Happy Earth Day! At Christ House, we strive to do our part in protecting the planet. Below are some of the ways that Christ House practices environmental stewardship:
· Our kitchen composts the food scraps from all of our meals through Veteran Compost, a food composting company that employs veterans and their families.
· We recycle any clothing donations that we cannot use (e.g. women’s clothing, etc.) through the Clothing Recycling Company, which works to collect and redistribute donations to numerous charities in the DMV.
· With the help of Call2Recycle, the nation’s largest battery recycling program, we recycle rechargeable batteries and cell phones.
· Our hardworking janitorial staff ensures that all our recyclables are sorted correctly before pick-up.
· We recently made a permanent switch from plastic to paper when purchasing disposable cups and utensil wrappers.
· Within the past year, we were awarded a grant by DC Sustainable Energy Utility to replace our old light fixtures with energy efficient LEDs. In fact, just last week we wrapped up the installation of LEDs after finishing the outside lights. The lights at Christ House are now officially all LEDs!
Caring for our beautiful planet Earth is not only important because we want it to stay beautiful. Environmental degradation has dire social consequences that tend to impact marginalized populations first and most profoundly. As an organization that serves some of society’s most vulnerable populations, practicing environmental stewardship is a duty. On this important day, we remember this duty as we continue to seek ways to improve the sustainability of our systems.
Whether by conscious design or institutional neglect, communities of color in urban ghettos, in rural ‘poverty pockets,’ or on economically impoverished Native-American reservations face some of the worst environmental devastation in the nation.”
-Dr. Robert Bullard, father of the environmental justice movement
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