This is a Guest Post from Laura Michelle Burns:
As a new mom, I was excited to visit playgroups and moms clubs. I wanted to connect with other mothers. My diaper bag was full of cloth diapers, a reusable water bottle and homemade snacks. When asked, I was honest and told the moms that my ecofriendliness is not a hobby – it’s a lifestyle. As always, this raised eyebrows in my circle of friends – conservative and Christian. Somehow, being environmentally-conscious, and possessing any religious affiliation has become impossible.
When I surveyed the moms in my area about the level of importance environmental issues played in their lives, the primary answer I was given was that they just don’t consider themselves environmental. They try to teach their children not to waste, but when it comes to taking a stand for something like cleaning up the air we all breathe, they’d rather leave it to the “non-conservative leftists.”
I understand not everyone will have the same interests or the same convictions. But in my opinion, if anyone should be above the curve when it comes to protecting the Earth and our children, it should be those who claim to have a personal relationship with God. If God created the Earth and all that inhabit it, isn’t it being disrespectful to pick and choose what we are going to protect? We spend so much time focusing on human rights, yet we gloss over the conditions in our world that silently threaten the quality of our lives.
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought. ~ Maltbie Davenport Babcock
If you believe God created the Earth, then you believe that when he created our human bodies, He had a reason for everything he did. Take a moment and think about respiration. The respiratory system is a delicate balance between the intakes of the air around us, the cleaning of that air, and the expiration of the CO2 our bodies don’t need. Our breathing is not only vital to our survival, but also part and parcel of balance here on Earth. Living animals (including humans) must intake the oxygen in order to survive, expelling carbon dioxide as waste. In the meantime, plants are doing the exact opposite. In doing so, we have a constantly renewing balance in the atmosphere. Because of this balance, the oxygen is simply renewed and never consumed. This would lead one to the conclusion that we’re essentially breathing the same air that the Earth was created with. Except now, through the years, it’s collected other chemicals, like mercury, and no matter how hard our lungs and the stoma on plants work, they never fully get scrubbed out.
I don’t want my children breathing air that is intentionally polluted. I can’t imagine any mother wanting this. But if we insist on calling ourselves conservatives who have no interest in environmentalism, our inactivism is signing away our voice. When we make the decision to throw away that vote because it’s not popular at church, or the moms group, or the grocery, we have no one to blame but ourselves for wasting this chance we have to stand up for our children’s future…regardless of our creed.
Please stand with me and JOIN MOMS CLEAN AIR FORCE!
Thank you, Laura!