Category Archives: conservation

January 7, 2013 · 9:15 pm

A Speck Upon a Speck Upon a Speck

Perseus Cluster of Galaxies

The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies

Periodically I need to remind myself of just how unimportant I am. A phrase I’ve heard recently, “We’re just a speck on a speck on a speck,” helps me consider my own insignificance.

Surely anyone contemplating the hugeness of the universe—and the actual size of it will probably forever remain a mystery—needs to acknowledge that we’re pretty negligible creatures in the overall scheme of things.

In comparison to the whole universe, we don’t even register as big as the tiniest of one of the millions of bacteria that inhabits our own bodies.

Of course most of us deep inside think we’re the center of the universe and that everything is about us.  We are sure that traffic jams and sibling rivalries and economic woes and world crises and appeals to help those world crises are all created in order just to complicate our own self-absorbed lives and to disturb the peace and ease to which surely we are all entitled.

On these days, naturally, when I am contemplating the size of the universe, it does dawn on me that said universe as a whole really doesn’t care if I can’t get a parking spot or if an appliance has broken or if someone unexpectedly has taken an intense dislike to me or if my heart breaks or I am getting sick or even if I get the *&%#@ (sorry–my frustration broke through momentarily) year-end reports demanded by the current bureaucracy finished on time.

And yet, somehow, those things really do matter. Yes, even those year end reports.

Let’s take plastic bags for example.  I decided some time ago that I would make my contribution to ecological health by carrying tote bags and never carrying out purchases in one of the ecologically death-bringing plastic bags.  So, I keep a supply of totes in the car.

Unfortunately, I  keep forgetting to bring them in with me when I shop.  So, my latest rule is that if I forget to bring in my tote bags, I must purchase additional ones at whatever store I am frequenting as a means of negative reinforcement.

Yes, I have a lot of tote bags.  All with different colors and names and logos.

In fact, I am envisioning the backseat and trunk of my car becoming so full of empty tote bags waiting to be toted in that whatever goods I tote back to the car will no longer have a place to sit. In fact, my car may become so full of tote bags that I myself will have no place to sit.

Now, I seemed to have wandered a bit from contemplating the size of the universe and my relative unimportance, haven’t I?

So, let’s try this:  what if my decision to forever forego plastic bags, no matter what their convenience (or inconvenience to my bank account) actually does matter to this person who is just a speck upon a speck on a speck?  What if the relative unimportance of this tiny speck’s decision means several hundred plastic bags a year never end up in a landfill or escape the landfill and choke a waterway or get through the waterway and choke a fish or get through the fish and disintegrate to a million tiny pieces of plastic which are ingested by tiny sea creatures which are ingested by larger sea creatures which are ingested by even larger ones which are ingested by humans and which eventually cause one human to get an incurable disease before said human ever lives fully to a potential that might help us better understand what it really means to live as a speck upon a speck upon a speck?

What if, indeed?

What if, as unimportant as I am, my actions make a difference for the entire universe?

What if you and I are important?  What if we really, really do matter?

Just a few questions for 2013.

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February 7, 2008 · 4:01 pm

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Tote Bag Repentance

I’m continuing to consider the theme of “do no harm” during this Lenten season. So many resolutions to “do no harm” have really awful unintended consequences that I’ve finding this a particularly prickly path. However, I, along with a lot of others, may be on to something that really “does no harm” and does much good.

There are two items ubiquitous to modern American life that are coming under increasing scrutiny as really nasty for the environment: plastic water bottles and plastic shopping bags—the kinds we get at grocery stores, convenience stores and just about every other place where we purchase routine items.

Of course, most people know now that this bottled water phase has been one of the bigger hoaxes foisted on the American public. Bottled water is at best no more pure than tap water, and sometimes less pure. And tons more expensive. Nonetheless, those bottles are convenient when needing a drink of water away from home and to keep in the car—so just buy one bottle periodically and keep it refilled. That will solve a lot of that ecological mess.

Now, for plastic bags: Personally, I try to keep them and reuse them as much as possible, but there really is no way to re-use all of them. Even with a small household, I can easily get up to 10 or more of these a week. I can’t imagine how many bags a house with a lot of children and many groceries to buy might accumulate in just a few weeks. Certainly, they can be recycled, and that’s a good idea. But, having my conscience pricked by reading too many “green” magazines, I decided I’d try the permanent tote bag routine.

I know that in many parts of the world, people routinely carry around with them either string bags or tote bags of some sort in which to place last minute purchases. It’s time for us to copy that habit and start carrying our own. I’ve been doing this for two weeks now. I’m still not in the habit—I tend to empty the bags and then forget to return them to the car. And the grocery checkers have also got to change their habits and learn to use them when they are presented to them. But I have started.

There are several questions I’ve yet answered. Here’s the first: I purchased a couple of inexpensive ones at a grocery store and those bags, roomy, with flat bottoms, are emblazed with the name of that particular store. Now, what do I do if I want to shop at a different store but have only the bags emblazed with the name of a competitor? Does this mean I need to purchase different tote bags for each store where I shop? Do I need to keep a collection of bags in my car to use at different places? Am I going to hurt someone’s feelings if I use the wrong tote bag at a particular store?

Also, what does it say about me if I insist on using “cheap” totebags instead of designer ones? According to one fashion maven, “No other fashion accessory matches a woman’s need better than a beautiful designer tote bag. When your suitcase is too large or your purse is too small, a designer tote bag always makes the right choice.” Oh dear—what if I’ve made the wrong choice? What if I’m too cheap to buy the “right” bag (actually, this is not a “what if I’m too cheap” it is a “I’m very much too cheap!”).

Oh well, enough of the unanswerable questions, and back to the subject at hand. I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we see if the Krum community can become a “plastic bag-free” town? This could be a fun challenge for us as a community. Think about it: Let’s suppose for a moment that the average person gets five of those bags a week (and that’s got to be a low guess). With around 4000 people in the nearby community, that number balloons to 80,000 plastic bags a month! Eighty thousand bags that wouldn’t go to landfills or fly along the highway or get caught in trees or bushes. Did you know these bags never decompose? They eventually break down in the smaller and smaller parts, but they end up being ingested and ultimately becoming part of the food cycle. Definitely not healthy for any living creature.

This could make not only a great Lenten discipline but a new and healthy habit for the rest of our lives. Caring for God’s creation can only bring pleasure to the Creator, and that sounds good to me.

“A Pastor’s Thoughts” from First UMC, Krum, http://www.thekrumchurch.com

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