04.27.10
On Being Good Stewards
Some people like to accuse Christians of disregarding the earth because of what they “think” is taught in Genesis 1:28.
28“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
It’s the word “dominion” that they like to run with. And in reality, I can see why some people run with that word because I have seen it myself where “some” Christians do in fact reason that this world is only temporary so we have every right to do with it as we please be it cut down all the forests and pollute the land and air with wild abandon. They want no restrictions. However, I would like to assert that not all Christians believe that. I for one think that Genesis 1:28 refers to man being good stewards of the earth, and the “dominion” part of it has to do with our ability to reason and our capacity to think and plan/organize. This is a far cry from recklessly plundering our natural resources without regard of the future ability of the land to regenerate healthfully. Just think that within the very same verse God instructs man to “be fruitful and multiply.” How can man fulfill that command if he pollutes the environment so badly that nothing will grow, and animals struggle to reproduce, and their own children are born with birth defects as a result of that pollution? Therefore, I submit that having dominion refers to being good stewards of the earth that God provided for us, not a license to rape the land, air, and oceans.
So in my little ways, I try to be a good steward of the earth, too, by trying to do green things. Granted sometimes it seems so overwhelming as I look at our trash cans and realize that we do in fact contribute to a lot of waste that clogs up our landfills. I have endeavored to recycle and cut down on plastics and anything toxic that I can think of. But I am guilty of owning and going through several computers and various electronics, consume countless batteries and other excess packagings, and enjoy long-distant traveling. But with this duality, I have become sort of a pack rat with things that aren’t donate-able. I hate to waste and throw things away. . . so I try to donate old stuff when I can. But what to do with the undonate-able stuff? Then on Earth Day I happened to see a video of a woman using scraps of fabric from old shirts and turning it into yarn that she knit up into scarves. Oye! I’ve got lots of old rags. . . even old jeans and bed sheets that aren’t really donate-able, but I still don’t have the heart to throw away. What to do?
Well, I decided to try it and make a small rug out of one of my old bed sheets. Here’s how it looked when I started. I had already started ripping before I thought I should take a picture of my progress.
After I stripped the sheet down, I started to connect the pieces by just tying the ends together and wrapping it up in a ball.
Then it was ready to knit. This is what it looked like half way through.
And here’s my little rug completed!
Yeah, I know, kinda of a funky rug, but hey, it works! Not sure if I’ll just leave those ties sticking out or tuck them in or what, but I’m loving that now my old sheet that was essentially unusable is now going to be used again. It’s completely washable, too! And the added bonus to this project is that I not only recycled, but “upcycled” something. Heheheh. I love it.
Okay, so that’s my little recycle project, but while at Santa Monica last weekend we saw a larger scale green project in the works there. It’s a system called “SMURRF,” Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility.
The yellow tank in the foreground has dirty, gritty, oily water in it where it is filtered and cleaned. As the water passes through the system it ends up cleaned as shown at this stage.
As described in the placard, the water that is captured in the SMURRF system comes from the city storm drains, which contains a lot of debris and which ordinarily would go straight into the ocean without being processed first. But this system captures some of that dirty water, cleans it, then recycles it to water the landscape. I love it! Not only is the dirt prevented from entering the ocean, but the lawns are also fed and maintained.
Thank God for people who have the genius to know how to put these facilities together. Now that’s a good use of a scientific brain, and what I think would qualify as a good steward of the earth.
Marlakins
