Eco-poverty and Julia Roberts will play me in the movie

I was on this panel on eco-poverty the other night. I’ll spare you my spiel on environmental justice and the Clean Air Act and Clear Skies Initiative, since I’m relatively certain that if I started talking about new source review and pollution trading, few of you would make it to the end of the paragraph. Suffice it to say that I think Bush’s Clear Skies initiative is one of the worst examples of pandering to corporate interests at the expense of the public good that I have ever seen. You can check out Communities for a Better Environment or the Sierra Club for a more thorough explanation of the initiative, and Pacoima Beautiful for an example of a grassroots community organization doing some innovative work on environmental issues in a predominantly working class Latino community.

I sat next to a theology professor who disagreed with me about the efficacy of pollution trading, but mentioned the Evangelical Environmental Network as a group that is talking to Bush in language that he understands to convince him to work on his horrific environmental record. This professor was also Canadian, which is not particularly germane to the issue, but since he mentioned his nationality four times, I thought he’d want you to know.

It’s a trial sometimes that I find arcane policy details so interesting. I’m usually the only one, although if you would like to peruse eighty riveting pages on tax increment financing districts, the community process and accountable development, do let me know and I will pass along a copy of my master’s thesis. I would find it gratifying to think that someone outside of my thesis committee read it. Between the census data, in-depth analysis of Chicago patterns of development, and accounts of committee meetings, I expect it to be made into a Hollywood movie any day now. All it needs is a good soundtrack and Julia Roberts wearing glasses, so as to make a believable graduate student.

But I digress. We ended up talking about the theological basis for caring for the environment, and not surprisingly ended up in Genesis 1 and 2. I’ve always been a big fan of that part of the Bible. In addition to being a profoundly beautiful story, I love the theological implications of God creating the earth. At every stage, God blessed it and hallowed it and said that it was good – all the plants and trees and birds and fish and animals. It was all growing and running and singing and swimming, and God liked it all. Then God played in the dirt and blew us full of the breath of God and thought that we were the best thing ever. The deepest truth is not that we are wounded. The deepest truth is that we’re good. We tend to forget that about ourselves – and each other.

I think the part where Eve was formed out of Adam isn’t supposed to be about hierarchy or roles. It’s supposed to remind us that we are not in this alone. We are all a part of each other, and we cannot trample on the image of God in someone else without trampling on the image of God found within ourselves. When we create systems that deprive people of their God-given dignity, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to see one of the faces of God. When we decimate the planet, we decimate one of the primary manifestations of God in the world.
One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that I need to get out of the city sometimes. God speaks one way in a world of concrete and noise and sirens. God speaks in quite another in quiet places where the air doesn’t smell of car exhaust, and I can see the stars at night. That voice of God is getting harder and harder to hear because of our ecological recklessness. Instead of walking softly on the earth, we stomp around in steel-toed boots.

I don’t usually tell people what to do here – okay, I do, but only sometimes – but here are my five relatively painless things you can do to walk a little more softly on the planet:

1. Recycle – if you don’t have curbside recycling in your city, advocate for it. In the meantime, take your recyclables to a recycling center.
2. Buy some canvas bags and use them in lieu of paper or plastic ones at the grocery store.
3. I want you to be properly hydrated as much as you do, but if you fill up a re-usable bottle instead of buying bottled water, you’ll send a lot less waste to the landfill over the course of a year.
4. Switch to less toxic household cleaning products – Simple Green and Seventh Generation are good choices.
5. Walk more, or buy a bike. Investigate the public transit options in your city. You may be surprised at how convenient public transit is. Gas is over $2.50 a gallon here in L.A., so public transportation is cheaper too.

Okay, I’m done now. I’m off to go to sleep and dream of hugging trees.

Comments

[Mike]

Well said, Christy - thanks.
PS. You're first mistake was sitting next to a Canadian...

[Heather]

Julia isn't cute enough to be you.

[jon]

something random my priest told me once (don't remember where he got it from):

"God did not take Eve out of Adam's foot, so that he may rule over her, nor out of his head, that she may be over him. Instead, the Lord made Eve from Adam's rib, that they may stand together side-by-side and partner as equals in life."

I definitely agree with everything else in your post. Another option besides using canvas bags is to take your used plastic bags to a food pantry for the homeless - they often are in need of more.

[Christy]

Mike -
I had to sit where my nametag was - but the Canadian was a fine individual and a nice guy.

Heather - Then who SHOULD play me in the movie? She can't be too skinny and I prefer that she be tall.

Jon - Didn't think of the food pantry option, but that's true - food pantries frequently need more bags for the food. Thanks for the tip.

[Bob C]

omg

you're an eco-feminist

more reasons to adore

[Heather]

Pamela Anderson. (Just kidding)

[radioreb]

you rock! thanks for just being you. it's all up to shoot schedules as to who gets to play you in the film...Nicole Kidman is always overbooked, so forget about her. You know if you start with the director, you have a better chance of getting who you want anyways.

[Christy]

Heather - Well, I DO have big boobs....I just don't think she could carry off the glasses.

Radioreb - Nicole Kidman is too skinny anyway. I'll have my people start working on the director thing.