Wanna be hip? Go GREEN

The latest marketing trend is to go green. Meaning: Doing things that are good, or pseudo-good, for the environment.

Terms that are popular along these lines…
– Bio-anything
– Renewable
– Carbon Footprint (offset)

Coming soon to a store near you is renewable anything, bio-everything, and stuff that has negative carbon impact.

Even if you don’t buy into the global warming stuff (which I don’t) you can appreciate going away from wasteful sources of energy and resources and towards things that have less waste. Anyone who has traveled to a European country has seen little ways to eliminate packaging excesses or ways to save a little gas or heat a little less of a home. And anyone who has been in a developing country (until recently called a third world country) will see that our garbage becomes their garbage. While the United States is pretty good about hiding our wasted stuff [and Canada’s too] these developing nations simply have no way to hide the junk they produce and the junk they allow to be dumped there by Americans.

Where is the church on this issue?
Most churches are decidedly "anti-green." They simply don’t care about wasting stuff. Even worse, they are late on the bandwagon that "green" isn’t just about tree hugging wackos; it’s about normal people now, Christian and non-Christian alike, who want to make sure we don’t blow it for our kids. I really feel like being a Christian means that we need to be good manager of all that God has given us. I don’t think I want to associate myself with Greenpeace and other leftist nuts… but I am seeing and feeling a strong pull to become less of a corporate waster-of-crap.

Here are a couple of things worth considering… because it’s little things that save a lot of energy.

• Consider zoned heating. Kristen and I are constantly mocked for keeping our home a little cool in the winter, especially at night. We’ve installed (and are buying more of) a little space heater that is safe and runs on almost nothing. Check this out. By running these we can keep the bedrooms nice and warm and basically turn off our forced air heating system at night. What is the point of heating rooms you won’t be in all night? We live in a 135 year old house. The house was designed for zoned heating… it’s not bad, it’s good stewardship.
• Consider driving less. I’m sick of people complaining about gas prices. If it continues to change people’s driving habits I hope a gallon of gas goes up to $5. There are two things attached to your stumps, they are called feet. You can even walk when the weather isn’t perfect and you are allowed to do it for transportation too. It may take a little longer but you’ll feel great. I know I live in Detroit and cars = jobs. But you don’t need 2-3 cars in one house. You don’t need an 8 passenger SUV for your 4 person family. You can carpool to work, school, church, small group, after school stuff. It may not be super convenient or super efficient all the time… but it is a good thing! I say this little phrase all the time and it saves me tons of gas and an extra car, "Can you drop me off at my house?" Most of our driving habits can be broken. It’s not that "you can’t" (which I hear all the time) it’s that "you won’t." If, for some reason, Kristen and I ever get enough money to replace our car… it’s bio-deisel or hybrid. The more of us that force this issue, the more the automakers will make. (Remember economics class?)
• Consider canceling crap. We need to pressure the post office to stop giving us mountains of sale papers we don’t want. We keep a box of "burn pile paper" and you’d be surprised how much goes into it on a weekly basis. Something else that is a waste… the newspaper. I normally read 20-30 news stories a day and I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper in forever. Why? There is this wonderful thing called the internet. It’s better than a newspaper or magazine subscription any day. I can read it when I want to, where I want it delivered, and I don’t even have to throw it away.

I know I’ve kind of gone off a bit here. The simple fact is that Christians need to start thinking about "how can I live a life glorifying to God that is about "less" and not "more." Using more does not equal God’s blessing! It often means we are bad managers of the resources God has given us. More than that… these are things that we are willing to lead the way on.

Got any more things we should consider? Comments are welcome!