Be it known that I love this planet. I love the excellent
good life God breathed into being. That said, I want to reflect on three
experiences that when fit together to make me slightly uncomfortable on the
week before Earth Day.
A week ago my church hosted a regional conference for over
100 people. Laurel and I have been instrumental in establishing a practice of
not using disposables for coffee hour and meals at our church and we once
estimated several miles of foam cups (we always line them up end to end) that
did not grace our landfill since the practice was started. Five meals and three
snacks were served at this recent event our Green Team was invited to wash the
dishes. I personally spent 11 hours over the two days (along with others) and
we felt the use of actual cups, glasses, plates and silverware was appreciated.
We did it happily imagining how the dumpsters would not be loaded with
billowing black bags.
Last week we also had a primary election for city council
where seven candidates are vying for three at large seats. The primary would
eliminate the lowest vote getter. A letter to the editor in our paper commented
on some of the different candidates and issues. It closed with the hope that
the candidates he favored would get rid of our city’s “preposterous green
agenda”.
We went to a program today at the state capitol which
concluded across the street in the State Bar Association building with a lovely
luncheon served on foam plates with plastic utensils and bottled water on the
table. (We brought our empty bottles home for recycling.)
We do what we can; some times it doesn’t seem like much. I
am nevertheless convinced that I am called by God to be a responsible steward.
I wish my fellow citizen didn’t think what I value was preposterous. I wish
those with means to host a luncheon believed it was worth time and effort (and
probably additional money) to not use disposables.
We will be doing Earth Day activities because on the mundane
level it is our best place to live and we don’t actually have another option if
we ruin this one.
We will be doing Earth Day activities because this planet is
God’s remarkable gift to us and being proper stewards is a noble call that
feels right in spite of inconvenience and occasional discomfort.
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