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Topic: Green (10/22/09)
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TITLE: To Throw Away or To Keep | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marie Fink
10/27/09 -
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Today, almost 40 years later, it’s still not easy being green, but for very different reasons and connotations. Green has been an adjective and a verb for a very long time, but almost old fashioned as a verb. However, a new meaning of the verb has emerged into prominence in the environmental movement. This movement is large and has too many nuances to try and define in one essay. The archaic use of “green” would go something like this, “He was so green (new) on the job that he never made a decision for himself.” Here’s a try at using “green” as a verb just after perusing the worldwide web for two minutes: “Eight Ways to Green Your Yard,” “5 Ways to Green Your Christmas Tree,” “Green up your birthday party,” “Green your pool,” and the list is endless.
I haven’t kept up with the life of Kermit the Frog, but I am assuming that he is the quintessential environmentalist by now. He would be very concerned for his original outdoor surroundings and everybody’s use or misuse of it. Environmentalism is broad and deep.
An exhaustive list by no means, this movement could include: recycling plastics, papers, aluminums, and just about anything that can be used again, even in the most imaginative ways. Also on the list are: saving the planet, (doing anything to prevent man from destroying the earth), saving any endangered species whether an animal or a plant, and last, but not least, conserving energy sources such as water and electricity.
Recycling has become easier than it used to be. It often meant traveling to the nearest refuse containers in a shopping plaza parking lot or elsewhere in town. There were places for newspapers, cardboard, glass, and plastics. I always seemed to have something in my car at any given time, just in case I would pass by a recycle bin. And just when my car was clear, I would empty something else at home that needed, you guessed it, recycled.
These ideas for saving our resources are excellent and yet, they can be extremely time consuming. I am grateful that our town recently passed out recycling trashcans. At first we were only able to throw away phonebooks and empty cans of sodas or vegetables. I rarely buy items in a can so it proved frustrating to have a large recycle container for little use. Then a couple of weeks ago, numbers one and two plastics plus cardboard were allowed. Now I am finding that I have to make frequent trips to the large blue container (funny, it isn’t green), but at least it’s only outside my kitchen door in the carport.
Time is a resource just as important as any other. I’m happy that my time as a recycler has been streamlined, and yet there will always be more that I could do. This may give me more time to catch up on the life of Mr. Kermit. We really are to be good stewards of everything God has given us on this earth. All things can be good and profitable if done in the correct attitude. We can even recycle to the glory of God.
By now, Kermit the Frog could possibly be on the endangered species list, but let’s not forget that even he thought of ways to be positive and helpful. Though it’s not always easy being green, we can all take a lesson from the cute little amphibian and figure out how to personally participate in a job to green up the planet.
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