by Kelly C. Martini

Save the Whales Board Game. Image by: Courtesy of Environmental Defense Agency Source: Women's Division

In the last week of the Christmas shopping season – with messages of commercialization everywhere – United Methodist Women’s Green Teams have been sharing with others ways to protect and honor God’s creation.

The ideas have come across the United Methodist Women’s listserv, an email communication group, to assist women in planning and creating celebrations that honor the birth of Jesus Christ, while lifting up ways to do it cares for the world.

The Green Team is made up of 21 women and one male clergy who have a special interest in the environmental issues in their communities, advocacy, and teaching others. 

The group, through their discussion, has discovered resources to help in planning an environmentally sustainable season.  They include:

• The Environmental Defense Fund offers a holiday gift guide, which includes organic chocolates, stocking stuffers, children’s books, board games, cotton products, creative gift-wrapping ideas, and e-cards to save paper.  For the entire article, go to: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=4924&linkid=100
• Oceans Alive offers seafood recipes and tips for party and dinner planners.  They list the best and worse seafood for those who are concerned with the environment and personal health.  For instance, it’s better to have wild salmon from Alaska – a well-managed fish population -- than farmed or Atlantic salmon, which can be exposed to chemicals in water, parasites or bacteria.  If you’re serving caviar, going for the farmed variety is better, because it does not jeopardize paddlefish populations – the caviar-producing fish that is almost completely depleted in some areas.  For this resource, go to www.oceansalive.org .
• E-cards with messages of global warming advocacy are available online at http://www.environmentaldefense.org/ecards.cfm?campaign=yea&ecardgroup=4 .
• Green Guidance, a resource produced by the Women’s Division several years ago, gives useful links to environmental health networks, products and services, and information.  These can be accessed at http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/environmental/contacts.html .

United Methodist Women is an organization with approximately 1-million members.  The organization’s purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders and advocate for justice.  Members raise nearly $25 million each year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world.

	See Also... Topic: Advocacy |  Children |  Environment |  Women |  Geographic Region: United States |  Source: Women's Division
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Date posted: Dec 23, 2005