Did you know that in China a new 500MW coal fired power station is brought on line every week? At this present point in time China is building 50GW’s of power stations every year. (Compare this to Australia that has a total generating capacity of 45GW). Every 500MW power station built emits 3 million tonnes per year of Carbon Dioxide into our atmosphere. It would appear that now the Australian Federal Election is over the award for the generation of excess hot air belongs with China.

Why does China need so much power? The reason is that it produces much of the junk that the world consumes daily. It is a major industrialized nation. It takes much of the world’s resources and churns out large amounts of the material goods that we buy with our credit cards each day. The whole process goes like this; 

We dig minerals out of the ground here in Australia. We ship it to China. China puts it all into factories in the right ratio’s and produces everything from fast food chain toys to essential kitchen do-whizzes and ships them back to Australia. People buy them, take them home, use them mercilessly for a year or two, and then, when something goes wrong, put them in the bin. The local council then empties our bin into a truck which takes it to the local tip where it is then buried back in the ground. Get it?

Throughout this whole process a lot of people make money and the rest of us are kept off the streets. Unfortunately, the other side of this process is the production and release of large amounts of toxic waste. As Christians we should be concerned about how we care for both the inhabitants of this earth and the environment we live within. Those of you who know me, know that I am far from being a raging greenie or rabid environmentalist. I like concrete car parks as much as any other guy, however, our mentality of use and waste is both rotting our earth and our souls. Next time, don’t try before you buy but pray before you buy. Do I need this? Does God want me to have it? The answer may not only surprise you but also leave you with a few extra coins in your pocket!

In love, Alan