You're brown bag special: Today, an environmental activist.

Yeah, I am realizing my potential to be a serious environmentalist. We have, afterall, been given dominion over the earth. We were not told to take advantage of this dominion, but care and respect and be responsible with this dominion. We were to supervise and protect creation, in order that it would be able to be fruitful and multiply. Productivity and Creativity.

At first I thought the "Human Element" commericals were a little loofy, but I get it now. The "human element" is that WE HUMANS are the only creature on this earth made in God's image and capable of making the choice of how to treat the environment. All the other parts of nature are under our care, and we are doing a terrible job at taking care of what we have been given.

And I am not talking about idolizing nature and the environment so that it is our sole obsession, but I think it is one of our responsibilities to care for it under God's rule, authority, and sovereignty.

I'm taking this 'technical writing' class this summer, and our final portfolio includes a Recommendation Report, in which we write about a local or state problem that we think should be addressed and solved. We are to write this report as if we will be sending the report, as a request, to the person that can 'make it happen'.

I hate this project, because I take these things so seriously. Before I started my research, I knew I would get sucked into what ever 'problem' I chose to work with, and so here I am... getting fired up about recycling programs and educational programs about caring for our environment.

Becoming healthier people seems to be on the minds of a lot of people in the US, finally, and yesterday I watched a report on CNN about what to do to resolve the obesity issues in the US population. I laughed when I heard the option of applying a Sin Tax to "unhealthy foods", similar to the tax placed on alcohol and tobacco. There was a mention of the invasion of rights of people with obesity. I don't know how that would play out.

But it seems to me that if we are trying to be healthier as individuals we have to have a healthier environment... It all ties together. If we have a healthy environment/community, then we'll inevitably become healthier individuals (to some extent). And if we become healthier individuals we will inevitably develop an increased awareness of the need for our surroundings and our communities to be healthier.

I made a harsh comment one morning when my family and I were eating some fresh, warm, deliciously heart disease coating doughnuts. I was responding to something, but I can't remember what to, and I said, "they're just catering to a fat nation."

We're a nation of glutonous consumers... And maybe ADHD has something to do with it as well. We're fast paced, always on the go, and just taking what we get and moving on... keeping up with the flow none the less. I was watching the Letterman Show last now, or Jay Leno, or Conan O-Brian... one of them had a comedian on the show that talked about ADD. It was pretty funny. He said that people with ADD these days are now only paying attention, since we have all the gadgets and heart attack initating stimulus every moment of every day.

We're an over weight, over stimulated, over catered, over consuming nation...

And the realist in me knows that its not a problem that can be fixed or "cured" in this lifetime of creation. SIN tax, a little ironic. By grace the earth hasn't been completely anialated by mankind, and ultimately by God...(that Flood thing, yeah), and by grace would we ever be able to make a difference and be aware of the need for a difference...it's His difference.

The Idealist in me wants it to all happen and be fixed overnight... even while well aware of the incapibility of human efforts.

It's funny to me how many people DO care about (or ahve an interest in) humanity and the environment... whether or not they profess Christ as their savior or believe in God at all...

To make this an even longer post, I could talk about the love of humanity some more. I was talking to a friend one night about the commands to love one another and the idea that "they will know we are Christians by our love." It is necessary at this point to figure out a real definition of love, because several religions out there that do not worship or acknowledge the one true God develop a faith that involves loving other people. Deep inside I believe all of those religions are based on the teachings of Christ and God's Law and the people are jsut blind to see what they are doing. But, if those other religions are using love as their main objective, than how is our love, as Christians, going to be different? hmm.

Just some thoughts, and distractions from my actual homework... to write this report.