gone (and still) going green

My sweet friend Kelly recently posted thoughts on the Going Green movement and to say the least, it intrigued me because this is something that we have been doing in incremental paces for about four years now.

We started with recycling our food scraps--giving them to our chickens.  It started off as 'let's save our scraps so the chickens can have some treats!' but as time went on, our motive changed.  As we threw our scraps in the bucket we started to realize/understand how much food we wasted...it was eye opening!...half eaten apples, or PBJs, or cheese sticks, or...and the list goes on.  That spurred us to be more conscience of our portions, ect.  But it also opened up a whole can of worms for us in this whole 'going green' thing...not because of the government's or our community's push for the "reduce, reuse, recycle" bit but simply because of a response to an ever growing thankfulness and graditutde and an understanding of our responsibility in caring for this gift God has given us.

We have always been taught to care for what God has given us, right?  Take care of your pet. Take care of your toys.  Take care of your clothes.  Take care of your hair.  Take care to turn off the lights when you leave a room.  Take care to close the [outside] door (really, it was more like, "CLOSE THE DOOR!!!!!!!").  Take care of....you get the picture.  But take care of the earth?  Not us!...Not that we were led to believe that going around ravaging the land (purposefully at least) was acceptable.  But this was just something never talked about, let alone encouraged in our family and community.

But as we started this 'food scraps to the girls' thing, something gently, but seriously, stirred in us.  Earlier I said that our motivation for Going Green changed into a response to an ever growing thankfulness and gradititude and an understanding of our responsibility in caring for the gift God has given us.  It also stirred us being environmentally aware and active because of the effect it has on our relationship with God Himself when we care for and attend to the things He cares for and attends to; not just us who are "made in God's image" (Genesis 5:1) but also the "ravens...and God feeds them." (Luke 12:24)

In the words of Elizabeth Johnson, a plain ol' gal, wife, & mother who wrote a beautiful essay on her family living green:


"It is in the midst of this living icon that I live out my life.  It is meant to bring me joy, as well as sustenance and to be a vehicle through which my relationship with God can be broadened and deepened."

So....

"I no longer conserve water just because it is good for the earth (although I am sure it is).  I do it out of gratitude to God for giving me water.  I choose to reduce, reuse, or recycle not solely because I don't want to contribute to landfills but because I want to treat the earth with respect as an icon of the Creator God (italics mine)."

The earth...an icon of the Creator God.  And it is.  It's beauty, it's magnificence is both a gifted glimpse into and a reflection of the Person who made it.  When we started to understand it like this, why wouldn't we be prompted to do our best to care for it?

And would we trying to live out our faith in this way also if we were not Orthodox Christians?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  It is highly possible that we would've jumped on the Save the Earth wagon, doing our part to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  But for us, I know  it would not have had the same spiritual impact on us than it does for us being Orthodox.  You see, Orthodox Christians are sacramentalists.  (I'm totally stealing the following words from Kelly--cause I'm tired and am short on time now to put my own thoughts into words.)  They believe that all aspects of the Universe were meant to be used by mankind as a means to know (or commune) with God.  Objects are blessed not to make them holy but to reveal the holiness that is inherent in creation. In our relationships with others, we should find God.  Even more so, we should see God in each person as each of us are in his image (even the nasty ones).  In the care of animals, we should find God. Even in tending to plants and earth we should find God too.  And I don't just mean that we should "see" God in these things/places because He made them.  I mean to say that He is there.  God is everywhere present and fills all things.  This is the essence of a sacramental worldview.  Thus, you may see the necessity for "greenness" among sacramentalists.  In taking care of the Universe, specifically the Earth since most of us don't have access to space, we will know God.  We will know him in a more intimate way then if we don't care for His creation.

So, what does all of this look like in our home?  Well, going from scrapin' our food scraps to our chicks to an ever evolving way of living is a list that could be added to every year....hopefully.  But here's a bit of what it looks like around here at this time:

*being more conscious of lights, fans and ACs...and turning them off when not in use
*recycling our bottles and cans
*not letting water run when not in use
*recycling paper and other recycleables (as much as we can)
*not purchasing plastic disposable water bottles (as much as we can)
*using glass vs. plastic containers
*bring my own cloth bags when shopping
*using paper bags vs. plastic when I forget my cloth bags
*using cloth napkins vs. paper (that is actually some thing we have been doing for about 6 years) (as much as I can)


But as you read through the list above I'm sure you noticed that I stated 'as much as we can' in numberous places.  This is my universal disclaimer because...well...I simply am a lazy bum sometimes.  Sometimes I just don't want to mess with it so I throw it in the closest disposal unit--the trash can.  And then I feel guilty (most of the time) and go dig it out of the trash and dispose of it properly.  But there are times I don't.  (I know, I know.  BUM, I say!)  I suppose if I moved our recycling bin into our teeny-tiny kitchen that that problem of my perpetual laziness would be nullified...but I truly don't have the room for it in my kitchen and I can't afford to redo my kitchen cabinetry or even afford to loose any storage and don't really want to be manuvering around/tripping over a bin or extra trash can...so therefore...

I know this list doesn't contain all that we might do around this joint and I also know that there is so much more that we could be doing.  But what we choose do to vs. what we are able to do are two different things.  We try to do our best most of the time--for that time in our lives--to take care of the environment--the exquisite gifts that He has given us.  And as time goes on, we hopefully will be blessed with the grace to do more in this area of our lives...we'll see.  =)