Category Archives: environment

Organic and Sustainable Christianity

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An Intended Meaning
Organic and Sustainable Christianity has a double meaning. One meaning has to do with what a Christian believes, the other is how a Christian responds because of that belief. What do we believe about the world? That God created it? That since creation, humanity has fallen and has brought suffering in the world? If so, how does that cause us to act? Do we seek to fight injustice? Do we desire to protect the environment? Do we care for people’s physical and spiritual needs? Faith should lead to Action!
Faith

To begin with, a Christian needs a strong organic faith that is characterized by growth. Our faith must be nurtured through prayer and Biblical reflection but it must also be pruned by God’s Spirit and accountability and fellowship with other Christians. Jesus lived in an organic way. He created few traditions but he was always sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. He walked where he was supposed to walk and did what he was supposed to do. Today, our churches tend to be program driven and not driven by natural relationships. We have a routine when it comes to our Christianity: Sunday service (2 hours), Weekly Bible study group (2
hours), the freedom to spend the rest of our time the way we want (priceless). Jesus calls us to discipleship, not to sit back and watch the world suffer. Every moment is an opportunity to grow personally or to respond to a need or to engage in discipleship. 

This sort of approach to our walk with Jesus will also lend itself to sustainability. Sustainability doesn’t depend on a faith that is informed only by a 20 minute sermon on Sunday and one quick time of Bible study with a small group. Our relationship with God is sustainable
because of the deep intimacy that we have with him and with others. Our faith should be growing organically and that natural growth will cause us to be like a “tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does
prospers.” (Psalm 1)
Action
That leads us to the other meaning of living an “organic and sustainable faith”. Our world is suffering. Jesus identifies with our suffering. He was born into poverty, was a refugee in Africa for a number of years, spent years bringing about healing and hope to the marginalized, and finally was forsaken and rejected by even some of his closest followers and put to death. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53) He brought not only physical healing but more importantly he brought spiritual healing. Our world is hurting because of poverty, slavery, violence, disease. We are facing economic and environmental crises. As Christians we are called to action! Assuming that we are already focused on
spiritual issues (sharing our story about our relationship with God), the Church needs to do much better about addressing physical suffering in the world. The terms “organic” and “sustainable” are usually associated with environmental issues, but if we don’t also address
social justice issues, people’s hope will not be sustainable. Our hope in each other is beginning to fade and we need to share with people that God loves them and we love them so we are going to help them. 
Ecology is the interrelationship between organisms and their environment and we need to begin demanding an ecology that focuses on those interrelationships between “organisms”, with priority being placed on our relationships with other humans.
Our action must be organic in that it must respond naturally to the needs of those around us. When you see a need, meet a need. You don’t have to be involved in every issue that our world faces, but find some that resonate personally with you and work on them. You might be fighting to end breast cancer. You may decide to compost. You may decide to volunteer at an animal shelter or work with the homeless or the orphaned. You may feel led to put solar panels on your roof. Whatever you do, don’t do it because it’s trendy but because it comes natural to you. Again, this will lead to sustainability. Sustainability for the environment and sustainability for the relationships living in that environment. If you care about something, you tend to do it long term. Our suffering world needs something they can hold on to and if we are showing love then a person can be sustained by that love. If we are like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, men and women of faith, then we can believe that whatever we do for God’s kingdom and for His creation will prosper. So let’s start working on it.

Main Street Solutions for the Economy

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wall-st-bullWall Street and our politicians think they have the answers to our economic woes, but maybe the answers should come from Main Street instead. Apart from being forced to give Wall Street one trillion dollars there are several things that “Main Street” can do voluntarily to keep the economy from going under.

Don’t make drastic changes!

With the panic that is setting the pace for our government (“We have to do something NOW!”) and for Wall Street (“Sell, sell, sell!”) it’s hard to remain calm these days. However, I’m convinced that greed is what is causing our politicians and business leaders to act drastically. I’m also convinced that the average American has some basic common sense. I have a retirement account and it’s scary to watch my stocks go lower and lower in value, but I know it will make a comeback. There’s no reason to cash them out now before they go lower (they may go even lower before the go higher). I also am not going to drastically change my banking practices. There is no reason to cash out your savings account or hold back half of your paycheck and put the cash under the mattress. The banks will be just fine if we don’t make any hysterical changes in our accounts.

Live Within Your Means!

The problems we are currently facing in our economy are a result of greed. It has become TOO easy for people who make $30,000 a year to live like they make $75,000 a year. People who can afford a mortgage on a $150,000 home are taking out mortgages on a $400,000 home. People who can afford to rent an apartment for $650 a month are renting an apartment for $1500 a month. Graduates freshly out of college think they need to immediately have a 5 bedroom house, fully furnished, with two cars in the garage. As if all of these things will make them acceptable to their friends. Let’s be clear, the mortgage crisis is the fault of the homeowners who bit off more than they can chew AND the banks who knew it was an unhealthy risk AND the politicians who forced the banks to loan a certain amount of “bad” mortgages. It’s true, if people start living within their means, there probably won’t be as many purchases and there may be some jobs lost but our economy needs to re-stabilize.

Go Green!

Wall Street and politicians need to know that we will not be a country of excess anymore. We don’t want millions of cars polluting our air. We don’t want 5,000 square foot homes that must be heated and cooled and cleaned and lit. We don’t want to buy food from South America when we can buy local. We don’t want a lifestyle that destroys our environment. For too long we’ve known we don’t NEED all the wasteful things that we spend our money on, but now we are telling the world that we don’t WANT those things either. It’s time to demand transportation that doesn’t harm the environment, homes that are practical but comfortable, and food and clothing that is simple and affordable. Those are some of our basic needs. It’s ridiculous that we are at a point where we can’t even distinguish between needs, wants, and ridiculously excess. Going green makes our environment cleaner, saves money, and encourages responsibility and Godly stewardship of His creation.

Give It Away!

Finally, a way regular Americans can strengthen our economy is to give. I’m not talking about giving to get. I’m talking about giving sacrificially and with no strings attached. John Wesley was a great preacher who became very successful and began to make a lot of money but he lived a very simple life. He lived almost all his life on 30 pounds a year. One year he made as much as 1400 pounds (making him one of the wealthiest men in England at the time) but he gave all of it away except 30 pounds. Wesley’s philosophy was “Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.” He wasn’t against making money, but he believed the more money a person gained, the more money a person could give. He said, “In the hands of (God’s) children [money] is food for the hungry. Drink for the thirsty. [Clothing] for the naked. It gives to the traveler and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame: yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”

Conclusion

Our politicians tax excessively. Business leaders are getting millions of dollars in bonuses. Everywhere we turn, money is the goal. The average American pays about one third of their income to taxes. The government spends some of that money on necessary things: defense, education, etc. However, they are also using our money to support things I wouldn’t be caught dead spending my money on. Then there are those things that I find unnecessary. The government thinks it is their job to give to the poor and needy, leaving less money in my pocket to give away to people in need. As John Wesley said, “I cannot help leaving my books behind me whenever God call me hence, but in every other respect, my hands will be my executors.” Wesley gave as much as 98% of his income away. Today that would be impossible because so much of our money is tied up in taxes and rising costs of living. The more greed in our economy, the more things cost and the less we can give to those who have a real need. I thank God that I have an apartment I can afford and the clothes and food that I need. I wish that more people could begin living within their means and giving away the rest.

Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

Going Gaga for Google

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Well, it is now official…I own Google. I actually only own about 1/10th of one share through my mutual fund, but I take pride in it. For the longest time I have been one of Google’s best viral marketers. I was inviting people to gmail when you still had to have an invitation to get gmail. There are a lot of reasons why I love Google, but recently I discovered a few more reasons to love them so I thought I would highlight my best reasons to go gaga for Google.
Google’s Philosophy
Most people know about Google through their extensive line of products, but one look at their philosophy and it’s easy to see why they have become such a successful company. According to Google’s own site ”The perfect search engine,” says Google co-founder Larry Page, “would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.” The simplicity of Google’s search page has been a trademark of their success, but it’s the roughly 20,000 employees that make it all work. 
According to Fortune, Google is the best place in America to work. Some of their employees make less than market standard but their stock options are making millionaires out of many of their own employees. Apparently, they offer stock options to about 99% of their employees and turnover is rare. In fact, Google seems to be creating a lot of new jobs but they can’t keep up with the three quarters of a million people who are applying every year. One last benefit to employees is Google’s subsidy for their employees to buy fuel-efficient cars and they offer free shuttle service to and from work. This brings me to the next reason we can all love Google and that is their commitment to the environment.
Creation Friendly
In addition to Google’s stellar corporate philosophy, they are actively working towards completely eliminating their own carbon footprint. Their commitment is to reduce their own 
energy needs to eliminate some of their carbon emmissions and also to invest in renewable resources to offset the rest. One of Google’s celebrated projects was to create the largest solar grid in the U.S.  According to Wikipedia, “In October 2006, the company announced plans to install thousands of solar panels to provide up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy approximately 30% of the campus’ energy needs. The system will be the largest solar power system constructed on a U.S. corporate campus and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world.”

Their plans to save the environment don’t end there, however. Google’s Blog in June of 2007 stated “In addition, we’ve set ourselves the ambitious goal of creating 50 megawatts of new renewable generation capacity–enough to power 50,000 typical U.S. homes–by 2012.” Google’s most recent project has been splashed all over the news the past few days. Their plan is to give $10 million dollars away to research and develop Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) which drills down into the Earth’s core and uses steam to power turbines.

Finally, Google also claims to reduce their carbon footprint through some of their products. For example, they encourage the use of Google Docs so that people use less paper and simply keep their info online. Google Transit also makes it easier for people to search for public transportation rather than taking their own cars to get to a destination. All in all, Google is well on their way to eliminating or offsetting their carbon footprint completely.
Social Action
Google seems to be more vocal about their environmental activity, but they are also extremely active in social justice issues. In fact, the same google.org site that lists their environmental activity lists dozens of philanthropic efforts to help end humanitarian crises. through their 5 Core Initiatives Google not only invests in “creation friendly” initiatives (already highlighted above), but they also invest money for the prevention of global health and humanitarian crises (about $8 million). They also invest money to combat poverty (over $3 million) and fuel the growth of small enterprise (almost $5 million).  

Google Products

So, just for fun, I thought I might add a bonus section to highlight some of the products that Google actually offers. I’m most impressed with Google’s commitment to their employees and with their humanitarian and environmental responsibility but most people love Google simply because of what they do best.  Below are just a few of the products I’ve actually used and enjoyed. I like them so much that not only is my blog solar powered, but it’s also Google powered. The following list is in random order.
Google Search is the most frequently used search engine on the world wide web today. It indexes billions of sites and has roughly 50% of the market share for online searches (using probably around 450,000 servers). Yahoo comes in second with about 20% or so. With Google’s advanced algorithms and their philosophy that democracy works best on the internet, you are almost assured to get the best results for your search.
Google Maps have frustrated me only a few times but it is usually the most helpful Google tool I use. It is amazing that they have virtually the whole world mapped with satellite imagery and point by point directions. You can even create user generated maps and content.
Gmail has an ever increasing amount of storage space for your emails. You never need to delete emails (though I always delete junk). Gmail also has a great way of sorting your emails so you always can retrieve it later through the use of labels, search, and keeping emails together that are in the same “conversation”.
iGoogle is a great way to customize your home page and it gives you easy access to your gmail, calendar and news reader and has literally tens of thousands of gadgets that you can use to make your homepage customizable.
Google Calendar is really good but when I got my mac I started using iCal. No
 worries, there are all sorts of programs offered by Google that will retrieve your iCal data (or other calendars) and add it to your Google Calendar. That way, I use iCal, but my wife can still view my calendar online through Google.

Google Finance allows you to add all of your stocks or mutual funds into a portfolio for Google to track and give real time updates on how they are doing. Now I can tell if my shares of Google are rising or falling. It also uses Google News to let you know if there is anything major going on with anything in your portfolio.
Adwords allows you to take out an advertising campaign on the internet. Google will find relevant places to place your ad. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and comes to your website and you can specify how much you want to pay each month.
Adsense lets you display other people’s advertisements and you get paid each time someone clicks through from your site. 
Blogger and Social Networking are sites that Google has acquired that allows Google users to blog for free and join social sites.
Google Reader allows you to aggregate all of your favorite blogs and news items into one handy reader so that you don’t have to spend your time going from one site to the next in the hopes that a particular blogger has even updated his or her site. 
Let me know what you think of Google. Any other companies you know of that are even more socially and environmentally responsible? 

What Cycling Taught Me About Driving

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I’m in danger of losing some readers on this post. Some of you read my blog because I am into sustainability and the environment. Others read it because I am a follower of Christ and I often find ways to bring those two topics together. However, this post is about my love for biking, the environment and how that affects my driving. It certainly has environmental overtones, but it’s specifically about something I love and I realize some of you may not share my love for using a form of transportation that doesn’t consume Saudi oil, but I digress.
A Little Nostalgia
When I got my first bike my family was living in a large home on a sprawling hill. We had a huge driveway and a massive front yard that sloped down to the street and to trees on either side. Growing up in rural Alabama, those trees on either side of the house had kudzu growing all over them. Kudzu is like a vine or a bush that attaches to trees and basically makes a wall of green.
Well, my dad had a good tactic when it came to teaching me how to ride a bike…no training wheels, no holding on the back of the seat, and no helmet as I recall. Trust me, you might think that’s not a good idea, but I learned quickly how to ride a bike because he simply let me do it. The very first time I rode my new red Huffy bike I started on the driveway, realized I was losing control, headed for the sloping lawn, crossed back over the driveway, straight into the kudzu. My dad came running down the hill. I clambered out of the kudzu and exclaimed, “I’m doing that again!”
Wreck”less”
These days, I spend a lot of time riding my bike in traffic or on the sidewalk. There are a few parallels to driving that brings me to my point: If we drove our cars like we ride our bikes it would be better for the environment. No, I don’t mean wrecking our cars in a stand of trees and kudzu either. Let me explain.
Every person who has ever ridden a bike has had that moment where they had to brake needlessly for a pedestrian who wasn’t looking or for a car that is moving into your lane. It’s interesting that car drivers are trained to watch out for pedestrians, pedestrians are trained to watch for cars, but nobody knows what to do with bikes. We have to watch out for everybody. It’s frustrating when you are expending so much energy to work your way up a hill, you make eye contact with a pedestrian who is at a crosswalk (willing them to wait just one more second so you can maintain your momentum), and they blatantly walk out in front of you. You slow to a complete stop to let them pass and then you have to get moving all the way from scratch. 

You’ve got to learn to bike before you learn to drive.
Instead, as a cyclist, I try my best to anticipate stops that might be ahead so that I can coast into them rather than pedal hard, brake hard, pedal hard again, and brake hard again. Maintaining a consistent speed is easier than starting and stopping. Pedaling is work but in a car all it takes is pushing a little bit harder on the gas pedal. That requires very little work right? Wrong. You may not be doing the work but your engine is. Gas is the energy being expended. Rather than perspiration, your car is expelling exhaust. It may feel like nothing to press a little harder on the gas to get back up to 85 mph because some jerk is going the speed limit (how dare he) but it’s actually a waste of energy.
The major difference between the use of energy by a bike and the use of energy by a car is that the wasted energy in a car is harmful and pollutative (I like to make up words) but the wasted energy on a bike can actually be healthy. Saudi oil is burned in the car. Calories are burned on the bike. Money, gas, oil, maintenance costs, insurance, car washes, parking permits, and complex machinery are all necessary to get you to your destination in a car. Simple machinery, low upkeep, very little money, physical fitness, and a healthy diet are all that are necessary to get you to your destination on a bike. I love when I have the option to ride my bike rather than my car, but I realize we need our cars, our buses, and our airplanes. But when we drive our car, we need to do better about remembering what it was like when we learned how to ride a bike for the first time and start driving our cars like we ride our bikes. That is, with an awareness of whether or not we are expending energy wastefully or necessarily and making the necessary adjustments to maximize our gas consumption when we must go by car.
Re”act”
What do you think? Do your driving habits contribute to the problem of pollution? Do you use a bike?
Please take the 1 World 2 Wheels challenge.
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A Theology of Traffic

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Boston is arguably one of the worst cities in which to drive in America. As a result, I fit in quite well. I regard myself as a safe, conscientious, but yet aggressive driver. I use my defensive driving skills as offense when navigating the roads and highways in and around Boston and I’m not alone. When someone else models bad road behavior I realize that he is the one contributing to the problem, but I think it’s okay when I do it. But is that the sort of behavior that I should contribute to as a follower of Jesus?

William Beaty is an electrical engineer that has done some experimentation with traffic patterns and he has some interesting things to say. His experiments illustrate what should probably be common sense to all of us, but I want to describe his experiment and then show the implications for Christian discipleship and kindness.

Bumper-to-Buffer
Beaty describes how he was in stop-and-go traffic one day and everyone ahead of him was rushing ahead to close the gap so that no one else could cut in front of them, jockeying for every advantage possible. Beaty decided to leave a large buffer in front of him and try and maintain the average speed of the traffic (about 35mph). In other words, the people in front of him were zooming ahead at about 55mph, only to have to slam on their brakes and slow to about 15mph or come to a complete stop (thereby wasting gas, converting it into heat rather than forward motion).

Because Beaty was maintaining his average speed of 35mph, he was saving gas and breaking the ubiquitous stop-and-go traffic waves that were occurring ahead of him. At one point, on a long stretch of road, Beaty looked behind him and saw that his behavior was eliminating the stop-and-go pattern that was happening in front of him. He had made the difference. Since his speed was consistent, the others behind him were “forced” to drive at a consistent speed of about 35mph. The savings in aggravation and in fuel costs are incalculable for that many people who were positively influenced by Beaty’s behavior.

I’m not always the model of behavior on the road, but I’ve done this plenty of times before just out of my own personal desire to break the pattern of stop-and-go traffic. I would try and coast to the front and accelerate slowly to try and maintain the average speed never knowing that this might actually be helping people other than myself. I never considered that people behind me were “following” me (literally, but not intentionally) and that I could erase a small bit of their economic and emotional woes.

Traffic Patterns
Beaty’s experiments in traffic serve to highlight the need to be courteous on the road, but it also has larger implications for those of us who desire to “follow” Jesus on the “road”. Beaty says, “My single tiny car had erased miles and miles of stop-and-go traffic” and “A single solitary driver, if they stop ‘competing’ and instead adopt some unusual driving habits, can actually wipe away some of the frustrating traffic patterns on a highway.” It’s true that people are following us. The cars that are following behind us on the road didn’t make a conscious decision to follow us. They are simply behind us. They don’t consider the car ahead of them to be the leader. However, it’s amazing what kind of impact the car ahead can make by simply being cautious and courteous and respectful to the cars that are ahead, beside, and behind them.

People are following us too, whether on the road or in life, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and our patterns of behavior can either calm or cajole them. Our patterns of behavior can either bring peace and joy, or enmity and strife. Beaty’s traffic experiment once again illustrates why followers of Jesus should be leading the way in improving our culture and God’s creation. Beaty’s behavior caused others to arrive at their destination a little more calm and peaceful, with a little more gas in their tank, and a little more money in their pocket. A Christ follower should have the same sort of impact every single day. I might not be able to share the message of Jesus with someone every single day, but my actions should improve the environment, spread peace to those ahead, beside, and behind me, and bring a smile to people’s faces. This is Christian discipleship. Some Christians try and slam on the brakes with boycotts and legislation against the things of which they disapprove. Meanwhile, the culture is speeding ahead trying to break new ground with immorality and selfishness. The true Christian should consistently set the pace with his or her love, respect, kindness, and service to others. We need to accept that there are some people “ahead” of us that will never be impacted by our behavior. Instead, our focus should be on those who are “behind” us that we can help economically, emotionally, and spiritually by living a life consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

What is your traffic pattern? How are you positively impacting culture and creation for the glory of God? If you are not a follower of Jesus, would you say the Christians you have personally known have contributed to or detracted from society? In what way?

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Easy and Cost Effective Ways We Can All Go Green

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As I have mentioned in the past, I’m not a diehard treehugger, and yet, I do my best to be a responsible steward of God’s creation. I’ve been thinking through some of the things I’ve tried to do to be a better steward. Some of these things are no-brainers for some of my readers, but the reality is, there are a lot of people who still don’t even recycle (much less create their own compost). So, I want to give you my top ten things that I wish everyone in America would do to make the world a better place. More could be added, but at the very least let’s buy into these ten things.

10. Change to CFL lightbulbs.
They last longer. they use less energy. They save you money.
GE says, “If every household in the U.S. replaced ONE light bulb with a GE Energy Smart bulb, we would save…
- A combined national total of $600 million a year in energy costs.
- Enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

9. Walk or bike for trips shorter than two miles.
Here are a few stats from Trek:
- 60% of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively.
- 24% of all trips are made within a mile of the home, 40% of all trips are made within two miles of the home, and 50% of the working population commutes five miles or less to work.
- The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.

8. Stop Drinking Bottled Water
According to the Refill not Landfill Campaign:
- Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That’s enough to fuel 100,000 cars.
- Americans send about 38 billion water bottles a year to landfills. (According to Brita)

* Check This Out!

7. Shop Locally
There’s no reason to buy a tomato from Brazil. Many places have local farmer’s markets that you can go to and buy fresher, cheaper ingredients that weren’t frozen, packaged, shipped, unpacked, and put on the shelf. To shop locally is to conserve energy, support your local environment, and to improve your diet.

6. Plant a Tree
The Forest Service has identified a backlog of more than one million acres of America’s national forests that need to be replanted. And each year, with every wildfire, storm, or insect epidemic, the backlog steadily increases. Healthy forests filter water, remove air pollution, sequester carbon, and provide homes for wildlife. Do it on Arbor Day or purchase a tree in honor of someone.

5. Donate
A lot of what you consider to be trash might be what someone else is looking for. Consider the success of ebay for example. Donating old cell phones, computers, and even cars is a good way to make it last just a little bit longer.

4. Do a Yearly Service Project
Does your church organize a missions project each year? Is your family going on vacation? Why not do a Service Trip? Better yet, rather than jet off to some exotic location, why not find a “volunteer vacation” somewhere close by. Vacation is a state of mind anyway so make it a good one this year.

3. Think About What and How You Drive
Some of the tips here are a bit extreme, but there are a lot of great ideas for saving money on gas. Mostly it has to do with keeping the pressure in your tires, cleaning the air filter, not driving recklessly, etc. Over 50 tips for saving money on gas. Obviously, the priciest thing you can do is trade in your 20mpg SUV for a 60mpg hybrid or electric car. It will be the best option in the long run.

2. Go Online
Sure, it uses a small amount of electricity, but think about all the paper you are able to save by doing things online. Most online billing is free. Also, rather than print out a paper copy for your files, just keep it archived on an external drive.
According to Lime.com, “paperless billing [can save you about] $400 on stamps and late fees each year — it also has immense benefits for the environment. In fact, research shows that if every American signed up for online banking, 18.5 million trees would be spared annually.”

1. Recycle
You can take cans to a recycling center and get money for it. You can use newspaper for your gift wrapping instead of buying paper. You can simply put your glass, paper, and plastic products out by the curb if your city offers that. And if it doesn’t, you can petition them until they do. Lots of ideas here and it’s simply ridiculous if you don’t make an effort to recycle.
- WasteManagement alone recycled enough paper last year to save 41 million trees.

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Hugging Trees? Or Simply Being Responsible?”

How Much Would You Pay for Happiness?

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This morning I was in my car listening to an NPR story on the radio. The story was about high fuel costs from the perspective of “full-time” motor coach drivers. These are families that live out of their motor coaches and get anywhere from 7 to 9 miles per gallon, spending about $.50 per mile. One couple mentioned that they spend $600 on diesel every time they fill up. I didn’t catch names but the man mentioned that it’s the price you pay to have fun. When asked about why it was worth it, he began describing how when they go to motor coach rallies he can meet someone and within 15 minutes, they can be in someone else’s coach having drinks. “You can’t find that in a normal neighborhood,” he said. “There is a camaraderie that we have with other “full-timers” that you can’t reproduce anywhere else.”
So, if you want to live in a neighborhood that is hospitable, and neighborly, buy a $250,000 motor-home, spend $600 to fill it up with gas and drive to one of these motorhome rallies and spend a week or two there inviting people over for drinks or to play a game. Or, invite your neighbor over to your house or apartment. I’ve been in Boston for four years now and people come from so many different cultures that people barely know how to act around each other. Everyone lives in complete seclusion because, though their culture might be open and friendly, they might encounter someone who is from a culture that is cold and abrupt. However, that shouldn’t keep people from reaching out to other people. 
The Church should be especially instrumental in showing hospitality and building relationships that last. It’s a mandate, not to be salesmen of the Gospel, but to be relational because of the Gospel. It’s one of the ways in which we have been made in the image of God. We are called to love and serve God and people and it is important that we show love even when the culture around us doesn’t know if it should even make eye contact with another human being as they walk down the street. We need to lift our heads and spend time praying for community in our “communities”. You don’t even need a huge budget to build relationships. It doesn’t cost anything to make a friend. It takes a smile, a conversation, and maybe a tray of brownies. Okay, so it might cost something, but $3 for brownies is nothing compared to $600 for gas. 

Hugging Trees? or Simply Being Responsible?

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Over the past few years I have become much more of an environmental activist than I ever would have thought possible. Some of this is by necessity, some of it is by moral conviction, some of it is because it is so dang practical. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a treehugger, but I would say that if there is an opportunity to “reduce, reuse, or recycle”, I’m all for it. 
Of course, we’ve been recycling for years and my wife and I usually have more to recycle than we have trash (though with cat poop the scales probably tip more towards trash than recycleable waste…but don’t post a comment telling me all the ways you can use cat poop). I knew I was moving more towards “environmental activist” when the other day I almost threw a plastic bottle in the trash but ended up holding onto it for a couple of hours until I could throw it in a recycling bin. I remember thinking, “I would just as soon throw a piece of trash on the ground than throw this plastic bottle in the trash”.
So, am I a treehugger? An environmental activist? or am I simply a responsible citizen. I’d like to think that all the changes I’ve made over the years have come from simply becoming more responsible. I mentioned that some of my “activism” is out of necessity. My wife and I are moving partly because we don’t want to be commuting all over Greater Boston just to get to work or school. That reduces fuel usage and carbon emissions, etc. I’ve been using my bike since April and haven’t had to spend as much money on bus or T-fare. You can’t get more environmentally friendly than a bike. So, all of that saves money, and with gas currently at about $4.15 a gallon, that’s actually quite a bit of money. 
I also mentioned that part of this change in behavior is out of moral conviction. Who better to advocate for our world than a Christian, one who has been entrusted with the world as a steward of God’s creation. We have a mandate to protect the environment. I’m not going to spend weeks sitting on a tree branch so that bulldozers don’t “kill” another tree like the kids in Berkeley California are doing right now, but I can be responsible with the resources I’ve been given. 
Thirdly, I mentioned that actively protecting the environment is practical. Why let the refrigerator door stand open while you wash the lettuce? Why let the water run while you brush your teeth? You know, the things your mom used to tell you not to do. According to the One World, Two Wheels Campaign, 25% of all trips are within 1 mile of the home. 40% of all trips are 2 miles from home. The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gas a year if we increased cycling from 1% to 1.5%. That’s $1.8 billion dollars according to current gas prices. It just makes sense that we can do more to reduce, reuse, and recycle in our world today.
I’m no treehugger. I may not even be a die-hard activist. However, my hope is that we can raise the bar on what being a responsible citizen means and for those of us who are Christians, I hope we can raise the bar on what it means to be a good steward of the resources God has given us. It doesn’t just mean “tithe”. It means taking responsibility for God’s creation and making the world a cleaner, safer, and more beautiful place to live.