Eco-Earnest Ellen

I'm going to admit that one of my guilty pleasures is catching a portion of the Ellen Degeneres show when I come home in the afternoon. She is fun-loving and goofy and not trying to be my spiritual guru (Oprah.) Hey, she makes me laugh.

The other day I caught the few minutes near the end of the program where her guest gave us a number of practical ideas on how to be kinder to the environment. The light bulbs and the cleaning products were there, and other stuff we already do in our household.

Then there was the inevitable Ellen give-away. A lucky woman won a hybrid Toyota Prius for answering a couple of questions about the environment correctly. The loser was given a trip to Mexico -- by airplane of course. As the credits rolled we were reminded that a major sponsor of the show is an airline. What is the biggest part of our environmental footprint for many of us? Travelling in airplanes. We could replace all our light bulbs and those of our entire neighbourhood and still not get close to the effect of flying.

Don't get me wrong, I love to travel and I actually enjoy flying even though I am always shoe-horned into the seats. It's just a reminder that the issues are complex and a few minutes on an entertainment program don't come close to the heart of the issue.

God knows Ellen has a huge influence and so I'm glad she is eco-earnest. I am convinced that this will have to be an area of transformation in our lives over the long haul. As people who worship God and want to honour creation we will need to lead the way once the tide of popularity for these issues wanes.