Trash-talking, Tariffs, & Holy Ground

 

Take, take off your shoes You’re standing on holy ground 

Take, take off your shoes. You’re standing on holy ground 

The earth is the Lord’s And the fullness thereof 

From the waters beneath To the heavens above 

So take, take, take off your shoes 

You’re standing on holy ground 

You’re standing on holy ground

 On the eighth day of creation the Lord looked around 

At the power plants and freeways and the trash on the ground 

Plantations growing rubber where the grain should be high 

You couldn’t see the sun for all the smog in the sky 

So take, take, take off your shoes 

You’re standing on holy ground 

You’re standing on holy ground

verses from TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES by Jim Manley

Last evening we retrieved our blue boxes from the garage and sorted through our indoor recycling bin in preparation for today. It is the weekly ritual so many people complained about when programs began years ago which now is routine, even though it can be a challenge worthy of Solomon's wisdom as to what is plastic and what is paper given the coatings used. In our municipality there is no charge for household recycling but we pay for trash pickup, sort of a carrot (peelings) rather than stick as an incentive to be good citizens. 

On the subject of peelings, our compost is whisked away at the curb weekly but we have several backyard composters at work for a good part of the year. I make multiple pilgrimages to yard waste mecca Spring and Autumn with leafy stuff. When I was a kid my Dad enlisted me to rake leaves to the edge of the street where they were burned -- everybody did it. It was part of the aroma of the season but that ended because it was unregulated air pollution. 

As it happens there was a worthwhile interview on CBC Radio Metro Morning today about what we do with our refuse in these strange days of tariffs. Roughly 30 to 40% of Ontario waste crosses the border into Michigan and New York, an endless flow of what we want to be "out of sight, out of mind."  I hadn't realized that there are virtually no guidelines for  commercial waste so 80 to 90% is not recycled. Homeowners recycle about half, so we still have a long way to go.

Even with tariffs it's still cheaper to ship our trash across the border but there is a growing discussion about what happens if that option gets too expensive or is closed off. Nobody wants a landfill in their neighbourhood so we're back to considering incinerating trash. Despite the "energy from waste" claims, industrial scale incinerators are not a good idea, The scrubbers just don't remove all the toxins and those living downstream are the recipients of the nasties which can exacerbate asthma and other respiratory problems 

When I was a pastor in Clarington region lots of people opposed the building of an incinerator by a corporation with a lousy record for toxic emissions in other places across North America. I went to public meetings as did members of my congregation but it was built anyway with promises that garbage wouldn't be imported from other regions. 

We held a day-long environmental, Earth Care fair of sorts at our church with participation from several other local congregations and it was well attended. We had seminars on greener energy options and retrofitting church buildings and the incinerator project. A member of my congregation, a physician, was involved in the anti-incinerator coalition and offered a worthwhile presentation. We figured that if "the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24) we had responsibilities to do our part in honouring our patch of our planetary home. 

Will there be growing pressure to burn our trash? There has been talk of expanding the Clarington/Durham incinerator. Why were we banned from burning our leaves decades ago but seem willing to burn plastics and other nasty stuff now? 

Waste disposal and landfills may be necessary in our hellbent on consumerism society, but as lovers of Creation and children of the Creator we must have a care. Fifty years on, Jim Manley's song, both playful and pointed, continues to be timely. 

Well, kids you really filled the earth and then you subdued it 

But there’s nothing in my book that says you’ve got to pollute it 

So take, take, take off your shoes 

You’re standing on holy ground 

You’re standing on holy ground