Before we get to the good stuff, we have to talk a bit more about the bad. So far, we've talked about why we as Christians should be talking about consumption, where our personal consumption level falls and we've talked about where we get our influences. Now we get to talk about the impact of our choices and our lifestyles, and where to go from here.
We started out discussing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch- a swirling vortex of plastic pieces and goo that is twice the size of Texas and is continually growing. If you'd like to get a bit more insight on this topic, check out some of the information on the side links. Or just search "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." There's a lot out there to find that we couldn't cover in an hour.
We discussed e-waste (electronic waste) and why it's so bad for the planet. There are soo many videos out there about it, but we watched a clip from this one. The summary of the e-waste problem is this: anything that's created will need to go somewhere at the end of it's life. Whenever you purchase a shiny new gadget, you need to think about the fact that it will eventually wear out or break, become obsolete (when have any of you ever seen an 8-track?), or you'll simply decide that it no longer fits your needs (or more likely, wants) and you'll want to replace it with something new. But because technology doesn't decompose or break down, that waste has to go somewhere (and if you sell it to someone else, that waste still has to go somewhere, you've simply added another step to the chain- which is good, but not the final answer). Currently, our world doesn't have the recycling capabilities to deal with our waste, and even in the places that do, most of the waste ends up in third world countries because it's cheaper ($2 vs. $30 for India vs. USA disposal facilities) to dispose of an e-waste item in a place that deals with it poorly. Many poor people with no other job prospects will dismantle electronics to resell the parts at a very low cost- and will release toxic gases and particles by melting the metals over an open flame (without proper protection) or dissolving the plastic coating in vats of acid (which are then dumped in local fields and rivers). There's so much more to it than that incredibly brief recap, and I encourage you to do more research to see why e-waste is an environmental, consumption -level, and social justice problem.
Those two areas of external (affecting more than just us) consumption impact are just a small sampling of what we could have covered. We as Christians are doing a lot of damage to our world and our fellow humans without even realizing it. But the good news is that you guys now have at least an idea of what kind of consequences our lifestyles are creating. And realizing and acknowledging that are the first steps toward recovery! Part 1.a of the good news is that after you realize that things aren't right, making them better is really not that hard! And you, as teens and as soon-to-be-adults, can make changes right now to reduce your contribution to some of these very real problems.
So what can you do? I gave you a list of tips and tricks from zerowastehome.blogspot.com which is a great place to start. And then I asked you guys to commit to one change. Just start with one. When you've got that one down, you can try another! One at a time isn't so overwhelming. Don't get yourself depressed with where you're at right now- up until this point, you didn't know. But now you do! Maybe you decide you want to avoid (or completely refuse to buy) things that have plastic packaging. Maybe you want to bring your own bags to the grocery store (or the mall). Maybe you decide you're going to reduce your time in the car and try to do all your errands or visiting on one day. Maybe you make it a point to shut off your electronics (computer, TV, ipod, etc.) for one day a week. Maybe you decide to make your own personal care product. Or maybe you decide that you want to do all of these or none of these and try something else instead. The point is, one change is the start. And you might just find that it's a lot easier than you ever thought. And if we're all committing to making some sort of change at once, you've got yourself a ready-made supportive friend and accountibilibuddy somewhere within our group. :)
And since this post is being published almost a month after our original discussion, I'd love to hear how this is going for you in the comments!
P.S.- Our 5 minutes of God Time song was an instrumental version of "Be Thou My Vision"
No comments:
Post a Comment