At War

Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis 

by Sandra Steingraber

This book wasn't a quick read for me (which was what I thought I was getting myself into).  It took some thought, actually a lot of thought and caught me by surprise.  I'm a closet environmentalist, I have a lot of opinions, but I'm also not generally eager to share my opinions.  They are not always popular (might have something to do with my state of residence) and tend to make me look crazy.  Okay, so although on every personality test I take I want to answer...."I don't care what people think", deep down I do.  Deep down I get all tied up in knots when confrontation arises, deep down  I want people to think I'm smart, deep down I want people to think I am sane.  And at the same time, I am the kind of person that has a strong sense of values, a strong sense of wanting to fight for what I believe in.  My insides are at war.... should I tell people that I think plastics are killing our kids and may correlated to some really destructive behavior.... should I tell people that fish are dying and I think it might be our fault.  And then I read a book like this and I want to go to war... I want to fight for our planet... this ball floating in the space that God so graciously gave us and asked us to take care of.  I know all the arguments for why Christians believe that environmentalists are crazy, but when I take the time to study the information.  I still come down on the side of "lets get rid of plastics", fracking may not be the best option and vinyl floors may not be all they're cracked up to be.  Okay and I also did a little happy dance when the President addressed climate change.

Back to this book... she made me think!  I love anything that makes me think, whether I agree or disagree, just the act of making me think will make me fall in love with a book.  I learned some new things about some scary chemicals.  I realized again that we have willingly jumped into a sea of chemicals made by corporations that care more about their bottom line than my children and we have done it  without putting up a fight.  We have said, sure, I'll let you feminize my boys, feed them neurotoxins and possibly decrease their IQ.  We are country full of really intelligent people but we are also a county full of really busy people and really busy people will do anything for convenience.  They will microwave food in plastic, eat the newest food created in a lab (my newest quotable...."if it was made in a lab, it needs to be digested in a lab" - Hungry for Change), they won't think twice about throwing clothes in a dryer or what kind of chemicals they are putting on their lawn... busyness leads us down roads we would never consider walking down if we took a minute to think before we chose our paths.

Steingraber is a great blend of scientist and mother and manages to combine the two points of view.  I appreciated that she delved into the science and took the reader on a journey.  I left the book, knowing that I needed more information  that I needed to put a little more thought into the products I was buying and the choices I was making.  I knew at the end that as a spiritual being I needed to seek out wisdom, to call out for it.  I also know that as I'm waiting on God and allowing Him to guide my decisions and the changes we make in our home that He quietly whispers, "Don't let yourself become consumed with a spirit of fear, but know that I will help you take care of your kids.  I will help you make the right choices."  Maybe someday I will come out of the closet and fight or maybe the frontlines for me will always be my home and I will stick to fighting right here for my kids.