It’s easy being green.

• Companies print T-shirts that say, “There is no planet B” or “SOS” with the O a picture of the globe.

• Most cities have recycling. (Ours makes it easy on us–as long as we put our paper here, our glass and plastic there, they’ll pick it up for us.)

• Composting is trendy.

But sometimes I wonder, is this just a fad everyone’s playing on? Do we really know what we’re doing? Is what I’m doing making a difference?

I confess:

• I drive to the grocery store rather than take my bike (which I don’t have and couldn’t ride if I did have one–a story unto itself).
• When the old grout in my shower doesn’t respond to the environmentally safe cleaners and the mold growls at me, I arm myself with a bleach spray bottle and attack (glancing over my shoulders hoping no one’s watching).
• Sometimes I just want that pair of flip-flops, and I don’t check to make sure they weren’t made by five-year-olds.

Sometimes I’m selfish.

The truth is, it’s easy being green as long as it’s cool. Or as long as it doesn’t infringe on my convenience.

The truth is, to be truly responsible care-takers of this earth, the creatures in it, and especially humanity, we need to be creators rather than consumers.

Creative Ideas For Recycling, Shopping, Cleaning, Art Projects

With this in mind, let’s brainstorm on some ways that we can be creative in our responsibility rather than trend-followers. Here are some ways I’m committing to being creative rather than consuming:

1. Drinking water from my filtered tap rather than from a bottle. When I’m on the run, I’ll fill a reusable bottle rather than grabbing Evian. This will cut down on plastic waste but also preserves water that is often taken from others in poverty.
2. Buying clothes from thrift stores or places such as Global Girlfriend or Tom’s shoes. Think Pretty in Pink. Or Disney’s Cinderella. Instead of wearing what everyone else is wearing, you’ll be wearing what everyone else wore. With a twist. This will be my opportunity to create something new out of something old, to find treasure in someone else’s trunk, to put my own mark and have my own style.
3. Cleaning with reusable products as much as possible. With convenience in mind, companies have turned almost all cleaning products into something disposable. While not arguing that a good paper towel isn’t somethings the best thing, I commit to using cloth towels, dust-rags from old socks, T-shirts (for heaven’s sakes, my husband’s drawers are overstuffed with them!), and even underwear, and old-fashioned brooms, mops, and sponges as often as I can. It may not be as easy, but there are ways to Mary Poppins this, as well. Don old socks and mop the floors by dancing on them, for example.
4. Using old magazines to create personalized gifts and cards rather than flood landfills. Come on, who doesn’t like a good collage? (Related: using old material for new quilts, although I’ll have to leave the quilting to someone else.)

I suspect in the end, it’s not necessarily about “saving the world.” It’s about being others-minded rather than material-minded. It’s about being a life-giver rather than an energy-user. It’s about being a creator rather than a consumer.

That’s how we were created.

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26, NET)

So tell me some ways you are creative in your responsibility to care for the earth.

Note: Image taken from Ban T-Shirts.

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Heather Goodman secretly wishes to be a Broadway star. She enjoys tea every afternoon, tortures herself with Pilates, and has a penchant for breaking out into song and dance. You can sign up for her free ezine, Glimpses: Christianity in Art and Life, on her website at http://www.heatheragoodman.com.