I'm cheap. That's why I don't buy organic as often as I'd like to.
So until I grow in virtue in these two areas, I have to find convenient ways to live a more earth-friendly lifestyle. As Christians, we associate being an environmentalist with radical liberal nuts. And so, sadly, we often go to the other extreme of stubbornly not recycling at all. This is a completely erroneous reaction. We falsely justify it by saying there are much more important causes that we need to be putting our energies into, specifically the Pro-Life movement. Yes, I completely agree that objectively, supporting life is a more necessary cause. But these two causes are not mutually exclusive. I can help save babies and have a compost at the same time. I can, and I should. Our earth is a precious gift, and we need to treat it as so.
Mnsgr. Stuart Swetland gives a great talk relating to this. He states that before the fall of Adam and Eve, there were 4 harmonies:
1) Between God and Man
2) Between Man and Self
3) Between Man and Man
4) Between Man and Creation
With the Fall, these Harmonies were distroyed. But with the coming of Christ, these harmonies can be re-bridged. In the discussion of "Liberal" and "Conservative" Catholics/Christians, what happens is that "conservatives" tend to focus on the first 2 harmonies, while "liberal" Catholics focus on the second 2. But to be fully Catholic, we must work on all 4 harmonies. We need to work on our own prayer lives and serve the poor. We need to build our own virtue, and take care of God's creation. Hearing Mnsgr talk about this gave me a stronger desire to be diligent in all of these areas, so that I can work to become the woman I was originally created to be.
The problem is I'm lazy. In all of these areas. But particularly in being a good steward of the earth.
Mnsgr. Stuart Swetland gives a great talk relating to this. He states that before the fall of Adam and Eve, there were 4 harmonies:
1) Between God and Man
2) Between Man and Self
3) Between Man and Man
4) Between Man and Creation
With the Fall, these Harmonies were distroyed. But with the coming of Christ, these harmonies can be re-bridged. In the discussion of "Liberal" and "Conservative" Catholics/Christians, what happens is that "conservatives" tend to focus on the first 2 harmonies, while "liberal" Catholics focus on the second 2. But to be fully Catholic, we must work on all 4 harmonies. We need to work on our own prayer lives and serve the poor. We need to build our own virtue, and take care of God's creation. Hearing Mnsgr talk about this gave me a stronger desire to be diligent in all of these areas, so that I can work to become the woman I was originally created to be.
The problem is I'm lazy. In all of these areas. But particularly in being a good steward of the earth.
I've found some great tips, but would love any advice in this area. A few things I've found:
- Buying in bulk is often cheaper, and reduces the amount of waste caused by excess packaging.
- Turning off lights of rooms I'm not in. Seems commonsense, but after becoming more conscious of it, it's amazing how often I found that I leave lights on in every room of the house.
- Find creative ways to reduce the amount of harsh household chemicals. My favorite example of this: MAKE YOUR OWN SHAMPOO! I found it on a blog I've been following:I've been doing this! Still too early to decide if I like it or not tho...
- And the biggest one: Teaching women about the negative effects of the birth control pill, not only on their bodies, but also on the environment! This topic is for a later post....
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/02/fifty_easy_ways_to_eat_green
Got any more suggestions??
Making your own shampoo? You hippie! =D
ReplyDeleteThat's really the reason why I wrote this post, because I wanted to share my new shampoo with the world :) All the rest flowed from that. :)
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