Bluebird Meadows of Stevensville, Michigan

Adam continued "And how about the water? - the essence of life. It was probably pumped from a well - but where did it come from to reach the well?" Adam looked at the child who had provided the first answer.

"From rain?" answered the child.

"Right" responded Adam. "But for rain, water must evaporate and condense into clouds. The chemical we know as water is an amazing piece of God’s work!" Adam paused, then continued "The water we have today is the same water the dinosaurs drank, the water that made up the great ice ages, and rained down upon our ancestors. It will also rain down upon our descendants. Will they enjoy the pure water we have today?"

"And how about the energy to heat the water to make the coffee? It was either electricity or gas. Both of those are energy sources which are mostly derived from things which happened long ago. What will our grandchildren use for energy to heat their water?"

"What happened to the coffee grounds?" queried Adam as he looked around at each of his audience. "They can be used to enrich our soil, but they probably went to a garbage dump somewhere. Even something so simple as a cup of coffee has waste associated with it and so do the processes that make the ground coffee, the transportation systems that move it where it needs to go, and the energy to heat it. People need to understand and carefully manage the wastes they create."

Adam sipped his drink. The crowd sat in silence, reflecting upon Adam’s words. Adam finally finished his cup.