Captain Planet, He's Our Hero!

Jess: So, as some of you may know, I love books. I went to the library last week and got something like 15 books on various subjects. I would recommend any of these books (and pretty much any book, period) but the ones that I was super interested this time around were the ones on environmentalism/living green. After our weeks of reading about stewardship, I wanted to delve into the other side of stewardship: what does it mean to be good stewards of the earth (God's original call to stewardship)?

The first book I read was The Armchair Environmentalist, which is a book made up of easily read sections about various little ways in which we can change our lives to better impact the world. A lot of it was stuff I've already heard and implemented in my life: turning down the heat/AC, driving less and using fuel more efficiently when you do, being careful about which cleaning products you use, minimizing electricity use, etc. I feel pretty comfortable with most of these basic steps to improving the environment and my life, so this book was a pick-me-up with a few new suggestions I want to implement.

The next book I read was Green You, which was not at all what I had expected. I was hoping for more tips on how to make my daily actions better for the environment. Instead, I got a book that made me scared to do anything lest I poison myself or the environment. There were so many scary statistics about what's in our air, our health care products, our food, our water, etc. that I just wanted to give up. Then I started to realize that there's no reason to be overwhelmed. It's clear that we as a nation are doing a lot of things that are bad for our bodies, our homes, and our environment. But getting worried about everything at once didn't help me. Plus, I was a little skeptical about this woman's sources, since she kept saying that widely publicized tests were not to be trusted, without any proof of her own.

So what did I learn from all of this? How am I going to let this impact my life? Well, I'm not going to stop eating meat. I AM going to try to start eating a more "plant-based diet." Meat is not something that's necessary for our bodies to survive; we can get all the nutrients we need from seeds, nuts, vegetables, etc. But I like meat, and I'm definitely not going to give up the occasional steak. If every American just began to cut down the amount of meat they eat in a week, our food industry would become more sustainable. I don't feel obligated to single-handedly revolutionize the food industry. But I will do my part. And it's good for my body to eat more fruits and veggies, more whole grains, and less meat.

I'm not going to stop taking Wes' suits to the dry cleaners, either; there aren't many other options. But I will hang his suits outside and let them air out so the chemicals don't make their way into our home. I won't get anything dry cleaned that doesn't need it, and I won't go more often than necessary.

I will, however, try to walk more often. I walked to church and back on Sunday so that Wes didn't have to drive the extra mile or so to the house and back, and so I didn't have to turn the car on just to drive it the mile home, then turn it on again to drive back to the church to pick him up. Little changes like this are going to make an impact on the environment AND on my waistline. I'm going to continue to do what I can to help the planet, but I'm not going to try to save the thing myself.

Wes: There's no force on God's green earth that will keep me from enjoying my steaks. And my hamburgers. And my ribs. And brisket. And beef stew (which I made the other day. It. Was. Awesome.). That being said, I do agree that if something does not start happening soon, God's green earth will continue becoming less and less green. And that is reason enough to take a serious look at how we utilize the resources available to us.

I know that I am horrible at this. And it's not as if I mean to be, I'm just an idiot who can't remember to do certain things, like turn off lights and lower the heat whenever I leave the house. I accidentally leave things plugged in, or I'll forget to make sure the door closes all the way behind me. I'm actually worried that one of these days, I'm going to walk in the house and find that Jessica has posted little signs everywhere that say things like "Our A/C works hard enough as it is. Don't make it cool the outside too!" or "If you don't want to have a fight, light a candle and turn off that light!" I'll feel like I'm back in preschool, where everything either rhymes or has a picture on it of a cute little animal frowning up at me. That'd be worse than a horror movie!

But I'm trying my best to do my best with reducing, re-using, and recycling, and I think we're making a difference. We're doing our part at the house, and we're also looking at how the churches can be better about using their resources as well. We didn't turn on the lights at Ellisdale last Sunday, but instead we opened the doors and windows and let God illumine our place of worship. We've cut the size of the bulletin down from a full page front and back with inserts to a half-page front and back and the very occasional insert. Good things are happening at both places, and I'm excited.

Well, I guess that's all from us for today. Check in next week to hear about my fun trip to Nashville, TN for the National Youth Workers' Convention, and then the week after to hear some of our thoughts on Advent.

You stay classy, World Wide Web!

-Jess and Wes