My friend gave me toilet paper as a gift!

For God So Loved the World

By Naomi Yaeger, 

UMC Earthkeeper

Christmas is coming. Have you thought about sustainable gifts you could give?

My friend gave me toilet paper for my birthday!

It was not because of COVID and hoarding situations, but because the company doesn’t use plastic for packaging and because it’s made from bamboo, which grows faster than trees. It arrived “pre-gift-wrapped” in colorful paper. The company gives 50% of its profits to building bathrooms.

I feel a little naughty writing this in, but the company's name is “Who Gives a Crap” -  whogivesacrap.org. The company gives money to WASH, which stands for Water Sanitation and Hygiene.

As a United Methodist, I’m proud that WASH is a recipient of the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church Advance # 3020600.

Think about what YOU could do this Christmas to bless a friend or family member with a sustainable, useful gift. 

I’m giving bars of soap I made at a local business Mix Cosmetiques mixcosmetiques.com . 

Some 10 % of everything Mix Cosmetiques sells goes to teaching women in Uganda how to make cosmetics and start their own businesses.

When Christians think of Christmas, they often think of John:3:16 -- how God reached out to them to enter into a personal relationship. I want you to remember how much God loves YOU. In addition, this Christmas, look again at what God loves enough to send God’s own Son—the world. God’s own creation! All of creation, not just humans. If God so loved the world, then we also need to. Choose at least one aspect of creation and love it through your actions and advocacy.

Sources: umcreationjustice.org and whogivesacrap.org  and umcmission.org

Klobuchar Secures Nearly $50 Million in Funding for Minnesota Energy and Water Projects

Klobuchar secures funds for homegrown energy and additional job-creating measures

Washington, D.C. – Continuing her efforts to secure funding for important initiatives across the state, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced that over $49 million will be included in the Energy and Water section of the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009. The measure includes funding for many projects that will provide jobs for Minnesotans, including flood control and mitigation in Breckenridge and Crookston, waste-to-energy facilities in Pope and Douglas counties and the Lewis & Clark Rural Water System in southwest Minnesota.

Klobuchar secured $4 million for the continuation of work on the Red River of the North Flood Control project in Breckenridge. After the massive Red River basin floods of 1997, government officials decided to implement permanent flood damage reduction projects for the communities along the river, including Breckenridge. Funding announced today will go towards creating a high-flow diversion channel and two separate permanent levee reaches that will protect all of Breckenridge.

“Early federal support was vital to Minnesotans’ efforts to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of the ’97 floods,” said Klobuchar. “Last summer’s flooding in the Midwest demonstrated how important these projects are to helping communities avoid catastrophe. Flood projects like this can mean the difference between minor damage and total destruction.”

Along with five senators from South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, Klobuchar announced further federal funding allocations for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System. Klobuchar announced today that $27 million would be sent to the project for the construction of a water pipeline that will provide clean water from the Missouri River to over 300,000 people in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa through its 20 member cities and rural water systems.

“This important initiative will provide fresh, clean drinking water to people across southern Minnesota,” said Klobuchar. “In the land of 10,000 lakes, we value clean water and this project will help deliver that to families and businesses.”

In addition, Klobuchar secured nearly $1 million towards a new Plasma Gasification Waste To Energy facility in Koochiching County that converts municipal solid wastes into energy and other marketable by-products in an environmentally sound manner. The Renewable Energy Clean Air Project (RECAP) would use the funds to conduct a feasibility study to assess technical, economic and environmental matters.

“This is the type of innovation and leadership that we need to achieve energy security,” said Klobuchar. “At a time of unstable energy costs it is important that we invest in new technologies and the homegrown energy that will create the new jobs and businesses that will fuel our future.”

Senator Klobuchar secured nearly $1 million for the expansion of the Waste to Energy facility shared by Pope and Douglas Counties. The expansion is needed in order to meet the growing needs of the two counties. The Waste to Energy facility provides steam energy to neighboring businesses, such as the 3M Manufacturing plant and the Douglas County Hospital, and produces 500 kilowatts per hour of electricity for the Waste to Energy facility itself.

“The Pope/Douglas Waste to Energy facility is an example of Minnesotans leading the push for homegrown energy,” said Klobuchar. “Projects like this can create good jobs in Minnesota while capturing new energy sources, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and protecting the environment.”

Klobuchar also announced funding for the Minnesota Center for Renewable Energy. The center’s purpose is to move the Midwest toward greater environmentally friendly, sustainable energy use and energy independence. The Center, funded at $713,625 will operate as an applied research consortium of faculty, business and industry partners, and entrepreneurial leaders.

Klobuchar also secured over $8.6 million for a program to improve navigation efficiency and environmental restoration efforts on the Upper Mississippi River. The Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program works to ensure economic and environmental sustainability of the Upper Mississippi River System. It aims to reduce commercial traffic delays and protect and restore the environment.

Klobuchar was also successful in securing funding for a public-use harbor and dock in Duluth. The McQuade Road Safe Harbor Project includes a three-acre harbor where small craft can be protected during storms, ramps for boat and kayak launching, and adjustable docks. The facility also includes fishing spots and sidewalks above the shore and an underpass beneath Scenic Highway 61.

In addition, Klobuchar obtained funding to guard against floods in Granite Falls, Grand Forks, Ada and Montevideo. Funding for the Drayton Dam is also included in the bill.

Klobuchar secured funding for the restoration of Minnehaha’s Painter Creek, a water system which was straightened for agricultural uses in the early 1900s.

Other major Minnesota environment and water initiatives included in the bill include:

* $287,000 for repairing two levees damaged by ice in April 2005 in Crookston, MN.
* $217,000 for funding towards the Marsh Lake Aquation Ecosystem Feasibility study which would identify measures to restore more than 5,000 acres of wetland habitat within the existing reservoir and to reconnect Lac qui Parle to more than 750 miles of streams in the Pomme de Terre River basin. This restoration would allow more Minnesota hunters, anglers, birders, canoeists and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy thousands of migratory waterfowl and other birds and fish.
* $382,000 for use by the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District for flood mitigation between Lake Itasca and Lock and Dam #2, near Hastings, MN.
* $478,000 for the restoration of the Red River of the North Basin.
* $598,000 for the restoration and protection of the St. Croix River Basin.
* $259,000 for the restoration of the Wild Rice River of the North Basin.
* $500,000 for flood mitigation efforts in Roseau.


“It's our responsibility to provide communities with clean drinking water, protect our homes and businesses from flooding and restore our beloved rivers and lakes” said Klobuchar. “Today we took a significant step in making sure that we invest in infrastructure to allow communities to grow and our ecosystems to prosper.

Dogs' use of outdoors as bathroom affects our water

This photo is fromDuluthStreams.org

Until recently, the only reason I picked up Prof. Cricket's dog-doo was as a matter of courtesy for my neighbors. I thought it was unsightly, a hazard to people who might accidentally step on it. It wasn't until Marnie Lonsdale a Duluth, Minn city employee and Project Lead, City Administrative Lead, Stormwater Plan Links came to visit my United Methodist Women's circle earlier this year that I realized that dog waste is a health hazard. It gets carried by runoff water into everyone's water supply hurting humans, lakes, rivers and aquatic life.

"But wild animals poop in the woods in nature," you may say. This is true, but we human's have more pet population in a small land area compared to the population of animals in the wild. It is estimated that 40 percent of Americans own a dog. In Duluth it is estimated that 125 dogs live within a square mile.

Your dog's business is everyone's business
I am embarrassed to admit that I never saw the need to pick up dog doo in my own yard if I didn't feel like it. I thought it was my yard and my dog's business was no one else's business. I thought that the rain dissolved it and it "biodegraded" and returned to the land. I was wrong. Bacteria from pet droppings ends up in the water supply.

This spring I was walking Prof. Cricket when I met an elderly couple who were so upset by the the piles of dog doo in front of their house that they had shovels and were flinging the excrement onto the street. This was actually making the situation worse. Cars were driving over the excrement and it was taken by the water of the melting snow straight to the storm sewers and into Lake Superior.

It is important to pick up the dog doo to prevent contamination of water. But if you read Prof. Cricket's previous post about mummifying our garbage in landfills, you might wonder whether or not the dog doo biodegrades even if you use biodegradable bags. Biodegradable material relies on microbial action for degradation. Microbes require moisture, oxygen and elevated temperature for survival. Landfills are designed to exclude moisture and compaction reduces oxygen. A majority of dog waste bags end up in landfills. A brand named Mutt Mitt labels itself "degradable" and says, Mutt Mitts include additional degradants and will degrade even in a landfill.

Flushable bags
Some bags are designed to be flushed down the toliet. I would double check with the city or the person in charge of your spectic system before doing this. Here are some companies that sell flushable bags: The Flushable Bag™ and Handicapped Pets

Dog doo composters
If you live in suburbia you can even purchase an underground doggie doo composter. Check outDoggie Dooley , Pet D Posit or a City Farmer site


Different cities handle this question in other ways. Here are the options in Duluth: • flushed down the toilet (be sure to pick out rocks and sticks first) • put in the trash or • buried in your own yard. If you want to bury pet waste, make sure it is in a hole at least 6 inches deep, away from vegetable gardens and water sources, and in permeable soil (not clay). Do not add it to compost piles.