"We must teach our children to smell the earth, to taste the rain, to touch the wind,
to see things grow, to hear the sun rise
and night fall—to CARE."
—John Cleal
Welcome to West End United Methodist Church's
Creation Care news.
We invite you to join us in our love of
God's creation and our work for environmental justice.
This issue of the newsletter is specifically about helping the children and youth in our lives fall in love with creation—
both now and for the future of us all.
“If children are to keep alive an inborn sense of wonder…, they need the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with them the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” —Rachel Carson
As you can, involve your children or grands in creating and tending a garden, even if only planting seeds in cups or pots. If need be, make showing your young gardeners the progress of the plants a part of a weekly Zoom call to those far away.
As you talk and work together, you will be growing not only food and flowers
but also a new generation that loves nature and wants to care for it—
because you do!
Go for a walk or hike with your children, grandchildren, or neighborhood children. Invite them to observe and wonder. Add a sketch pad and colored pencils or allow them to use phone cameras to document their treasures from the day.
Talk about God’s call to us to take care of creation.
Connecting people, especially children, to nature is healing and delightful!
Our See Change
by Susan Finch
During the flooding in late March, our neighborhood greenway found itself underwater. We have spent many hours on the greenway as a family, and we are used to portions flooding in the spring. However, this time was different. When the pavement reemerged from the muddy currents of the Harpeth, we found our beautiful trail by the river was now covered in slime and debris. The surrounding trees were marked by a waterline as distinctly as any building might be. Where the flood waters sat for several days, the treetops collected branches and patches of leaves and pine needles in every nook and cranny.
But more disheartening was the trash. Large pieces of debris littered the canopy—industrial pallets, a large plastic bucket, a fold out table hung between branches as if someone might sit for a cup of coffee. These objects taunted us from 20–25 feet in the air, and we often felt helpless to do anything. In the weeks after the flood, much of the larger trash was retrieved, but sadly, what remained were the single-use plastics—plastic bags, bottles, cups—you name it, it’s still up there.
My eleven-year-old son was distressed by the damage to this amazing green space, and after a little discussion, we wanted to try our hand at avoiding single-use plastics. At our next visit to the grocery store, we were prepared to look for products or substitutes to avoid single-use plastics.
Our first challenge was the sports drink—we have two young athletes in our house, and we go through Gatorade bottles at an alarming clip. We found powdered Gatorade packets to replace the bottles. I’m not sure the packets would be recyclable. That raised another issue, but we wouldn’t have a dozen empty plastic bottles on our hands. So, we celebrated a little progress.
We hit the produce next, we never use the plastic baggies supplied by the supermarket for veggies, so this was an easy section for us. Most of the veggies and fruit we needed easily plopped into the cart with no plastic, no problem. Not so with berries. At the supermarket, it’s nearly impossible to find paper containers for berries. We hit the internet for solutions, and Litterless.com suggested we buy berries from farmers’ markets (where they more often use paper containers) or when all else fails, to be sure to recycle the plastic containers. We have friends who grow berries at the Bell Garden and are often in need of plastic containers, so we planned to set those aside. It wasn’t quite what we hoped for in our no-plastic challenge, but we were on the verge of realizing exactly how much plastic we consume!
Our final challenge was yogurt and cottage cheese. Our family loves our dairy, but how do you get dairy out the door without plastic containers? There are a handful of companies that use glass, but other than that, we were at a standstill. Again, we did our research. We found the following suggestions: Buy the largest size possible to avoid the number of plastic containers or maybe even make your own yogurt. For the health of my family members and my own sanity, we will probably stick to the large containers.
Our shopping trip and the research that followed gave us one very valuable takeaway—an education. We were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of plastics we consumed. We were challenged to find solutions to our problems, and the methods we discovered were not out of the realm of possibility. The answers might be slightly less convenient sometimes, but they were manageable.
My son is eager to find ways to avoid using single-use plastics. He’s eager to do the research on how we can make our planet healthier. I am hopeful he will take the beginnings of this experience and make more conscious decisions in the future. Part of our conversation often circled around what we didn’t know and the habits we’d gotten used to out of convenience. We are starting to make some changes in our habits that I hope will create lasting effects. He’s eager to start composting next, and his enthusiasm is inspiring.
Now, in July, bright green leaves cover much of the flood damage on our beloved greenway. We have to look more closely to find the plastic tucked in between the new foliage, but the plastic is still there (and I can only imagine the amount of plastic IN the river!). In the fall, when the trees shed their leaves, the damage will be revealed again. Over the last few months, we’ve learned a lot of eye-opening things about the plastic in our lives, and moving forward, we can only hope that our small choices and changes might have an impact everyone can really see.
Susan Finch is an associate professor of English at Belmont University. She has been a member of the church since she was a teenager and a member of the Creation Care committee for the last three years. Her family strives to make small daily changes to improve the quality of our environment and the sustainability of our future.
When you receive your confirmation email, forward it to Bonnie Seay, so we know you’ve accepted the challenge—and so we can enter you into a drawing for some plastic-free products.
Be super aware of choices you make to avoid adding plastic to your life.
Visit the Plastic Free “show & tell” tables at church on Sundays (July 11th, 18th or 25th) to tell your stories and to find out more about alternative products and practices from West Enders who are also changing their choices.
Tell others what you are doing! Invite them to take the challenge too!
Listen to Erin Dentmon's interview about going plastic free. Facebook.com/WestEndUMC/videos
"Train children in the way they should go;
when they grow old, they won't depart from it."
—Proverbs 22:6
westendumc.org/creation-care
When you visit here, you’ll find the creation care ministry resolution adopted by the church’s Ministry Table, educational videos and presentations, training for advocacy, a green giving-guide, and tips for your own faithful stewardship of the earth. The Creation Care Committee is always open to new projects and new people.
Stay in touch. Our contact person is Crys Zinkiewicz, crysz1122@gmail.com.
