Planting Trees

I rarely sit in the window seat of an airplane. I prefer the aisle where it's easy to get out and a bit removed from a view that anxiously reminds me I'm miles above ground. But yesterday I had the window view as I flew home from New Orleans. Since I had just been at a youth gathering where I co-hosted a session on trash and our call to care for God's good creation, my perspective was a bit corrupted. As I looked out the window at the vastness of green trees all I could think about was the 60 million plastic bottles we throw out in a day, the 1 trillion plastic bags that lay waste after being used for roughly 5 minutes each, and the 64 tons of trash the average American generates in a lifetime. Harsh stats to ingest. And as we simultaneously reeled the documentary "Trashed", we took in hard images.

Trashed: The Documentary

So looking out that plane it was hard to avoid seeing the destruction, the trash, and the pollution. So much green and yet so much black and blue. An earth bruised by our demands to maintain unsustainable lives. What could be seen as prosperous neighborhoods looked more like lines of scars to me. And there lies the tension again - the goodness of homes and neighborhoods, and also the ills of our society, our consumerism and our convenience filled lives.


The youth were asked to make an honest pledge. Something they felt they could do to be better stewards of the earth. Some vowed to encourage their church congregation to change from styrofoam to mugs for coffee hours, others to take shorter showers, unplug electronics - or as one girl pledged, to straighten her hair just 3 days a week, instead of 5. It made me smile.  It's about small steps, and I felt nothing but hope from these youth and the excitement they generated.

At the same time, I left corrupted, and skeptical, wondering if we can communally make big enough steps to heal what we've already deeply bruised. I don't doubt the earth can and will heal itself. The question really is, can it with us in existence? I feel that harsh, honest despair, and yet remind myself that looking down from that airplane I saw the beautiful vastness of green trees staring me in the face, too. The scars have yet to overtake the earth. So, I'll take the wisdom of Martin Luther and plant another tree. Will you plant one, too?

"If I knew the world would perish tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree today."
- Martin Luther