First Baptist Murfreesboro ...

[Bruce Gourley]

An article written by a minister at First Baptist Murfreesboro, inspired in part by the New Baptist Covenant ...

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.ph ... tory=10495

[Haruo]

Good suggestions on better stewardship. I wonder how many of the people who would benefit from it either didn't read it or did so with a prejudice in favor of disagreement by virtue of her invocation of Al Gore in the first sentence.

Haruo

[ET]

Actually, Haruo, I did read it, although the list is a repetition of the "usual suspects". For just about all of the suggestions, however, I see very little benefit (excluding donation of used items to Goodwill, etc.). Some of the supposed energy-saving suggestions would most likely not even register on my utility bill. I've had programmable thermostats for years, but since my wife is at home all day, their usefulness and energy-saving capabilities are probably negligible except for bumping up the thermostat at night a few degrees.

So you go to the Farmer's Market to get some organic veggies or local produce, but if you made a special trip in your non-hybrid vehicle, did your car trip "offset" the environmental benefit of buying local. Our supermarket is 1 mile from the house. The farmer's market is close to 6 or 7. Then one figures in the lost time for the extra trip.

Why don't these lists ever suggest the MOST beneficial thing one can do to help the environment? Stop having kids or don't have another one. That will benefit the environment more than all the reduction, reusing or recycling one could perform in a lifetime. Yet such an obvious, high-impact solution is always ignored. Why don't the "eco-preachers" and commentators ever write columns about considering not having any children or not having another one? Sorry, but couldn't let that go.

What about not buying that bigger house? What about not taking that family vacation and doing something close to home? Come on! Stop with the nickel-and-dime solutions here. They're too small to be of consequence. In the grand scheme of things, they're good only for feeling like you're doing something. If you can convince somebody to keep living in their 2000 square foot house instead of moving up to that 3000+ square foot house, then you've done something (well, still not much in my estimation, but several lifetime's equivalent of the actions mentioned in the list).

No mention of refusing to use gasoline mixed with ethanol or E85 based on the flood of recent news articles of its impact on the worlds poor and their food supply or of the rain forest being plowed under to feed the demand of ethanol-based fuels (see the TIME magazine cover story in early April for that)? (Yes, I know I bring it up often, but only because it is a REAL consequence with highly negative results of actions taken to supposedly offset stuff that MAY happen 100+ years from now.)

I'm running a small, uncontrolled experiment regarding those CFL bulbs in my house. I've got some going on just over 2 years use so far, but I'm betting they'll play out long before the 5, 7 or 9 years the marketing boys would sucker us into believing, which also screws up their so-called "savings" in energy use (I don't believe I've seen one claim "10 times longer", but it may be out there). I mean, has anyone EVER proven that those claims are true in the real world? I've read that turning CFL bulbs on and off affects their longevity, so that may come into play also. I'm quite curious as to how long these things will actually last in real world use. I'm gonna say they'll end up with about 1/2 the touted longevity, maybe 2/3s or 3/4s on a good one.

That list may be practical, but how much good it will do is quite debatable. Now that you mention it, I've got a collection of dead rechargeable batteries sitting in my garage. I need to take those up to Lowe's or whatever local place takes them.