Our opinion about the story that we read recently is that we have concious about what is happening in our days, because we are using the things when we don't need them. Thats one of the biggest factors. One example that the story says is that we don't have to use the energy recently because it's not necesary all the time. We can use other ways like: if is hot you can open the windows or use the fan. Evenly you can take a cold shower and not wear alot of clothes. You can drink water, eat ice cream and other cold stuff. If it is cold you can wear a sweather, or turn on the chimney.

Now you see how it's not necesary to always have the air conditioning or the heather on. We're not saying that not just one person can change everything but could make a difference. Thats the most important thing that somebody could do.

Earth Friendly Activities!

Here are some fun and "green" things you can do with your friends:

1. go hiking and compete to see who can find and take pictures of the most animals in a certain amount of time.

2. Get a bunch of friends together and have a beach or park clean up. You could turn it into a competition by seeing who picks up the most trash.

3. Get together and plant a tree or even a whole garden.

4. Go biking or canoeing together.

5. Have a bake sale to raise money for an Earth-friendly organization such as Tree Huggers of America .

6.) Go on nature hike and see how many animals and plants you can name. Whoever names the most wins.

7.) Have a picnic outside.

8.) Go camping and have a contest to see how long each person in your family can last without electricity and other favorite items.

9.) Join a Audabon Society and help with the Great Backyard Bird Count.

10.) Adopt a dog or animal from the World Wildlife Fund. This will give the opportunity to have responsibility and you get to take care of an animal.

How to make RCS "Green" by Becca Pittman

Although RCS has been working towards using the Earth’s resources in a more responsible way, there is still a lot we can do. We can start by putting recycling bins in every classroom and in the hallways. There are so many things around the school that we don’t notice that can be recycled. And there are many ways to be eco-friendly without spending a lot of money.
Here are some easy ways to make our school greener now:

1. Teachers should always print papers on the front and back of the page so they use less paper.
2. There should be recycling bins in every classroom and hallway. And everything that can be recycled should be recycled.

3. Instead of having lights on all the time, open the blinds. At Sidwell Friends Middle School Washington D.C., all the windows have light shelves that reflect the sunlight into the room without letting the heat in. The light shelves save money and energy.

4. Instead of turning the A.C. on, open the windows.

5. We could replace light bulbs with eco friendly light bulbs when the normal bulbs burn out.

There are also things we could do over time to make our school more earth friendly:

1. We could raise money to buy a bus that runs on biodiesel fuel like the students at Bloom High School in Chicago.

2. We could also raise money to buy solar panels to power our school.

3. We could build the cafeteria using all recycled materials

4.We could grow a vegetable garden for the cafeteria and compost leftover food for fertilizer.

5. We can raise money to buy a rainwater collection system to be used for irrigation and toilet water.

Catholic Environmental Movement by Devin Harper

The Catholic Environmental movement isn’t happening nationally or internationally, but locally. Yes, the average “Joe and Sue”, as some call them, are driving the environmental movement. The little things they do are helping make the environment better than it was.

There are several local projects that are help push this movement forward. One in particular is the “Preaching the Just Word” a project based at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. The program works to helps priests and other ministers of the gospel to bring in the environment into their messages at church.

When Jeffrey J. Guhin asked Father Kemp, director of “Preaching the Just Word”, asked why he never heard a homily about the environment, Kemp said, “When I asked pastors to name the issues of justice, invariably (and we’re not talking about a majority hear)…the best and the brightest name the environment. The other ones look at and say, ‘My God, you’re right; I had never thought of it.’

So Father Kemp is helping make more people aware of one of the most important issues that we face right now.
Also other people are helping the environment by recycling plastic water bottles, paper, and cutting down on water usage, etc. Mainly they are helping by making people aware of the need to be environmentally friendly.

©The Catholic Tree Huggers, 2009

Teachings of The Catholic Church on the Environment by EJ

The Church has a God centered view of the universe and that makes humans responsible for the fate of the earth and catholics believe we should have a respect for all human life which includes respect for the environment . Pope John Paul the second states "There is a growing awareness that world peace is threatened not only by the arms race, regional conflicts, and continued injustice among peoples and nations, but also by a lack of due respect for nature.... Moreover, a new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge which, rather than being downplayed, ought to be encouraged to develop into concrete programs and initiatives." Most of the Protestant faiths believe that Catholics have just recently started becoming more aware of the environment Sister Marjorie Keenan believes this to be true. As Catholics the two main commandments we follow are To love God above all things, the second is to love our neighbors as ourselves. These two commandments are the main reasons catholics tend to be less involved in the preservation of our environment.