Too little too late?

With the Olympics starting in just a few days, China has been under the microscope. It seems like every day there is a new complaint about China in the news. There has been controversy over the apparent lack of human rights within china. Reports have surfaced of people being arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced without a trial. China denied these allegations.

A few days ago the controversy was about China allowing protests of the Olympics to happen in designated areas. Some were happy with this compromise. Others were still unhappy because protesters has to apply in advance to even be allowed in the protest areas. On top of that, many of the designated protest areas are miles away from where the Olympic events are taking place. One of the designated areas is a park that has large scale models of international buildings like the White House and the Eiffel tower. Critics claim these backdrops will allow the protesters to appear to be in a different location.

Then it came out in the news that the Chinese government has required the hotels to implement specific hardware and software that will allow the government to track the internet usage of hotel guests. Many advisers, fearing that sensitive information on personal computers may be compromised, are recommending that tourists to the Olympics leave their computers at home.

But one of the most recurrent issues has been environmental concerns. When China was granted the privilege of hosting the Olympic games, China promised to address the environmental concerns. I don't know what measures China has taken over the last seven years between now and when the Olympics were announced to be held in China. But recently, China has mandated that in Beijing and the surrounding area cars with license plates that end in even numbers are only permitted to drive on certain days and cars with license plates that end in odd numbers are only permitted to drive on the opposite days. All outdoor construction sites have been shut down and some of the factories have been temporarily closed. China even announced an emergency plan, saying that if the air quality was bad, or if there was supposed to be stagnant weather, they would close down over two hundred more factories in the area.

But some athletes aren't impressed with China's efforts. Some athletes have already pulled out of endurance events or are planning on wearing masks.

I am glad that China is working at address the air quality issues. But in all honesty, many of the steps China has taken seem temporary. I have a hard time imagining that the factories will remain shut down permanently, as well as all outdoor construction sites. Perhaps with car restrictions will become permanent but it's hard to say. Like I said, I don't know what kinds of things China has done in the last several years to address these concerns. I only know what has recently been in the news. Perhaps because of the lack on information on past efforts, it feels as though China has waited till the last minute to address a major problem.

In many ways I am glad that this is happening on a "world stage" so to speak where people from nations across the world are watching and following what happens. China is perhaps on the extreme end of the pollution that is effecting the environment in sever ways. But nonetheless, we are all impacting the environment through our daily pollutants. As we watch China work to lower the pollution in a short amount of time, we are getting a small glimpse of what will happen across the world if we fail to act now. The United States consumes a huge amount of the world's resources, an amount that is entirely disproportionate to our geographic area and our population size. And the US is a huge contributor to the pollution that is affecting our environment.

It's a huge problem, and many times it feels like "I'm just one person, what effect can I have?" but we can all help. We can all be a part of the solution in little simple ways. Recycling is a perfect example. So are simple things like turning off the lights when you're not in a room, or changing your light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs. We can also raise our voices together to ask our policy makers to emphasize the importance of finding alternative, renewable energy sources that don't pollute the environment.

As Christians we have been called to a life of stewardship. Often we talk about stewardship in reference to money, which is appropriate but stewardship refers to so much more. A life of stewardship recognizes that all we have is a gift from God. A Life of Stewardship inludes all the resources we have, not just money. It includes our time, our energy, our abilities, our material stuff, our money, even the natural resources we consume on a daily basis. When we talk about stewardship we remind ourselves that all that we have is a gift from God that has been entrusted to us.

Our natural resources are a perfect example of what we mean when we say that all that we have is a gift from God that has been entrusted to us, not given to us for us to use and keep as we so please, but entrusted to us, that we might be a blessing to others. This world, and all of creation, truly is a gift from God. It's something that none of us own. We're really just borrowing it from our future generations. It is our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren that we borrow all these resources from. These resources are not here for us to squander away, using as we wish with no regard for how it will affect the future health of the planet.

God calls us to a life of stewardship. It's time that we start being good stewards of our environment too.

If you have additional suggestions of things people can do in their own lives to be better stewards please feel free to post those in the comments section.