In the Dead of Winter…Spring Happens

We’re barely one-third into winter; spring is just under two months out, and it’s already springing.

Go outside right now, and take a close look at the bare limbs of a tree. You’ll see what you otherwise may not have noticed.

Spring is happening

Tiny buds.

All the promise of Springtime renewal preparing for the pageantry of blooming.

Go take a look. And do it again tomorrow. And the next day…

…so when springtime winds rustle the leaves that seemed to appear overnight, you’ll not be one who says, “Spring is here…when did that happen?”

You’ll be saying, “I was there.”

©Aja Lopez, 2012

25 Years of Plastic

I worked as a courtesy clerk in 1985 when plastic grocery bags came on the scene.

No self-respecting courtesy clerk liked them; I hated those bags; they were so difficult to work with. Plastic bags  didn’t have nice, rectangular bases and thick paper walls. The innovative plastic grocery bag really messed up my grocery-bagging rhythm…so much so that I began to loathe the job I very much enjoyed for over a year.

Yes, I really did enjoy that job…call me weird.

Brown paper bags were ideal for organizing the groceries as they came down the grocery checker’s conveyor belt. Now I suddenly had to give customers a choice:  “Would you like paper, or plastic?” I should have asked what I really meant: “Would you like your groceries bagged quickly and neatly, or clumsily and disorderly?” Or better yet, “Do you want your groceries to remain bagged until you get home, or were you hoping to round them up off your car floor and re-bag them so you can get them into your house?”

Without the foresight to reason that these bags would become an environmental headache, my disdain for them was purely about the potential mess each one would contain. Not even the convenience of the handles won me over.

I left that job for one at the mall.

Within a couple of years it was no longer the industry standard to offer the choice to the customer; the customer had to ask for paper bags specifically or leave with the plastic ones.

Everything has changed again and most stores have their own versions of the reusable shopping bag which offers the awesome practicality of rectangular space for packing AND handles for carrying. Yay!

In an effort to reduce the number of plastic bags spending eternity in landfills, cities across the country are considering per-bag charges for customers who choose them. Yay again!

Each time I see the same plastic bag in the ditch along I-5 , obviously caught on something because the wind doesn’t move it along, I feel doubly irritated…first at the unsightly litter, then at the reminder that our global addiction to convenience always costs far too much as to be worthwhile.

The reusable bags I bought have paid themselves off: not only do I not pay for using the stores’ plastic bags, I get a 5¢ “rebate” for each reusable bag I use on my grocery orders.

I can’t think of any reason to buck this new trend. I hope the plastic grocery bag goes the way of the 8-track tape.

© Alexa Lopez, 2009

Conflicted

I’m conflicted about whether renewing our annual membership with the Sierra Club is a wise thing to do, environmentally speaking.

Admittedly, my understanding about all things fiscal is limited, so I’m going only on what I see.

What I have seen during the year of membership is a lot of paper; the amount of mail I receive from the Sierra Club in my “snail mail” box irritates me. I receive much more paper mail than email from them and their affiliates.

It just seems to me that an organization that has my email address — which it does — would do less postal mailing and more electronic mailing. It dawned on me one day as I was putting junk mail through my paper shredder that much of my junk mail comes from the Sierra Club and from other like agencies who’ve gleaned my name from their membership roster.

So, I pondered this as I fed my shredder: Is my annual membership to help an environmental cause counterproductive if it means more paper mail? What is the cost to the environment when more paper — not less — ends up in the recycle bin? I mean, “Yea! At least it’s getting recycled and not thrown into the landfills.” But I remain conflicted…

What are the energy costs and what is the effect on the environment when the paper mailings are printed and processed? Or transported and delivered via the USPS? Or when they go through the recycling process? Out of concern for my family’s contribution to environmental health, I find myself thinking I’d rather spend my annual membership fee in a way that will, though micro-cosmically, directly benefit the Earth my children will inherit.

I may one day be okay with being a member whose membership renewal fee only helps to fund the fundraising effort. Right now, I’m not liking that idea so much.

© Alexa Lopez 2008

Global Warming from a Laywoman's Perspective

I read recently about an expanding tropical belt between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn that “would affect ecosystems, agriculture and water resources.”

To be quite honest, it is difficult for me to jump on any bandwagons about anything, so my first question is one that wreaks of denial: “How are we to know whether this is global change for the worse or part of the cyclical norms of this orb on which we dwell?”

Logic tells me that it must be true, at least in part, since any such climatic cycles from the past would not have included variables of industrial pollutants in our air and seas, wide-scale deforestation and petroleum fuel-burning.

I find that I am caught in a place where I am either one of Earth’s greatest enemies because I am perhaps viewed as one who denies the facts; or I am less than a Christian (tree-hugger!!) because I recognize the need to recycle, reduce, conserve — in other words, do my part to be a good steward of the microcosm that surrounds me — and instruct and demonstrate for my children how to be responsible stewards of our natural resources.

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, long before recycling became mainstream, my older sister always bought greeting cards and stationery made from recycled paper. I didn’t quite understand what the big deal was. She also flipped out when my younger sister and I flung candy wrappers or empty drink cups out the car window when we were done with them. We seriously didn’t understand why it was a problem.

It seems ridiculous to me now that I ever thought littering was acceptable! Now I don’t even spit out my gum unless there’s a trash can nearby. Besides the fact that it’s inconsiderate, I now think stuff like, “What if a bird swoops down, eats it and dies from an obstruction?” Neurotic thinking? No way! I think of it as not letting my conveniences cause harm.

I was so thrilled when our daughter was chosen to be on the “Green Team” at her middle school. They go to different water sources around town and check for pollutant levels and general health of the water. Her friends at church call her a “tree-hugger.” I tell her to take it as a compliment regardless of how they intend it; she is investing in the future by doing her part now.

Our children know there is a difference between worshiping the creation and caring responsibly for it. One can be a follower of Christ and yet be concerned for the earthly home our future generations will inherit.

With respect to belief in Jesus Christ and His eventual return, I wonder how many generations have been certain that Jesus would come back in their lifetime and have thus excused or tolerated the abuse mankind has perpetrated on this earth. The prevailing thought is that the earth is going to be destroyed anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about protecting it.

This Christian couldn’t disagree more.

If we are bringing children into this world, does that not presume that we expect the world will continue beyond our generation? And if so, what right have we to rob our children, our grandchildren and the generations that follow of the beauty we ourselves enjoy?

I don’t want to stop learning, and I’m going to keep teaching my children to be responsible. That they break down the empty cereal boxes and put them in the recycling bin shows me I’m already getting a return on my investment.

Whether global warming is fact or fiction is really quite irrelevant. If we are blind to how our habits affect the condition of this planet, we are the problem.

© Alexa Lopez 2008