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Climate Talk is about Tips to Help Environment

Climate Talk is about Tips to Help Environment

A community presentation on climate change was called “What Can I Do?” The Eco-Justice Council at St. Peters Episcopal Church hosted the presentation late last month.

Thomas Bonitz is a UConn sophomore majoring geoinformation science and economics. He spoke to both a 45-member in-person audience and an online audience.

Bonitz, who is also St. Peters parishioner and is concerned about climate change, focused his presentation on what individuals can do to reduce their environmental impact. He also asked the audience to choose three actions. Jane Goodall, primatologist and ananthropologist, stated that “What you do makes the difference.” You have to decide what kinda difference you want to make.

The Feb. 27 discussion focused on diet, food wastage, best practices in lawn and yard care, travel, minimalism, and other topics.

Bonitz encouraged the group to make changes, to be sustainable, and to think incrementally.

A plantarian is a diet that focuses on eating only one meal per day.

Bontiz’s two suggestions for reducing food waste were to either buy less food or to purchase imperfect food.

He stated that methane is formed when food goes into landfills and then rots.

There were also questions about Southington’s bio waste company. Bonitz agreed that food waste recovery systems and home-composting were great ways to keep organic materials out the landfills.

Bonitz stated that lawns are a barren desert for essential pollinators. He said that lawn chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides can pollute rivers through runoff. He recommended that a portion of the lawn be left untreated. He suggested that you challenge the norms. He also suggested planting native, pollinator-friendly plants and to connect with www.Pollinator-Pathway.org for more information on plants and pollinators.

Bonitz stated that 2.5% of CO2 emissions are from air travel. This is despite the fact that almost 30% of U.S. greenhouse gases are created by transportation. Personal automobile transportation encourages sprawling developments that threaten habitats. Bonitz recommended that domestic travel be done by trains and planes, and that local public transportation should be used whenever possible.

Bonitz said that nearly 300 pounds of plastic waste are generated annually in the United States each year. This causes serious ecosystem damage.

The audience was interested in recycling items locally and what happens to items once they are thrown out.

Marj Chapman, who is a member the Eco-Justice council, stated that the council would investigate the question and include additional information in a future presentation. She pointed out that Cheshire’s single-stream recycling system does not require residents to separate recyclables.

At the conclusion of the Bonitz talk, Chapman said resources from the talk would be posted on the website https://stpeterscheshire.org.

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