Recently in What can I do? Category

I was thinking about when the government was telling us to spend more to help the economy. Then I saw a piece about some people starting to spend more again, buying stuff. And today I saw how retail has been hit hard and doesn’t expect a good holiday season.

So I’m wondering, has anyone learned any lessons from the economic problems?

There are many lessons to be learned: Corporate corruption, government corruption & incompetence, etc, but I’m talking about a more personal level. I wrote about this a few months ago. Here’s the gist of it:

Spending on "things" and "stuff" people really don’t need and don’t really make them happier are at the root of our economic problems. Do you really need to keep up with your neighbor? Do you really want to send hundreds of dollars a year to a cable company so you can sit in your living room staring at a wall?

Isn’t there better ways to spend your money? The slowdown of retail is not surprising - and dare I say it’s a good thing? So many identical stores and vendors grew exponentially to meet unnatural levels of consumerism. We needed to shed some off. We need more to go away. No, I don’t want people to lose their jobs, but as a society we need to realize that we have created a monster.

Next time an advertisement tries to convince you that you need something, realize they are hoping you will be clueless enough to believe them. Think about where you could spend that money: Save it for your kids, give it to a charity, buy someone food who really needs it, turn off the tv and buy a book to read to the kids.

Also realize that our materialistic mind set often encourages bad health and hence higher medical costs. Spend time outside. Kids need it. And even babies who spend their early years in front of a tv don’t advance as well intellectually. So that’s another problem.

So the next time someone tells you need what they are selling - whether it's a product, service or activity - tell them no by putting your money towards something else. -D

The ARK Tour Video from Jay Loecken on Vimeo.

The convergence of a number of things - the new eco-movement, a slow economy and a Big Government growing bigger and more oppressive by the minute - all at the same time has made many stop and think about the rat race they find themselves in. How much of how we live is excessive? Where have we gone so far forward that we are actually going backwards? And where does this fit in our worldviews? How does this all fit together?

People have begun to looking again at conservation and energy saving techniques as a way to save money - and if it helps nature while they’re at it, that’s good too. But some may also be asking "Do I need all this stuff?" or "Why am I spending all this money?" Charles W. Sasser writes in The Backwoodsman (Jan/Feb 2009):

I looked around and observed how many of my friends held eight-to-five jobs they could barely tolerate. The average American owned two cars, a house with a 30-year mortgage, a color TV set and a stack of bills on luxuries and ‘necessities’ long worn out and discarded. It seemed to me that he did not work to enrich his life. Instead, he worked to support his possessions, all the while feeling compelled to continue to buy and buy in hopes of ever new and more wonderful possessions making him happy.  

Think about that. How much of your work pay goes to things you don’t need? Or things just to get you to work? I remember a colleague complaining about money, but also bragging about all of the cable channels he had. Who’s forcing you to pay all that money just so you can sit in your living room? How much is the electric bill? Look at the recession as an opportunity to reasses your priorities and habits. 

Technology is great and important. But how much is too much? We complain our kids are obese, but buy them the technologies that make them that way.

Eric Brende writes in his book Better Off: 

Technology undoubtedly has, and will always have, some role in making life easier or better, so one shouldn’t exclude it. But the role is supplemental. Technology serves us, not we technology.

Brende and his wife spent a year living with an Amish sect trying to figure out why or how they live they way they do. They found that these "primitives" have technology, just not what we are used to. And they are happy. Why? In spite of instant 24/7 communications, and unlimited goods and services, we are still separated from our families, don’t interact with our communities, have no sense of purpose in our jobs. Yet we often see ourselves as better off than "simpler" or "poorer" folk.

From an eco-sense, how much consumerism is waste? From a Christian sense, how does God want you to spend money and resources? Churches talk often about tithing. I’m not aware of any tithing verses that say "Give your money to your church!" It’s more like, "Give some of it back to God." So in a more accurate sense, we should be supporting our church and other God-centered groups or causes. In a much broader sense, God is telling us to use all of our money (and in turn our resources) wisely. When buying something, ask yourself, "Would God spend this on this?" or "Does this improve my relationship with Him?" or "Is buying this going to make me a better or happier person?" Start thinking like this and you start to see how much money you could be saving. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but how many of us are even looking at perfect?

Does living simpler, which often includes being a bit more ecoaware, mean selling your home, becoming a farmer or living in a hut? No, of course not. Jenna Woginrich has combined her life with some old-fashioned homesteading. The Dervaes turned their urban home into a urban oasis. No, we don’t all need to start rasing animals or growing all our own food - but if you want to, go ahead.

We all could support our local food suppliers better. Saves money, conserves resources and builds the economy. Economy and community start locally. Start by supporting local churches and farms, then work your way out to your region, state and country. Corporations and governments try the "one size fits all approach." Living simpler means doing what actually works for people.

The starting local approach and living a bit simpler and a bit more ecoware means better health. We’ve seen how health is impacted on the quality of our foods and environment. Improve these things and improve your quality of life.

There’s a lot of implications here. Better health. Better lives. Stronger neighborhoods. Less reliance on government. Self-reliance. Stronger churches.

Bottom line is a life more in sync with what the Creator wanted. -D

From Serve God, Save the Planet:

Imagine meeting God and answering the question, "What did you do with your time on earth?" You are handed a time sheet that details the seconds and decades of this precious gift called life. What will you say you have done? In a world full of trees, mountains, oceans, birds, people in need and people to love, did you spend ten years watching the news, sitcoms, ball games and reality shows on a cathode-ray tube?

Or as I like to ask, "How much money do you pay the cable company so you can sit in your own living room?" More:

The three hundred million TV sets in the United State consume a lot of energy - five times more than is produced by all the geothermal, biomass, solar and wind sources in the United States. They take energy and materials to manufacture. They are difficult to get rid of and to recycle. They convince us to buy things we don’t need...Television separates us from our Creator while killing his creation.

-D

Support local farmers. -D

Break Point founder (and former Nixon employee) Chuck Colson interviewed Nancy Sleeth last month on her new book Go Green Save Green. Didn't know he was blogging on green stuff, yet here's a post on CO2 regulation, and the planet and the poor.

He doesn't do much on his initial review of Nancy's book, but some thoughts seemed to finally emerge over the weekend:

A recent discussion on our blog, The Point, demonstrated how uneasy many Christians feel about environmentalism. The subject was the book Go Green, $ave Green by Nancy Sleeth (who founded the organization Blessed Earth along with her husband, Matthew). Some of our commenters were bothered by our bringing up a subject that’s largely considered to belong to the left wing.

I can see where they’re coming from. I’ve said before on BreakPoint how appalled I am at the apocalyptic language some people are using to scare us into the green agenda. And Christians ought to oppose any environmentalist agenda that would ignore or even scoff at the plight of the poor and the sanctity of human life.

But Christians don’t have to let concern for the environment—that is, concern for God’s creation—be hijacked by those who are hostile to our beliefs. [snip]

In the end, Sleeth shows us that environmentalism doesn’t need to be about a radical political agenda. It can be about our own behavior, informed by values like good stewardship, protecting family time, self-restraint, and helping others. That’s not radical. It is common sense and, most important, thoroughly Christian.

Taiwan Church News:

Yuji Miyata is a Japanese youth who will spend three months walking across Taiwan to raise awareness on environmental issues so that people will know there aren’t any national boundaries when it comes to protecting our environment. It goes on to explain that since he does not understand Mandarin or Taiwanese, if he should present this letter to churches and seek their assistance, churches must try to help him and offer him food and shelter. Miyata saw a news report describing a hole in the ozone layer when he was merely 6 years old and became very interested in environmental preservation ever since.

By the way, the lovely feet thing refers to this.

Happy Monday to you! I just published a pair of guest posts I thought you and your readers might be interested in.

First is an impassioned, fact-rich and God-oriented case for why houses of worship should practice organic lawn care. Then, 8 tips for how to green that church lawn.

Best,

Holly 

David Schaengold:

Transportation decisions have the power to shape how we form communities, families, religious congregations, and even how we start small businesses. Bad transportation decisions can destroy communities, and good transportation decisions can help create them.

Read the whole thing. 

Schaengold argues that transit leads to the sort of social interactions that improve families and small businesses and begin to address moral issues like abortion. 

I've been through Grand Central a few times and spent two years riding the Tokyo subways and didn't see much interaction.  But I get his point.  It's akin to the smarter greenhouse gas message environmentalists should adopt to reach conservatives:  Energy conservation and national security, not sad polar bears. 

A lot of environmentalists will never take the time to understand where conservatives (Evangelical or otherwise) are itching.  But then, the progressives are the ones deciding who gets scratched right now.

Winter is mostly over. When the snow melts, I get disgusted with all the litter I see laying about. So part one of the challenge is:

1. Walk to the end of your driveway, look both ways, and commit to at least keeping that area free of garbage.

This is also the time of year that people start spreading herbicides and pesticides all over the place. Part two of the challenge is:

2. Don't use any herbicides (try eating those extremely healthy dandelions ) and use pesticides only when there's no other choice (and try natural methods first). Same goes with fertilizers.

-D