Monday, June 29, 2009

milk was a bad choice

it's so damn hot. hot enough that i take a siesta in the afternoon, and now i am up late. alas. but being unconscious is the way i like to pass the time during a heat wave.

i usually escape the the other side of the hills, closer to the sf bay for more reasonable, less than 100 degree temperatures. this morning during church, we were informed that the food waste, paper plates, napkins and cups for our post-service meals will now be composted, instead of sent off to the regular landfill. they apparently had been haranguing the city of berkeley for a while to make this happen. i was quite happy to hear this news and that this was one of the ways God has been calling people to live differently.

then i went home and logged on to facebook. this is one of the first status updates i see from a youth...
...hates when churches deliver political propaganda. Just FYI, as many green house gases are produced during the composting process as at a landfill. The only difference is that most landfills capture the methane that is produced and reuse it. But for some reason I thought we were in the Jesus business and not the BS business. I guess I was wrong.
there is much i find troubling in this statement. i'm not sure how to respond quite yet. of course facebook is a less than ideal forum for this. but mostly i am curious as to how this kid came to this conclusion and how this fits in with faith and worldview. any greenie friends out there want to pipe up? your thoughts are welcome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

**came to this conclusion and how this fits in with faith and worldview**

These were my thoughts exactly. I was perplexed reading it and I too wonder about where those facts come from.

You write that this happened at your church. The idea of the church doing something as “liberal” as this might seem like more government intervention (recycling and composting programs) rather than good stewardship (creation care).

I realize that a certain segment of the American Christian community think this way. I never understand why exactly. I do realize however that there is usually more than one side to any story. The “negative” response to composting that you comment on is just that, another way to look at it. Some believers are preparing for the next world and see no need to fuss too much about this world. Yet living out our lives as followers of Jesus, why must it be either/or, rather than both/and?

I don’t know, just some thoughts.

Thanks.