Am I Raising Mad Max?

 "We have not inherited this earth from our parents to do with it what we will. We have borrowed it from our children and we must be careful to use it in their interests as well as our own." -Moses Henry Cass. 

Since my son was born last November, I find myself increasingly aware/ overwhelmed with information about our planet and the way we are treating it. I literally stay up at night worrying about animal extinction, plastic usage, overpopulation, and our insane consumption. I think about all the ways I have messed up, and I really want to leave a world for him that I can be proud of, not that is crumbling around him.

I would not call myself an environmentalist- I don't much like animals, I wouldn't strike you as outdoorsy, and I have never hugged a tree. That being said, I feel motivated to do more than I am doing. I am sick of feeling like I am sending my tiny spawn into some sort of Mad Max world with no water and too much Mel Gibson.

I don't want to spend the rest of my days dwelling on how big the problem is to the point of feeling helpless. That's a fool's game, because there are lots of things I could be doing better. So this is a blog about that. It's a blog for parents (or grandparents, aunts and uncles, concerned neighbors, etc) who want to leave their world a little better for their bubs. It's about always considering how to be a better steward, treating the world, the environment, and the people around us as precious and important. It's about trying to do good, instead of what doing what is easy.

I am a Christian, and I believe that our mission as Christians is to love God and to love others. This is a blog about how to love others better in how we spend our money and time. It doesn't seem like picking baby clothes could be a huge decision on how we treat strangers, but when you realize someone else's baby or mother could be slaving away in unsafe conditions so your child can wear his "genius" onesie, you realize the stakes are always high.

Sometimes, I just wish I could find information more easily- what toys or strollers are made in America? How can I help the churches that were burnt down last month? How do I start composting? Some of this information is easy to find, but a lot of it isn't, so I am going to try to do that here. We'll see how it goes, but I am excited about the possibilities, and at the least, I will try to collect lots of other great resources for you here, so we can all try to do a little better!