Garbage In, Garbage Out - a journey to less waste

This is a post about garbage. Yep. And at the end of this post I've made a long list of stuff I've done to reduce our garbage output. But I can't make a list without a lot of editorializing, so here goes. :)

I'd venture to guess that most of us don't think about our garbage. But lately I've been doing a lot of consideration about that very topic. And I've become convicted that all of us need to be more mindful of the level at which we trash the world.  The average U.S. citizen throws out four and a half pounds of garbage every day. That makes 230 millions tons every year, just here in the U.S.!

It's a huge disappointment that Christendom, which should be a haven of care and respect for the physical creation, seems to be the least interested crowd.  Somewhere along the way, Christians got the idea that since the world is fallen and going to be fixed up someday anyways, we can do whatever we like to it in the meantime. (It's funny that you don't hear that argument being made about human bodies.) The first thing lost in that train of thought is the biblical concept of stewardship. Just like it's wrong to pollute our bodies with excessive smoking/drinking/poor eating, it's also wrong to rampantly degrade anything that's been entrusted by God to our care.  Something else to consider: creation has been entrusted with displaying God's attributes.  People understand God through the physical world, and that's no small entrustment. So creation is no less a part of God's master plan than humans are. Humans and the rest of physical creation have the same destiny (renewal), and should be treated with similar honor.

One last thing: forget what politics has to say. Party politics has (ill-)advised us on this issue for too long.

Here's a huge pet peeve of mine, considering how I think believers should behave: churches produce SO MUCH TRASH. The amount of styrofoam and paper and plastic dishes used even at one event is, frankly, embarrassing. A typical Sunday morning might produce hundreds of styrofoam coffee cups, each used for five minutes and thrown "away." There are alternatives that I think churches need to consider. First, attendees, bring your own reusable mugs for the coffee. Churches should be encouraging this, and also offering normal (non-disposable) mugs for those who didn't bring their own.  Also, at group eating events like potlucks, let's wean ourselves off the throwaway plates, forks and cups (which are flimsy and tacky anyways).  If it's a larger group, another option is for each family to bring their own regular plates and flatware to the church potluck, and wash them later at home. This is actually the way get-togethers were done in the past, when we did not buy things for the purpose of throwing them away.  This idea might sound a little nuts, but that's because we've been infected by the culture of throwaway. If you actually think about it, it makes much more sense. I'm pretty sure people from 150 years ago would think we're nuts (and more than a little wasteful) to have so many things intended for one time use, and immediately discarded.

my own culinary invention: autumn soup

[DISCLAIMER: I'm as bad at writing recipes as I am at following them.]

Autumn Soup? What else shall I call it? I have no idea. Normally I get really annoyed by recipes with titles like "Breakfast Hooray" and "Jimmy Boy's Favorite Stew" "Apples Phoenix" and other stupid things that mean nothing and do nothing to enlighten the reader to the contents of the meal.

However, although I prefer 'titles' that are merely descriptive, I fear this one would take up the whole recipe card. Even the trimmed-down version, Squash Apple Carrot Potato Maple Cream Cinnamon Chipotle Bacon Soup, is a little overwhelming. So, since everything in this soup reminds me of autumn, I guess I'll call it that, for now.  But, didn't reading that long title make you curious? make your mouth water a little? make you want to try it? Recipe names are the perfect way to entice somebody; they're not the time for mystery and secrets.  (This photo is from FoodChannel.com. Looks somewhat like mine, but more like yellow paint. Mine looks way better. But I ate all my Autumn Soup before I had a chance to photograph it. Sorry.)

Anyways, even though it does have a lot of ingredients, this soup is SUPER easy.  Even better, this recipe begs for your own interpretation.  This isn't even a recipe. *cue Pirates of the Caribbean* "It's really more like...guidelines." You can swap, add, delete, or substitute to your heart's content, because it's pretty much impossible to screw this up. I also like this soup because it more or less all happens in one pot (assuming your meat is already cooked).  Use a knife, peeler and chopping block, and there's not a lot of dishes to clean later.

FYI, this post will also contain the greatest frequency of the word 'mush' of any blog I've written so far.