Doing our Part (Kind of)

I was very proud of Carter the other day. He asked if we could go pick up garbage in a ditch along a highway by our home. I was pleased that he wanted to care for our earth this way, however, I really had no desire to help him out. First, I was a little self-conscious about what all the people driving by would think ...and second, who really wants to pick up someone else's smelly garbage. But I decided this was an opportunity for me to either instill in my kids the idea that it is worthwhile to care for God's creation or ignore the request. So I forged ahead and decided to encourage Carter in his desire. We packed up our golf cart with garden gloves, garbage bags, a dog, two girls, a boy and a mom and drove to the ditch. I am sure the cars driving by had a good laugh as I tried to control 3 kids and a dog alongside a busy highway. But we did successfully fill two bags full of garbage,survive the traffic, and fend off a swarm of ants.

My parents passed on to me early in my life that we need to care for the world God entrusted to us, and I am trying to teach my children that same lesson. I believe we are not suppose to simply use up the earth and all of it's wonderful resources for our own selfish pleasure, but that we should do our part to be good stewards of God's creation.

My parents were recycling and composting....way before it was "cool". And they continue to model many ways of living "green" -- not because it's the latest trend, but because they feel called to do so.

So I decided to take a look at how Cal and I are doing at modeling this kind of purposeful living to care for our environment to our kids, and I realized that while our intentions are good and a few "green" habits are in place, we often still fall into the trap of letting convenience and comfort win out over what's best for God's world.

These are our attempts at being friendly to the environment:

• We try to carry our own bags to the store. I am very anti-plastic bags. However, due to my inability to remember anything past my nose, I often forget to bring my own bags along. I might even get the bags as far as my car, but to actually bring them into the store...that's another whole accomplishment. I did recently make a great discovery -- there are these adorable little roll-up bags that you can throw in your purse. They cost $3 at Pier One -- I suggest everyone get a couple. Besides, Cal looked absolutely adorable yesterday as he walked out of the grocery store with my pink paisley and blue polka dot bags.
• We do recycle faithfully. We have a great garbage/recycle service. I was proud when I even started breaking down my cereal boxes for the recycle bin.


• We sparingly run our air-conditioning (except for the entire months of July and August...seriously, we live in humid, hot South Dakota).


• We appear to live by the mantra -- "If it's yellow let it mellow. If it's brown send it down." (At least "water conservation" is the excuse I offer for why the toilet never seems to be flushed -- and Carter, well I don't think he feels it is ever necessary to "send it down", much to the disgust of his big sister.)
  
• We try to limit our use of paper products. Unfortuneately, I can only do so many dishes in a day before I opt for the ever handy use of paper plates.


• We buy energy efficient light bulbs. (But here is where Cal's support for green living begins to waiver. He is not a big fan of having to wait for 3 minutes for the lights in our bedroom to get up to full brightness -- to quote him "I know that everyday is earth day, but my socks don't match!!!"


• We own one fuel efficient car (the other...not so much.) And we do try to carpool. Maybe someday we'll get into using our bikes, but I'm not sure if we could handle that much exercise.

Well, we'll keep trying.