It's Not Easy Being Green
So the word of the year is "green". I watched a "House Hunters" the other night where a couple in New Mexico who lived in a four bedroom, three bath house with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, was looking for a "green" vacation home in Oregon, on the beach. When they saw one house with an older "stainless" fridge that wasn't Energy Star compliant, they wanted to change it out for an efficient one.
Okay, people, are you following this? How are you green if you live in a HUGE house and you buy another HUGE house for a vacation home? You have an energy star appliance in both places and so you feel good about yourself? My point is, you can't live the way you want, big and large and be green. You have to make some choices about how much of a footprint you leave.
SO let's do the math. To get to Oregon, they will have to take a plane. (Unnecessary travel -- Bad for the environment.) Their house was in the mountains of New Mexico and big (upsetting the natural balance in the mountains -- bad for the ecosystem.) A house on the beach is about as ungreen as you can be. I'm sorry, but God isn't making any more shore (unless we have a big earthquake, maybe). But how can you build along the ocean, take up shoreline and call yourself green? How can you throw out a new refrigerator into the landfill and call yourself green? Is it really better for the environment for you to throw away laminate countertops in the landfill so you can go with recycled glass counters? Seriously, the less impact, the more green you are. It's just a fact, but it's become a sales pitch, like BUYING MORE STUFF is going to fix the environment. I mean, is it me? Two people with two houses across the country are not really as green as they believe. Now I'm not faulting the people for living the life they want to live, but don't delude yourself and say the environment is your primary concern.
To me, it's like being a Christian. You can't continue on in life just as you please and call yourself one. There has to be some action that accompanies the title. All I'm saying.
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16 Comments:
Well said!
Right on! It has even become where an car mechanic on t.v. (of the hot rod show on T.L.C.) can give environmental "absolution" to a rock star (lead singer of red hot chile peppers) because while he will be putting almost 13,000 pounds (I don't even know where they got the formula to figure that out!) of CO2 in the air per year--he has a solar house--so it all equals "0" (according to the mechanic/priest) so they can redo the car (happy ending...) Everyone is going crazy--all at once--I saw the Oprah post yesterday too....praise God HE HAS redeemed us and we are not in charge of that--it is apparent we would not know where to even begin!
Much of this environmental stuff is very much a religion. As will most religion, the activities required do not stand up to logic.
I think taking care of the environment is a good thing, but I think it is wrong for us to leave people out of the equation. Most environmentalists seem to have the idea that the ideal world would be one without people and we should try to live in such a way that we have no impact on that. The fact is that God knew what he was doing when he put us here.
I heard something on the radio the other day (I admit not the most trustworthy of sources) but it really made me think! The guy said that the enviromentalists were trying to change the bible to say that the earth should be controlling us, when the Bible clearly states that Man should 'subdue' the earth. God gave us this land, and YES we need to take care of it and be good stewards of what God has given us, but not to the point of becoming a slave to the land, letting it have dominion over us.
I think it goes back to the whole Biblical principle of getting the log out of your own eye before helping your neighbor with the splinter in his. The people in your example are having a much greater negative impact on the envirement than I will ever think of having.
And I won't even get started on Al Gore and his whole 'carbon offsets'...
Spot on, K! Just like Al Gore trying to say he's an environmentalist. Sheesh.
I think we should be careful of what the "world" is telling us. The media can get a snowball rolling and then everybody gets caught up in it.
Not saying we shouldn't be good stewards of our land and all but what comes out of Oprah's mouth and those rallying with her should be questioned. Who really is at the base of it?
Timothy and Krista right on!
I just find it funny that people in Hollywood are telling us how to be green, when they are living International lifestyles. I mean, how many of us have more than one car to drive? Have a house above 3,000 square feet?
But let them buy carbon offsets and make Al Gore richer if it makes them feel better. I got that offer on Expedia and almost spit out my coffee.
I admire people for trying to make the world a better place, but it starts at home. : )
Good post, Kristin. :)
Preach it, girl! Too bad they won't put this on CNN!!
While I agree that we need to be good stewards of the earth; I whole-heartedly agree with Kristin that we have to "walk the walk."
I work for a hand cleaner manufacturer and you would not believe the regulations recently imposed upon the industry to be "green". All those changes are horribly expensive and are hurting the industry. The substitute ingredients we have to use don't work as well. In order to compensate for our raw materials and transporation costs, we've had to raise prices. We're finding folks don't want to pay more for a product that doesn't work as well -even though "green" is on the label.
BUT, I digress. We can pontificate all we want about saving the earth, but we'd better be sorting our recyclables while we do it! :D
Good job, Kristin! You're right: people "supporting" the enviroment often don't follow their own claims; and sometimes "enviromentally-friendly" labels are used to sell products. My parents and I laugh when Al Gore or Oprah claim to be doing all they can to preserve the earth, yet at the same time they ride around in private jets and own million-dollar homes with the latest appliances.
Of course, we are responsible for taking care of the earth. God gave it to us for that purpose. But just because we take care of it does not mean we worship it. Whether the enviromentalists realize it or not, they are committing idolatry.
I agree with Melissa: Praise God, He has redeemed us and we are not a part of that.
Well, as Dick Cheney said recently, we are experiencing global warming. It's called 'spring'!
haha.
And, he added, it's only going to get worse, before it gets better.
(summer!) heehee...
Nancy, you're wrong. Owning a Prius does make you that. In fact, my neighbor up the hill has one, and when he's environmental, he takes it out of his four car garage and gets on the road with IT instead of the two Porsches he owns. LOL
I wish that the people actually paying those silly offsets would use the money to buy a Prius for me, instead of making Al Gore rich! Take my gas guzzling Buick and my annoying engine Chevy off the road, and replace them with a Toyota or a Honda. That would make more difference than lining someone's pockets with the "green".
Chelf, seriously, that is a GREAT idea! Think about all the gardeners out there with trucks from 1977 that could be cleared off the road for a more efficient vehicle. That is definitely the way to do it! A lot of people WOULD drive Priuses or more efficient vehicles if they could afford them.
I just got back from Whole Foods, and they want you to bring your own bags, but buying for six, I don't have nice cloth sacks for 20. Anyway, they stand there and wait for me to bag it, and I just stood there -- feeling my entitlement. For $75 for two bags of groceries, you are bagging that stuff. LOL
A year ago, my family decided to do our bit toward "green". We buy smaller cars, for one, and complain when we have to drive a half-hour to take our son to his girlfriend's house. LOL! When our last car is paid off, we are trading it in for a hybrid. We don't use paper napkins and very little paper towels. We recycle, lots!
But the one thing that seems to make the most difference, and has turned out to be a lot of fun...is Wednesdays are no electricity night. No lights, no computer, no gameboys (we do use the air conditioner. We live in the desert. Enough said). We grill hot dogs over a fire the boys start with flint and a knife then light some candles and play board games. Our electric bill dropped twenty dollars a month, we help the environment in a small way, and reconnect as a family. If we all do something, even small, we can make a difference.
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