Here's a cool idea for urbanites: Clif Bar (you know, those yummy super-healthy energy bars) has issued a 2 mile challenge encouraging people to bike instead of drive for destinations within a two-mile radius. Since 40% of urban travel falls within that circle, this could cut down on a lot of car trips and carbon emissions.
Their website offers all sorts of options for personalizing your challenge, from getting a bike to tricking out a bike (my husband's favorite!) to committing to ride or becoming a bike ambassador. It also enables you to map your two miles and see the radius from your house. That was an eye-opener for me (is the Edgewood shopping center really within two miles of my house?) and can give you nice ideas for rides and destinations.
And, of course, if you're in downtown Atlanta, don't forget this great map (pdf) to help you plan your trip, which color codes roads in midtown and downtown according to their bikeability.
I've found that in Georgia heat, three miles out is my absolute limit for a ride, but two miles should be very doable even for lazy me, especially now that September is cooling things off a bit.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
and still, only leadership is lacking
The U.N. representatives meeting to discuss climate change this week should really pay attention to this poll. The president of the international polling firm GlobeScan, which conducted the poll, concluded from these findings that it's "difficult to imagine a more supportive public opinion environment for national leaders to commit to climate action." A few highlights:
- A majority in all countries believes that climate change is caused by human activity
- In 15 out of 21 countries, a majority believes that it is "necessary to take major steps very soon" to counteract global warming; most of the remainder opted for "modest steps in the coming years"; only 6% overall believes that no action is necessary
- Of the 21 countries polled, a majority in all developed countries and nearly all developing countries believes that both wealthy and less wealthy countries should limit their carbon emissions in the coming years. Most participants believed that developing countries should limit emissions in exchange for technology and financial aid from more wealthy countries.
In a word, the world is ready for action against climate change. The only people who seem to be dragging their feet are the politicians.
Read the full results here (PDF).
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
can capitalism be redeemed?
Capitalism as if the World Matters by Jonathon Porritt is being released in paperback this month, and it's one that I really ought to read. Like Capitalism 3.0, which I read earlier this year, it argues that it's our methods of capitalism, and not the system itself, that puts our economy and the environment in such seemingly irreconcilable opposition. I've blogged about this question before. For me as a Christian with Jesus' teachings about greed and wealth in mind, the question isn't so much Can we reconcile economic growth with environmental care? but Why on earth should we bother? But that's easy for me to say, sitting at the top of the economic heap as I am. For people in the Third World--or even my friends in Romania--or even those lower down on the economic hierarchy in the U.S.--the question is more personal. They want to move up the ladder before it's pulled out from under them.
I haven't read Porritt's book yet, but the Grist tells me that his conclusions are similar to Barnes: we can reshape capitalism, and the key to motivating change is helping people to see changes as good for them and their quality of life--not at some nebulous time in the future, but right here and now, today. As far as that goes, I couldn't agree more. I've said for a long time that this ought to be the focus of the environmental movement: demonstrating the here-and-now benefits of an environmental lifestyle. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate the spiritual benefits of an environmental lifestyle from a Christian perspective. But it has always seemed to me that many of the benefits that have been traditional recognized by the Christian church and that an environmental lifestyle lends itself to easily--benefits like humility and simplicity--stand in direct opposition to the materialism inherent in a capitalist system. Can capitalism be environmental? Absolutely: all it requires is putting a financial price tag on natural resources. Can capitalism be Christian? That's the part I doubt.
It is extremely encouraging to think about the possibilities for saving the environment while--or even by--working within our existing system. Adjusting a system is always much easier than building a new one from scratch. But as a Christian, while I can appreciate the system and work within it, I prefer to keep a respectful distance from the pursuit of economic happiness through materialism and wealth. It's not it's wrong to be wealthy--it's a blessing, and one I'm grateful for when I have it. But it's a dangerous blessing (which is probably why it's not entrusted to me very much). As Jesus said, it's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
I haven't read Porritt's book yet, but the Grist tells me that his conclusions are similar to Barnes: we can reshape capitalism, and the key to motivating change is helping people to see changes as good for them and their quality of life--not at some nebulous time in the future, but right here and now, today. As far as that goes, I couldn't agree more. I've said for a long time that this ought to be the focus of the environmental movement: demonstrating the here-and-now benefits of an environmental lifestyle. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate the spiritual benefits of an environmental lifestyle from a Christian perspective. But it has always seemed to me that many of the benefits that have been traditional recognized by the Christian church and that an environmental lifestyle lends itself to easily--benefits like humility and simplicity--stand in direct opposition to the materialism inherent in a capitalist system. Can capitalism be environmental? Absolutely: all it requires is putting a financial price tag on natural resources. Can capitalism be Christian? That's the part I doubt.
It is extremely encouraging to think about the possibilities for saving the environment while--or even by--working within our existing system. Adjusting a system is always much easier than building a new one from scratch. But as a Christian, while I can appreciate the system and work within it, I prefer to keep a respectful distance from the pursuit of economic happiness through materialism and wealth. It's not it's wrong to be wealthy--it's a blessing, and one I'm grateful for when I have it. But it's a dangerous blessing (which is probably why it's not entrusted to me very much). As Jesus said, it's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Monday, September 24, 2007
step it up, take 2
Today I discovered that Bill McKibben, the national organizer of Step It Up, is at it again and calling for another movement of local actions on November 3. I do feel a bit out of the loop for not having discovered this until now, especially since I was on the organizing team for the Step It Up Atlanta event last April. But no matter. Late is better than never.
I have no idea yet what the November Atlanta event will be (although Flexcar seems to be organizing one already), but I do know that I'll be a part of it. Here's why.
Even before I first heard about the Step It Up event last April, I was concerned that global warming is perhaps the most pressing crisis of our time. It still puzzles me to the point of amazement when leaders and spokesman insist that the jury is still out, the research is uncertain, and even if the planet is warming up, we don't know the reason why. The fact is that we do know the reason why--it's because of human activity--but even if we didn't, the doubt ought to be enough to motivate change. If you think your actions might be responsible for the destruction of something entrusted to you (i.e., the planet) and the ruin of thousands of other people's way of life, well, you don't sit around debating whys and wherefores. Especially if the culpable actions are unnecessary and adaptable. We don't have to keep driving everywhere; we don't have to use coal for the majority of our power generation; we don't have to produce all our food in monoculture farms. We do it because we've gotten used to it, and it's the path of least resistance, and a lot of people are making money off of doing it that way. But we have the technology and the ability to change many of these things--not tomorrow, but right now. What we don't have is the will to change them.
Which brings me to my second point, and the reason why I'm already even more excited about this Step It Up event than I was about the last one. The November 3 Step It Up event will be held on that date because it's one year before the next elections, and McKibben is urging organizers to stage events at symbolic locations, locations named after the leaders of our history. The thinking behind this is the need to highlight the men and women who led this country in the past, the men and women who inspired great changes and great willpower in history. Because that, more than anything else, is what is missing today: we need leaders. We need people who will stand up and show us that there's another way to live, and then lead others into it.
It's all too easy for us to fall into the traps of individualism. We see it in churches when people are so concerned about their personal lifestyle--or worse yet, their neighbor's--that they are blind to the terrible sins of their community that are invisible to them because everybody's doing them--sins like racism and materialism and selfishness. We see it in organizations when they become so focused on their own mission and purpose that they lose sight of the people they are supposedly trying to help. And we see it in environmentalists when we focus so much on our own choices to change lightbulbs, ride bikes, and plant gardens that we simply ignore the fact that all our neighbors and friends are blissfully driving SUVs to the gym. It's good, laudable, and necessary to make changes in your own lifestyle. But it's simply not enough. We all need to make changes. And so it's essential that those of us who can see the changes that need to be made not only make them for ourselves, but urge others to make them as well. And that is what Step It Up is all about.
I have no idea yet what the November Atlanta event will be (although Flexcar seems to be organizing one already), but I do know that I'll be a part of it. Here's why.
Even before I first heard about the Step It Up event last April, I was concerned that global warming is perhaps the most pressing crisis of our time. It still puzzles me to the point of amazement when leaders and spokesman insist that the jury is still out, the research is uncertain, and even if the planet is warming up, we don't know the reason why. The fact is that we do know the reason why--it's because of human activity--but even if we didn't, the doubt ought to be enough to motivate change. If you think your actions might be responsible for the destruction of something entrusted to you (i.e., the planet) and the ruin of thousands of other people's way of life, well, you don't sit around debating whys and wherefores. Especially if the culpable actions are unnecessary and adaptable. We don't have to keep driving everywhere; we don't have to use coal for the majority of our power generation; we don't have to produce all our food in monoculture farms. We do it because we've gotten used to it, and it's the path of least resistance, and a lot of people are making money off of doing it that way. But we have the technology and the ability to change many of these things--not tomorrow, but right now. What we don't have is the will to change them.
Which brings me to my second point, and the reason why I'm already even more excited about this Step It Up event than I was about the last one. The November 3 Step It Up event will be held on that date because it's one year before the next elections, and McKibben is urging organizers to stage events at symbolic locations, locations named after the leaders of our history. The thinking behind this is the need to highlight the men and women who led this country in the past, the men and women who inspired great changes and great willpower in history. Because that, more than anything else, is what is missing today: we need leaders. We need people who will stand up and show us that there's another way to live, and then lead others into it.
It's all too easy for us to fall into the traps of individualism. We see it in churches when people are so concerned about their personal lifestyle--or worse yet, their neighbor's--that they are blind to the terrible sins of their community that are invisible to them because everybody's doing them--sins like racism and materialism and selfishness. We see it in organizations when they become so focused on their own mission and purpose that they lose sight of the people they are supposedly trying to help. And we see it in environmentalists when we focus so much on our own choices to change lightbulbs, ride bikes, and plant gardens that we simply ignore the fact that all our neighbors and friends are blissfully driving SUVs to the gym. It's good, laudable, and necessary to make changes in your own lifestyle. But it's simply not enough. We all need to make changes. And so it's essential that those of us who can see the changes that need to be made not only make them for ourselves, but urge others to make them as well. And that is what Step It Up is all about.
Friday, September 21, 2007
not in my backyard
The news from Jena, LA lately has started me thinking again about the inequality often hidden in environmental issues. Environmental justice has been a concern of activists for a long time, and it might even be coming to light soon at a national level (if Clinton's environmental justice bill gets off the ground). But the reality is that environmental concerns have rarely been recognized as an equality issue, except insofar as they are seen as the sole territory of those rich enough to care about them.
And the truth is that, most of the time, it is only rich people who care about the environment. You have to have the leisure to stop worrying about your next paycheck before you can start worrying about polar bears. But the other side of that coin is that the primary victims of environmental degradation and pollution are rarely rich. They are low-income communities, and (bitter though it is to admit it) they are frequently African-American communities. This is the as yet mostly unspoken and unprotested reality of racial and social inequality in America: your health and your environment are much more likely to be endangered if you are not white.
But no one is protesting this. No one is rallying against this. It's too insidious, too invisible, and not atrocious enough to attract notice. But the failure of those of all races who care about justice to speak out against issues that are not yet scandalous is exactly what leads to escalations like the Jena story. Where was the national media when those first students at Jena High School--the true heroes of this story, though I have yet to read their names anywhere--boldly sat under the "white tree"? Where were the protestors when nooses were hung from the tree in retribution? Was the shock value of that incident not enough to rally national attention? Why were so many voices silent until now, after the situation escalated into physical violence?
It will be a long time, perhaps forever, before the problems of environmental justice escalate into violence. Most people suffer--will continue to suffer--in silence. But someone ought to speak. We ought not to let such things happen in our communities, to our neighbors, to our co-citizens. Not in my backyard? No, no one wants pollution in their backyard, and those who are rich enough and vocal enough to prevent it, will. But there are other things I don't want in my backyard. I don't want racism in my backyard. I don't want oppression and injustice in my backyard. I don't want victims in my backyard. And it's time we all ended our silence.
And the truth is that, most of the time, it is only rich people who care about the environment. You have to have the leisure to stop worrying about your next paycheck before you can start worrying about polar bears. But the other side of that coin is that the primary victims of environmental degradation and pollution are rarely rich. They are low-income communities, and (bitter though it is to admit it) they are frequently African-American communities. This is the as yet mostly unspoken and unprotested reality of racial and social inequality in America: your health and your environment are much more likely to be endangered if you are not white.
But no one is protesting this. No one is rallying against this. It's too insidious, too invisible, and not atrocious enough to attract notice. But the failure of those of all races who care about justice to speak out against issues that are not yet scandalous is exactly what leads to escalations like the Jena story. Where was the national media when those first students at Jena High School--the true heroes of this story, though I have yet to read their names anywhere--boldly sat under the "white tree"? Where were the protestors when nooses were hung from the tree in retribution? Was the shock value of that incident not enough to rally national attention? Why were so many voices silent until now, after the situation escalated into physical violence?
It will be a long time, perhaps forever, before the problems of environmental justice escalate into violence. Most people suffer--will continue to suffer--in silence. But someone ought to speak. We ought not to let such things happen in our communities, to our neighbors, to our co-citizens. Not in my backyard? No, no one wants pollution in their backyard, and those who are rich enough and vocal enough to prevent it, will. But there are other things I don't want in my backyard. I don't want racism in my backyard. I don't want oppression and injustice in my backyard. I don't want victims in my backyard. And it's time we all ended our silence.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
confess your green sins
A priest in Suffolk offered festival attenders the opportunity to confess their sins against the environment this past weekend. Yes, you read that right. People could go to a green confessional booth (made of recycled materials) at the Waveney Greenpeace festival and confess that they didn't recycle enough.
Of course I think it's great that the Catholic Church is encouraging parishioners to consider the impact of their actions on the environment. But I think it's ludicrious that anyone would feel the need for a separate, green-specific confession to acknowledge those types of sins. We ought to be confessing our green sins every time we confess. When did greed, materialism, and love of luxury stop being sins that we ought to continually confess?
That was a rhetorical question, but Father Stephen has an answer. This link is a somewhat lengthy compendium of a series of blogs he's been writing, and its particularly Eastern Orthodox perspective (Father Stephen is an Orthodox priest) might be uncomfortable to readers of other denominational backgrounds, but the central idea that he explains here--the Christian worldview as a one-storey rather than a two-storey universe--is, I believe, the answer to the problem of our modern separation of "environmental sins" into their own category. The trouble is that, ever since the Enlightenment, westerners have come to think of the universe as divided into separate regions: the sacred and the secular. In our minds, we have split God off from His creation. But the truth is that creation cannot be separated from the Creator. Not that creation is itself divine, but it is sanctified and imbibed through and through with God's presence. As the poet Hopkins said, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God." Or as Father Stephen puts it, "The whole world is a sacrament...All things have their meaning in relationship to God." This does not mean that we or rocks or trees or streams or the atmosphere are holy in themselves. But the rocks cry out in praise to God, and the trees clap their hands, and water is the element of baptism through which we are sanctified and consecrated to God. And air is the breath of life, and our life is God's Spirit in us. And the Kingdom of God is among us--not somewhere out there or up there, not somewhere far away that we hope to attain to someday, but right here, among us.
And that is why sins agains the environment are not a separate category of sin. They are no different from any other sin: anything we do to mar the presence of God in us, in others, or in the world is sinful. We are doing these things all the time. It's about time we confess them.
Thanks to the Green Lent blog for the link to the confession story.
Of course I think it's great that the Catholic Church is encouraging parishioners to consider the impact of their actions on the environment. But I think it's ludicrious that anyone would feel the need for a separate, green-specific confession to acknowledge those types of sins. We ought to be confessing our green sins every time we confess. When did greed, materialism, and love of luxury stop being sins that we ought to continually confess?
That was a rhetorical question, but Father Stephen has an answer. This link is a somewhat lengthy compendium of a series of blogs he's been writing, and its particularly Eastern Orthodox perspective (Father Stephen is an Orthodox priest) might be uncomfortable to readers of other denominational backgrounds, but the central idea that he explains here--the Christian worldview as a one-storey rather than a two-storey universe--is, I believe, the answer to the problem of our modern separation of "environmental sins" into their own category. The trouble is that, ever since the Enlightenment, westerners have come to think of the universe as divided into separate regions: the sacred and the secular. In our minds, we have split God off from His creation. But the truth is that creation cannot be separated from the Creator. Not that creation is itself divine, but it is sanctified and imbibed through and through with God's presence. As the poet Hopkins said, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God." Or as Father Stephen puts it, "The whole world is a sacrament...All things have their meaning in relationship to God." This does not mean that we or rocks or trees or streams or the atmosphere are holy in themselves. But the rocks cry out in praise to God, and the trees clap their hands, and water is the element of baptism through which we are sanctified and consecrated to God. And air is the breath of life, and our life is God's Spirit in us. And the Kingdom of God is among us--not somewhere out there or up there, not somewhere far away that we hope to attain to someday, but right here, among us.
And that is why sins agains the environment are not a separate category of sin. They are no different from any other sin: anything we do to mar the presence of God in us, in others, or in the world is sinful. We are doing these things all the time. It's about time we confess them.
Thanks to the Green Lent blog for the link to the confession story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)