eco-lent: week 4, just say "no" to new toys!

Lately, my seven-year-old is obsessed with a computer game (also available on other devices) called Minecraft. He bought the iPad version with some of his birthday money. In this game, you walk around and build stuff, as far as I can tell. You also get attacked by zombies and creepers at night. You can blow stuff up with TNT, including animals, because that's how you eat them. This is what I know about this game; don't press me on details. (Said 7yo is slightly disturbed about blowing up animals since he's a vegetarian, but decided it's OK because that's the only food source in the game. I'm just glad he feels disturbed about blowing up animals. But I digress.)

The other day he came home from a play date with a couple LEGO magazines, which is great. He loves LEGOs, too, and I generally think highly of LEGOs. They're not cheap, but they last forever because they're a quality product, and they encourage creativity. (Plus, did anyone see the recent Lego Movie??? So great! Or should I say "awesome"?!) They may be made out of plastic, but it's not like he's eating them, so I think it's OK.

In the LEGO magazines were pictures of--get this--Minecraft LEGO sets. What could be better than combining two of his favorite things?! So he was very excited and wanted to visit the website, at which point I realized that these tiny sets of LEGOs were $34.99 and no way was I going to buy them--that's more expensive than the computer game. Also, it got me thinking about the ridiculousness of the fact that Minecraft is basically LEGOs on the computer, and then they're turning around and making LEGOs out of the LEGO computer game, and charging more for them because they have little pixelated faces on them.

Therefore, I suggested that he basically already had LEGO Minecraft, because he had square pieces with which he could build whatever he wanted without even having to use a screen.

WOAH! 7yo mind *blown*.

So today, he spent his morning making his own Minecraft LEGO people and animals, and proceeded to build a house for them and play with them for much of the rest of the day (in between accosting innocent visitors with vivid descriptions of each character and what they do). From left: sheep, cow, villager, "Steve," zombie, creeper and ghast.

I realized this is exactly what I'm supposed to be working on this week with my eco-lent theme of buying less. He showed me how much more fun it is and how much creativity is involved when we're willing to buy less, use what we have, and make the things our hearts really desire. He took so much pleasure in creating these and playing with them and telling people about them. He might have been excited if he'd gotten the official set, but it seems like he's more personally connected to these and proud of them because of the effort and creativity he put in. What a great example! (He was also really excited that I was putting a picture on my blog, so make sure to tell him you liked them, next time you see him.)

eco-lent: week 4

This week's eco-challenge from The Northwest Earth Institute's "A World of Health: Connecting People, Place & Planet" suggests buying less.

At the moment, we're really trying to stick to our budget and buy only the essentials for economic reasons, so I feel like I'm pretty good at this one, but there's always room for improvement. I'll give a few ways that my family attempts to buy less, and then list a few areas I could work on.


Tips for buying less:

• Last weekend we had a garage sale! Believe it or not, there are some parts of the country where this is not normal. But it's a great way to get rid of unwanted stuff, or things you haven't used in a while and that someone else might use, and you make a bit of cash while you're at it. It felt really cathartic to just let go of possessions, to release them and not hoard them.
• Buy used. This way another item doesn't have to be made and thrown in the landfill. I like to go to thrift stores, and of course you can buy used things online.
• Acquire used. My friend Lotus is a great coordinator for clothing exchanging! She gets some, gives some, facilitates trades between similar-sized friends, and shares with me. I also have friends with whom I pass down clothes from my kids, or receive their hand-me-downs. So far my kids love this arrangement, because every once in a while we get a big garbage bag full of "new" clothes. They also enjoy packing things away for their younger friends and seeing them wear favorite items.
• Freecycle and other e-groups. Our Friends meeting has a very active e-group, and in addition to prayer requests and announcements, people often send out emails listing "Needed" or "Available" items or opportunities. When we lived in a different town there was an active Freecycle e-group and we got some great, free stuff (furniture, kids clothes) in a place where we weren't as connected in to the community.
• Buy quality. This is my husband's big thing--when you're going to buy something, buy an item with excellent quality so it will last, rather than buying something cheap that will wear out and have to be replaced. This option is more expensive up front, but less expensive in the long run.
• Buy local foods and other items. At least when we do this, there's generally less packaging and less shipping. We buy local honey from a friend, we grow our own eggs, we try to buy foods that are produced in our area whenever we can...although we're not exceptionally good at this.

Areas that could use a little work:

• Be satisfied with what you have. This is the difficult one, right? There's always something newer, faster, trendier, cuter...but can we be satisfied with our phones, clothes, home decor, cars, etc. for just an extra year? How about 2, or 10? I'm still working on this one in some areas. It requires letting go of one's ego enough to not care if you have the shiny new thing first, or if you look cool, or if your home/car/wardrobe keeps up with the trends. In my own life, this requires a process of constant internal renewal.
• Coffee, quinoa, sugar and other extras that have to be shipped from a distance and are cash crops that require destruction of natural habitats. This makes my head hurt just to think about it--a preemptive caffeine headache.
• Truly buying bulk food and local food, rather than the cheater way at Costco or Winco. In our area there's a company called Azure Standard, and they sell bulk items and try to find as much as they can locally and organic. This cuts down on packaging and shipping at all levels of the supply chain, and also requires me to make more from scratch rather than getting conveniently pre-packaged food that isn't as healthy (for my family or the planet). Azure is generally cheaper, too.
• Electronics. We're not the kind to have to go buy every new gadget that comes out, but we do have our fair share (or, really, on a worldwide scale, way more than our fair share). There's environmental impact from all the plastics and metals, etc. that go into making the things, as well as the factories and the shipping. Then there's the increased international conflict for access to the raw materials, as well as the ill health and slavery-like situations of factory workers, not to mention how many electronic items end up in landfills.

Goals for the week:

• Make an order for Azure Standard.
• Pay even more attention to where foods come from. Try to buy locally produced foods, or do without.
• Ponder my coffee habit. I'm not ready to give this one up yet...

eco-lent: week 3, convenience

This week's eco-challenge was driving less. As I shared in my post at the beginning of this lenten week, this is one I feel like I've worked on quite a bit, and I do alright by American standards. We're now leasing a Nissan Leaf (fully electric car), and I try to use my bike as transportation a good deal of the time. I challenged myself to get back into the habit of using my bike more often, because now that we have an electric car, I'm a bit more lazy about biking than I was when spewing fossil fuels from an SUV was the other option.

First, I'll give you an update on how my week went in terms of my eco-challenge for myself, and then I'll share about the spiritual implications I've been mulling over as a result.

Eco-challenge results: 
I found myself using several of my go-to excuses for not biking this week: I had a minor cold, it was really cold one morning and there was frost on the ground, I took dinner to a friend who just had a baby and it would have been difficult to carry in the trailer and the food would have gotten cold. I also went places after dark, when it would be unsafe for my seven-year-old to bike.

I managed to ride my bike two out of the last six days. The good news is that when I drove, I was almost always "carpooling" with all four members of my family, and it was generally at times when we had to come home in the dark, although I did drive my kids to school/babysitter and myself to work one of those days because of frost and having a slight cold. I did end up driving each of those six days, though several of them I didn't go anywhere in the car until after dark (or until the trip for which we'd be out after dark).

Spiritual implications:
What I found myself thinking about most this week was what level of comfort and convenience I'm willing to give up. I'm willing to put up with some difficulty of getting places and some discomfort in terms of weather in my face, but am I willing to subject my kids to this discomfort? Am I willing to let go of more commitments so that I'll have time to bike places more often? Am I willing to change or rearrange my schedule so that we won't be out after dark? Where is my line between acceptable sacrifice and over-the-top legalism?

This week I also started cooking bacon for my younger son. (This is slightly off-topic but is related thematically.) He's a self-described carnivore (he's 3 and doesn't really understand the concept of an omnivore), and he LOVES meat. I'm a vegetarian and since, in this phase of life, I'm doing most of the grocery shopping, we generally don't have meat in the house. My husband bought some bacon last week because he couldn't take it anymore. My youngest now demands bacon for breakfast, and I gave in, buying bacon at Costco. My husband couldn't believe I bought it there--why wouldn't I find some that's at least local OR organic OR something healthy and environmentally friendly, but at any rate, this feels like a bit of a compromise on my part. Maybe my son is of a body type where he needs meat more than I do. He's his own person and can make his own choices. But shouldn't I be guiding him toward good decisions? I showed my older son part of a factory farm and slaughterhouse video a while back and it cemented his decision to be a vegetarian, but I can't show that to my 3-year-old yet. I want to give good gifts to my kids, and it's so much easier to give them what they want, especially when everyone around me seems to say it's normal and good and right.

Driving cars and having schedules that take us out of our homes at all hours of the day and night are normal activities in this culture, in my social circles. Flying once in a while, buying food shipped in from other countries, purchasing electronics made in other countries and mined who-knows-where at who-knows-what environmental and human cost--these things are "normal." It's counter-cultural to question whether these things are, in fact, good gifts to give to my children.

But looked at from another angle, what if I were suddenly transported to 100 years from now? If I could see the effects of our collective actions on the polar icecaps, rising sea levels, greenhouse gas emissions creating warmer temperatures and poorer air quality, and soil and water contamination from chemicals, what good gifts would I want myself and our generation to have given to our children and grandchildren? If we see suffering right in front of us, we're willing to sacrifice something in order for that suffering to end. But if we imagine ourselves removed from that suffering, if we can put it out of sight so we can conveniently place it out of mind, it becomes so difficult for us--at least for me--to be willing to sacrifice my convenience for the sake of an unknown person's unseen suffering.

I'm reminded of the issue of un-personed aerial vehicles (drones). We can, perhaps, imagine ourselves pushing the button for a drone to bomb a village where we're told there are terrorists, but most of us can't imagine pulling the trigger to shoot each of those villagers, or even closer, wringing their necks with our own hands. The environmental situation seems to me like it is similar. We can go along merrily in our disembodied way, pronouncing death and destruction on the environment (and therefore our own descendants, and others who live in this world today), but if we could see the faces of those hurt by our actions, if we could look in their eyes, if we could make all the connections between our polluting actions that support our convenient way of life and their asthma or their cancer, would we act the same way? Or would we be willing to change our behaviors in order to ensure that their suffering did not have to continue?

Was it convenient or affordable for Friends and others to choose to not buy products made by slaves?

Are we willing to make that kind of personal sacrifice for our descendants, those with whom we share the planet, ourselves?

Are we willing to let Christ's Light shine in our dark places, those conveniences to which we cling? Are we willing to let that be a convicting challenge and an encouragement rather than a condemnation, to turn and change our ways? Or will we hide in our ignorance and pretend we can't see the consequences of our actions?

150 meaningful connections

Maybe some of you saw this as it made the rounds on Facebook and Upworthy last week. This is something that has been on my mind for a number of years regarding the optimal size of a congregation or meeting. It always makes me feel good about the fact that no one ever accused Friends meetings of being mega-churches!

At the same time, in my own yearly meeting, I've noticed that we struggle with what to do when we get to be around 150-200 members/attendees strong. Do we divide into two groups and build another meetinghouse? Do we have more than one service in the same building with the same pastors? Do we just try to adjust our organizational structure to administrate a larger group? Here is a website that explains the various congregation sizes and styles from a book by Roy M. Oswald that I read awhile back, the name of which I can't remember or find.

At any rate, the point is that at the point where there are more than 150 people who are actively involved, it becomes difficult to know everyone, and the feel of the congregation changes. So what do you do then? People are attracted to the congregation because of its "personality," the culture of that group when it's together. They're attracted to the sense of community and the strong connections people seem to share. But once it gets big, those things are lost.

In our current cultural context, we seem to think that more is always better. In a congregation, why do we want "more"? I suppose it's so that more people can be reached with the message we're sharing, so that more people don't have to experience the loneliness this video addresses, so that more can be drawn into truly life-giving community.

What scares us so much about dividing into smaller groups when we get too large, then?

Well, one thing is financial. 150 people can barely support a pastor and a meetinghouse in today's economy with the expense of benefits and so forth. It sounds nice to grow bigger so we can have more incomes to support our pastoral team. But once we hit 150 people, we need a different kind of pastor and a different form of ministry. So it's kind of a catch 22.

My own leaning is toward keeping our meetings at or around 150, and splitting in two when there are too many people coming. Perhaps we share a building for a while and meet at different times and hire different ministers. Perhaps we find a new location closer to a group from the existing congregation.

Suffice it to say that have a meeting that is TOO big is a nice problem to have! At the same time, it's so easy to give into the false sense of pride and energy that comes from having hundreds of "friends" but not really knowing anyone.

eco-lent: week 3

3-year-old ready for the tag-along bike!

This week's eco-challenge from the Northwest Earth Institute's "A World of Health: Connecting People, Place & Planet" suggests driving less. I must admit that since leasing a Leaf a few weeks ago, I have chosen to drive more often than I did previously, but I feel like this particular eco-challenge is an area I've been working on more than the ones from the first two weeks (plastic and home chemicals). But, there is always room for improvement!

Today I'm going to give you some lists that share the ups and downs of biking as transportation. (If you want to learn more about my biking journey and gear, check out these posts, and this one, too, and this one from way back in 2006.)

First, some of the most difficult situations I've encountered that necessitate driving:

• Having a baby. When my kids were born, I couldn't bike them yet because they don't make rear-facing carseats for bike trailers, to my knowledge! I could walk, but that took forever.
• Snow or otherwise frozen matter on the ground. Unless you have studded bike tires, which do exist.
• Biking in the dark with kids. Even with good reflective gear and lights, I don't feel comfortable with my 7-year-old biking at night. Too many things could go wrong, from a car not seeing him to him not seeing a bump or other obstacle.
• Going out of town. We live in a small town, and the roads that leave town are sketchy for bikes. I might try it alone, but I definitely wouldn't want to chance it with kiddos.

Then there are the excuses I make, which aren't really good enough, but often prevail:

• Not enough time.
• Sort of extreme weather (too wet, too hot, too windy).
• Whiney kids.
• Too many hills--will get all sweaty by the time I reach my destination.
• Too much to carry.
• Slightly sick.

Things I've done to make biking doable most days:

• Just do it! I usually feel really good once I'm out there.
• Good rain pants and coat, gloves, boots, fenders for the bike. These are a necessity in western Oregon!
• Rain gear for kids, too.
• A nice headlight, and adequate tail light that can switch easily from the bike to the trailer, depending on cargo.
• Practice all the time to build up muscles and courage, and it becomes "normal" for kids.
• Give kids a snack in the trailer, and/or bring snacks along for the destination. (This moves mountains!)
• Go grocery shopping often so I only need a few things each time I go.

What I like about biking:

• Being outside! Fresh air, noticing the seasons more, enjoying the scents of various flora as I pass.
• Exercise. When I don't have time for a dedicated workout session, biking from place to place around town doesn't take much longer than driving but it allows me to get some exercise.
• Chatting with my kids. When it's nice and the trailer is open, and once they're big enough to ride their own or the tag-along bike, we have some great conversations while biking. (My eldest also told me a few times he didn't want me to talk anymore because he wanted to "just enjoy nature." I'm not sure whether it's good he just wanted some space and knew how to tell me, or if he was basically saying, "Be quiet, Mom!") We've had some great discussions about why we bike, as well as just what's going on in our lives.
• Creating space. If I know I have to bike, I generally don't pack my schedule so incredibly full. I know I'll need time to get from place to place, and I really think about whether it's worth it to go somewhere. 

This week, I'm going to try to get back into the habit of biking instead of depending on our car. I'm going to choose biking or walking even when it's not so convenient, unless it's overly dangerous. I'll try to combine any necessary trips out of town. I'll also keep working on the last two weeks' eco-challenges: reducing plastic use and using household cleaners that are better for the environment.

Who's with me? Who will bike or walk at least once more than usual this week?

eco-lent: week 2, on guilt vs. conviction

As I've been moving through Lent and focusing on these eco-challenges from the Northwest Earth Institute, in the back of my mind I sometimes hear little warning bells going off: Will people feel judged by my actions? Will people think I'm judging them? Am I being too legalistic about these minute details of lifestyle? Am I being too pretentious, or too granola-y, paranoid about the plastic my kids are eating off? Also, what about the fact that a lot of these lifestyle and consumer changes require a certain level of disposable income (pardon the pun)? What about those who can't afford to buy fancy biodegradable soap that still works (or free time to make their own), or replace everything plastic with glass or metal? Is it missing the point of caring for the planet if only those well off enough to afford luxuries can afford the luxury of health?

At the same time, I'm feeling really grounded and hopeful about my choice to take action, however small the action might be.

This week I didn't have a lot of time to blog, but I have been mulling over the question of how to offer prophetic criticism of the way things are without coming across as judgmental and condemning. Perhaps prophets have to be willing to sound judgmental and condemning. I'm going to write a blog post at some point soon (possibly after Lent, but we'll see...) reflecting on Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination, so that's enough on that theme here.

I've been thinking a lot about the distinction between guilt and conviction. I think it has to do with an internal attitude: the way we choose to respond to a given situation. Therefore, I can choose to feel guilty and defensive when I realize I'm living in a way that is destructive toward the planet (and therefore, indirectly, myself), or I can choose to react in a way that senses the truth of what is being said, internalizes it and decides to change. I can feel convicted, and repent (which means "turn around"). Also, I wrote most of this post before going to worship on Sunday, but my father-in-law's message fit well with this theme. He talked about the parables of the lost coin, sheep and son, and pointed out that in each circumstance, there isn't condemnation or finger-pointing regarding the poor choices of the lost item--instead, there is a huge celebration! When we turn around and make a better choice, God celebrates rather than judging or shaming.

I can't control the way others will respond to what I'm saying regarding ecological degradation. I can try to say it in the nicest way possible, which may be helpful for some. I can choose to show where I'm failing as well as where I'm succeeding, and in my last post I tried to make it very obvious that I'm not really doing a great job at this ecological thing, either.

But then, I wonder about being "nice." Is this the best way to get across a real and timely concern? I think of John Woolman, who I'm sure didn't come across as particularly "nice." He was fairly quiet about what he believed, but he'd just leave the house when he found out someone owned a slave, or ask to sleep in the slaves' quarters with them. This wasn't exactly polite. He wasn't playing a political game of attempting to ingratiate himself toward people so that he'd have a voice; he simply spoke with the voice he had. But perhaps times have changed; perhaps this isn't the way any longer.

At any rate, in order to not let myself get put on a pedestal (in case any of you were tempted...), I'll share with you about my failed attempt--two nights in a row--to eat dinner without needing canned food.

It all started one afternoon last week when I realized we didn't have any refried beans in the house and I wanted to make something that required them. Well, I didn't want to soak them and then cook them, because that was going to take too long. I looked up recipes online and found out you can make them in a rice cooker, and I saw time estimates of 1-3 hours.

To make a long story short, it took over 7 hours in the rice cooker and I kept having to add water. Then when I went to heat them again on the stove the next day, I burnt them.

Though burnt, they wouldn't get very soft, so I tried a potato masher. That didn't work, so I put them in the blender with some onions and garlic, but it wouldn't mask the taste of burnt beans. So...long story short...I went to the grocery store and got some more canned refried beans for my family, and I ate burnt beans for dinner with tons of other yummy stuff on top (cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, guacamole, corn and chips)!

Here are some partial success stories from the week:

• Experimenting with using vinegar as a cleaning product in ways I hadn't before, such as toilet bowl cleaner, and, unfortunately, cleaning up pee off the floor. (My youngest is potty training...this happened way too often this week!) I haven't gotten to cleaning out partially clogged drains yet. This will have to wait for next week, alas.
• Going to Costco and not buying anything in a can, due to the unhealthy level of chemical leaching that happens from the plastic epoxy coating on the inside of food cans. It's impossible to go there and not buy anything packaged in plastic, but at least I can remove it from the plastic and put it in a different container. I'm out of glass containers, though, so I had to compromise on this one for now.
• I'm not sure if this counts as a success story, but our dishwasher broke this week, so we've been hand washing everything. Our hand dishwashing soap is from Seventh Generation and works well.
• My son, when I gave him a plastic spoon because he prefers them when eating oatmeal so the metal doesn't burn his mouth, said, "Mom, I thought we weren't using these anymore!" I guess the message is getting through to someone!

eco-lent: week 2, day 2

This week's eco-challenge in Northwest Earth Institute's "A World of Health: Connecting People, Place & Planet" is to get rid of toxic chemicals in household cleaners and other supplies.

It's a little difficult to know where to begin on this one, so I'll start by sharing what I'm already doing that I think is decent, and then I'll make a list of things I need to work on.

What I'm already doing:

• Cloth diapers that I wash in a high-efficiency washing machine with white distilled vinegar (instead of bleach) and an eco-friendly diaper detergent called bum genius cloth diaper detergent. It has no phosphates, dyes, fragrances or optical brighteners, and it's endorsed by the Design for the Environment, which hopefully means something meaningful, although it's sponsored by the EPA. (This has worked great, although when I got it 3 years ago, I got a big box with 12 smaller boxes in it, each of which is for 66 loads, and I'm on my last one with my son almost out of diapers. I can't find anywhere that they sell it this way now--this link is for a 71-load pouch--but you might be able to find it with a bit deeper search.)
• White distilled vinegar as a cleaning product around the house. Here's a helpful website about how to use it, and what to mix with it for stuff like lime buildup, drains, coffee makers, tea kettles, counters, soap buildup, etc.
• Using an ecologically decent laundry detergent: Ecos Laundry Detergent, which is also stamped with Design for the Environment approval.
• From the list in the graphic, above, many of those don't apply to me as I generally don't wear makeup or nail polish, we have a shower door instead of shower curtain, we don't have a stain resistant carpet or furniture or TV set, etc.

What I'm doing that I know is not so good:

• We have some non-stick pans and they're sooooo convenient!!! I know Teflon is horrible but I can't bring myself to get rid of our non-stick pots and pans yet. 
• I really don't pay attention to the kind of plastic my kids' toys are made of. When they were babies I made sure to get non-BPA toys, but now that they don't put everything in their mouth I figure it's not a big deal. It may not be a big deal in terms of our health, but in the sense that plastic then goes into a landfill (eventually) and becomes part of the ecosystem...that's not so good.
• Dishwasher detergent: Cascade (or, currently, the Costco knock-off version). This receives an "F" grade on the Environmental Working Group's rating scale of such products. Powders and "natural" detergents really don't seem to do the job. Here's a list of the top 10 and worst 10 of different kinds of cleaners, so I may look for one of these at the store next time.
• Shampoo & conditioner: Bed Head. This stuff does wonders for my hair, but what is it doing to the planet? It has all sorts of unpronounceable ingredients, some of which I believe are fossil-fuel derived. According to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep site, it receives a score of 6/10 for the shampoo, 5/10 for the conditioner (10 being the worst) as far as how hazardous it is compared to other products, meaning it's just barely in the "moderate hazard" category, almost to the "high hazard" category.
• Liquid Plumr: This stuff is so bad! I know it, and yet--how else does one get one's long hair out of a clogged drain? All the products by this brand received an "F" grade on the Environmental Working Group's rating scale for household cleaners. Now that I see the tip about baking soda and hot vinegar on the website I listed above, though, I'm going to try that.

What I'm going to try:

• Baking soda and hot vinegar drain de-clogger.
• Buying a better dishwasher detergent from the Environmental Working Group's list, here.
• Trying some more ecologically sensitive shampoo and conditioner. The EWG has a mobile app called Skin Deep that lets you check stuff while you're in the store, so I'm going to try that next time I need these.
• Look into stainless steel water filtration systems; get rid of my Brita pitcher. At the very least, use a filter system that hooks to the faucet so the water doesn't sit in plastic for hours before being ingested.
• As I already said in a previous post, I'm going to get together with friends to try making hand/body soap in a couple weeks!