I’ll admit to being a little apathetic about Earth Day (if you are apathetic, shouldn’t that mean that you are not pathetic?). In a post-Christian world, the vacuum left by refusing to worship God is often filled by subconsciously worshipping Gaia. It has lots of parallels: sacraments (recycling, locavorism, etc.); commandments; prophets; evangelists, appropriate vestments; fringe sects, they even have at least one Borgia Pope in their history. And of course today is the high holy day.
There is always the danger of making the Earth an idol but as our current and former Popes have emphasized, there is an appropriate amount of environmental concern that Catholics should have. It is, after all, His creation (as are we, which is why we should not elevate the Earth above concerns for our fellow man as we so frequently do with abortion). We are to be good stewards of everything in creation that God puts under our jurisdiction, including our children, our time, and our planet.
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Pic by the inappropriately named ax2groin
There is the laundry list of things that people will suggest we do to protect our planet. Often these suggestions do little more than emotionally placate the doer; they frequently have questionable environmental benefit and can even be more harmful. For example, lots of recycling ends up using more energy and effort than would be used in creating brand new products. Deciding that you are not going to buy gas on a particular day to protest the consumption of fossil fuels doesn’t really succeed at anything if you then buy gas the day before or after. Installing solar panels (under current technology and law) because they will reduce your electric bill and give you tax incentives usually won’t allow you to break even until after many years, besides the fact that such panels are being subsidized by we taxpayers.
So, what do I do for the planet? The common-sense things:
- Turn the lights off when you’re not in the room. Or even if you are. This will save electricity but it may cause marital strife (at least it does in our house).
- Turn off water when you’re not actually using it, like when brushing your teeth or in the shower.
- Don’t use contraception.
- Don’t waste time driving to find the perfect parking spot close to the building.
- And, since I’m a guy, I choose to keep and wear clothing until it absolutely is not suitable for public viewing anymore. In my eleven years of working in Shreveport, I’m on my second pair of dress shoes.
So, ditch the Gaia, the empty platitudes, and the feel-goodism. Spend the rest of this Earth Day thanking God for his amazing creation, especially the ultimate resource.
