2. God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

3. God saw how good it was. Gen. 1:10 God looked at what he had made, and he found it very good. Gen. 1:31

4. God said to Noah and to his sons: “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants, and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark. Gen. 9:8-10

5. “Care for the Earth is not just an Earth Day Slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. The present day environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.” (U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops)

6. Our earth speaks to us, and we must listen if we want to survive. Pope Benedict XVI, July 24, 2007  Rediscovery of the Face of the Creator in Creation, to rediscover in the Creator’s Presence our responsibility for his Creation. Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day, 2008 Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day, 2008  Pope Benedict has made the Vatican carbon neutral.  Pope Benedict instructed the organizers of the Vatican Youth gathering in Rome to use products made through the recycling process.

7. Plastic bags photo-degrade; overtime they break down into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers which eventually contaminate soil and waterways. As a consequence the microscopic particles can end up in the food chain.

8. Less than 1% of Plastic Bags are recycled. It costs more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one.

9. The petroleum used to make 14 plastic bags is enough to drive a car a mile.

10. The 380 billion plastic bags that Americans throw away each year are made from millions of barrels of petroleum. And where do we throw them?

11. Data released by the United States Environmental protection Agency shows that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. National Geographic News September 2, 2003

12. The 380 billion plastic bags that Americans throw away each year are made from millions of barrels of petroleum. And where do we throw them?

13. “Men and women, therefore, bear a unique responsibility under God: to safeguard the created world and by their creative labor even to enhance it. “ (USCCB) “Men and women, therefore, bear a unique responsibility under God: to safeguard the created world and by their creative labor even to enhance it. “ (USCCB)

14. Use a reusable bag in every store, every time you go shopping.

15. We can save 6 bags a week, 24 bags a month. That’s 288 bags a year or 22,176 bags in a lifetime.

16. If one (1) out of (5) people in our country did this we would save 1,330,560,000,000 bags over our lifetime.

17. Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us, and who produces varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs. St. Francis of Assisi