Learning Green

In 2nd grade (it might have been 3rd), I remember that we had a guest speaker come to our class. He was a garbage engineer and I was fascinated by what he shared. The whole system of garbage intrigued me. But then, he shared with us the reality of the garbage problem. If we didn’t do something in the next 20 years, our world would be in terrible danger. It was an awful thought, but what could we do?

Unfortunately, if the garbage engineer offered any helpful advice on what we should do differently, I don’t remember it. I opened my lunch box to see a small sandwich wrapped in plastic, a shiny bag of chips, and a box of milk from the lunch lady. No one said anything at lunch about what we put in the trash can, and I grew up in the dichotomy of a prepackaged culture asking me to reduce, reuse and recycle. I knew something should be done, but assumed that my small part could not possibly make a dent in the global problem.

As going green becomes fashionable and we see marketing campaigns popping up encouraging us all to do our part, I started thinking that a hopeful, encouraging attitude could probably do more good than the doom and despair such a dirty problem could invoke. The Bible says to, “…consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:24 (New International Version)

I know many chuckle at the naïve go green sentiment, but I have a feeling it’s not that we don’t care, but that we don’t believe our individual efforts can make a difference. Still, we do need to think about our patterns and ask ourselves what we can do differently to help. It won’t look the same for everyone, but change happens on the individual level. So don’t take this site as a place to lay guilt on your already loaded shoulders. Take it as a place to encourage you to adjust your patterns and think of simple ideas to help take care of the world God gave us.