When a little kid makes breakfast for his mom in bed and the eggs are too runny and the pancakes are made with sugar instead of flower, we say, “Well, his heart was in the right place.” And this is acceptable for children and even adults when we make errors in judgment in our attempt to do the right thing.
However, this line of thinking hinders the progress of one of the most important movements in the modern day… the Green movement or Environmentalism. Too often we pursue ideas or fund technologies that only make us feel good and don’t do anything worthwhile for this effort.
It’s especially in vogue to be environmentally friendly (popular among members of the Sierra Club, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for decades longer). The last thing I would want is for hurting the environment to be in vogue, but more than environmentally friendly, we need people to be environmentally conscious. What’s the difference?
Months ago, I blogged about the Green Lantern who writes columns comparing various choices to be made and their environmental impact (hand washing dishes v. dish washer, bottles v. cans, etc.). There’s more to a decision than many people realize. For instance, taking the totality of a bag’s impact on the environment, plastic grocery bags tend to be better than paper. Why? Paper is heavier and more costly to ship because of the fuel expense. More fossil fuels are burned in transporting them then are used in making plastic bags. In addition, plastic bags do not cut into our forests and take up less room in landfills. It’s counter-intuitive, but an important process to think about. Of course, the best thing you can do is bring your own reusable plastic or canvas bags.
The last thing God’s good creation needs is our meager good intentions. God gave us brains, intuition and imagination. It is our responsibility to think through all the consequences and possible environmental impacts of our efforts to be green. The big national story recently has been the debacle of bio-diesel. It was so promising, very few people wanted to admit that while it had a great impact on our farmers, it was hurting the environment. The energy cost that went into it was far higher than what it yielded.
"First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small. (See: non-existent or harmful) It's hard once such a program is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going." – Al Gore
"One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president." – Al Gore
In his zeal to find ways to save the planet, Al Gore backed technologies that did it more harm than good. I would encourage everyone to look at the best research available when making decisions that have long term consequences for God's green earth.
