%2C%20and,ecologically%20harmful%20form%20of%20logging. Accessed March 17, 2022.

[ii] “Our managed forest land hasn't been a net carbon sink since 2001,” Robson Fletcher CBC News, Feb. 12, 20219, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/canada-forests-carbon-sink-or-source-1.5011490   Accessed March 17, 2022.

[iii]  “The History of Paper,” Wikipedia.                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper#:~:text=By%20the%2011th%20century%2C%20papermaking,mills%20using%20waterwheels%20in%20Spain. Accessed March 18, 2002

[iv] “An Investigation Into Sugarcane Versus Wood Fibre Paper,” Ryan Carnito et al, APSC 262, April 4, 2013. UBC