Theme: Climate Change
Even though we aren’t gathering in person for now, there is a lot we can do on our own! Please consider one or more of these activities to continue our focus on climate change and reach out to share what you do with photos or videos. This is a great time to be creative!
- DIY Recycled-plastic dove
Did you know? On average, humans buy about 1,000,000 plastic bottles per minute. Single-use plastics pollute our oceans and leak chemicals into our groundwater. This DIY plastic dove is a fun way to repurpose that plastic milk bottle in your fridge. After you’ve created your plastic dove, you can paint it, use it as a decoration, or even fill it with seed to make it into a bird feeder.
Fun facts:
- In the gospel of Luke, the holy spirit descends on Jesus as a dove. (Luke 3:22)
- Back in ancient Bible times, the dove represented a Hebrew mother goddess. The dove was seen as a symbol of femininity.
- Jesus calls us to be like doves: “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matt. 10:16)
- Sit down together as a family for a climate-themed Bible study (from Living Lent).
- Make a poster.
Draw/color a poster depicting your favorite alternative mode of transportation.
Ideas: Carpooling • The bus • Skateboarding
Extra points if you can find a Bible verse or Bible story to go with it! (Example – Carpooling: “Where two are three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20)
- Practice hope!
Lent is a time of waiting. As we look forward to Easter, we wait patiently for the resurrection of Jesus. Climate change is also a time of waiting. We may be waiting for our leaders to make better decisions about the environment. We may be waiting for a sign that things will get better. Sometimes, it can feel like we are waiting for the end! But as Christians, we know that the resurrection will come. God will never leave us or forsake us. This Lent, remember that with God in our midst, there is always hope.
Here are some hopeful facts about climate change (Source: NRDC and Climate Interactive):
- The manufacturer of the highly toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos says it will end production by the end of 2020.
- The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service will no longer import seafood caught within endangered porpoise habitat in the northern Gulf of California.
- CO2 emissions are beginning to level off! According to the International Energy Agency, global emissions have been flat for the last 3 years.
- Solar energy is going to be the cheapest source of energy in the next 10 years.
- After Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, U.S. cities decided to take matters into their own hands. Now, more than half the U.S. population lives in a city that is striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Remember that even though climate change can feel overwhelming, there is always something to be thankful for.