So the back story goes, I broke my pelvis and have more athletic gear and motivation than my body can use. Kenton has more gear than motivation. We both can afford to burn calories much easier than we can afford the gas, happy medium equals: "Let's ride our bikes everywhere and we're all happy."
After riding Judah to playgroup on Friday morning and hookin' up with our gang member, Duane, for a ride to church Friday night, this challenge seemed doable.
As the newly formed (impromptu) biker gang, I like to call "the wolverines" saddled up for their ride home, Kenton through one minor hiccup in the excursion. His riding shoes clipped in at the wrong moment and he plowed tiny little miss Norah to the ground...score one for carbon footprints.
After the dust had cleared and I stopped laughing at poor Kenton's triumph we rode on.
One day down and a few less co2 tracks made by the Hansen's.
Day two was screaming green.
It was our day to head to the recycling center and we did just that...on our bikes.
Kenton towed our recyclables and I towed Judah. Our convictions ran deep as we passed enough litter to fill another trailer for the recycling center. We had Judah hop off and collect what we could. After a miscalculation of the exact whereabouts of the center via the bike route, we pulled in with all the stares we deserved.
"Yes, we're bringing our recycling on our bikes." (A few years ago a certain member of this house was still littering....can you believe it?)
If you've never been to ProKansas Recycling, you should. They love to show the kids how they compact all the goods. Judah loved seeing all the stuff squished into big blocks. They take everything at ProKansas, it's really the only place in town that is a "one-stop" center. Look, according that box, you can recycle your kids now...who knew?
As we headed home we stopped at church to scoop up the left over recycled Christmas Tree mulch. The students cleaned up the church yard and as you can see there was plenty to spare. Kenton towed several pounds home, he was really loving the environment that day. (hee-ho, hee-ho)
While we try to be green in many things, our thumbs are the exception. Never the less we laid the mulch down over the freshly weeded garden and as you can see the before and after, I think it made a great improvement.
Our last trip of the day was to grab a few items from the store. We left the bikes parked and tugged the Radio Flyer. We bagged the items in our canvas "One Bag at a Time" sacks and rolled home.
Sunday didn't prove to be as emission free as we hoped. The car was used for the first time in over 60 hours. We weren't beating ourselves up though, we started a conscious habit to examine our trips and our mode of transportation.
I can honestly say, I've felt the conviction long before Al Gore presented all the inconvenient truths we're facing. Recently we've discussed how, strangely, Christians, of all people, should be the ones stepping up to protect the Earth, but they're not.
We as believers can stare upon God's glorious creations and give him all the credit, then walk away and toss our plastic, or run our cars all day long.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no better, I like my convenience and comfort probably more so than others, but how comfortable will my grand kids get the chance to be if I don't take two seconds and think of what kind of mark I'm leaving behind.
I climbed to the top of Pikes Peak with my Dad last year. It was an amazing (say it again) Amazing experience. To see such majesty first hand was breathtaking. I was shriveled in God's vastness. But as I stood at 14,115 feet above sea level I realized I didn't need the jacket I packed. I wasn't wearing the gloves I was expecting to pull on. I didn't need to put on the sweats I'd thrown in a pile and had someone truck up for me. I was wearing a tank and shorts at a level that is notorious for it's brisk cold, even in August.
"Don't tell me something isn't changing, this just wasn't right."
Isaiah 40
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
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