22 Oct, 2009
From the Fringes to Mainstream
Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None
At Yellowstone National Park, the clear soda cups and white utensils are not your typical cafe-counter garbage. Made of plant-based plastics, they dissolve magically when heated for more than a few minutes. At Ecco, a popular restaurant in Atlanta, waiters no longer scrape food scraps into the trash bin. Uneaten morsels are dumped into five-gallon pails and taken to a compost heap out back. And at eight of its North American plants, Honda is recycling so diligently that the factories have gotten rid of their trash Dumpsters altogether.
Across the nation, an antigarbage strategy known as “zero waste” is moving from the fringes to the mainstream, taking hold in school cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and corporations.
The movement is simple in concept if not always in execution: Produce less waste. Shun polystyrene foam containers or any other packaging that is not biodegradable. Recycle or compost whatever you can. Though born of idealism, the zero-waste philosophy is now propelled by sobering realities, like the growing difficulty of securing permits for new landfills and an awareness that organic decay in landfills releases methane that helps warm the earth’s atmosphere.
“Nobody wants a landfill sited anywhere near them, including in rural areas,” said Jon D. Johnston, a materials management branch chief for the Environmental Protection Agency who is helping to lead the zero-waste movement in the Southeast. “We’ve come to this realization that landfill is valuable and we can’t bury things that don’t need to be buried.”
Americans are still the undisputed champions of trash, dumping 4.6 pounds per person per day, according to the E.P.A.’s most recent figures. More than half of that ends up in landfills or is incinerated.
Story & photo courtesy of The New York Times.
Genesis 1:31 (NIV)
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
What do you remember about the last time you took a walk in the woods, or laid on the sandy beaches of an ocean? What was your last trip into the mountains like? If you're like me, after spending any amount of time enjoying creation it's hard not to agree with God's words in Genesis 1 — God's creation is "very good".
Unfortunately God's children often neglect and abuse the fragile ecosystems in which we live, often fatally and irreversibly. In so many ways "creation is groaning" (Romans 8) for the coming of the kingdom of God.
What would it look like if Christian's took seriously God's charge for his children to care for and be stewards of his creation? Would Christians in the U.S. still be responsible for 4.6 pounds of waste everyday? If "sin" is missing the mark that God sets for his children, then my guess is we're all missing the mark in some way when it comes to faithful care of God's creation. So let's take a good look at our lives, let's be good stewards, faithful watchmen of God's beautiful creation. As we love and care for the earth God has given us, as we redeem a creation that is groaning for the Kingdom, the world will know that we serve a God that made this earth in such a way that we might know him simply by observing the majesty of the heavens, the power of the oceans, and the mystery of the deep.
- Spend some time outside today. Find a quiet place where you can hear God speak and hear "creation groan".
- Think about how you can bring creation care "from the fringes to the mainstream" of your life.
- Try to go for one week without creating any trash.
- Talk with a friend about why you value creation care.
- Invite a friend to join you in attempting to go trash free for a week.
- February 2012 [5]
- January 2012 [18]
- December 2011 [20]
- November 2011 [15]
- October 2011 [15]
- September 2011 [14]
- August 2011 [22]
- July 2011 [19]
- June 2011 [21]
- May 2011 [20]
- April 2011 [20]
- March 2011 [21]
- February 2011 [20]
- January 2011 [21]
- December 2010 [21]
- November 2010 [21]
- October 2010 [21]
- September 2010 [22]
- August 2010 [21]
- July 2010 [22]
- June 2010 [20]
- May 2010 [18]
- April 2010 [21]
- March 2010 [23]
- February 2010 [19]
- January 2010 [22]
- December 2009 [22]
- November 2009 [21]
- October 2009 [22]
- September 2009 [21]
- August 2009 [20]
- July 2009 [21]
- June 2009 [22]
- May 2009 [18]
- April 2009 [15]
- March 2009 [7]
- February 2009 [17]
- January 2009 [20]
- December 2008 [23]
- November 2008 [19]
- October 2008 [22]
- September 2008 [22]
- August 2008 [19]
- July 2008 [22]
- June 2008 [11]
- May 2008 [19]
- April 2008 [22]
- March 2008 [21]
- February 2008 [18]
- January 2008 [20]
- December 2007 [18]
- November 2007 [15]
- October 2007 [19]
- September 2007 [18]
- August 2007 [12]
- July 2007 [12]
- June 2007 [9]
- May 2007 [11]
- April 2007 [10]
- March 2007 [11]
- February 2007 [14]
- January 2007 [7]
- December 2006 [4]
- November 2006 [13]
- October 2006 [17]
- September 2006 [11]
- August 2006 [16]
- July 2006 [10]
- June 2006 [3]
