Happy Earth Day

Several weeks ago, I blogged about winding up in the same elevator as former Vice President Al Gore. Me being me, I managed to not utter a single word. In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share what should have come out of my mouth... had I been able to script it in advance.

And for those who don't know me well... I don't do politics. I don't like 'em, I don't understand 'em, and I don't generally discuss them. This has nothing to do with lefts and rights, so please don't make it political.

(Elevator door closes....voices continue... Producer J. turns around to find herself sharing 12 square feet with 3 strangers, one of whom she recognizes...)

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I may never get this chance again. Mr. Gore, my name is Joyce Rizer, and I'm with XM Satellite Radio.

So nice to meet you. Do you have just a minute? Because I'd like to share something, if I may. So many times in life we do things and we really have no idea if people are paying attention. If we're getting through to anyone. So I wanted to tell you that you've gotten through to me. But it took a while.

For a long time, I really turned away from all this climate change, global warning ballyhoo. And quite honestly, I'm not sure I really buy into it. But more than anything I was a little aggravated that these superstars who fly around the world in their private jets had the gall to tell me I needed to change my light bulbs.

And actually, we've been using the curly-q light bulbs for some time now. At least in the hard to reach fixtures. Over time we've added more. Someday, when they get to the point that they don't take so long to get bright, and you can use them with dimmers and 3 way lamps, we'll use even more. But honestly, the curly-q light bulbs were the extent of my inner green.

So as you know, XM carried Live Earth. And as it happened, I was in Washington at our HQ on 7-7-07. Things were Live Earth crazy there. A dear friend of mine wanted to go see Garth and Trisha perform. Now you wouldn't know this, but I'm a bit of a Garth fan. And I think his wife is pretty cool. However, I had no interest in fighting the tree huggers to get a spot to hear him sing one song. Because really, I figured he'd have done more good for the environment by leaving his private jet parked in Tulsa. So I was just going to let her do her thing and I'd meet up with her afterwords.

However, things ran later than anticipated, and I wound up being down at the Smithsonian in time to hear Mr. and Mrs. Brooks sing. I got a good spot, and was pleasantly surprised to see most of the crowd was pretty much like me. Country music fans who were out enjoying the beautiful weather. No one tying themselves to trees or asking me sign pledge cards vowing to buy a hybrid car. It was actually a pretty cool little event.

So back home in Nashville a few weeks later, I moved. And I moved from an area in Davidson County that offered recycling, to an area that doesn't. Since "Curby" was introduced several years back, we kept a Rubbermaid tote in the kitchen, and we flung stuff into it, and dumped it into the big cart, and wheeled it out to the curb the first Friday of every month. No big deal.

However, at the new house, I found I was missing it. And I started noticing that my garbage can was a little fuller each week. Sure, I could save all the recyclables and drive them across town to the drop off center. But what a hassle that would be. So aside from saving the aluminum cans for the program at church, I didn't recycle much of anything for a couple of months.

Then one Sunday last fall, our minister gave a sermon entitled "Is God Green?" This raised some eyebrows. In fact, one woman in my Sunday School class told me she was skipping service that day because she was not in the mood for a bunch of global warming garbage. I was intrigued.

Really, when you think of it... the preachers have the ability to strip it all down to the basics. If God created the Earth, don't you wonder what He thinks of the way we're taking care of it? A lot of what Rev. Purdue said that morning made sense to me. And suddenly, it wasn't about climate change or carbon emissions or whether my hair spray came via aerosol or a pump. It wasn't because Bono, who could plant an entire forest with one night's paycheck, told me so. It was really as simple as taking a look at the world around me, and wanting it to be a better place than I see it right now.

So we came home from church and my daughter made recycling bins. She got on the internet and found graphics and made signs for cans and paper and bottles and cardboard. And so there's a corner of our garage for garbage that doesn't go into the garbage. It's amazing to me how much we pile up. And once a month when we go to her orthodontist, we drive by the drop off bins and unload a carload of garbage. And feel good about it. I've started using the re-usable bags at Kroger, which means we're bringing a lot less plastic into the house. And I've started listening when I hear things like how long it takes a Diet. Mt. Dew bottle to disintegrate in the landfills.

I'm sorry, I've kept you and your friends longer than I intended. It would be nice if you could convince Public Works to expand Curby out to the boondocks of Cane Ridge. But in the meantime, I just wanted you to know that one more person was paying attention that wasn't really a year ago at this time. Two more if you count my daughter. Although I suspect someday she'll implement some sort of recycling program at the Zoo where she heads up the Worldwide Wolf Conservation Alliance.

Now when I hear about environmental issues, I don't sigh and wrinkle my nose up. I'm not forming protest groups or picketing either, and I sure can't afford to buy all those expensive recycled paper goods. But as a whole, my family is doing better on this Earth Day than they were the last. Most importantly, we're thinking about things, and finding ways to improve our little corner of God's creation.

And it all goes back to Live Earth. If you got through to me, there's no telling how many others you got through to. But don't give up on everyone else, they'll come around. It sometimes takes a while.

When the skies and the oceans
are clean again
We shall be free.