Prayer
Creator God, among all Your works the greatest miracle is the life that makes our common home unique in the whole universe.
Life is joy.
Life is tears.
Life is toil.
Life is hope.
You have woven life from the depths of the sea, from the depths of the earth, from the depths of an egg, and of a womb.
Laudato Si’ my Lord Creator each time You grant to repeat this miracle.
Help us to understand how precious this gift is in our relationships with creatures, from the depths of the sea, to the depths of the earth, from the currents of the air, to our brothers and sisters near and far, the elderly and children, and those who are yet to be born, making way once again to this immense miracle of love that is life.
Amen.
From the Laudato Si’ Prayer Book
Antonio Caschetto, LSM Program Coordinator, Italy.
Assisi, Italy
Knowledge
This past week as I walked the dog through the neighborhood, I keep seeing lots of candy wrappers on the ground. Discarded, no doubt, by our young trick-or-treaters. There was quite a pile of wrappers in our trash – from both the neighborhood and our own Halloween candy gorge. Then I remembered an email from a colleague (received and forgotten) regarding an organization that recycles candy wrappers! Rubicon, a digital waste and recycling company, launched Trick-or-Treat Trash in 2019. Schools, businesses, and community centers can order a free box and be a registered location for recycling candy wrappers. (You can also purchase one for personal use in your home.) It’s too late for this year, of course. They SOLD OUT of boxes. (Yay!) However, we can plan now for next year. Millions of little candy wrappers from Halloween blow into our waterways every year and end up floating in our oceans. This is a great way to keep them out of trouble and raise general awareness about the plastics problem. While we are on the subject of Halloween and the environment, did you know the millions of pumpkins carved every year contribute to the methane problem? I had no idea. Don’t throw those pumpkins (or any food waste, really) into the regular garbage. If you can’t compost those jack-0-lanterns, cut them up small for neighborhood wildlife or bury them in the yard. (Make sure all the seeds are out, or you may have your own pumpkin patch next fall.)
Action
Check out the Rubicon website and the Trick-or-Treat Trash page noted in the “Knowledge” column. If your site would be willing to host a box, plan now to order in September 2023.
Look into ways to compost your fall pumpkins. If you don’t compost in your own yard, you can connect with people near you who do through ShareWaste. Maybe this will lead to saving all your food scraps from the landfill! It’s easy. You connect with a composter near you and deliver your saved scraps when you can.