Visual pollution
From Petrarch: "It occurred to me to look into my copy of St. Augustine's Confessions. . . where I first fixed my eyes it was written: “And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.” "
From the Brazil [Portuguese] journal Cad Saude Publica Nov-Dec 2002: "Interviewees defined garbage as anything useless and considered it a problem whenever it accumulated in the surroundings producing a bad smell or visual pollution, attracted animals, caused disease in children or adults, or was shifted from the individual to the collective/institutional sphere of action to solve the problem."
Update: One commenter asked if I had picked up the trash I photographed (in the park that adjoins our church property), and the answer is YES! I took a plastic bag with me, and one of those long grab hooks and cleaned up quite a bit that I could reach--I also do that along Kenny Road because people throw things out of cars, and along Turkey Run. I hope someone else will remove the UALC VBS signs at the street intersections on public land. They are a safety hazard.
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8 comments:
How right you are. At least at Lytham (our other campus) the recycling dumpster is in the overflow parking lot across the street - where residential neighbors can enjoy it's delightful spring colors (?). At MR it probably sits here so they don't have to haul the recycling trash too far.
But have you noticed that since this recycling company has come to town there's one of these atrocities in EVERY school or church. They must have given a pretty good sales job. I understsand the church gets a few bucks for every ton of recycling collected. My question is, if a big old trash truck comes and lifts and dumps the load, how will they know how much is in the stupid bin???
Oh, they only want "paper." as in newspaper or overprinted church newsletters. They don't want boxes or other paper packaging. I looked in the bin yesterday and sure enough...boxes, plastic bags, etc.
There are Rumpke recycling bins in the fire station, not 1/10 of a mile away. Why can't the church just use those?
I cannot agree with you at all on this. The dumpster needs to stay right where it is. I understand you don't like how it looks or the fact that it's outside the fence. It's brightly colored so people can't miss it. It's outside the fence so those who don't have curbside recycling (most of Columbus) can put their paper in it.
If, however, you insist that it needs to go away, then make that happen by making it unnecessary. Make sure every person and business in central Ohio has free curbside recycling - or better yet, that waste companies pull recyclables before taking trash to the dump. Then you can complain about the aesthetics of recycling containers all you want.
I have to say, I'm ashamed that a Christian can even complain about having a recycling dumpster outside their church. Is the appearance of the front of your building really more important than, say, a patch of old growth forest in southeast Ohio -- trees that the God we serve planted and watered? Is it okay to be ripping up God's careful landscaping work so your house of worship looks "perfect"?
I don't know how you feel about forests and untouched wilderness, but I meet God there much more easily than in a multi-million dollar building, because all of nature is his handiwork. It displays his glory more effectively than any building human hands could create. When I go out into the woods and think about the fact that God crafted the mountains on the horizon and every flower in the underbrush, I feel his presence more powerfully than in most churches I've been to.
Please, protect my place of worship -- put up with the dumpster in front of yours.
One way to reduce paper is to not photocopy slides (powerpoint) for meetings with 20 pages with one or two lines to a page. Put all the text on one page (yes, someone would need to create a document).
We have volunteers distributing lunches, gathering clothes, making quilts, going on missions, delivering mail, signing up volunteers, collecting blood, etc.. Let the volunteer coordinator create a group for TOTT (take out the trash) that can collect, daily if needed, paper and take it to a community dumpster.
An ugly dumpster does not reduce trash. It just puts it someplace. It makes people feel like they are doing something. Lets dump the dumpster.
To Anon 12 p.m. "I have to say, I'm ashamed that a Christian can even complain about having a recycling dumpster outside their church. Is the appearance of the front of your building really more important than, say, a patch of old growth forest in southeast Ohio -- trees that the God we serve planted and watered? Is it okay to be ripping up God's careful landscaping work so your house of worship looks "perfect"?"
1) Although I doubt it's a sin, Christ's death on the cross covers differences of opinion on brightly painted dumpsters in plain view.
2) Large commercial buildings have to meet local code requirements, and I think that's why our trash containers are behind those gates, and not sitting exposed to the public view. The church generates a huge amount of trash from food service and events, much of it plastic, and I'm assuming it's behind that service area.
3) We don't leave our trash cans in front of our units at our condo after the pick up; we put them away so it doesn't spoil the landscaping and attract animals.
4) You are definitely right about the cost of the building. We have a mega-mortgage. That's why we need to be sensitive to the design and construction we paid for by not spoiling it. However, it is a multi-use building used for many things other than worship, homeschooling activities, concerts, blood drives, club meetings, dinners, etc. none of which work too well out in nature.
My objection is the location of the dumpster. It doesn't need to be in the church's front yard, and it only looks small because the building is large. It will attract dumping on our site if it hasn't already. It's supposed to be for paper only. This is not about the value of recycling; it's about the value of beauty in our surroundings.
Dumpster location has nothing to do with praise and worship, it has a lot to do with appropriateness and planning, respect for our environment, and all the other issues that go with the responsibility of owning a large imposing building.
Yes, if I were a visitor, it would definitely be a turn off. Yes, I am sensitive to visual pollution and noise pollution. That's what I write about--things that matter to me. You can have other interests and values without insulting and demeaning mine.
It looks like you have stirred up the enviornmentalists. If you don't recycle expect an eternal inferno (but they won't landfill the ashes).
I recycle, and the newspaper monstrosity at my church is bigger than my car.
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Do you really think that the recycling bin outside of the church really matters? It's not hurting a darn thing! if anything its saving gods wilderness and re-using the resources he created for us!
Also, how many people do you honestly think will drive into the church and then leave because of the hideous looking recycling bin to the side of the church? NONE!
We come to the church to WORSHIP, to PRAISE, to GIVE thanks to a truly AMAZING God. In the time that you spent creating this blog, perhaps you should have prayed, or read your bible...
and I also find it ridiculous that the creator of this blog used those two quotes, one from Petrarch? and one from a... Brazillian journal?? SAY WHAT?
How about the bible.
Genesis 1:31 ESV
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
Does everything include trash?
P.s. I really really hope that you picked up that paper, that you so kindly photographed, and recycled it!
Anonymous: 5/07/2008 4:11 PM
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. . . it really is sad that you would make such a big deal out of something so small as a trash dumpster by putting it on a blog.
5/07/2008 4:17 PM
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