We've Got the Whole World in our Hands

Today we went to the Quaker meeting again. This time was the first time my youngest son went to the children's class during worship. Since it was his first time and he didn't know anyone, I went with him.

The children (there were 9 of them) are learning a song to sing in front of the adults in a few weeks. It's an updated version of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". In the process of practicing this song, they are talking about taking care of the planet and how we all have the world in our hands and it is up to us to take care of it. They talked about pollution and recycling and what it means to "go green". It was very cool. The only way it differed from a UU RE class was that during the children's message, they talked about how God loves them all no matter what they do. Nothing that they could ever do would make God give up on them. And then at the very end of class they had the children bow their heads and they said a prayer thanking God for all of the children, asking him to take care of them this week and to help them remember the song they're learning and what it all means.

I thought it was a nice class. And they had snack which sold my son. ;-)

Christians for the Mountains

Was the earth made for humans to use or are we merely stewards of the miracle of nature around us? When I talk to many of the people around me who identify themselves as Christians, they often believe that God made the earth for humans to use as we see fit. And if we trash it, it doesn't really matter because it's all about the afterlife anyway, right? And these people often claim that the Climate Crisis (formerly known as Global Warming) is all a big hoax made up by liberals (to what end, I haven't figured out yet...but anyway...)

So that has been my (obviously limited) experience with Christians and their views of nature. And then recently my husband discovered a movement of Christians in the Appalachian Mountains who see what human beings are doing to the earth as an affront to God. Basically, this centers around coal extraction methods used in the Appalachians that involve blowing the tops off of mountains and stripping the life from the land. Besides the devestation to tree and animal life, runoff from the mining is getting into water sources and school children are getting sick in large numbers. In August, the government just announced new rulings that basically void some aspects of the Clean Water Act in order to make coal extraction from the mountains easier. Let's ravage the land and the sanctity of life for the sake of a misguided energy crisis.

I do admit that I have trouble understanding how people who call themselves Christians and presumably love God's creation, can so callously cause such widespread devestation. It was so heartening to me to see a group who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. You can check out their cause on their website at Christians for the Mountains. My husband feels a special connection to this issue since his family is from an area where strip mining was prevalent in the early 1970's in the Appalachians of eastern Kentucky. He wrote about it on his own blog at A View from the Crossroads.

Hiking with kids

We just got home from our annual family spring camping trip. I have several blog posts bumping around in my head now. I thought I'd start out by sharing our hiking adventures with our kids. Maybe this will help some other parents out there who may be planning summer outings with their own kids.

My husband and I have always enjoyed hiking and have taken our kids along since they were small. But I have to admit that kids can get bored with hiking easier than adults do. If you are a parent who has tried to take kids hiking, you may remember getting about halfway into the hike when the whining begins. Are we almost done? Will you carry me? I'm bored. I'm hot. There are too many bugs. My feet hurt.

I have found that the best way to avoid these situations is to plan your hikes with your kids in mind. Rather than just going out hiking and soaking in nature (which is often perfect for adults), go out with a purpose in mind. Set a goal for the trip and get the kids involved. Not only will they not complain, but they'll get just as excited as you (or maybe even more so!).

This weekend we made three small hikes. Saturday morning was our least structured hike. We picked a trail that was about 1 mile long. Having done this before, I know that E (10yo) loves identifying trees. I love to identify wildflowers. Big J, Little J (15yo), and D (5yo) all love just looking around and seeing what they can see. Little J is good at teaching D things that he has learned through Boy Scouts. Anyway, for our first hike, we just took a little time to do our own things all within the same area of the trail. I was thrilled to find several new wildflowers this year and correctly identify them. Meanwhile, E was learning to distinguish different kinds of oaks. D just enjoyed finding sticks or rocks on the trail and throwing them into the undergrowth.

After a lunch break and a trip to the park's nature center, we were ready for our first planned hike. (I can't take full credit for these ideas. They actually came from the Cub Scout How-To book for leaders. I just adapted them for my family.) Anyway, before we left home, I printed out sheets for our ABC Scavenger Hunt. On each sheet I printed out each letter of the alphabet. I made a few copies so we'd have plenty. We split into two teams: Me and E on one team and Big J, Little J, and D on the other team. When we got to the trail head we checked our watches and agreed to meet back at that spot in one hour. Then we took off. On our hike we had to find one sight, sound, or smell for every letter of the alphabet. Everyone had fun with that one - even D, who can't read yet, loved helping his dad and big brother. We only found 20 items while the guys got 26 (although I think they cheated by choosing "zipper" from Little J's shorts for Z and they found an insect they named "Quinton" for Q).

This morning after breakfast we had our second scavenger hunt. Again, I printed up a few copies of a Nature Scavenger Hunt list. The list included items we might find on a hike such as an anthill, a maple leaf, an animal track, a spider web, etc. We split into different teams this time. This time Little J and D came with me while E went with his dad. We went to a different trailhead this time and agreed to meet back there in an hour. This was a lot of fun. D was disappointed that he couldn't find the raccoon that he'd been looking for. But we had lots of fun finding the other items.

A cool side effect of these hikes is that my kids are really learning a lot about nature. My 10yo can correctly identify 2-3 different kinds of trees by looking at their leaves. D, who is only 5, can correctly identify deer tracks and anthills and woodpecker holes, just to name a few. Even Little J (who considers himself an outdoor expert since he camps out with the Boy Scouts so much) learned something new when I showed him wild garlic on the trail today. He'd never seen it before.

What a great way to spend time with your family!

Going Green

Yesterday I mentioned how our church had given us a list of things we could do as a family to lessen our environmental impact. I noticed that just after Earth Day Ms. Kitty posted a list of things she was doing to "go green". I thought I'd share what we either already have been doing or are planning to implement soon.

- switching to cloth napkins and towels from paper
- reusing (double-siding) scrap paper
- having our names removed from 3rd class mailing lists
- start composting kitchen waste
- switching from disposable to reusable plates, cups, utensils
- recycling glass, paper, cans, plastic, cardboard
- starting to recycle batteries and plastic bags
- buying products made of recycled materials
- wrap our water heater
- set hot water heater at 120 degrees
- change our thermostat setting (2 degrees warmer in summer)
- gradually switching all lightbults to compact fluorescents
- cooling hot leftovers before putting in fridge
- washing and drying only full loads
- rinsing with cold as much as possible
- buying locally grown produce
- buying organic when possible
- no longer buying meat (especially red meat)
- seal windows and doors
- checking tire pressure regularly
- not using drive-thrus (not eating meat helps with this one) ;-)
- not allowing vehicle to idle more than 30 seconds
- watching environmental films such as An Inconvenient Truth
- reading The Great Turning (a book endorsed by our church)
- planting a garden
- planting a tree
- fixing water leaks around the house
- using low-flow toilets
- installing low-flow showerheads
- reducing amount of water used on lawns/gardens
- reduce number of times flushing by half
- turn off water when not actually being used (washing hands, teeth, etc.)
- reducing shower time
- washing dishes by hand in sink half the time

There are other items we'd like to do like buy new Energy Star appliances, start buying green energy, etc. But those things will have to wait until our financial situation is on a little better footing. Right now we're doing what we can.