October Earth Care Update

It may be cliché, but one of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce your environmental impact is by swapping out your old incandescent bulbs for LEDs. Traditional incandescent bulbs use 60 watts of energy per hour. If left on 6 hours a day that’s $26 per year and 120 pounds of carbon pollution—just for a single light bulb! Swapping that incandescent for an LED reduces it to just $4 a year and 18 pounds of pollution. Multiply that times all the bulbs in your house and that’s a lot of savings! Especially considering that LED bulbs cost roughly the same as incandescent bulbs and last 10x longer. And don’t bother with the twisty CFL bulbs. They use 50% more energy than LEDs and contain toxic mercury. God tells us to be stewards of earth. In Genesis 2:15, one of God’s first statements to Adam in the garden is to tend and keep the garden. The Hebrew words here, ‘abad’ and ‘shamar’ can also be translated to ‘serve’ and ‘protect.’ It may seem silly to suggest that changing your light bulbs helps serve and protect God’s creation, but that’s exactly what it does. Not only does cutting electricity save you money, but it also reduces how much coal or methane gas are burned to create that electricity. That means cleaner air, cleaner water, fewer mountaintops being removed for coal mining, and an overall healthier environment in Ohio. Some people are concerned about the color of LED bulbs, but they come in many different tones. If you like the warmer light of traditional bulbs buy the “warm white” LED bulbs. (Hint: Look for bulbs listed below 3000k temperature, and preferably around 2,700k for a truly warm color). Unsure where to get started? Feel free to reach out to Brian Webb anytime, who has generously offered to help FPC congregants reduce the energy footprint of their homes. He’s glad to do a personal tour of your house and offer tips for reducing your energy consumption. (climate.brian@gmail.com or 585-808-4629.