A request

If you have young kids, you're no stranger to the ridiculous excesses that package nearly all kids' toys. The cardboard, the twisty-ties, the pages and pages of instructions ... it's endless!

Did you know that much of this trash is actually recyclable? In Chattanooga, all paper is recyclable -- corrugated cardboard, newspaper, magazines, loose paper, and the thin cardboard that makes up the boxes of so many kids' toys. (You can also recycle #1 and #2 plastics, aluminum cans, and tin/steel.)

We are huge recyclers ... I "inherited" the recycling bug from my parents, and I've converted Bobby and, to some extent, Maggie. I always feel a small surge of pride whenever Maggie says, "We need to throw this in the recycling bag" instead of suggesting we throw something away. Personally, I think recycling is simply the responsible thing to do, but I also consider it a way of serving God. He gave us this awesome planet -- it's like no other ever before -- and we're killing it slowly, day by day. Global warming, overcrowded landfills, deforestation ... humans are harming our planet at a truly alarming rate, and I think it's arrogant and disrespectful to the One who created it all. Recycling is one small way to give back, to help heal the hurt that's been done to our amazing earth.

As I step off my soapbox, I wanted to make a request of you this Christmas. Instead of automatically throwing away everything you might consider "trash" this December, please take a minute to go through it and separate whatever you think is recyclable. I promise you'll find more than you think. (Even wrapping paper is recyclable.) Here's a picture of my curb on recycling day last month, including all of the packaging from Maggie's birthday gifts -- ridiculous, isn't it?

If you live in the city limits, there's curbside pickup once a month; for East Brainerd it's the Wednesday of the second full week. If you don't live in the city limits, there are many dropoff points throughout the area, including Warner Park downtown, the Jenkins Road ballfields, and Standifer Gap next to Silverdale Correctional Facility. And if you can't bring yourself to drop it off yourself, you can bring your stuff to my house and I'll put it out on my curb in January. Recycling day is January 14, 2009.

(Here's one of many articles that's been written on the global crisis that's facing us: click here.)

Just think about it ... please.