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I say you can do both.

And God created the heavens and the earth. And the people that inhabit it.

We should take care of the earth. And the people that live on it.

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I feel like the two are intrinsically connected. By making decisions to do things “greener,” we reduce our use of resources, leaving them available for other people to use. And global warming has an effect on all peoples. As glaciers disappear, the villages that depend on their runoffs for their water supply are suffering. You also seem to forget that those of us who are more liberal-minded and environmentally conscious are also the ones who contribute a lot of time, energy, and money to groups like ProjectRED and UNICEF.

Thinking “green” and caring about the people of the world aren’t mutually exclusive ideas.

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that’s why i love this country, and this life that god created… we’re each entitled to our own opinions and are able to act upon them at our will.

that being said, i think it’s a little strange to get annoyed at people trying to live a little “greener.” just the same as there are churches who spend their money locally, churches who spend their money regionally, and churches who spend their money internationally… there is plenty of room for lots of people do to lots of great things.

i mean, the core of this discussion is whether or not you believe in global warming. if you don’t there is no point in me trying to make an argument here. if you do, then my argument is quite simple… we can save all the children and diseases in the whole wide world and none of it matters if the earth and all of it’s resources are used up for those saved children to use.

but, as i said… if you don’t believe in global warming and the idea of taking care of our planet, then this discussion is not worth having. your heart is obviously elsewhere, and that’s a-ok.

my concern is that you get annoyed over it. especially being someone who takes (says) you somewhat take care of the environment, and even participated in earth hour. nobody is asking you to donate money to anything. plant a tree, conserve some energy… that’s all anyone is asking. why be annoyed with that?

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and by the way, i am by no means suggesting that we shouldn’t take care of the things you say we should spend more time/money on.

i believe we can do both.

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seriously pondering this, I’ve seen several of yall who sponsor kids and I’m praying about this; we’re pretty financially strapped right now with both of us in grad school, but I’m praying that God will provide a way for us to do this (and if that’s waiting until we both have full-time jobs next year, that may be what has to happen, we’ll see)

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steven: true.

2012: i can totally see how they are mutual and can totally respect those who give to ProjectRed and UNICEF but that is also not the norm when we’re speaking about Earth Day and Green Week.

Joshua: your points are quite valid. it absolutely comes down to my disbelief in global-warming. when you read those who are alike in my opinion of global-warming you’ll hear that changes in the Earth like now have happened over and over again. micro-evolution. case in point: the entire midwest used to be a giant glacier, melted and made way for earth and lakes. so, the whole idea that the earth is getting warmer and is going to blow up - is totally lost on me.

then again, i am never above the possibility that i could be naive and one day be sorely corrected… and visa-versa. having helped save someone’s life from disease and poverty and show them Jesus in the process just sounds like a better plan for saving the planet from itself.

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While I tend to agree with you, I can also see the viewpoint of those who responded. The truth is, the only thing I recycle is aluminum cans…and that’s only for the money. The only reason I carpool is to save money on gas. And the only reason I am careful with resources (water, electric, etc) is because I’m cheap and don’t want to pay a high bill.

I know that probably means I’m completely pathetic, but I’m not going to lie about it.

Crystal, so glad you’re back. Wish I could’ve gotten in touch with you while you were in LA. Would love to have hooked up w/ you somewhere!

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I was thinking about how irritating Earth Day is today (being as it is Earth Day). I mean, whoopee, for one day we all care about recycling. I think we should care about the environment everyday, but this is getting ridiculous. We spend all this money to “go green” and kids are still starving to death in Africa. I know the poor will always be with us, but if I have the choice to get eco-friendly light bulbs or donate money to Blood:Water Mission, I’m going to do the latter. I think we need to be responsible for the earth and for its inhabitants. But not because it’s trendy, because it’s the right thing to do.

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I’ve come across your site a couple of times, and I just wanted to say that I agree so much with this post. I also prefer organic foods, but I prefer them mainly for health reasons, I guess. Earth Day is silly to me because it’s a one time thing. People care for an hour or two about what they are actually doing and then most go right back to their original way of life.

I’ve been struck by what Amy said several times, and have decided that it is in fact better to buy the cheaper products for now while I’m not really making that much money and donate what I can after that.

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Not sure where I fall on the global warming war. Both sides have points, both sides have problems with their arguments. All I can say is, in some small way, I feel that I need to do something for the world I live in - if that small way is to keep on recycling and to ride a bike now and again, so be it. Will it change the tide, who knows?

The one thing I will say about your post pertains to the last scripture noted from the book of James. The book of James is hitting me from all sides lately. My Tuesday 6:00AM men’s bible study is starting a study on James, Kyle on the east coast (http://vagabondrunn.wordpress.com/) is starting an online life group study of James, and now you mention the book of James… Ugh… I guess I need to look even harder at James…

Anyone else feeling like this lately?

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Taking care of each other–especially those with few resources–is a much more immediate and pressing issue than taking care of the environment. To me, there’s just a sense of urgency when taking care of orphaned and impoverished kids. The good I can do has a much more immediate impact.

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i think the world hunger problem is much more important than the earth. People are more important than the earth.

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I can’t agree more. I like the post a lot. Very cool.

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Crystal,
I am so with you. The conversation over whether global warming is human generated or a natural function of the earth cycle is still being argued in the halls of science world wide. Might I remind us all that not 30 yrs ago we thought the world was cooling too fast thus cause the next “ice-Age”. I don’t think that anyone would disagree that there is climate change happening, but it seems disingenuous to fight for ethanol or CF bulbs (which I use) and not have the same day (e.g. Earth Day) and moral outrage for the crisis in Darfur, where thousands of Sudanese have been slaughtered. We say that we can do both but obviously we do not thus causing us to create a better world for thousands of people to die and go to hell from daily. We should be good stewards of the earth and take care of each other, but when the earth that we occupy and the animals that consume become paramount over another human life…. We have a major problem. That’s just my opinion I could be wrong.

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there is nothing that people can do to stop global warming. like i said before in my last post taking care of people is more important than taking care of the earth. i also think the food sold as organic is not really organic . i think it is just another way to make more money by charging higher prices by just labeling them as organic.

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here is a verse i found in the bible.
Genesis 8:22
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

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My hubby & I just had this conversation. He pointed out that our world has endured several ice ages and isn’t this “global warming” just cyclical? I’m not sure how I feel about it. Fact is so hard to come by, when everything is politically tainted.

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I have to echo 2012. The efforts taken to make the world a cleaner and better place to live affect and are affected by efforts made to offer the diseased and mistreated a higher standard of living. We cannot say that these things are unrelated. We all live in God’s creation; we are all part of God’s creation. Both are acts taken to further the “working out of our salvation”.

And let me be the first to say that the current “green” movement in U.S. definitely misses the mark. The fact of the matter is that endeavoring to be more green or more sustainable is not about buying a new Prius, reducing your emissions or supporting Al Gore. It is not about recycling or Earth Day or global warming. When we embrace sustainability, we embrace the choice to live a simple, selfless, healthy life and to be aware of the way that our choices and actions effect the people and the world around us. Being “green” is way more about awareness, about looking outside of yourself and not being a consumerist turd-face just because your culture taught you that way.

This attitude shift is important because it changes not only how we interact with and value the earth, but how we interact with and value other people. When we realize that dumping nasty chemicals into the water and burying tons of trash in the earth helps spawn the diseases that we are trying so hard to fight off, we can choose not to use the earth that other people touch and breathe in as a garbage can. When we realize that what we put into our bodies affects our emotions and our well being, we can begin to treat our bodies with respect by nurturing them, and, in turn, teaching others how to respect their bodies and other people’s bodies. When we realize our irresponsibility with our resources, we can develop accountability, diligence, and self-control, which will bleed into the way we handle our money and a treat our families and allow us to show others to be responsible with what they’ve been given.

So I can understand being frustrated/annoyed/fed up with the media pushing green down your throat. As a matter of fact, please be fed up with consumerism and media and big corporations whose use green to sell themselves to well-intentioned people. Because only they will all of this really matter and sink in and being to reach into the way we treat people and what we value. When we start taking sides and saying this matters more than that and it’s us vs. them…then we have missed the point. Because God cares about all of it because it’s all the same thing. It’s all of a broken creation waiting to be restored to it’s glory by it’s amazing Creator.

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