Recycling: Not for True Christains

by jeanniebeanz 42 Replies latest jw friends

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  jeanniebeanz

  So, I'm sitting here sorting out my recycling since tomorrow is trash day, and I remembered something that happened years ago that gave me a chuckle.

  It was a Sunday Botchtower study and the topic was things that we should be doing to prepare for life in the New System. Even as a child, I didn't answer from the magazine and they never knew just what I was going to say; they would usually not let me hold the mic myself just for that reason...

  I had been learning about recycling to preserve our natural resources in school (6th grade, I was 10) and had my comment ready to go:

  "Yes, we can all learn to recycle so that we will not waste our 'natural resources' and be part of the system of things that will be brought to ruin for ruining the earth."

  *silence*

  *laughter*

  Later an older sister came up to me and 'explained things to me'. 'We don't have to worry about our natural resources because that is in Gods hands, and Jehovahs people have better things to do than sit around sorting garbage. Next time, just answer from the magazine, honey, and people won't laugh at you'.

  I am quite certain that my 10 year-old face looked like this:

  I know that this stance softened over time, and understand that recycling is encouraged now, but it wasn't always so. Funny people.

  Jeannie
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  tetrapod.sapien

  that was probably the best comment all year in that hall jeannie. only a child could be so crystal clear like that. brilliant. it's so logical too. it says it right there in the bible. why are JWs not environmentalists too?

  i often had these same thoughts growing up. it's not that they were against a green attitude, it's just that basically no witnesses i knew ever had it. and why worry? god is going to make it all better anyways, would it not be a waste of time? obviously not, but that's how they see things.

  this is one of the reasons i think they are dangerous. and this goes for a lot of organized religion too, you know? people who think they are just passing through this world and onto the next, really do not have a great historical track record of thinking logically about the future of this jewel we live on.

  glad to hear that you do what you can to make a difference.

  TS
• 

  loosie

  Bravo Jeannie!!!!!!!
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  skyman

  I hate to burst peoples bubble but almost all recycling actually ends up depleting more of your natural resources than it saves. Rule of thumb if money can be made by recycling then and only then does it benefit the earth to recycling. Like for Ex: metals can be sold for money and this saves the earth because it take less of the natural resources than it takes to make new mentals and thus there is a reward of money to incourage people to recycle. But for paper products and glass after the cost of gas and the chemicals used to recycle the paper it actually takes more from the earth to recycle the paper and glass than if the they were not recycled. Truthfully most earth huggers don't have a clue!!! and the only benefit is the feeling you get when you thank you are helping the earth by recycling but actually you are doing more harm to the earth. Also people say we are running out of room to dump garbage this is not true either.
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  Netty

  hee hee Jeanne. Guess thats another thought they received new light on, being that the end aint here yet and all.
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  Billygoat

  I hate to burst peoples bubble but almost all recycling actually ends up depleting more of your natural resources than it saves. Rule of thumb if money can be made by recycling then and only then does it benefit the earth to recycling. Like for Ex: metals can be sold for money and this saves the earth because it take less of the natural resources than it takes to make new mentals and thus there is a reward of money to incourage people to recycle. But for paper products and glass after the cost of gas and the chemicals used to recycle the paper it actually takes more from the earth to recycle the paper and glass than if the they were not recycled. Truthfully most earth huggers don't have a clue!!! and the only benefit is the feeling you get when you thank you are helping the earth by recycling but actually you are doing more harm to the earth. Also people say we are running out of room to dump garbage this is not true either.

  Skyman, Do you have any links to site as sources for what you said above? I'm not one to take comments like this as face value. Andi - of the earth hugging Christian class
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  jeanniebeanz

  almost all recycling actually ends up depleting more of your natural resources than it saves.

  
  

  
  Again with the face...

  That's a pretty sweeping statement. Got any proof, skyman?

  J

  (edited: Billygoat beat me to the punch...ol )
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  skyman,

  there is no market for recycled paper because it is easier to cut a tree down than it is to extract metals from the ground. are you saying that we should continue using trees for paper? so if i undertsand this correctly: let's cut a tree down. let's waste a good part of it to prep it for transport. then lets use heavy machinery to transport the tree over long distances. then lets turn it into paper using practically the same amount of gas and energy as a recycling plant does.

  so by this formula, people get to continue masturbating mentally about the issue, and we get to use as much energy AND lose a tree in the process? come on, really now.

  the marketability of the technology should not have anything to do with whether it should be done or not. if it saves trees, but burns money, then so bloody be it!

  and even if recycling paper were worse for the environment as you claim, environmentalists are still right on the ecological-moral front. it's better to preserve trees and ecological systems by extension, than to cut them down so we can save a few bucks. not to mention that it is not the forest's fault that we use fossil fuels to power our plants in the first place. that's our fault. if there were community based paper recycling centres, AND people were not so picky about having pristine white paper, AND manufacturers were not so concerned with saving a few cents, then the recycling process would not be such a big deal, as it would reduce the amount of energy required to do the recycling.
• 

  Scully

  We recycle glass, cardboard, cans, plastic bottles, paper through the local community program.

  We also use a composter to reduce the amount of garbage that we put on the curb, and as a bonus, we get some really rich fertilizer for our gardening.

  We've also cut back on the amount of paper we consume - we no longer subscribe to the newspaper, because we can read the stories online, or we can read the paper almost anywhere else.

  I use plastic containers for storage and buy a lot of things in bulk so that there's less packaging to throw away.

  Our biggest contribution to the tree population, IMO, is that we no longer belong to a cult that wastes untold amounts of resources printing worthless books and magazines. That is probably the reason why JWs don't give a crap about saving trees - they probably mow down several square miles of forest every year to print those publications.
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  Billygoat

  Our biggest contribution to the tree population, IMO, is that we no longer belong to a cult that wastes untold amounts of resources printing worthless books and magazines. That is probably the reason why JWs don't give a crap about saving trees - they probably mow down several square miles of forest every year to print those publications.

  Never looked at recycling quite that way Scully. So what you're saying is that we're ALL earth huggers by simply being apostate. LOL

  Thanks!