Recycle

It may seems insignificant, but just putting your recycling or your curb, or taking it to the local center can cut down considerably on what goes into a landfill. It amazes me the things they can make from recycled materials. I recently found online a brand of cloth diapers made from recycled materials. We may also be able to find uses for things around our home. I reuse plastic jugs and plastic ice cream buckets. I know we will have to throw somethings away, because even the recycling center does not take everything, but like I have said before every little bit helps. If you recycle aluminum can many centers will pay you for them. If you go to your local center they can give you more information.

Cloth Diapers

I use cloth diapers. Yes, it can be gross to clean them sometimes, but my children have fewer rashes. Plus, the disposables that I would accumulate from having 2 in diapers are not filling up a landfill. It may not be an easy decision to make or something you have ever thought of doing, but it is a small step towards taking a care of the world we are borrowing.
To be perfectly honest the reasons I started using cloth was 1) I thought they were cute, 2) to save money. When I first started I was not even thinking about the environment. There are many choices out there too. I am still learning all of them and the terminology that goes with them, but I am comforted by knowing that it is a step in the right direction. If your family is on a budget like mine you may only be able to afford 2 or 3 diapers a paycheck, but every little bit helps. Besides, this will help you decide which diaper is right  for you. There are so many options, and actually there are also a good deal of accessories making it even easier to care for them as well. I recommend using a search engine and finding reviews, websites, and even youtube has several videos on how to use them, clean them, assemble them, and even some reviews. You may also want to only get one kind at a time, my children seem to be sensitive to a particular cloth, so I have to switch. When you are having a baby shower, you could ask guests to get you cloth diapers rather than a box of disposables. On diapers.com you can also make a registry, where family and friends can purchase them for you. I am asking family and friends for my daughters upcoming 1st birthday, to buy them rather than clothes (not toys, don't think I am heartless), but anyone planning on purchasing clothes. Some of you may say well that is fine if you stay at home, but I work and my child attends daycare. I understand that many daycares  these days understand that many parents are going back to cloth, and are allowing parents to put cloth diapers on their children while at daycare. Many times the daycare workers can not deal with any messy diapers, but if you send a "wet bag" the worker can just toss them in, and when  you get home you can toss them in the washer. It is not as convenient as disposable, but we would be making a small contribution to keeping our earth beautiful.

Subdue it

As Christians today, we so often reject anything that has to with the "Left Wing, Extremists." We know that there is a God, and He created this world and us in His image, but sometimes we forget He gave us rule over this world. I am disappointed with some Christians today, who think that any ideas that come from the left side must be ignored. I don't believe in "Mother Nature" or that trees or other plants have feelings, but I do believe that God expects us to care for the world He has given us dominion over. We have forgotten that when we get to heaven God will held accountable for all we did here on earth, and while I think that how we care for our children will be more important than the fact that we never recycled, I still think we need to step up the the plate and be good stewards of what God has given us.
In the Bible, in Genesis 1:28, it tells us we are to "subdue" the earth. I did some research into what this was talking about and I found that it means to have dominion or be in control of, be a good steward of the earth. Steward means to care for someone else's property. Isn't that what we are doing? Caring for God's earth. I am reminded of movies about the future where generations from now live on other planets because we have trashed this one. It just makes me think, God isn't going to give us another one! He gave us over every living and non-living thing on this earth. I am not saying, that if your family is cold and needs firewood, not to cut down the tree, by all means make some firewood. What I am saying is that as Christians, maybe we need to look at some things we can do to improve the world God has given us.