"God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good" - from Genesis 1
In today's reflection, Reina C. Neufeldt talks about the experiences of being a cyclist-commuter. Biking to and from work allows some "downtime" of enjoying the trees, birds, flowers and more, while also avoiding the sweaty crush of people on public transportation or the bad-tempered drivers on jammed-up roads. Lately, though, the effects of exhaust from cars and buses has resulted in raspy gasps for air. The choice to wear an air-filter mask was not a hard decision.
"I prefer to keep my lungs, even if I look stupid. The mask is hot and stifling and I can no longer smell the scent of hot grass in the sun, damp earth in the morning or azaleas in full bloom. What a dilemma: to smell the earth or preserve my lungs. We are linked, you and I, by the world we live in and the air we breathe."
Since the Covid 19 pandemic, we have literally seen the effects of our energy use, and the resultant demise of air quality. In Nepal, Mount Everest is now visible from 120 miles away -- the first time in living memory. We have become so accustomed to the terrible air quality in many places, that we are stunned at what a difference the dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions has made in a very short period of time. The same phenomena is evident in virtually every major city around the world -- people are noticing they can see more, smell more, and breathe more easily.
From a public health perspective, there is already some evidence that there is a relationship between air quality prior to infection with Covid-19 and death tolls in cities around the world. The more polluted the air you were breathing before, the more likely the virus will kill you. NYTimes: air pollution and Covid
In authentic gratitude for God's amazing gift of this created world, what lifestyle changes are we willing to make permanent after the wake-up call of this global pandemic? How much is enough stuff? (Those global cities with horrific pollution are the places from which our cheap t-shirts and toys come.) How much is enough travel? (The US uses far more fossil fuels than other nations because we are in love with our cars, especially the gas-guzzling kind.) How many of the miles we have not driven in the last two months did we really not need to drive anyway?
Here is a challenge for self-examination:
Get out a pen and paper and calculate how many miles your household drove in 2019, all vehicles combined. (hint: sometimes your auto insurance provider requires this documentation.) Use each car's average fuel efficiency to figure out how many pounds of carbon dioxide you released into the atmosphere last year. Every gallon of gasoline burned releases 5 and haf pounds of CO2 into the air. This is why higher mpg equals less pollution in the air.
Questions for Today
On what occasions could I lower my fuel consumption by
ride-sharing, public transportation, walking or biking?
What benefits might I discover in using public transport or walking more?
How might I reduce my emissions by combining my car-use errands into a one day excursion with a well-planned out route?
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