Thinking about Earth Day......

This past weekend I had a rare Saturday at home. It was great to have some time to cook and clean and spread mulch on the Compassion Garden. And I even had an hour to take care of the recycling in our garage. It was while I was recycling that I thought about a book I checked out of the library this week: Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. I fell in love with this book. The photos reminded me of what living in Africa did for me. It opened my eyes and heart to the realities of our world, to those who struggle for their daily bread, to those who could live off the waste from my table. (I hope and pray that isn't true, but I'm not really sure......) This book reminds me of my desire to make a difference for my African friends by how I live in America.

What does this have to do with recycling? Everything. As I sorted through plastic bottles, I was reminded that most plastic requires oil or natural gas for production. In a world where fossil fuels are of a limited supply, are expensive and are a potential reason for violence in our world, I need to serious examine the use of all plastic in my life. Recyclable and non recyclable. As I looked through the Hungry Planet, I was amazed at the amount of plastic used not only by the "developed" nations, but the amount used in the developing world as well.

Through the Hungry Planet I was challenged to rethink my shopping habits. I needed to be reminded yet again that all I do matters in our world. Can I use cotton shopping bags instead of plastic or paper sacks? Can I rethink how I buy milk? Can I make a difference in Randolph County to reduce the amount of plastics that enter the waste stream? I can do more than just recycle.

I rarely buy water, but I can never buy water? Fossil fuels are used in the packaging of water, the production and the transportation of bottled water. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. As I listen to people express their pain over the soon to be $3.00 gasoline, I wonder if we can look at the whole of our lives and all the use of fossil fuels, not just what we pump at the gas station. Could we make a difference? And even if my small contribution doesn't make a huge difference in my world or in my county, doesn't integrity call me to live that way anyway? I would hope so........