Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Conservative Environmentalists

Caring for the environment doesn't automatically make you a liberal. It just means you care about more than just yourself. You care about future generations and not just today. I'd call myself a conservative who cares about the environment.
I recycle not just because it keeps our landfills smaller but because it makes economic sense. I learned from our city hall than recycling keeps my garbage bill lower as they pay by volume. Recyclable materials tend to be rather bulky, plastic containers especially.
Everything you throw away that ends up in the landfill is akin to littering, albeit controlled littering. You might as well just through you garbage out the window if you don't want to recycle it. I was taught not to waste things and not recycling is wasting valuable resources.
Personally as a Bible believing Christian, I believe that we are called to be stewards of our world. As stewards we should take care of it but don't place it higher than ourselves. If we can care for the world without hurting our fellow man then go for it. I don't hug a tree but I'm glad it is growing and I'll care for it. However, if I need paper or firewood I'm going to cut it down and use it but I'll plant another one or two in its place. Likewise animals eat other animals so we can too.

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