Thoughts from the Green Committee
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, RETHINK
A lesson from Vacation Bible School
Mark 4: 9
Then Jesus said, ‘Let those with ears use them and listen!’
This year’s Vacation Bible School theme was based on Mark 4: 1-9, the Parable of the Sower. The lessons focused on
growth; of self, of spirit and of stewardship. My five through eleven year olds did a wonderful job of understanding seeds,
roots, birds, rocks and thorns. When it came to day four, we talked about the challenges of caring for the planet.
I asked them about the three R’s. A girl named Mackenzie piped up and said that there are actually four R’s, reduce, reuse,
recycle and rethink. I love being schooled by the young ones. I mean it. As a teacher of this age range, I love to see a child
and his/her brain run with an idea. The kids threw out suggestions for the first three R’s. Turn off the lights. Turn off the
TVs, video games and computers. Use both sides of a sheet of paper. Rethinking for these kids was really thinking about
certain ideas for the first time. In their five to eleven years on earth, they haven’t really had to think too much about ideas
such as water scarcity. We talked about water conservation. We talked about what it means to have constant access to
clean water and what it means not to. My wee ones did a great job working through the issues of good stewardship.
Now, I call on all of you to take a few minutes or more, and rethink. Rethink what it means to live in a disposable culture.
Disposable items can be either the greatest thing since sliced bread or the bane of our existence. Disposable medical
equipment saves lives. Disposable plastic bottles, used at a rate of millions per minute, clog our planet with waste. If you
have not had a chance, take a look at the Green Committee’s bulletin board behind the Angel Desk to see what that waste
looks like.
I encourage you to take a one day challenge. Live a day as you normally would. Take a garbage bag with you and fill it with
all of the waste that you produce in a day. Throw in that Starbuck’s coffee cup. Toss in those receipts from Giant Eagle.
Pitch in those directions you printed off the internet. At the end of the day, look at the contents of your bag. What do you
find in there?
What waste could be recycled? Paper such as receipts, junk mail, directions printed from the internet, grocery lists, and
newspapers can go to the Abitibi bin at the FLC or any number of locations. Rinsed out plastic numbers 1-7, but not # 6
Styrofoam, can go in your recycle bin at home or to the recycling facility for the town/city where you live. This could include
packaging from your lunch, the lid from your coffee cup, and the packaging from your Q-tips. Cardboard from your morning
cereal box, your toilet paper rolls, the surround they put on your cup of coffee, can all go into the recycle bins as well. Metal
from cat food cans, pop cans, shaving cream cans and those baked beans you took to the picnic can go to recycling as well.
And, lest we forget, what could have gone into the compost pile instead of the garbage can? Food scraps, coffee grounds,
moldy bread, pasta and rice with no fats on them, used tea bags, corn husks and every variety of left over veggie and fruit
matter.
Once you have taken a look at what could be recycled, think about what could be resourced, reused and rethought. Could
anything have had a second life as something else? Cat litter containers could become buckets. Paper could be used again
for scrap paper or note paper. When I ask you to rethink, I am really asking you to pre-think. If I want a cup of coffee for
the ride to work, I should bring a travel mug. If I am going to be out and about on these hot summer days, I should pack a
reusable water bottle. If I know that I am going to be out all day, I should pack a lunch or a snack, or both, in reusable
containers instead of heading through the drive-thru. Pre-thinking can result in rethinking what it means to live in
disposable culture. As a society, we really can’t afford to dispose at the rates we have in the past. I know I say it all the time
and you are probably tired of hearing it. There is no away on Earth. So, as my sweet young friend reminded me, the three
R’s really are four R’s and we owe it to our wee ones to rethink how we live.
Blessings, sisters and brothers in Christ
-Thea Mozingo