The Green Dream
Valerie Comer is a gardener, beekeeper, farmer, and active member of her local food action coalition. She believes shopping local is the best possible antidote to many of today's environmental concerns. On her own blog and website, she shares her philosophy on why Christians should care about the environment and the local food movement. Valerie is an avid supporter of anything that will make her precious granddaughters' lives healthy, happy, and hopeful.
She is the author of "Topaz Treasure," the opening novella in the contemporary romance collection Rainbow's End, in which the main character, Lyssa, has no problem telling anyone who will listen why soda is bad for them but is too shy to share her love of Jesus with the same people.
See? Even Valerie's fiction is tinged with green. . .and we're not talking the color of jealousy.No, I haven’t lost my mind. Yes, I’m just as ‘green’ as I was last month. Recycling is great, sure, but it isn’t the end-all and be-all.
What could possibly be more important?
The Three Rs start with REDUCE.
Oh, man, we’d way rather toss items in a recycling bin than decrease what we buy and own! But recycling isn’t all its talked up to be (more on that in July) so the best defense, as the saying goes, is a good offense. Let’s decrease the amount we recycle by having less to recycle.
Here are some things to reduce:
How much junk you buy.Are you tempted to buy gag gifts and party favors at the Dollar Store? How long will those items be interesting and useful before they land in the trashcan? Are they actually worth purchasing? Only buy things that are beautiful or useful (both, if possible!) and that will last.
How much good stuff you buy. Even with items of higher quality, do you really need a TV in every room? Do you need thirty pairs of shoes? Do you need to buy new furniture for your whole house just because styles have changed?
How much packaging you buy.… continue reading
I am insignificant. What can I do?
I’m nobody. No one listens to me.
Why should I bother? I may as well give it up.
There are nearly seven billion people on the planet, and I am only one. I can’t make a difference.
Oh yeah. So easy to be defeatist. So easy to throw in the towel. So easy to go with the stream, because one little fish swimming against the current isn’t going to do any good at all.
What am I talking about? Everything. Nothing. The problems of the world around us seem insurmountable. There are earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, floods, and drought. There are oil spills, rainforest clearcuts, and endangered species. Politics is a sham, no matter which side of the coin you rest on. Need I go on?
I am one person. I cannot solve the world’s problems. I do not have the power to halt the forces of nature or the boardrooms of BP. It’s easy to become depressed or immune.
What can I do? Very little, it’s true. But I haven’t been ‘called’ to the big things. All I can do is be faithful in the little things. The things in my path.… continue reading
What is your favorite view of nature? An ice-capped glacier? Ocean waves sidling up over a sand-dollar studded beach? Waterfalls, wildflowers, forests? God created an awesome world for us to call home.
Why do Christians tend to cover their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears when someone talks about caring for the environment? I’m not an extremist, not that people ever think of themselves that way. I’m an ordinary middle-aged woman who believes that taking care of God’s creation, the Earth, is as important as taking care of God’s creation, humanity in general or my own body in particular.
Genesis tells us that God created the world. He made it functional and beautiful. And then he created humans and placed us here to take care of it.
Let’s say we, as parents, have decided to give our teenagers the perfect bedroom or hangout. We think about their habits and hobbies, their tastes and ages and personalities. Then we paint, decorate, and furnish the room in a way that encompasses all their needs. We can hardly wait to show them this masterpiece.
At first they seem thrilled and grateful, but soon they’ve painted graffiti over all the walls and chopped up the furniture to build a bonfire in the middle of the space, filling the room with toxic smoke.… continue reading
It’s that time of year when parents thoughts turn toward where their kids should go to school in the fall. For some, their thoughts will turn to homeschooling. How can you evaluate whether homeschooling might be right for your family? I have often heard my mom tell people that homeschooling… [read more]
“Where Are You With Guys Right Now?” That may seem like a lame question to ask a bunch of teenage girls, but there are actually as many answers as there are girls themselves. Contrary to what it looks like in every teen-focused magazine you see at the grocery store, not everybody is havin… [read more]
Loyalty is an important part of relationships with friends and family. What does loyalty mean and how far show it go? Does it require that you support people even when they’re doing something wrong and/or dangerous, or does loyalty actually require you to stand against those things for you… [read more]
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