As my husband and I have been looking for tickets to fly back home for thanksgiving, I’m reminded of the many wonderful thanksgivings I’ve spent with family cooking in the kitchen all day and then sitting around a diner table with a deliciously indulgent meal before us, enjoying the company and conversation of one ano

ther for hours on end. These meals have taken on a special spiritual element as they have played a significant role in bringing our family together to spend unhindered, uninterrupted quality time.

I think it is at the very heart of God to celebrate by means of spending time with friends and family as well as eating well. Throughout scripture one can see the many occasions God has ordained for his people celebrate a particular season or days with festivals lasting days on end. One of my favorite examples from scripture is the incredible wedding feast to take place when Christ returns again. If I thought all the pies, mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing that my mom made tasted good, I cannot even begin to imagine what truly heavenly food will taste like!

Carbon Footprint

“Becoming carbon neutral is only the beginning. The climate problem will not be solved by one company reducing its emissions to zero, and it won't be solved by one government acting alone. The climate problem will not be solved without mass participation by the general public in countries around the globe.” - Rupert Murdoch

The question of what we as individuals will choose to make our carbon footprint, whether by ignorance or intention, on this earth is an important one. With increasing attention via media onto the impending crisis of excessive carbon emissions depleting our earth’s ozone layer and in turn causing our planet to warm, a far greater number of people are aware of the problem and are then left with a choice to make. And such a choice comes down to the issue of how concerned we are about the collective good of our fellow neighbors on this planet. What are we willing to sacrifice in terms of convenience and indulgence in order to lessen our carbon emission.

One such example can be the very cups we use to put our drinks in. Based upon resent research, a Styrofoam cups requires tremendously less energy, thus less carbon emissions, in order to be produced than a re-usable clay mugs. In fact, a mug must be used well over one thousand times to just break even with the carbon emissions produced from the manufacturing of a Styrofoam cup. As an individual now confronted with this truth, what would I do?

Well to begin with, I am striving to become increasingly aware and proactive in my efforts to lessen my carbon footprints on this earth. However, with regards to the issue of a Styrofoam vs. clay mug, I see the issue as having two sides. Though using a Styrofoam cup versus a clay one makes more sense, in terms of the effects on the atmosphere, as someone who has spent a great deal of time hiking and camping in the great outdoors, I value objects that are more readily biodegradable or even burnable. Materials such as Styrofoam are not biodegradable and when left at a campsite, as an example, with remain there for ages if not eaten by a wild animals- which would, of course, be harmful to the animal’s health. Also, when Styrofoam is burned, it releases noxious fumes.

Therefore, when addressing this issue, it’s important to take into account the context in which these two objects are being used. Though Styrofoam cups are better for the atmosphere, they can cause tremendous direct harm to animals and plants when left in nature. Therefore, carrying a clay mug or even paper cup when in nature is better. However, while at a social gathering, why not use Styrofoam cups and lessen, even in a small wall, the negative effects on the atmosphere of our earth.

Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs

With only having read the first two chapters of Jeffrey D. Sach’s book, Common Wealth, I’ve come to greatly appreciate and admire his impetus for writing. That is, his desire to first inform and educate the world of it’s impending need for global cooperation in dealing with looming issues at hand such as population growth, world poverty, arms race, etc. If such issues are not dealt with relatively soon, they may prove to be the very cause of irreversibly crippling and destroying our planet, as science would seem to suggest! Interestingly, as Sasch notes, “The main problem, I shall suggest time and again, is not the absence of reasonable and low-cost solutions, but the difficulty of implementing global cooperation to put those solutions in place” (12). Though I try to not be a cynic of other people’s optimism, I cannot help but feel that it would seem enormously easier to solve many such problems if the issues at stake were finances and not cooperation. I hold very little confidence in governments and other groups to be able to agreeably resolve these issues; at least not in the time frame necessary. Of course, nothing has proven to be more effective in uniting people together towards a common purpose than a crisis. Maybe that will have to be necessary element, now missing, to help people join forces. However, the ominous question, of course, is whether it will be too late by then…

Social Networking

As with anything that has tremendous potential to be used for good, it has the tragic flip side of also being the causation for evil as well. I guess that really is just the sort of world we live in. I mean as believers this shouldn’t surprise us. That is, God created good and then Satan’s counterfeit is just a perversion of the good God created, not a new entity unto itself.

Anyways, I see social networking as having tremendous gains and losses for the betterment and determent of our world. As a society we’ve never been able to so readily connect and communicate with virtually anyone in the world at any time.

(side thought) I wonder if when Thomas Edison created the telephone, an incredible feat as that was, if he could ever imagine in his wildest dreams that one day humanity would have the ability to instantaneously communicate via email, skype, instant messaging, and what not with out an elapse in time or wire to connect the two. I’m sure that would totally blow his mind as it does mine still.

Another wonderful advantage of social networking is its uses in academia. I personally am thrilled to be able to cut back on the waste of using so much excess paper and other materials. It’s interesting, in my organic chemistry lab, we’ve reduced the amount of chemicals used in the lab by 95%! I’m so thrilled by this! I really wonder why we didn’t think to do this so much sooner. It’s sad how it often takes a wake up call like news that our natural rainforests are close to depletion to get our attention.

Though I realize there are still many more advantages as to why social networking is incredible, but I will not express some of my concerns. First of all, above anything else, I see social networking as being a horrendous time sink for most people.  I see people wasting an ungodly number of hours everyday as they follow various rabbit trails starting on one internet sits and finally looking at the very thing they wanted to see 20 internet sites later.  I also don’t like how we often now pouring more time into our virtual relationship online than investing quality time in the real relationships in our immediate lives that matter most. I think social networking has created a sort of virtual world that many of spend more tine in than our real world and what does it produce? We have more people feeling isolate, depressed and alone as ever! I really believe there is a connection.

Well there is still so much more that could be said on this topic. These are just some of my immediate feelings with regards to this subject. For everyone social networking is something different. For some people, I believe it is an incredible tool that truly betters their lives. For other, well….I have some grave questions.