Conserving Our Resources
The Torah’s approach to wastefulness emphasizes mindful conservation as a key to environmental responsibility and G‑dly service. Every day, new initiatives to save and conserve resources and energy are emerging not just in our communities, but in the corporate world as well.
It has become a source of pride and profit for companies to let their customers know that they are dedicated to serving the planet.
For example, companies like Google have taken it upon themselves to save the Amazon rainforests, and Continental Airlines encourages its customers to “fly greener airplanes, have bluer skies.”
Hope Is Now In the Air! Airline asks passengers to use the toilet before boarding…so they will weigh less and help cut carbon emissions
A Japanese airline has started asking passengers to go to the toilet before boarding in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) claims that empty bladders mean lighter passengers, a lighter aircraft and thus lower fuel use. Airline staff will be present at boarding gates in terminals to ask passengers waiting to fly to relieve themselves before boarding.
ANA hopes the weight saved will lead to a five-ton reduction in carbon emissions over the course of 30 days.
Although it is intended as an experiment lasting one month and 42 flights, the trial may be extended if it is well-received by passengers and if results are positive.
Based on an average human bladder capacity of 15oz, if 150 passengers relieved themselves on board an aircraft, this would amount to 63.7kg of waste.
Wasting our time, our intellects, and our emotions is as tragic as wasting our material resources
“I Wasted Time, Now Time Wastes Me”
Finding the actual G‑dly meaning and purpose in everything we come in contact with is not always possible. There will inevitably be things whose potential to bring out HaShem’s glory remains concealed from us.
We won’t always be able to see the purpose of everything in nature’s grand eco-system. Nor will we be able to fully utilize everything in the most perfect and complete way.
But our limitations should not be discouraging, and should not limit our ability to properly utilize and conserve our natural and spiritual resources.
In fact, there are some resources that HaShem gives us that need to be conserved and utilized mindfully and meaningfully.
When we speak of not wasting, people often only consider objects and things. We should think again, and consider the issue of “time.”
“Time” is also a creation. While its harm to the ecology may not be as easily detected, time-wasting is in one sense far graver than material wasting, since time can never be reversed. We also can see how on a personal level, wasting time is far more damaging to the individual than wasting paper or plastic.
How often have we thought about not wasting and utilizing this precious and finite element of creation to the fullest?
