Time to Come Clean—and Green
To “come clean” usually means to ’fess up
about something not so good,
so that you can make a “clean break” and
begin again in a more positive direction.
Sometimes the reveal comes from learning something new
that sparks a desire to do better—for God’s sake.
Perhaps these Tips will help you come clean.
Share these Tips with your family, friends, and congregation. Choose any or all. Forward them to someone you care about. Cut-and-paste to put them with your email signature, in your letters and emails, worship bulletins, newsletters, social media, or website.
September 2024 Tips
Come clean with your washing machine. Older models use up to 40 gallons of water per load. With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doing the research and upping the standards, newer machines only use 31 gallons. Front-loaders require only 13 gallons. If you don’t have an energy-efficient model, be sure to run only a full load each time.
Come clean in the shower. Avoid wasting water: Take shorter showers, use a water-saver shower head, catch the gray water for reuse watering plants or flushing the toilet, or try this quick alternative: rinse, turn off the water and lather, turn on the water, and rinse.
Come clean about what goes down the drain. Washing clothes made of polyester or nylon results in microplastics shredding and draining ultimately into our oceans and the seafood we eat. The newer the fabric, the more shreds. Purchase good used clothing from thrift stores rather than new fast fashion items made of synthetics.
Come clean without hot water. Switch to cold water for laundry and other wiping up. You’ll save the energy and the cost that would have been used to heat the water, and your clothes and countertops will be just as clean.
Come clean without washing so often. Saving even 1 out of 6 loads of laundry will cut emissions. Imagine if everyone did that: The estimate is that with the 840,000,000 washing machines in use around the world, the “Skip 1” practice would reduce energy emissions by 186 million TONS. Combine partial loads. You no longer need worry about color fastness.
Come clean about personal care. Soap, shampoo, conditioners come in bars. Bars are better than bottles. Avoid single-use, forever plastics that trash God’s earth.
Come clean with household products. Use non-toxic, natural cleaning products instead of ones that harm your health and the environment. Vinegar is an option, as are other branded products such as Method, Seventh Generation, and Common Good, all of which are available from Grove.
Come clean about scents. Scented laundry detergents release carcinogenic Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) directly into the air through dryer vents, not to mention from the manufacturing source. Scented dryer sheets are other offenders. Use natural wool dryer balls instead. Buy unscented. It makes sense.
Come clean without wiping out the forest. Replace paper towels with pre-loved and washable cloths (a.k.a. rags) or bamboo. Replace toilet tissue made from trees with brands made from bamboo. Trees take 30 years to harvest, which makes them hard to replace. Bamboo grows in 3 months—very sustainable. Keep the trees in the forest where they absorb carbon dioxide and give us life-sustaining oxygen.
Come clean with your vote. Wipe away the hype to get to the policy stances of the candidates. Who will work for our environment and for justice for those who are vulnerable? Who will roll back the protections that have been serving our planet and our health in the past? Support those who care about the planet and us.
The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement is providing these Tips
as a tool to equip church members, families, and individuals to respond to God’s call to care for creation and do justice with our neighbors.
