Those in the newspaper business get emails from a variety of sources, many of which are quickly deleted, some of which demand further attention, and others that take a while to figure out.

A recent email from the World Vision was one of the latter.
World Vision is an organization perhaps best-known for its child-sponsorship program and those commercials soliciting $30 a month to feed, clothe, educate and provide healthcare to a third-world child. They are also involved in other relief, development and advocacy work, all done in the name of Christ and grounded in Judeo-Christian values.
What perhaps we didn’t know about the organization is that it also advocates the “green” lifestyle.
The World Vision email outlined five trouble-free steps you and I can do to protect the planet by going green. They’re the kind of suggestions we get hammered over the head with from environmental groups and initiatives all the time.

Stuff like reduce your water usage, compost and shut off lights when not in use.

Besides using the World Vision article to promote green lifestyles, the organization also draws attention to its eco-friendly gift catalogue. The bit of shameless promotion, however, it isn’t the kind of Wish Book gift guide you’d think. It’s a tool to purchase gifts that teach techniques to help preserve the environment for people who live in poverty.
For example, you can buy a wood-conserving stove for a family or solar panels for a school or clinic in a developing country, which puts a unique twist on helping the world’s poor while being mindful of the environment.

The irony is that our North American “Christian” culture has gotten fat by exploiting natural resources and causing irreparable harm to the environment, not only at home but abroad.

That makes it terribly hypocritical to now force those living in impoverished lands, to abide by the same green-living consciousness that has swept through mainstream of society.

Those on the brink of starvation due to drought, poverty, civil war and the like have more important things to worry about then reducing their carbon footprint and practicing the holy trinity of the three R’s.
And this is not a shot at World Vision’s attempts to put solar panels on the roof of a school in Zambia, or whatever countries stand to benefit from the organization’s efforts. Maybe it’s only now that a broader scope of well-meaning people in our society, including Christians and Christian organizations, are finally waking up to realize that our consumer-driven lifestyle and wealth has often come at the expense of the environment and off the backs of the poor.

We’ve often confused prosperity with exploitation, or justified questionable business models as necessary in a culture built on greed and a lust for profit.
Thankfully, however, there is a renewed emphasis to embrace a more holistic worldview, in which actions can’t be detached from consequences.
This is especially encouraging to see among Christians individuals and groups, such as World Vision, which are embracing a “holistic gospel” that doesn’t compartmentalize life into a series of causes weighted at our own discretion.

It’s high time we recognize that sometimes the way entire populations of consumers, businesses, industries, landowners and taxpayers operate is out of whack, when issues such as social injustice, poverty, harmful environmental practices, unfair trade and issues of equality persist as a result.

And if we’re honest with ourselves, the truth is that being mindful of others and the consequences of our actions is terribly bothersome. That doesn’t, however, excuse us from walking a narrow path along which the world doesn’t revolve around ourselves. A world in which love may conquer all, but actions provide the cold, hard facts.

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