Environmental Responsibility, Creation Care, Global Warming: Yikes! Just wrapping one’s head around these concepts and their complexities and consequences is terrifying in a myriad of differing paths. But once one has accepted or indeed acknowledged the problem, the question becomes how can I, one person or in fact “we”, one congregation, do something meaningful, fulfilling, practical, to contribute, make a difference? This conundrum is not unlike the old starfish story (and, if you don’t know it, call me). We do it “one starfish at a time”. The secret is to choose one thing, accomplish it and move on adding another achievable goal. If this sounds like a Lenten discipline, perhaps that is intentional.
Whether your first thing is turning off the water while brushing your teeth or during your 20 second hand wash or planting a tree doesn’t matter. One must choose one, make it part of your life, feel good about it and do the same thing with other likeminded folks. Then add another achievable, feel good activity and add it to your repertoire.
Each activity helps, each success builds awareness, empowers and makes “ making a difference achievable.
This particular story began 12 years ago when I became aware of a facility 35 miles away from Elon that accepted polystyrene (Styrofoam) for recycle. The Dart Facility in Randleman crushes polystyrene (which is 95% air) and creates ingots for shipping to facilities that give it new life as park benches, crown molding and etc. The alternative is of course stuffing our landfills with the stuff, which has a half life that exceeds uranium. Believing that to ignore this opportunity was tantamount to “carnal sin”, we began collection and transporting the dreaded Styrofoam (DS) to Randleman and felt the righteous glow of making a difference.
Well, time passes, a new facility becomes available 15 miles away in Greensboro that takes ”DS”, crushes and melts it and sells it to a company in New Jersey that pelletizes it and gives it new life. The proceeds of this sale funds the Tiny House Project in Greensboro and provides job training for individuals in need of gainful employment in the construction industry. Win, win, win.
And time passes again: we demonstrate our ability to provide a significant “fodder” for the process and now, we at FUMC Elon are thrilled and blessed to be a community drop spot for Foam Recycling. Details on the following web sites: www.tinyhousesgreensboro.com and www.recycllingfoam.com
I am Linda Lafferty, Chair of Creation Care Recycling at FUMC Elon. Call me with questions: 336-380-0822