40 Day Earth Promise Challenge

Why the 40 Day Challenge?

The 40 day challenge is an invitation to commit to doing a few things that remind us of our true relationship with the earth. Each person or family will chose a 40 day lifestyle change that will benefit the planet. The Sample Actions for the 40 Day Earth Challenge provide suggestions for possible actions but you may modify these actions or you may develop your own. The important thing is to choose an action that has meaning for you.

When does the Challenge start and end?

At UUSS we have chosen to do the 40 day Earth Challenge during the summer months with sign ups in June and the 40 challenge running from July 1 to August 9.

Why 40 Days?

Forty days is a long enough period of time to allow for deep reflection about an issue and its impact on our own lives and the lives of others. It can be long enough to creat a new habit. It’s also short enough to be realistic. Committing to make a change for 40 days is short enough to allow people to take risks with their commitments and try something they may not be able to commit to for a year or more.

For some people, the number 40 carries great biblical significance. Lent is 40 days, Noah spent 40 days on the ark, and the Jesus spent 40 days in the desert. If this carries meaning for you, embrace it! Whatever your beliefs, this campaign allows us a great opportunity to do something for the good of the Earth.

Sample Actions for the 40 Day Earth Promise Challenge

• Bottle you own water. Say “yes” to tap water and “no” to disposable bottled water for 40 days or forever. Watch the eight minute video The Story of Bottled Water to learn why (http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/)
• Celebrate Meatless Mondays or become a Weekday Vegetarian for 40 days. Meat makes less efficient use of land, soil, water, and energy — and cows emit 300 liters of methane per day.
• Support the UUSS community garden and buy locally grown food, in season, produced without the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers.
• Reduce the use of plastics in your life. The creation, use, and disposal of plastics leads to chemicals seeping in to the environment. “Right now, millions of pounds of trash are floating in the Pacific Ocean to form an ‘island’ at least twice the size of Texas — 90 percent of that trash is discarded plastic.” — from the film Flow
• Support the efforts of the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry’s Action Network California (UULMCA) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) to pass the Human to Water legislative package in California by writing letters of support or calling legislators. For details of the legislation and this campaign, go to www.uulmca.org/main.html or contact Rev. Linda Ramsden at lramsden@uulmca.org.
• Convert part of your lawn or garden to native plants which use less water and provide food and habitat for birds and other wildlife.
• Reduce automobile trips. Carpool, bike, walk or use public transit to reduce your carbon footprint.
• Be vigilant about reducing, reusing and recycling for 40 days. Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 lbs. a year.
• Make up your own action.