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Tracey Bianchi blogs about finding a saner, greener life from the heart of the Chicago suburbs. She wrote Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet(Zondervan 2009) and blogs at traceybianchi.com.
Posts By This Author
Experiencing God's Creation, Rain or Shine
Tread Lightly During Spring Break Travel
My family, while I was growing up, was not much for spring breaks. As other families we know flitted about preparing for palm trees and sand, my sister and I would pout and lament to my mother that we had the worst lives on the planet because we were not going to Florida. My Mom (and I now love her for this) really didn’t care. Her basic attitude was that we had more than enough adventure in our lives so suck it up and stop whining. Call another friend who stayed home and get out of the house.
Feeling Green Guilt at 30,000 Feet
How Do We Take Lent Beyond Chocolate and Caffeine?
A Green Christmas: 5 Realistic Ideas for Celebrating the Season
The New Consumer: Has the Recession Changed Us?
Darth Vader Goes Swimming and Clarity Floods In
Convenience and its Consequences
I'm Part of the Reason For That Oil Spill
In the daily grind of life there are few obstacles as irritating as traffic. The opening scene of "Office Space" deftly captures the sentiment. You know it, the neurotic jockeying and ill-fated attempts we make to slip ourselves into the lane that appears to be moving.
Hot, Humid, and Green Summer Ideas
My Green Hangover
10 Happy Little Earth Day Tips and Your Best Ideas Too!
Coffee and Compost
Health Care: Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers?
The Question of Climate Change is Secondary to the Need for Creation Care
Supermarket Moments in the Environmental Conversation
From Fat Tuesday to a Veggie Lent
It's Fat Tuesday. The height of the Mardi Gras celebration. The pinnacle of Carnaval. The time of year when religious and non-religious types alike trek to places like New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro to whoop it up before the season of Lent begins. Granted, most party-goers could likely give a rip about Lent, but to celebrate the storm before the calm is still a tradition many engage in.
Greening the Winter Games
This time of year I find myself humming the Olympic anthem throughout the day. The Vancouver games run Feb. 12-28; it is time to start dreaming of mogul runs and bobsled victories. For some reason I hum the familiar tune associated with the games on my way to and from errands. As if hauling my three children around were an Olympic event in and of itself.
Eternal Payoffs
God’s design for our lives includes stewardship of everything we have received. Most followers of Jesus give of their finances and volunteer their time, but stewardship also means responsible living with our cars, homes, energy consumption, water use, and so on. In these areas God provides an opportunity for wisdom and discernment on our part. At the very beginning of scripture, in Genesis 1, God outlines a partnership that is wider and greener than many of us realize. It is inconsistent if we slap our 10 percent into the collection plate and then head home in a gas-guzzling car and flip on all the lights