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 omething new that sparks a desire to do better—for God’s sake. Perhaps these Tips will help you come clean.
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 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 to worry about color fastness.
Come clean about personal care. Soaps, shampoos, conditioners come in bars. Bars are better than bottles. Avoid single-use, forever plastics that trash God’s earth.
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.
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. For more about the UM Creation Justice Movement, go to umcreationjustice.org.