Greenifying

These are all the ways I have tried to make my existence a bit less acrimonious with the environment:

-organic food for the kiddos always, Tyler and me when it's most affordable or necessary.
-seventh generation supplies over all others: cleaning supplies, garbage bags, paper towels, even diapers from time to time (okay, not the laundry detergent...I love Tide and Dreft, but I do buy only double concentrated jugs)
-use more Tupperware and less baggies
-I suffer the heat a bit more than I used to by turning our AC up a bit
-gdiapers--this is the biggest change by far. They leak from time to time and are expensive, but they are guilt free since they are flushable, compostable, and break down easily if they must be tossed
-don't drive the royal blue FJ Cruiser I'd love to have (okay, I can't afford it even if I decided it an acceptable mode of transportation, but that's not the point)
-we recycle
-tossed my nalgenes and donated my plastic bottles to be replaced with titanium water bottles for Liv and me and glass bottles for Jude
-recently bought my first two herb plants (sage and oregano)
-never use hot water to wash my clothes
-shop locally when possible over the big bad corporations around town
-along with a few other less significant ones like being sure to switch the ipod off when I leave the house for a while.
-walk instead of drive to places like the park, market, and nearby restaurants



This is a pretty big deal for me even though they are pretty minor things to be doing. I am of the persuasion usually that asks, what difference is going to be made if I decide to put forth the effort to make changes in this area--probably none, or at least not enough of one to warrant any considerable work on my part. On the other hand, I have an easier time complying with and being more mindful of the needs of Mother Earth if I allow it to be the spiritual/moral issue I think it is now, rather than just a political/activist one.

I'm no naturalist, that's for sure. (I mean, I fill up my watering can at least three times a day for a few piddly flower boxes on my balcony and I LOVE eating at Outback still, along with In-n-Out. Did I mention that I still drink 1-2 cans of Diet Coke every day? And I appreciate nothing less than a solid, quick-absorbing role of paper towels right now.) On the other hand, I am making more of an effort to be mindful of the small changes that will eventually add up to some bigger lessons that I can teach my kids about using our resources wisely and methodically, certainly not wastefully or negligently. Some of my changes come from guilt, others are rub-offs from our church community and my brother, and still other changes are more a matter of my heart. More than anything, being eco-friendly, simple, and mindful is hard and unnatural for me. Plus, it's freakin' expensive. But like I believe about Wal-mart and why it's so evil: the cheapness of a product comes to us at someone else's expense. In this light, I don't mind paying an extra $.99 for a russet potato that's organic or an extra $1.50 for a gallon of Horizon Milk. Like I said, it's a Jesus issue with me now and it comes from asking the question of how to make Jesus a bit more present in the day-to-day affair of raising kids. I feel like these are things I have the energy and commitment to tackle now--not that I'm any master of it.

Two goals Tyler has for when we are at last home owners:
-solar panels on our roof and
-composting.

When I talk about loving God and loving people more, this has surprisingly (to me) grown to be a way for me to make it a practical reality in my family's presence on the Earth. (That's it. Just sharing something that I've been processing the past several months.)

Cuba

Cuba,
originally uploaded by DanTheCam.

This is a photo from a flickr group I belong to entitled Rusty and Crusty. It has a ton of members and even more photos in the group. I love them all because it shows off lots of issues. Like how we have filled our world up with so much crap that we don't need. Second, the crap we don't use anymore takes up a lot of space, but it can also look really cool and artsy if shown through a cool lens. But I also like the group because is sort of poses as this unifying force to me. No matter where we are, we we want to go, or where we have been, there is rusty and crusty stuff everywhere. From the streets of Bangladesh, to the cotton fields of Alabama, to the streets of LA, just to name a few of the places I've seen such cool, disposable stuff.

Check this Out

This is a short letter from my in-laws' pastor in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I am going to withhold comment because I really like him. He is simply preaching/writing what he really believes. All of the recovering fundamentalists out there can simply nod their heads as they identify with their past. (If you click on the picture it will open in a new window so you can actually read it.)

Nothing Special

Since I've started this blog I'm learning that each posting is hanging in the balance, waiting patiently to be written and published onto the site. But it takes time for me to get on with it because I think I must have some profound insight at each moment of sharing and reflection. Sort of like when I'm in therapy, heaven forbid I just show up to the appointment without some life-pending issue to discuss in order to break free into the realm of perfection. Then I remember to calm down, relinquish the pressure to always get it right, yeah, I know, even blogging, and enjoy the process of typing--even if it's stupid stuff no one else cares about.

On with the posting point, you say...well, more about Jesus. He was preaching a message of sustainability even before it was cool to care about the environment. This comes to my attention through Kyle who just transmitted an email evident of lots of deep thoughts to Cindy about this. Jesus was all about promoting life, life in the Kingdom. Jesus epitomized love of people, love of God, love of the created world. (Could the picture be any more dramatic? I couldn't resist it.) When he spoke of servicing others with respect, when he showed that all human lives were valuable and worthy of healing, when he picked up the littered coke can and in threw it in the nearest recycling bin (oh wait, he didn't do that probably would have), he was saying, "Stop driving your pollutant SUV's, don't live in LA with all the smog, don't shop at Walmart, don't use too may baggies in one lunch box, and don't run the water the entire time you're brushing your teeth."

I used to brush this way-of-living-differently stuff off; I still do some of it (I commute 25 minutes to church, even). But my exegetical class on the book of Matthew won't allow it anymore. Jesus really did intend for us to live out the Sermon on the Mount. He really wants us to live differently than the rest of the world lives. His teachings are not just a Platonic-like ideal. He really wants us to work to sustain creation, life, and one another. But, damn, this is some hard shit. So what do I need to change if I'm going to take it all a little more seriously: yikes, that's another blog for another day. (I buy organic baby food, that's gotta count for something.)