What A Waste

As I walked to work this morning, I noticed the dryer vent on a house expelling it's hot air into the chilly morning. I then noticed some snow that had melted yesterday and refroze on it's trip down to a street drain. It got me to thinking about how much we throw away in this country. I see exhaust coming from cars, smoke from stacks, water from drains, heat from vents, sewage from sewers, solid waste from homes. In the end, most if not all of this waste could be treated and reused for various purposes. The technology we have today can recycle most kinds of waste into something useful or reduce certain kinds of wastes, such as gaseous and liquid emissions to begin with. But the main culprit in solid waste is not so easily dealt with. Why? Because it is us.

When you open a box of something and the actual product only fills half or less of the box, do you ever wonder why such a big box was used? It is usually done to fill store shelves, leaving less room for competitors' products. But, despite the damage done to our environment by those boxes, one area of solid waste that had a direct impact on other people in this country, as well as account for about 10-15 percent of space in landfills, is the wasting of food. I thought of this because I recently read an article in a British newspaper that said 30 percent of all food produced in England is wasted. According to studies here, which are a few years old, people in the US throw out between a third and a half of all the food we produce for human consumption, most of which is still edible. A story I found on this which was produced a year and a half ago says that the US had 350 billion pounds of food available for human consumption. Of that, about 100 billion pounds of it was thrown out by producers, retailers, and consumers. It is estimated that in order to feed everyone in this country who doesn't have enough to eat (numbers of which are estimated as high as 30 million people), it would take about 4 billion pounds of food. As you can see, it would only take 5 percent of our "waste" to feed those who don't have enough.

As Christians, how can we accept this? Don't we claim to follow a man who told his followers to not just give up those things that are taken from us, but to also offer up that which is not requested from us also (Matthew 5:40)? Is it not Jesus who said that on the final day of judgement, we would be judged according to whether we feed the poor (among other things) or not (Matthew 25:31-46)?

While I am not innocent, I have realized the error of my ways and am buying less. I would rather do with less so that others might have more, but this won't work the way things are run in this country. If I don't buy the excess (and end up throwing it out when it don't use it soon enough), the store will merely throw it out when the next shipment comes in. If the store cuts back on what they stock, the producer will merely throw it out or let it rot in the field. So, what's the answer. I guess if we all cut back, and make it easier for stores, resteraunts, and producers to donate the excess to charities, that would help. But, sadly, I don't thing most people in this nation know how to do without. And unless it is profitable, through more sales, higher prices, or lower expenses, most businesses won't do anthing. So, I guess we can support smaller grocery store and famer's markets so food doesn't have the chance to sit around and spoil or be thrown out as excess. It would be nice if we grew more of our own food so we could appreciate the effort it takes to produce food, but that probably won't happen. I guess, if you are really interested in doing something about this, pray and ask God to lead you down the correct path and stay open to His answers. They won't always be the answers you want, but they are the answers you asked for.

Are we so much better?

As I see the violence and threats of violence in Europe over the publication of a cartoon protraying Mohammed, I can't help but notice how Christians in this country think they are so much better. After all, they follow the prince of peace, a God of love, the golden rule, the "pray for your enemies" guy named Jesus. But wait, everytime there is any portayal of anything that Jim Dobson, Pat Robertson, AFA, etc. don't like, they start plotting against and threatening anyone affiliated with it (producers, actors, sponsers) via boycotts, protest marches, and sometimes veiled threats of violence (always veiled so if called on it they can back out). The main topic that they seem unable to ignore these days is homosexuality. They claim that they are tired of having it shoved down their throats. But, Brokeback Mountain is a movie they have to pay to see, so why not just stay out of theaters showing it. The Book of Daniel is on a channel that they could easily pass up for another channel. Companies, like Ford, should not advertise to homosexuals because they shouldn't want the "tainted" money that comes from gays. But no, anything homosexual is to be crushed, censored, hidden, and destroyed....in the name of God of course.

And while they claim to love the sinner and only hate the sin of homosexuality, when Chad Allen portrays Christian missionary Jim Elliot, who died with three other missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador, these same "Christians" scream bloody murder that having an openly gay actor portray a Christian missionary is evil. So, if the actor is straight and the message is gay it is evil, but if the actor is gay and message is Christian, it is evil. So, it looks like anything gay (person or message) is to be condemed. So that blows away the lie that they love anyone who is gay. Looks like no matter how they live or act, they are to be condemned.

It's interesting to note that Jesus didn't follow the cultural norms of His day and automatically condemn the lady caught in adultery, Matthew, or Zacheus (condemned for their actions), the leper (condemned through no fault of his own), or the Samaritan woman (condemned because of who she was). Jesus could seperate the sinner from the sin, and through love, won them away from their sins. Jesus could also see that each person on this planet is a creation of His and has value. Unfortunately, so many Christians and their leaders today, especially in the US and Europe, have no problem condemning anyone or anything that they don't agree with. Looks like they don't follow the example of Jesus any better than many modern Muslims follow the example of Mohammed.

May God open their eyes so that they may see everyone as God sees them.