The Sacred Heart and Our Lady Help of Christians Collaborative Creation Care Team invites all to hear from a global environmental health expert speaking about Food & Plastic: Hearing the Cry of the Earth on February 6, 7:30 PM-9PM, at Our Lady Help of Christians’ Lower Hall (573 Washington Street, Newton).
The speaker, Professor Philip J. Landrigan, MD, is Director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College. From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Landrigan chaired the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, which studied plastics’ impacts on human health and helped shape recommendations for the UN Global Plastics Treaty.
This event is co-sponsored by Green Newton, FUUSN Climate Action Task Force, Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light, and the Boston Catholic Climate Movement.
Do you worry about single-use plastics filling your family’s lunchboxes and garbage pails? Are you frustrated by the increasing use of disposable plastics at holiday and birthday gatherings? Do you love the sense of community during your congregation’s hospitality events but feel uneasy about the piling up of plastic utensils, cups, and plates? Imagine making your gatherings more sustainable and aligned with your faith’s call to care for the Earth and one another.
Dr. Landrigan will share insights on how plastics affect human health, followed by a solutions-focused panel discussion on practical alternatives like compostable options, reusables, and efficient dishwashing. There will be a brief Q&A at the end.
This is the third meeting in a collaborative effort by Green Newton, FUUSN, Massachusetts Interfaith Power, and the Boston Catholic Climate Movement to support Newton’s houses of worship in greening their spaces. In past gatherings, these groups have explored how to reduce energy use in their congregations and developed a supportive network of congregants, faith leaders, and staff interested in reducing their energy use and environmental impact.
Every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks of plastic enter waterways, harming wildlife, ecosystems, and even human health as microplastics infiltrate food, water, and bodies.
Explore how faith communities can reduce their reliance on plastics while being stewards of the Earth and each other.
Please RSVP by Friday, January 31, using this sign-up form.
