Lent 2010

I'm not even going to mention the fact that I haven't posted since July (sorry formerly loyal readers) or the reasons behind me attempting to resume this blogging business (Hi weird spam commenter!) so I'll just get down to business. Lent is here.

Lent for me usually goes something like this. A day or two before or after Ash Wednesday I realize it's Lent. Then I become motivated to do something for Lent. Start a devotional, give something meaningful up, become a better person and solve all the world's problems in 40 days...that sort of thing. I go online, google a devotional, skim a few, and dismiss them all as lame. Then I try to think of something to give up. But all I can come up with are selfishly motivated things (Hello diet!) which almost makes me feel worse about the whole process. So instead of having a meaningful season of repentance and renewal, I end up feeling simultaneously guilty and self-righteous.

This year, I got off to a slightly better start. I realized Lent was beginning the weekend before it actually did. I made it to a nicely intimate imposition of ashes and communion service at my church. I have to confess that my attention wasn't what it normally is, but I liked what I took away from the service. My pastor spoke about how on Ash Wednesday we are "smudged" with ashes. Lent is a time to reflect on how we, both personally and corporately, become smudged with sin and to look with joy towards the redemption and resurrection of Easter Sunday. It really made me reflect on just how smudged I am right now. More importantly, it called to mind just how smudged our world is.

In our attempts to walk more closely with God, we often forget the corporate sins of omission that we are all participating in every day. We live in an imperfect society and world, and just going about our daily lives can innocently contribute to the pain and injustice done to others. As we confess and make ourselves new before God, we need to remember to confess and repent for the many ways that we are complacent in the evils of this world. Injustice surrounds us and yet, how little we do to change it.

With this in mind, I think I finally found a devotional I won't write off after a few days. The premise? A carbon reduction fast. I know, I know half of you just went whoa you're even nuttier then I thought. But really, maybe you should give it a try. Living more simply is a goal that we should all strive for and what better way to do so then by focusing on the waste and extravagance in our lifestyles. The guide calls attention to a different issue each day by having you collect coins in a jar each time you do a different activity. Thursday it was each time you turn on the faucet and Friday is each time you use a sheet a paper. At the end of the forty days of Lent, you give the money you collected to the organization of your choice. To go along with it, I'm going to be reading from the book of Luke and trying to focus on the "social justice" themes found there. And truthfully, I'm excited about what God is going to show me. You can get a copy of the devotional from Alternatives for Simple Living. If carbon reduction isn't your thing, check out the archives for past Lenten devotionals (like the one on hunger). Or just check out the website for lots of great resources on living a more simple, peaceful, and just life.

Redeeming Diamonds

Hope is restored. Just when I had written diamonds off as something I could ever own, Facebook shows me the light. A few days ago in my Ad bar, I was an ad for a jewelry company called Brillant Earth. Their motto? Luxury with a conscience. Now this is something I could be for. Brillant Earth is a company run by a husband and wife duo committed to providing an alternative to the current diamond industry practices. "Brillant Earth believes that high quality, fine jewelry need not come at a great human or environmental cost."

Basically, all their jewelry is made with certified conflict-free Canadian diamonds, ethical origin sapphires, and renewed metals. This means that humanitarian and environmental issues of mining are largely removed. By supporting this company, you're demanding an ethical alternative to the current jewlery practices. And their stuff is really great looking too. Check out their website to see the selection and take your own stand. It's also a great place to start for information on dirty mining and conflict diamonds. If anyone is considering a gift to thank me for all my insightful blogging, I would mind receiving this!

A Not So Bright Spot

Dear Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs:

I love your product. I really do. You help me be a better person. You help me save the environment and lower my carbon footprint. You simultaneously save me money in both your lower energy usage and your mega long life span. You are so wonderful in so many ways.

But you have a major flaw. Why, oh wonderful CFL, must you shatter into so very, very many pieces when broken? Moving is stressful and things are bound to get broken. But compact fluorescent you are truly a problem. Your pieces are so small, like thousands of grains of sand, deadly, sharp grains of sand. Your broken bits have adorned our carpet, shining like tiny flecks of glitter in what little light remains in your wake. We all know how hard glitter is to pick up, and you, my friend, are just as hard. So please, in the future, remain intact. Spare us the death defying clean-ups the the meticulous vacuuming. And live up to your long life potential.

Sincerely,
Caitlin

I Think She's Commenting on the Weather

Overheard at the hospital today.

Nurse: I think that Al Gore is on to something.

Hybrids vs. Hummers? Should I Even Be Asking This?

Well it seems that I have once again taken a blogging hiatus. My apologies. Nursing school sometimes gets the better of me. But I have one full month of freedom! So before I head off to a wonderful, relaxing vacation in Mexico, I thought I'd leave you with something to read. After my parents returned from a rather ill-fated trip to Colorado (an elk ran into my dad's truck, no joke), my dad dropped an interesting piece of information in my lap. I was on some environmental tirade when my father grinned and said, "oh yeah? did you know that hybrids are worse for the environment then hummers?" I immediately balked at this statement, shook my head, and denied it all. But I agreed to look it up, and so now you get to hear about the results.

As usual, the details are sketchy. The issue comes in in how hybrid cars are made. One article summed it up something like this. The batteries that power the cars are made from nickel. The nickel is mined in Canada (Eh?). According to one article I read, the area around the mine is so dead that NASA tests moon rovers there. Which I'm not sure entirely makes sense, but we'll go with it. Once mined the nickel is shipped to Europe, then China, then Japan, and then finally back to the US as a Prius battery. So far, this is not biding well for the Prius. One study found that the Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over its lifetime of 100,000 miles. The Hummer costs only $1.95 per mile and is expected to last for 300,000 miles. Yes, I hear the crickets chirping too. Can we just take a moment to be dumb-founded?

Well fortunately the story doesn't end there. As I said, the details of the article are sketchy, biased, and some claim just plain wrong. Check out the reply post here for a discussion of some of the issues. Some argue that the environmental impact of producing the car is offset by the savings in gas usage. Others claim that if you use this logic, it makes much more sense to buy a cheap, fuel-efficient car and make some modifications to make it even more fuel efficient. And what about biodiesel? One also must consider the fact that Toyota has a recycling program in place for their batteries. Tree-hugger has another great sample of the discussion surrounding this issue.

I think the bottom line here is that maybe hybrid cars aren't everything we've dreamed they could be. The reality of the matter is that hybrids aren't making as big an impact as we'd like to think they are. Should we all go out and buy Hummers? No. Could hybrids be distracting us from the bigger issue at hand? Maybe. Are they preventing us from popularizing and using better alternatives? Probably. Do I still want one? ...Yes. Especially in that light sagey/seafoam green.

How to Save the World: The Fourth

Here's yet another easy way I'm currently trying to save the world. This time, it's cleaning supplies!

I decided to explore this topic after reading about the toilet flush spray in the bathroom. I wanted to scrub my bathroom down, but I hate cleaning supplies! You have to change into old clothes so you don't bleach or stain them, you have to wear gloves so you don't destroy your skin, you have to rinse thoroughly so you're not touching chemicals all the time, and you have to deal with that awful perfumed chemical smell. Not to mention the fact that they're expensive. So I decided to try natural. I figured there was really no harm in it. Instead of just buying some green cleaner from the store, I decided to save money and make my own. Plus that way if I didn't like the results, it was no big deal and I didn't have a whole bottle of expensive crappy cleaner sitting around.

After doing a little research, I mixed up my own blend of vinegar, water, lemon juice, and baking soda. Pretty easy. I put it in a spray bottle, grabbed a scrub brush and headed off to the bathroom. I found myself pleasantly surprised. I didn't have to change my clothes because no risk of bleaching and the smell was actually kind of pleasant. Not to mention the fact that these three ingredients can basically clean everything in your house. No more buckets of bottles and oh no, I don't have enough of toilet bowl cleaner now what? I was more then happy with the results and my roommate even commented on how clean and shiny my bathroom was.

Here's two sites that have various formulas for just about everything and suggestions for making your own cleaning products. I don't remember exactly how I mixed mine, but I don't think it tremendously matters. Enjoy your new non-toxic, nature-friendly house!

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
http://www.at-home-with-mama.com/bathroom-cleaning-tips.html

Bottled Water Revisited

I never thought I'd get so wrapped up in something so silly as bottled water. But I'm coming to realize that maybe it's not so silly after all. Apartment Therapy has mentioned bottled water twice recently. I followed the link back to fastcompany.com's article, Message in a Bottle. For some reason, it made me rather emotional. I urge you to read it. Here are some excerpts I found especially interesting.

"Thirty years ago, bottled water barely existed as a business in the United States. Last year, we spent more on Poland Spring, Fiji Water, Evian, Aquafina, and Dasani than we spent on iPods or movie tickets--$15 billion. It will be $16 billion this year. Bottled water is the food phenomenon of our times. We--a generation raised on tap water and water fountains--drink a billion bottles of water a week, and we're raising a generation that views tap water with disdain and water fountains with suspicion. We've come to pay good money--two or three or four times the cost of gasoline--for a product we have always gotten, and can still get, for free, from taps in our homes."

"Bottled water is often simply an indulgence, and despite the stories we tell ourselves, it is not a benign indulgence. . . Meanwhile, one out of six people in the world has no dependable, safe drinking water. The global economy has contrived to deny the most fundamental element of life to 1 billion people, while delivering to us an array of water "varieties" from around the globe, not one of which we actually need. That tension is only complicated by the fact that if we suddenly decided not to purchase the lake of Poland Spring water in Hollis, Maine, none of that water would find its way to people who really are thirsty."

"In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35. Put another way, if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000."

"Where the drinking water is safe, bottled water is simply a superfluous luxury that we should do without. . . We're completely thoughtless about handing out $1 for this bottle of water, when there are virtually identical alternatives for free. It's a level of affluence that we just take for granted. What could you do? Put that dollar in a jar on the counter instead, carry a water bottle, and at the end of the month, send all the money to Oxfam or CARE and help someone who has real needs. And you're no worse off."

"Bottled water is not a sin. But it is a choice. . .Once you understand the resources mustered to deliver the bottle of water, it's reasonable to ask as you reach for the next bottle, not just 'Does the value to me equal the 99 cents I'm about to spend?' but 'Does the value equal the impact I'm about to leave behind?' Simply asking the question takes the carelessness out of the transaction. And once you understand where the water comes from, and how it got here, it's hard to look at that bottle in the same way again."

Feeling inspired? You really, really should read the full article. And check out Sigg for great, reusable bottles that are super fun and eco-friendly. We've been using Sigg bottles for about 6 years and we still have the same original four. I highly recommend them!

How to Save the World: Part III

After a brief hiatus, How to Save the World has returned! Up this week is something I've been working on for the past few months: stop eating beef.

This one is kind of hard for me because I really enjoy beef in all of its forms, my family eats a lot of beef, and when someone else is picking up the tab, I almost always get beef. But I've been trying not to. I figure reducing my beef intake has to be beneficial. I think you'll think so to.

Why should you stop eating beef? Mad cow disease? Well, that could be one reason, but it's actually not the best one. Too much cholesterol? True, but I don't care if you want to go on statins. The biggest beef concern? Its detrimental effects on the environment and the economy.

Let's start with the environment. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a report with some shocking realities. According to the report:

+ Livestock use 30% of the earth's entire land surface, including 33% of global arable land used in producing feed for livestock
+ Livestock generate 18% more greenhouse gasses then transportation
+ Livestock account for 9% of CO2 derived from human-related activities but much larger
portions of the more potent greenhouse gasses: 65% of human-related nitrous oxide and 37% of human-related methane
+ In Latin America, 70% of former rain forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing. In fact, beef production is the major cause of the destruction of the world's rain forests. The high price of beef encourages ranchers to burn the forest to create new range lands. The fragile, thin rain forest soil cover is quickly destroyed by grazing in 1-2 years, and the ranchers move on to burn another area, in a never-ending cycle of destruction. Thousands of species of plants and animals have already been destroyed forever, as well as straining the earth's ability to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. At current rates, the rain forests will be totally destroyed in 30-50 years.

So basically one-third of our planet and one-fifth of the planet's animals are being used to feed your tummy. Surprising, huh? And we haven't even looked at the economy yet. We already know that livestock take up a third of the earth's land. That's not too bad sounding until you consider who that beef is feeding: the US, Europe, and Japan. Here's another third for you. One third of the world's grain harvest is used to feed cows instead of feeding people. In the US, that number is more then 70%. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce a single pound of beef. All this in a world where nearly one billion people do not have enough food. And it's not just children in Africa. According to the USDA 35.1 million people in the US live in food insecure households. 16.9% of ALL US children live in food insecure households. And these numbers are only rising. As beef consumption and prices continue to rise, we are only perpetuating this cycle. Economies based on local cash crops are quickly being converted to beef exports with the profits going to the wealthy few.

So what can you go? It's pretty simple. Stop eating beef. If you can't stop, limit your consumption to special occasions or for cravings. Not only are you helping to save the world, but you'll lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of exposure to the deadly E. coli bacteria. And mad cow. And weird icky hormones. Really, it's a win win situation. The Chick-fil-a cows are right. Eat more chicken!

How to Save the World, Part II

Next up: bottled water.

To put it simply, just stop drinking it. What is the point? Bottled water is simply an advertising hype, trying to make you think of safety purity. The truth is bottled water is not cleaner or safer then tap water. In fact, in a recent study by the National Resources Defense Council, one-third of bottled water tested contained a contaminant. The bottled water industry is poorly regulated with a significant share of the market completely unregulated. When it is regulated, bottled water is subjected to less rigorous and less frequent testing then city tap water. And as if that's not all bad enough, bottled water is allowed to contain small amount of E. coli or fecal coliform (which indicate potential fecal contamination) while positive results are prohibited in tap water.

In addition to this frankly disgusting information, we are spending 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water then for tap water. And, just in case you aren't yet dumbfounded, a quarter (on a conservative estimate) of bottled waters are actually just bottled tap water. And according to FDA regulations, they are allowed to call this spring water. Obviously the bottled water industry is quite lucrative. In fact, one researcher said, "At as much as $2.50 per liter (or $10 per gallon), bottled water costs more then gasoline." I don't think we can blame Venezuela for that.

As if it isn't bad enough that you're possibly drinking poop and paying a 10,000 times markup on it, bottled water is hurting the environment. Bottled water produces unnecessary garbage and consumes excessive energy. Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year. In fact, making bottles to meet America's demand for bottled water requires 1.5 million barrels of crude oil a year, enough to fuel 100,000 US cars for a year. About 86% of these bottles become garbage or litter and take...oh..anywhere from 400 to 1,000 years to degrade.

The simple solution? Buy a reusable bottle and fill it up...from your tap! Or better yet, reuse your old water bottles. After all, they should last you another 399 years minimum. If you just can't bear the thought of drinking straight from the tap, invest in a Brita pitcher or Pur filter that attaches right to your faucet. There is absolutely no excuse for the pure excess and waste of drinking bottled water. Are we really that lazy as a society that we can't fill up a bottle before we leave the house for work or the gym?

That being said, bottled water certainly has a place. But for people whose tap water is unsafe to drink. Here's my challenge to you. For one year, stop buying bottled water. Heck, stop buying bottled beverages all together, and use the money you save (which could be quite substantial depending on your habits) and donate it to an organization that helps provide access to clean water to the millions of people around the world that actually need it.