The Story of Stuff ...

Social thinking is changing these days. Words like "sustainability," "green," and "local/organic" are becoming more and more of our vocabulary. Slowly, change is happening.

There are always those early adopters who hop on the bandwagon to see where this latest fad will take them. Then there are those who hang back to see if this is "sustainable," meaning will it last, or is it a flash in the pan. Then there are those who won't go until the majority of everyone is on board, and finally those who will never join, or will do so kicking and screaming.

The calls to treat our environment differently come from many corners...from genuinely concerned people, self-promoters, and even my local Market Street store (buy a green, reusable shopping bag and get 5 cents per bag off your total purchase). Behind all the alarms to treat our environment differently, I hear a basic word from God calling us back to our God-given work as humans -- to steward the environment (Genesis 1 and 2). God has placed us in charge of what surrounds us. And God gives us the freedom to determine how to use/steward what we have. Because God is love, God also turns us over to the consequences of our stewardship. Because we're such poor stewards in the end, God comes to rescue us in Jesus and set us right again.

We have a chance to change our direction for the good. Some are leading the charge, others are waiting to see how this shapes up (I'm more in this camp), and others are just going to wait until they absolutely have to join us in a redeemed stewardship. Here's a link to a little video that gets you thinking about where all the stuff we use/consume comes from and the hidden cost of our consumption. The story of stuff...

My thoughts about the video -- it's fast, fact-filled, sometimes too simplistic in its estimations, but it gets the job done of revealing what is at stake currently.

And if you've ever wondered about where your keyboard ends up when you throw it out...check out this Time article, here.