Category: Environment

Patience and Food

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I have issues with being patient. For certain aspects of my life I really can’t stand waiting. But then for other things it’s no big deal.

For example, I like waiting for Christmas. I like the anticipation, I like celebrating on Christmas. I was never one of those kids who tried to find/open my presents early (I guess the modern equivalent would be seeing what’s been bought off my Amazon Wish List…). To me waiting until Christmas Day to open presents was part of what made the day special. So waiting for the right time to enjoy or celebrate is no problem.

But for other things in life I have significantly less patience. I hate being told by a doctor “we will call you in 3-5 days with your test results” when I KNOW that said results could be obtain in less than an hour. Or waiting around for someone who is late because they couldn’t stop reading a book, or watching TV, or playing a computer game. It bugs me. My patience runs thin.

So I was intrigued by some comments about patience and self-restraint I read recently in Barbara Kingsolver’s popular new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This is a fantastic book that chronicles a family’s year of trying to eat locally, seasonally, and sustainably. I can’t quote the exact passage since I immediately lent my copy to a friend, but she addresses the issue of patience in regards to our food choices. She writes (as a mother of two) about how parents often encourage their children to restrain from having sex until the timing is right (marriage…). But she asks how our children can respect our insistence on self-restraint if we can’t even manage to restrain ourselves to buying food in season. Instead of waiting for the right time to harvest and eat a tomato, we demand on satisfying our hunger whenever the urge strikes. Our promiscuous ways lead us to the grocery story where pale refrigerated shadows of tomato are available stripped of antioxidants and nutrients all year round thanks to the gallons of oil that were consumed to ship it hundreds (or thousands) of miles in refrigerated crates. We don’t think twice about the instant gratification of our appetites generally, so who are we to insist that our children buy into a value we have discarded?

So a tomato may be an easy example for me. I hated the things until I tasted the heirloom varieties delivered in my CSA box one year. I can wait for the real deal to appear in late summer and am not tempted by the reddish tinged impostor in the supermarket, but her point is well taken. Sure I froze and dried some veggies from my garden this past harvest, but not near enough to get us through the winter. I just assume that I can get whatever I want to eat whenever I want it at the store. Like all other consumers I am willing to give up taste, and nutritional value for easy access. I rarely stop to think that anything I am buying in the Winter months (and most everything during the rest of the year) was grown someplace far far away and shipped long distances to get to me (at taxpayers expense btw). Waiting, patience, and self-restraint are ignored as my need for convenient instant gratification gives sustainability the finger.

Honestly, sitting here in snow-blanketed Illinois in the middle of December there isn’t much I can do. I can buy organic and at least reduce the negative impact my food choices have. And I can plan ahead for the future. I’m not going to move to a farm in Appalachia and raise my own turkeys, but there are ways I can sidestep our broken food system and live more responsibly. But it is something that will take time and effort. And a lot of patience.

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Blog Action Day – The Environment

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Today is Blog Action Day for the environment. The idea is to get bloggers all blogging about a single topic (this year the environment) to help raise awareness and funds for that issue. Part of it is to donate the proceeds from your blog that day to the cause, but I guess that would assume you get proceeds from your blog to begin with. Nevertheless, I decided to add my voice and join in.

In some ways I really don’t get why we still need to raise awareness for environmental issues. It just seems like a no-brainer – do what we can to take care of the planet. Al Gore just won the freaking Noble Peace Prize for crying out loud. But then I step back into reality. Even beyond those who think global warming is a hoax (and they are out there, in droves) and those who think it is our God-given right to destroy the environment (shockingly too many of those out there too), the bigger problem comes from those who just don’t care enough to do crap. Sure they don’t want the world destroyed, they like the idea of swimming in the ocean, and they aren’t too eager to get cancer – but none of that is motivation enough for them to change the way they live. Convenience, cheapness, and sheer laziness win out over conviction any day.

Which is why I really appreciated the call in the Emerging Church to live holistically and put our beliefs into action. Makeesha just posted a reaction to the recent Emergent Gathering in which she debunked and affirmed popular stereotypes of the emerging church. One stereotype she affirmed is the “hippie” vibe one finds at such gatherings. She writes, “all you had to do was step into the room with the food and notice the almond butter, gluten free granola, sprouted bagels, quinoa salad and organic fruit.” Our food was healthy and organic. Sure that gets us labeled “hippie” but I see in that a true commitment to the values of the Kingdom.

For many of us in the emerging church, our faith isn’t just a set of beliefs we affirm by talking endlessly about how blessed we are to have them and by singing songs about why they make us so happy. It is instead a commitment of our whole life to living in the way of Christ. And that includes the areas of how we eat, shop, and treat the environment. If we care for the poor and the oppressed we are not going to buy food from systems that keep them in poverty or that expose them to unhealthy working conditions. If we care for God’s creation we are not going to buy food that dumps poisons into the environment or is unsustainably grown. If we care for our bodies (as temples of the Holy Spirit) we aren’t going to fill them with chemicals and high fructose corn syrup. Living holistically as followers of Christ changes that.

So call me a hippie. Call me a freak. Call me emergent. I am just trying to follow Christ.

And yes that means I care about the environment.

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World Carfree Day

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Every September 22, people across the globe get together to swear off their cars, if only for one day, in a collective reminder that we don’t have to accept car-dominated societies, cities, or personal lives. Since its earliest incarnations in the 1970s and ’80s, WORLD CARFREE DAY has grown into a massive global celebration of human-centric communities and people-powered transportation.

Carfree Day 2007 could turn out to be the biggest yet. For the first time, China’s government is hopping on board, with official events talking place in more than 100 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. (Officials will reportedly be trading in their famed black sedans for public transportation.)

As the world tunes in to the fact that the climate is heating up, this is the perfect opportunity to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of oil-hungry automobiles.

Check out the links below for global resources on going car-free, first on September 22, and then in your everyday life. Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look, feel, and sound without cars – 365 days a year.

Nice idea. Now I’m fine with walking to basic places that day, but I know my town is like most of the USA and has zero public transportation. That is the most basic thing that needs to change before we get to the point when people can cut back (or stop) using cars.

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Organic Farming Delivers

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As summer winds down and I am harvesting insane amounts of organic heirloom tomatoes from my garden (and have the fruit flies in my home to prove it!), I came across this fascinating article. One of the most common objections to organic farming is that if everyone switched to organic farming then there would not be enough food in the world for everyone. The logic goes that it takes intensive farming using fertilizers and pesticides to produce enough food for people to eat. But a new study coming out of the University of Michigan proves that excuse wrong. The study shows that “organic farming can yield up to three times as much food on individual farms in developing countries, as low-intensive methods on the same land—according to new findings which refute the long-standing claim that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population.” Nice.

So why is this a good thing? As the article points out, “organic farming is important because conventional agriculture—which involves high-yielding plants, mechanized tillage, synthetic fertilizers and biocides—is so detrimental to the environment…For instance, fertilizer runoff from conventional agriculture is the chief culprit in creating dead zones—low oxygen areas where marine life cannot survive. Proponents of organic farming argue that conventional farming also causes soil erosion, greenhouse gas emission, increased pest resistance and loss of biodiversity.” Basically we are screwing over the world and our health with what have become common farming practices. Organic farming seeks sustainable and healthy methods of providing food. It cares for the environment, the consumers’ health, and the health and well-being of the farmer. (and yes, the health issues of the migrant farmer who makes $7000 a year with no health insurance who has to breath pesticides and fertilizers in mass quantities are a serious issue if you even remotely think life is precious and sacred).

So what’s the catch? Why aren’t people jumping on the organic bandwagon? I’m sure they don’t say – “because we enjoy destroying the environment, getting cancer, and killing migrant farmers” (at least I hope they don’t). No those issues are usually ignored in favor of – “because organic is inconvenient and expensive.” And boy does that reveal what our values really are.

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Things that Make You Wonder…

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So I’ve been out and about all day today attempting to avoid actually being outside during the crazy storms and tornados. It’s been one of those days. Just thought I share some of the moments today that just made me have to wonder.

First – in the “you know environmentalism is a fad when…” category.

Target is selling this “Green is Good t-shirt” –

What gets me is that the claim to caring for the environment is printed using conventional toxic dyes on a shirt made of conventional cotton. Tons of environmentally unfriendly chemicals and pesticides were dumped into the environment to create the opportunity for trendy teens to expresses (boldly across their breasts) their deep commitment to caring for the environment. Did they ever stop to think?

Then in further environmental news – I was at Trader Joe’s and of course had forgotten my nice reusable canvas bags yet once again. At the check out I asked the guy to not waste bags since I would just be transferring the food to the cooler in my car. He got really confused and didn’t know what to do with my food. I asked him to just put it all back in the cart. At that point he said, “how about I just put it all in plastic bags.” Because it is so common to not want to waste paper bags so that you can use plastic ones instead! I gave up and he packed it all in paper bags.

And finally in the “does this disturb you as much as it did me?” category, I saw this bumper sticker –

No wonder the world hates us. How can we continue to pretend that we are a “Christian” nation if this is our foreign policy? Forget loving your enemies, forget “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” who needs crap like that when we have a license to kill?

Anyway, can you tell I’m having a “what is this world smoking?” sort of day?

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Eating Ethically

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I just finished reading The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. Even though the book deals with issues that I already cared and knew something about, I was still overwhelmed and greatly challenged by what they wrote. I’m still processing most of it and examining my philosophy of ethics in response to the really hard questions they ask in the the book. This is a disturbing and necessary book. If we are to be truly ethical people, our ethics must apply to how and what we eat. I think this book should be required reading for anyone who, well, eats food.

To comment on one small aspect of the book – the general complaint that to eat ethically (or healthy for that matter) is just too expensive. The average person can’t afford to be ethical excuse. Here are a few quotes from the book that put that into perspective –

“The cult of low prices has become so ingrained in the consumer culture that the deep discounts are no longer novelties. They are entitlements. Bargain-seeking seems to be such a basic aspect of human nature that to question it can appear quixotic. But… the bargains hide costs to taxpayers, the community, the animals, and the environment.”

“Organic food costs more partly because … intensive industrial agriculture leaves others to pay the hidden costs of cheap production – the neighbors who can no longer enjoy being outside in their yard; the children who cannot safely swim in the local streams; the farm workers who get ill from the pesticides they apply; the confined animals denied all semblance of a life that is normal and suitable for their species; the fish who die in the polluted streams and coastal waters (and the people who previously caught and ate those fish); and the unknown numbers of low-lying lands in Bangladesh or Egypt who will be made homeless by rising sea levels caused by global warming. It is understandable that people on low incomes should seek to stretch their dollars by buying the lowest-priced food, but when we look at the larger picture, the food produced by factory farming is not really cheap at all.”

“Americans spend far less of their income on food than people in other countries … we spend a smaller proportion of our income on food now than we used to – on average, only 6 percent of our total income goes toward buying groceries, down from 17 percent fifty years ago. In fact, we probably work for fewer hours to feed ourselves than people have anywhere, in all the millennia of human existence… if Americans want to eat better quality food, most of them have the means to pay for it.”

“The price of food should reflect the full cost of its production. Then consumers can choose whether they want to pay that price. If no one does, the market will ensure that the item ceases to be produced. Meanwhile, if the method of producing food imposes significant costs on others without their consent – for example, by emitting odors that make it impossible for neighbors to enjoy living in their homes – then the market has not been operating efficiently and the outcome is unfair to those who are disadvantaged. The food will only be cheap because others are paying part of the costs – unwillingly. Any form of food production that is not environmentally sustainable will be unfair in this respect, since it will make future generations worse off.”

Someone somewhere is paying the cost for low price. If we care about being ethical (instead of just saying screw you), we have to be willing to pay a fair price for our food. That may mean getting over our sense of entitlement to a certain lifestyle (meat at every meal, or even everyday) in order to afford better food. And it isn’t just about passing the costs on to others, they do eventually catch up to people. Tax dollars that go to cleaning rivers, insurance costs that rise as more people get sick from the toxins used to produce our food. For example, I personally have spent thousands of dollars this past year (above insurance) to figure out what is making me ill (I have had a constant swollen throat for 7+ months). Having gone through the “it might be cancer” or it “might be this” tests, the thought is that since moving to a rural area, I have developed chronic allergies to the massive amounts of pesticides and fertilizers I am surrounded with. I am constantly sick so that cheap corn can be grown so Americans can eat more crap full of high fructose corn syrup. And I am just one small example of the collateral damage of cheap food where the full cost isn’t assumed by the producer or the consumer but is passed on to others. Can we really be ethical and continue to do that?

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Poison Me Elmo

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If you are at all aware of the news or have children and have received emails from 50 different friends about it, you have heard about the recent recall by Fisher-Price and Mattel of over 1 million toys due to excessive lead content. Then today the Chicago Tribune reported on some toys that are just now being recalled even though the company has known for over 5 years that the lead content in them was 40 times the safe limit. I looked at the Fisher-Price list, given that most of the toys on there are Sesame Street and Dora toys, we own a number of the ones on it. But since we got them all before May 1, 2007, they are apparently perfectly safe. Sure, whatever.

One of the most common responses to my recent justice bra story was that it was absurd for me to care about chemicals used to make my clothing. The comments ranged from stating gross misconceptions like if we don’t use fertilizers and pesticides people will starve to the old adage that everything causes cancer so why bother caring. The everyday exposure to dangerous chemicals has become so accepted that people no longer care. We expect it to be plastered all over the news if really dangerous stuff (lead in our child’s Elmo karaoke machine) gets out. Then there will be an outcry, a full recall, and we can all be safe. No need to worry, no need to care. But as the book Fast Food Nation pointed out, just because there are no reports of danger does not mean the danger doesn’t exist just that they aren’t bothering to test for it. Which is what gives me so much confidence that our copious Elmo and Dora toys are “perfectly safe.”

But how does one proceed? I don’t think that I’m going to throw away Emma’s favorite toys. And I know that there are tons of other unhealthy items in my home – toys and otherwise. But I am also not a fan of the type attitude that states, “well everything causes cancer (or whatever), so why waste your time caring?” If “everything” is harmful why in the world would I just want to expose myself (or my child) to as much of it as possible? Wouldn’t it be smarter to avoid what can be avoided and advocate to reduce the use of poisons in other areas? There are alternatives and contrary to popular belief those alternatives aren’t that hard to find (or that much more expensive). So perhaps getting rid of everything one already owns isn’t the best response, but changing one’s habits from this point forward is. It just takes being willing to stop exposing oneself to poison. But as I am discovering, that isn’t something that most people are willing to do. It’s too much work or something like that.

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The Bra Issue

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It has been an interesting experience the past few days to read the reactions to the “My Search for a Justice Bra” article (posted here and here at the God’s Politics Blog). There are a couple of things that I want to respond to here, but first the part that caused the most controversy – why did I write about bras for the whole world to see?

Most simply because it was true. It was a true story based on the fact that I really needed a new bra, but it became amusing because of the oddity of writing about a bra. I expected people to smile at the situation and move on. But that proved too difficult for some. Apparently there are a lot of men out there who have the maturity level of a junior high boy when the subject of women and their bodies is brought up (no offense to jr. high boys intended…). Bras are for breasts and the only purpose of those is for sex – or so some seem to believe.

I think I should clarify before I go much further. I have issues with the way the secular media and the Christian church have oversexualized the female body. Of course the body has sexual aspects, but that is a limited and not holistic view. Our bodies are wonderful creations that should be appreciated and cared for. Too often we see them only as shells to be starved and carved into cultural definitions of sexual attractiveness. If the natural functionings of the body don’t aid our sexiness, we hide (or seek to eliminate) them. As discussed recently over at Emerging Women, our menstrual cycles have become a thing to be feared and despised rather than celebrated and accepted. Same thing with breasts. They have become so associated with being a sex object that their natural function for breastfeeding has become taboo for many. Hence the issue with bras. For me a bra is just a part of everyday life. Oh, yes, they can serve a sexually charged function, but as one of the basic everyday parts of life I found it appropriate to see if I could bring environmental stewardship and ethical consumption into that area of my life.

But as a few of the reactions to the story demonstrate, there are some who do not think such a thing is possible. Oh there were those who resorted to cleavage and support jokes – lighthearted attempts to deal with the uncomfortable, but there were others who assumed that I could not possibly be serious about justice issues because I was talking about a bra. Some went so far as to claim that I was a right-wing critic who must be making fun of people who care about justice since I dared to talk about bras. Apparently anything remotely sexual cannot be taken seriously. (which is kinda the whole problem with women only been seen as sex objects and therefore not being taken seriously…).

The point of my search for a justice bra was to see if I could live holistically. To see if I could care for the environment, care for the poor and the oppressed, and be a conscientious consumer. Doing such things requires one to be aware – to consider where and how plants are grown, to think about the long term impact of dyes on the environment and our health, to care for the people who had to work with those chemicals or make my clothes. Our food and clothing does not magically appear in the stores – it all has a story, often a tragic and painful story. Being aware of that story and seeking to improve it is just part of what it means for me to let Christian values influence all areas of my life. But I also see living holistically to include accepting and being comfortable with my body. To care for its needs and not to fear the parts that men have defined in ways that divorce them from their natural function. I do not want to clothe myself with harmful chemicals or dump unnatural hormones into my system. I also don’t want my body to be commoditized by men who think it is only useful as a sex object. So I will not shy away from discussing natural and normal aspects of life. And that includes bras.

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Cycles of Violence

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I’ve been following the story the past couple of days of the kidnapping of Margaret Hill in Nigeria. A three year old girl was kidnapped on her way to school and is being held for ransom. Officials are decrying the act as evil and calling for the immediate return of the girl. And while I fully agree that this is an atrocious act, I wish the full history behind this kidnapping would be part of the typical news story. This isn’t just about a random kidnapping for money. This was done by what is assumed to be a disposed tribal group demanding reparations for ruined land and stolen resources. The child is the daughter of a UK citizen who has profited from the oil business in Nigeria.

Brief history here. Very, very brief. The British Empire colonized what is now Nigeria and often used force to do so. They eventually formed Nigeria from pieces of four independent kingdoms. After Nigeria gained independence, the remains of those ancient tribes vied for power and survival. Series of dictators made themselves rich by selling land belonging to other tribes but with new found oil reserves to large multinational companies. These companies (Shall, Chevron) were known to support the military regimes of these dictators and are implicated in the deaths of activists who opposed the path being taken by their country. These oil companies devastated natural environments and often (with government help) imposed forced relocations of native peoples off of oil rich lands. In the 1990’s protest groups formed to speak out against the rape of the land by the oil companies. The native tribes wanted to continue in their way of life, but their fishing economy was ruined by pollution or they were forced to move to land with poor soil. They also received no wealth from the oil taken from their native lands. Early protest was peaceful and focused on diplomacy and discussion. Much of it was led by women as well. It was generally met with violence. Then more militant groups formed that used violence to end the control of the land by the oil companies. Kidnappings of oil executives involved ransom demands – so that the people of Nigeria could share in the wealth taken from their lands. Then there were bombs to destroy pipelines and cripple the multinational companies. This is the story that this kidnapping is situated in. I don’t condone the violence of that act just like I don’t condone the violence perpetrated by the oil companies or the dictators or the British Empire – I just want the full story told. Everything is connected as the saying goes. This event must be understood as part of a long chain of events. Perhaps then the cycles of violence can end and a better world be formed.

We are discussing this issue in church today as we examine the Parable of the Tenants and the life of Samson. In those stories we see the ugly cycles of unbroken violence. One offense is met with violence which leads to more violence and so forth. Excuses are given and revenge is demanded. It is an ingrained concept in our culture. We cheer in movies like Braveheart or The Patriot when revenge is consummated. We care less about the defeat of evil than we do about extracting punishment on someone who has hurt or offended us. And we care even less about trying to resolve differences without resorting to violence. Our imaginations are so limited and our hatred so strong that to hurt others far too often is the first and only response. Cycles are hard to break. And often those who seek a better way are silenced with violence. Christ warned his followers that they could expect as much, but still urged them to pursue the way of peace. Perhaps if his followers had listened to his words a couple hundred years ago as colonization of Nigeria began or fifty years ago when oil was discovered there, a little three year old girl would not be in such dire circumstances right now.

Update – Margaret has been released

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Why Care?

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On Sunday morning this past weekend at the Jubilee conference we got to “worship” with spoken word protest poetry (you can find some of it here). One line that really struck me was, “our arms are raised, but our fists are open.” We raise our hands in worship, a symbol of our close connection to God and the depth of our personal piety, and yet we don’t raise our fists in protest of the injustices in the world. We are too lazy, too wrapped up in church events, or too afraid to get involved. Our “worship” is all about us and not about others. I am reminded of the passages from Isaiah where we’re told the kind of worship God desires –

Isaiah 1:15-17

When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah 58:6

This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.

So while I am encouraged that the Emerging Church is becoming more and more aware of these issues, universal action still seems a long way off. I still encounter people who debate whether not not we should attempt to right the wrongs of the world. Or those that tell us not to get bogged down on the big issues, just focus on your everyday life. Or those who say all we need to do is pray and not have anything to do with politics ever. My response is that we need to get up off our knees and put our prayers into action. But how do we motivate people? Why should people care?

In a session this weekend one presenter listed the reasons why people should care about Debt Relief. I find these interesting and wonder if there are any more that can be added to the list.

    1. It’s a moral issue and as people of faith/conscious we should care for others. We should be moved to effect change and love our neighbor. But if that isn’t enough to motivate us, there are a few other reasons –

 

    1. Health concerns. If indebted countries continue to slash funds to heath services so that they can repay debt, disease will flourish. There has already been a significant rise in easily treatable/preventable diseases as a direct result of the reduction in doctors, nurses, and clinics. But there is also the potential (and we are seeing the beginnings of it) for deadly diseases to proliferate which will effect the whole world. If other countries can’t handle epidemics of TB, Avian flu, and AIDS the whole world will pay.

 

    1. Environmental degradation. As countries that are forced to spend 80% of their budget on debt repayment scramble to find alternate sources of income, the environment is laid waste. Forests are clear cut, unsustainable crops are planted, pesticides are dumped into the environment, chemicals are dumped into rivers instead of disposed of properly. This destroys ecosystems and will result in a completely unlivable landscape down the road. Where will all the people go then or whose aid will they live on then?

 

  1. To get the politicians (the ones in the position to affect change – i.e. clean up the messes they have made) to care, it takes the voters letting them know that care care. If the politicians know that they will face consequences if they don’t listen to their constituency, then they will work for change in order to save their own butts come election time.

What could you add to the list? Is it bad to focus on the natural consequences that will effect us personally if the plight of the other isn’t enough to move us to action? I would love to hear your thoughts.

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