Sustainability

Having grown up with a mother who was a bit of a hippy and did sustainability before it was trendy, it has been almost second nature. Recycling, growing food, reusing what we could, making things instead of buying, all were part of our childhood. I quickly got caught up in much of the ‘eco’ movement, and once was part of an ‘activist’ group that tried to stop logging in old growth forests, and helped to test salinity and replant trees. I may or may not have have chained myself to a tree, I’m not admitting anything. hah

It has in many ways increased in passion, and I love there is such a movement to simplify life and lower our footprint on the earth at a collective level. One thing I have learned is you can’t do everything. Start with small things and do those, and do them well. Nobody is perfect, and I guess you get to a place where you make conscious choices on the things that matter, and you learn to live with the things that don’t. The point is you are doing something and that is important. 🙂

Gardening Eden, Michael Abbate

This is a thoughtful book about ‘environmentalism’ and stewarding God’s world, its emphasis is on creation care. It isn’t overly political in terms of the Green movement it is writing about, and it doesn’t really weigh in to the debates for either side. This can be refreshing, to pause and consider the work of our creator and falls to our knees in awe. However, I would have liked it to go a bit deeper into the socially relevant issues it discussed. I did appreciate the exhortation to take care of the world in a biblical manner and is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in this topic.