Amazon, beefburgers, soy beans, coffee, people, nuclear weapons, justice, people, poverty, famine, recycle bins, hybrid cars, church, gospel and a bunch of other things

Forgive the extensive title, and forgive the length of this post. There is a point but you'll need to read further to find out...

Download amazon.jpg

I'm not ashamed to say it but I read the National Geographic. It's a fantastic magazine. In fact, if you find yourelf on a long haul flight the National Geographic and Time Magazine are great company (unless of course you have a small child with you!). I picked up the January 2007 edition of the National Geographic and started to read. As I read I was completely taken aback...

A recurrent theme of this blog for the start of the year has been the environment. I continue to encourage you all to watch the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" as it may take you on the journey that I seem to have set out on. Anyway, let me get back to the Amazon...

The article I read described the vast destruction of the rainforest (approximately 50,000 sqare miles were destructed between 2000 and 2005) for the highly mechanized industries like soybean production or cotton trade (even beef ranches), exploitation and illegal felling of lumber shipped to North America and Europe and the displacement of indigenous peoples (for an 1100 mile Amazon highway) who have lived and worked there for many, many generations. Despite the efforts of environmental protection agencies like Greenpeace, the destruction continues at an alarming rate. Unfortunately economics 101 teaches us that so long as there is demand, supply is required. Brazil is the world leader in beef exports and second only to the US in soybean production. Moreover, they are not lagging behind on the logging front either - most of which is illegal - read here or here.

So where do we go from here? Good question, and this is where the title of the post comes into play. You see for me, the more I read and interact with the Gospel story the more convinced I am that the environment (a concern for, and the participation with) is absolutely interwoven with issues of injustice and poverty (a concern for, and the participation with). I don't think you can have one concern and not the other. As the land groans, the people also long for freedom from affliction, exploitation and poverty. As I look at the global impact the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest is having as far afield as Africa and Europe, I'm not so sure that we can continue to dismiss environmental concerns.

So what might a response look like so that we can all bring about change? I'm working on that in my personal life, but some quick responses may be this:

1.Become an educated consumer. From where were your coffee beans harvested? Under what conditions? What about the healthy soy milk you have?

2. Recycle as much as possible - newspapers, milk cartons, tin cans, alumin(i)um cans.

3. Ask yourself - do I really need to the use car today? Is there public transport available to get to college or work? Is it nice enough to ride my bike? What about a walk? Could I pool car with other commuters?

4. Is it really necessary to have an SUV when you live downtown? Ok, so you have kids, you shop etc, I understand that but hey, is it necessary to have a gas guzzler?! Wait a minute, what a hybrid car?

5. Does that light need to be on? Change your bulbs to energy saving ones.

6. Take your kids out, go rock pooling at the beach, and then don a pair of rubber gloves and help clean up the beach of litter. Or, take your kids down the park, play on the swings and then clean up a little.

7. Don't needlessly run the water tap when brushing your teeth.

8. The dark mahogany table you saw that you'd like for the dining room - where did the wood come from? The Amazon? An illegal logging operation? Why not get your table built from reclaimed wood or go to an antique store and get your furniture there - hey, the table may have been owned by the Queen if you are lucky (though if it was it might not be cheap)!

9. Fast food - hmm, really, is that good for you anyway? Where did the meat come from? What about the conditions the animals lived in? Where did the beef come from? Amazonian beef ranch?

10. Buy a small allotment and grow your own veggies.

I hope this has been helpful.

Comments

[John Smulo]

I really appreciate your practical thoughts on this topic. Christians need to do a much better job of both understanding and doing something about environmental issues. I've been meaning to watch An Inconvenient Truth--thanks for reminding me!

[Phil]

John, thanks for your comments. I'm hopeful that times they are a changing with regards Christians and the Environment - but we still need voices to remind us of the challenge we were given to reconcile "all things".

And yes, be sure and watch An Inconvenient Truth - its a very, very good documentary. Even more packed with practical suggestions on how we ought to live.