The Green Corner

by Steven Woodruff St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Morgantown, WV

We have all heard about global warming and carbon dioxide emissions for several years now. But many question why we, as Christians, should worry about it. The issue comes down to the stewardship of the earth and can we make any difference about it any way? Perhaps if we look at how much our personal consumption of energy emits, we may realize our part in the big picture.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. We say this because carbon dioxide in the air traps heat on the earth. And, the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat, hence global warming. We emit carbon dioxide many ways. For example when we breath we exhale carbon dioxide because we are burning food as fuel which initially came from plants. However, this is balanced by plants absorbing carbon dioxide at about the same rate, an equilibrium of sorts.

We also emit carbon dioxide by operating our cars. This is a different kind of emission because we are burning a fuel which was pumped up from deep in the earth where it was trapped for millions of years. It becomes significant because when we burn one gallon of gasoline, which weighs about 7 pounds, we emit 17 pounds of carbon dioxide. If we consider all the cars in our community and their relative fuel economy from 10 mpg for some SUV's to 30 mpg for economy cars, we can add up tons of carbon dioxide going into the air in Morgantown alone each day just from cars in our personal transportation. Also, when we generate electricity from burning coal, we emit 4 tons of carbon dioxide into the air for each ton of coal consumed. This carbon dioxide formed from burning fossil fuel is not balanced easily by plants absorbing it as we are constantly cutting down trees and removing farmland to create subdivisions and cities.

The earth is capable of absorbing much of this carbon dioxide, but the natural means of doing so is being used up. Much of the absorbtion is from deposits of calcium on the ocean floor from coral and micro-organisms. However, pollution is killing the coral reefs and poisioning the oceans, reducing the renewal of those calcium deposits. From this brief description, we can see where we can make a difference. Driving an economy car instead of an SUV can cut our carbon dioxide emissions by over half in personal driving. Using a 17 watt fluorescent lamp instead of its 75 watt incandescent counterpart saves 75%. Creating greenspace, instead of concrete patios, aids in absorbing carbon dioxide by plants. Stewardship of the earth doesn't require living a 1900 lifestyle, it means making wise use of the technology availble to us to leave our children's children an earth which has not been used up by our over consumptive habits.