We Are the World

The We Are The World campaign worked on me as a kindergartener. I listened to that Michael Jackson song, learned how to reduce-reuse-recycle and put the eyes of shame on anyone who littered.

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones to make a brighter day,

so let's start giving.

I have taken my job to steward the earth seriously. I recently paid Office Depot $8.23 just to give back a ten-year-old phone, in the hopes that it would be taken apart responsibly, rather than cause radiation in the landfill. I pay someone to reuse my old clothing. I try not to buy many clothes, as I already have more than I need. I compost. I wear my shoes till they fall apart. I worked out a plan with my neighbors and walk my recycling to their house because my trash company refuses to drive fifty more yards in their recycling truck. I store my glass till I have enough to justify driving thirty miles to the nearest glass recycling place. It hurts my heart a little to see recyclables in the trash bin. I also recognize that my efforts are likely not making any kind of significant difference.

But also, was I the problem in the first place? Corporate greed, or the tendency to hoard wealth in the top 1% of the world's population is fed by the uncontrolled consumption of resources, including the human resource of underpaid labor. Trashing the world because "It's going to be gone someday anyway" is short-sighted, ignorant and cruel.

I can't hang out with that ideology long without getting hopeless, so my shift has been to the tangible and the present opportunities I have. What can I do?

And where are the other Christians? If we fundamentally believe that the world is our home, the place we will someday call heaven, that our job as believers in a benevolent Creator is to join in the good work He is doing to bring reconciliation, hope and healing to the world around us, why are more Christians not leading the charge in saving the planet? Yes, literally saving the planet.

Does this mean I think I am the Savior? No. But it means I join with the Savior in doing the saving work. It also means policy change. Voting for things and lawmakers that will eventually hold corporate greed accountable.

In transparency, I need to say that I have not voted in twenty years. I could be a poster-child for civil apathy. It has felt overwhelming to me to even engage with politics, knowing what a failure many civil efforts have been and recognizing the deceptive drama of propaganda. It's not that I don't care, but that I don't understand the onramp, learning feels insurmountable, and I refuse to use my voting power in ignorance, which feels wildly dangerous and irresponsible. And yet, I see some of the most admirable souls making effort and having effect in the political sphere. Why wouldn't I join them? It's time for me to try.

And you, reader, can hold me accountable to this. I am going to figure this out, one research project at a time.

My Mother's Day hike at Lake Sequoia