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Alternatives Reader #1

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a free e-zine from Alternatives for Simple Living

#1 -- Winter, 2002

 

Contents

What is this? (Introduction to this series)

Food & Health

Government

Obituaries 2001

Sept. 11th

Corporations

Faith

 

Consumerism

 

Fascinating Facts


Military

 

Helpful Action

 

Media

 

Environment

 

Energy

 

Editorials

Correspondence

 

Food & Health

QuoteArt: 9-A1348.JPG
Art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

Organic Gold Rush

"As people become more aware of the ecological and health costs of chemical dependent agriculture, the market for organic food is booming. But as it does, small-scale organic farmers are watching the form of agriculture they crafted around simple living and local economics take on a very different appearance." From "Organic Gold Rush" by Brian Hartweil in "World Watch" May, 2001, pages 22-32. To read more visit http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/2001/01-3.php.

Sidebars to that article include "Conservation Farming" and "Organic Myths."

Organic Gold Rush

Myth No. 1: organic farming cannot produce nearly as much food as conventional farming. Reality: several scientific surveys have found that yields from organic fields are comparable to those of conventional systems, especially over the long term. Organic farms are likely to be at a disadvantage when they first converted, simply because the farm is being weaned from chemical dependence. But this disadvantage shrinks as the ecological infrastructure of the farm -- beneficial insect populations, soil microbeal activity, soil organic matter -- and the know-how of the former gradually builds.

Myth No. 2: organic farming cannot help feed the hungry in the developing world. Reality: many of the world's 1 billion undernourished people are rural families that continue to be poor and hungry because they have been bypassed by expensive agricultural technologies and systems. In fact, the pro-active principles of organic farming may be in these farmers best hope.

This issue of World Watch also contains the feature "The New Battle of the Coral Seas." "Just off the Indonesian coast, the world's most wondrous and biologically diverse oceanic environment is now under an assault just as devastating as the one that is burning down rainforests."

To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Bottled Water

Bottled waters claims to purity are bogus, says a study by the World Wildlife Fund. Selling bottled H2O for 1000 times the price of tap water has given birth to a $22 billion-a-year industry, but the WWF's tests show that bottled water -- if it isn't the same as tap water -- can be less healthy than the stuff that flows from your faucet. While there are strict laws that govern Municipal Water Quality, private water bottlers are unregulated. Each year, 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to manufacture single use water bottles. A quarter of all bottled water is imported from the other countries: the added transportation fuels the release of greenhouse gases. Even when tap water is of poor quality, it is cheaper to filter or boil it than to buy bottled water. "Clean water is a basic right," says WWF's Richard Holland. And the best way to deliver clean water is by "Protecting our rivers, streams and wetlands." From Earth Island Journal: news of the world environment, autumn, 2001 (www.earthisland.org) http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/journalTOC.cfm?journalID=48


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Natural Mosquito Repellent & Cleaner Air

Natural repellent -- How to ward off mosquitoes -- combine 1 tbsp. of pure vanilla extract with 1 c. of cool water. Put it in a spray bottle, and spray on to your skin.


Cleaner air -- To make the air inside your home and office cleaner, bring in some plants. A NASA study found that spider plants, Golden pothos, and philodendrons absorb as much as 80% of toxic formaldehyde through their leaves and roots.


From Co-op America's Real Money newsletter: "Live better. Save more. Invest wisely. Make a Difference," June 2001. This issue also contains features on non-toxic pest control, adventures in eco-travel, simple family fun and socially responsible investing. Real Money is one of Co-op America's several newsletters. To read more visit www.RealMoney.org.


Choose to reuse it: what's a person to do with the promotional disks and CDs that are dumped at your door? Send them to GreenDisk, which will recycle them for you for 10 cents per pound (minimum charge of $5). Green disk accepts 3.5 in. floppy disks, CDs, and VHS videotapes. Call 800-305-DISK or check out www.GreenDisk.com.


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For resources on Food, visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Food.php

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Government

Art from Seeds of Hope (in "Spirit of Simplicity')

 

Restricting local governments from enact living wage ordinance

Oregon has become the sixth state in the nation to restrict the power of local governments to enact living wage ordinance. Since 1994, more than 60 cities and counties have enacted living wage ordinances, which are designed to bring wages closer to a level capable of meeting basic needs. Oregon's new law will prevent cities from mandating a higher minimum wage for all companies operating within their borders. It is part of a growing national campaign by several industry groups to halt the living wage movement.

From "New Rules: Exploring community, mobility, scale and trade" (Institute for Local self-reliance), fall, 2001, page 3. To read more visit http://newrules.org/journal/nrfall01.htm or www.ILSR.ORG.


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Rogue Agencies Gut State Banking Laws

The only reason you're not afraid of the office of the Comptroller of Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision is because you don't know what they do. Called indentured servants to the national banking industry, they are dismantling the state regulatory system piece by piece.

Big banks are especially intend these days on evading state laws governing ATMs and other forms of electronic banking. These technologies are not only a rich source of revenue, they're the industry's future. National banks want to operate their ATM networks without regard to local rules and be bound only by the limited consumer protections found in federal law.

From "Rogue Agencies Gut State Banking Laws," New Rules, fall, 2001, pages 4-11. Other topics include predatory lending, payday loans, and state insurance laws. To read more visit http://newrules.org/journal/nrfall01.htm.

 

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Who should make the rules?

Increasingly higher levels of governments are overruling those closer to the citizenry. State legislatures override city councils and county commissions. Federal agencies and Congress override state legislatures. International agencies like the World Trade Organization override Congresses and parliaments.

Both liberals and conservatives pay lip service to the idea that government works best when it is closest to the people. But their actions belie their words. Both firmly believe that local authority should be abolished if it hinders national efficiency, even if the economic costs are theoretical and trivial.

The federal courts are the ultimate arbiters of where power rests. Mostly, they favor centralized power, even when the justification for centralization is weak.

In answering these questions, we should be guided by the principle of subsidiarity: a higher level of government should not override the will of the governments closer to the people unless it can make a compelling case for doing so. The burden of proof lies on preemption, not on devolution. The European Union already embraces this principle.

From Editor's Note: Who should make the rules? New Rules, fall, 2001, page one. To read more visit http://newrules.org/journal/nrfall01.htm.

 

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For resources on building community, visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/BuildingComm.php and

http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/BuildingComm2.php

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Obituaries 2001

Art by Ashley Calhoun (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

 

For eulogies, read...

Donella (Dana) Meadows --

John Alexander --

Mothers and Others, 1989-2001 --

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Sept. 11th

Art from "Spirit of Simplicity")

Open Letter to Friends

The secretaries and file clerks and young executives in the stricken office buildings, and the children and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers aboard those four airplanes would not have been the target of hatred, had we Americans better expressed our highest values throughout the world -- had our government expressed in all its actions the fairness and generosity that characterize our people. That disconnect between our people and our government does not excuse the cold mass-murders committed by terrorists, but it helps explain it, and we cannot stop it if we do not understand it. - Doris "Granny D" Haddock, campaign finance reform activist, in an "Open Letter to Friends" on www.grannyd.com (Sept. 13, 2001). Utne Reader, 11/01, p. 112.


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Is it possible for a more peaceful, sustainable world to emerge from the ashes?

Death is inevitable, but in our day to day life, we typically avoid thinking about it. The recent tragedy forced many of us to see and confront death, violence, and the fragility of life and human relationships. For many, the experience of shock, anger, and grief provided clarity of seeing. Through the pain, there was little question about what really matters as we go through life on this small planet: human beings. The chase for more stuff is simply irrelevant when juxtaposed with the presence of a beating heart, a smile, a living friend.

Is it possible for a more peaceful, sustainable world to emerge from the ashes of New York? The Center does not focus on foreign policy, containment of terrorism, or Middle East peace. In some ways, our work has little connection to these terrible events. In several ways, our work is addressing some of the root causes of growing anti-American sentiments and unrest. We work for a more equitable sharing of resources, for lives rooted in values and practices that are sustainable for all people. We are committed to responsible consuming and the conservation of resources for people here and in developing nations. We strive, in small and large ways, not just to talk about change but to live it. We believe our personal lives and our organizational practices should nurture individuals, nurture other people, and nurture the Earth. We hope, that in some small and humble way, we are contributing directly to a more peaceful future.

--Betsy Taylor, "Enough! A quarterly report on consumption, quality of life and the environment," from the Center for a New American Dream, #17, fall, 2001.


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Corporations

Art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

Corporate Welfare

Handouts to giant corporations far exceed the amount spent on welfare for the poor. In 1996, the federal government gave Disney Corporation $300,000 in federal assistance to perfect fireworks displays. Defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin billed the government $20,000 for golf balls as an entertainment expense.

While the single mother of two is subjected to a means tests, a two-year time limit on benefits and the prospect of having her $200-$300 monthly checks eliminated, the real welfare queens like General Electric, Rockwell and Westinghouse are collecting millions of dollars in federal grants without facing such stipulations. In 1996, General Electric, Rockwell and Westinghouse each received more than $20 million in federal aid despite the fact that all three companies cleared $500 million in profits that year.

During the nineties the federal government supplied McDonald's with more than $2 million in subsidies to market chicken McNuggets to the third world.

Perhaps corporate welfare creates more jobs? From 1990 to 1994, GE received $25 million in federal subsidies and proceeded to lay off 80,000 employees. For 1990-1994, IBM received $58 million in corporate welfare and eliminated 100,000 employees. General Motors was awarded more than $111 million in federal subsidies, made more than $5 billion in profits between 1990 and 94 and dismissed a quarter of its work force, 104,000 employees.

Corporate welfare helps preserve the American way of life. Not only do we generously subsidize oil, gas and coal exploration to the tune of tens of millions of dollars so that we can still drive sport utility vehicles, we spend billions to finance foreign air shows where American hardware can be prominently displayed.

Let us insist that the government stop cutting aid for families and dependent children and demand that the Government cut aid for dependent corporations instead.

From "Corporate Welfare: A tale of subsidized golf balls and chicken McNugget ads" in PeaceWorks Monitor, August, 2001, page 80. For more information visit http://PeaceWorks.Missouri.org (no www), click on Monitor Archives, scroll to issue and title; Corporate watch U.S.-- www.CorpWatch.org; Corporate accountability Project - www.Corporations.Org.


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What's right with this picture?

Some of the wealthiest people in America are seeking justice instead of tax shelters according to "What's right with this picture?" in Sojourners, January, 2001, pages 36-39. To read more about Responsible Wealth visit http://www.sojo.net/magazine/index.cfm/action/sojourners/issue/soj01 01/article/010122.php

"While initially costing a company more in wages, a living wage stimulates an upward spiral of indirect benefits to the company." from "Bosses for a living wage" in the same issue at http://www.sojo.net/magazine/index.cfm/action/sojourners/issue/soj0101/article/010122a .php. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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For resources on Economics, visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Economics.php


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Faith

St. Francis art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

This world is not my home

When the church postpones the work of justice until the Second Coming, it flatly ignores both the Old and New Testament descriptions of the Messiah's work in history.

Nothing is more central to scripture than the notion that God's spirit traffics in earthly affairs.

The Bible has two pivotal images or metaphors for material reality -- horses and houses. Whereas horses represent military strength, houses were a metaphor for economic strength. Decisions about horses and houses -- about where we place our trust and where we seek our security -- are decisions made in the human heart. They are not merely social or political decisions. At bottom they are spiritual decisions, decisions about which ultimate reality we will serve. And if we choose horses and houses, if that's where we root our trust and our treasure, then the result is idolatry -- an exceedingly spiritual matter. But if we choose to give our hearts to Jesus, this is the most subversive, world threatening thing that can happen to a person.

And that brings me full circle, back to the hymn of my childhood church. Only now I can imagine myself -- indeed, I can imagine Jesus -- singing "This world is not my home." This world, this set of institutions, this arrangement of power, status, and authority is not the world that issued forth from God's creative hands.

Rather, it is the world that insures the wealth of a few at the expense of the many; that enforces a legal system designed to protect the powerful and punish the weak; that sucks the very life out of creation in wanton, wasteful ways. It is all those things, but it is not Jesus' home. And neither is it ours.

From "This world is not my home" by Ken Sehested in The Other Side, September, 2001 pages 37 to 39. To read more visit www.TheOtherSide.org. To subscriber, contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Unmasking the inevitable

"Through worship, prophetic word, and protest, we are called to expose suppressive socially realities and insist: it could be otherwise." From "Unmasking the inevitable" by Walter Brueggemann in "The Other Side" Magazine, July, 2001 pages 20-24. To read more visit http://theotherside.org/archive/jul-aug01/brueggemann.php. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php


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For God so loved the world: evangelicals and other faithful preach the green gospel

"It isn't just another issue for us," says the director of an interfaith ecology coalition, "It goes to the heart of what it means to be a faithful Jew, Christian, or Muslim."

The environmental movement has made a profound error in misunderstanding churches, says the Sierra Club director.

"To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin," states the Leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians.

From "For God so loved the world: evangelicals and other faithful preach the green gospel" by Bruce Barcott in "Outside," reported in Utne Reader, July, 2001. Pages-58. To read more visit www.Utne.com.

 

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The tyranny of time

"We must find a balance between holy work and Sabbath rest."

In "The tyranny of time," Norma Cook Everist asks, "In an age of unprecedented labor saving devices and recreational opportunities, will we work longer and enjoy the luxury of leisure less?" She considers the vanishing pause, multitasking, the bondage of choice. The article considers a) Who or what is time to you? b) Time unveils our goals and God, c) Sabbath as true holy day, and d) redeeming rhythms. A sidebar called "Frantic families: Busyness can cause disconnection" considers relational time sacrificed, steps to help refocus, and Resources. From the Lutheran, July, 2001, pages 12-16. For a study guide, visit www.theLutheran.ORG/Study.

 

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Reinventing Education: strategies for social transformation: interview with Matthew Fox

"Necrophilia increases when biophilia is stunted."--Eric Fromm

"The seeds of peace have to be watered or the seeds of violence will take over." -- Thich Naht Hahn

When you don't have a cosmology, and your heart breaks, you have no place to take it. Violence often results. Even the preoccupation with horror is because it's the only "big thing" kids are exposed to. They're big feelings of fear get fed, because there is no positive cosmology being taught. There's no sense of wonder or awe. Fear is the shadow side of awe. At least it's big. But it's not enough to get you through life in any positive sense.

Detox the Western attitude toward the word flesh. The Greeks messed up. Paul, as the first writer in the Christian Bible, went along with the Greek mess up, even though Jesus was not that way. The Jewish tradition itself is not suspect of flesh. Augustine in the fourth century made it even more of a problem. Fear of flesh has taken over Western theology. All of that is an insult to the tradition of the incarnation, which is a celebration of divinity taking on flesh in its many forms.

Pride isn't a sin. The lack of pride is a sin. Pride is necessary-that's what self-esteem means. Arrogance is a sin.

We've been told by St. Augustine that anger is a capital sin. But I don't think it is. I think violence is. Anger itself is a healthy response.

Acedia -- the "Lack of Energy to begin new things," in Aquinas' words, a cynicism, couch-potato-itis -- is fed by a lack of cosmology. And it's healed by an intense experience of the beauty. Beauty is primary to loving life, to staying in there.

Acedia is the most dominant sin today. Sin is something we don't like to talk about in this culture. Religion has oversold sin, what I call cheap guilty. A sin-obsessed religious ideology has been responsible for keeping us in an infantile, primitive stage in talking about evil.

If you go to any Catholic Church in Chicago, there's no one there under 43 years of age. That doesn't mean the young don't want to experience transcendence. It means they are so serious about it, they know they can't get it in church anymore. The forms there are too modern, to centered around text, words, and benches. The cosmos is not breathing and pulsating there.

We have knowledge factories, but not wisdom schools. There's no way of reinventing work without reinventing Education.

Does creation spirituality have a strategy for social transformation? If you can reinvent work, reinvent worship, and reinvent education, we will have brought about a nonviolent revolution.

From "Reinventing Education: strategies for social transformation: an interview with Matthew Fox," EarthLight magazine, summer, 2001 pages 16-19. To read more visit http://earthlight.org/essay42_fox.php. To subscribe, contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

In the same issue "The U.S. Conference of Mayors endorses the Earth Charter and commits the organization to the realization of its aim, and urges its mayors and their cities to formally review and debate the Earth Charter and its relationship to its work." For more information visit www.EarthCharter.org.

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Do You Want to be Healed?

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

-Langston Hughes


What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think it is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. -Flannery O'Connor


From "Do you want to be healed?" In Issue 28, June, 2001, Journey Into Freedom. To read more visit www.JourneyIntoFreedom.org. In her poem "Isolation" Bettie Nyschens opens with the profound line, "Even my closets have closets."


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For resources on Faith, visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Faith.php

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Consumerism

Art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

Dead Zone

"Capitalism's Psychological dead end [is] where life masquerades as a kaleidoscope of consumer choices.

"Scratch the surface of the economic boom and you see a grotesque epidemic of desire and greed. This is what America's bold experiment with radical consumerism is all about.

"Virtually all shame has been erased from indebtedness.

"Most feel proud as well was fortified by the cultural assumption that overindulgence is good for the country. By sheltering them from all the bad news about over consumption, the U.S. media has suppressed most environmental awareness, even in the face of an impending ecological Holocaust.

"American style of radical consumerism has succeeded to the point where social analysts now speak of things like "consumer trance" and "ecological dissociation." Take the fascination with sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

"Hyper materialism also features prominently in the emerging plague of existential disorders such as chronic boredom, ennui, jadedness, purposelessness, meaninglessness and alienation.

"And children are on the front lines of the consumer blitz. An average eight year old in the U.S. can list 30 popular brand names. More than 90 percent of 13 year-old girls in one survey listed shopping as their favorite pastime, followed by TV watching. In 1968 U.S. children aged four to 12 spent around $2 billion a year; today they spend nearly $30 billion. And savvy marketers now concentrate on cradle-to-grave indoctrination strategies.

"The world seems hell bent on following America's lead. Finding an antidote to the Americanization of the world must be the top priority of the international community. "

-John F. Shoemaker is a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of Canterbury, Christ's Church, New Zealand. From "Dead Zone" in New Internationalist, July, 2001. To read more visit www.NewInt.org; click on Site Map, then Magazine by year, then on issue, then article title. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php.

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For resources on Simpler Living, visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/SimpleLiving.php and

http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/SimpleLiving2.php


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Fascinating Facts

 

Fuel Consumption

The Navy's Blue Angels have used 5.5 trillion gallons of kerosene-based jet fuels for training alone. New Yorkers used 2.2 billion gallons of kerosene in 1997 to keep warm. --Fun with Facts, Sojourners, Nov., 2001, p. 12. To read more visit www.Sojo.net. To subscribe, contact Alternatives.

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Starving Children

According to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), approximately 35,600 children died from conditions of starvation on Sept. 11, 2001. --Utne Reader, Nov., 2001, p. 112.

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Car Pooling

If every commuter in the U.S. car pooled daily with just one person, the country would save 600,000 gallons of gas and keep 12 million pounds of pollution out of the atmosphere each year.

From "Quick Change" in Co-op America's "Real Money: saving, purchasing & investing tips for saner, healthier living," Winter, 2000. Also in that issue "The 5 Bulb Challenge: the case for compact fluorescent." To read more visit www.RealMoney.org. To subscribe, contact Alternatives.

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Short Takes from 'The Other Side'

Short Takes from The Other Side, March, 2001. To read more visit www.TheOtherSide.org. To subscribe contact Alternatives.

Short Takes from The Other Side Magazine, May 2001, p.6

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From World Ark

Eating out

In 2000, we spent $376 billion on food and drink in U.S. restaurants. At $256 billion more than we spent in 1980. -National Restaurant Association. (from World Ark, Spring, 2001)

Cars versus crops

61,000 square miles = area of U.S. land devoted to roads and parking lots

80,000 square miles = area of U.S. land devoted to wheat crops

For every five cars added to the U.S. fleet, an area the size of a football field is covered with asphalt. Paved roads in the U.S. connected in a straight line could circle the Earth at the equator 157 times.


One potato, two potato.

30 to 40 = number of potato varieties grown on a single farm in the Andean highlands

4 = number of potato varieties that make up 99% of U.S. potato crops


Old MacDonald

In the United States, farmers over the age of 65 outnumber those under 35 by 3 to one. Source: World Watch Institute

From World Ark: ending hunger, saving the Earth (Heifer Project International), Summer, 2001, which also includes organic gardening tips. To read more visit www.Heifer.org.

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Revelations from "The page that counts": Yes Magazine

Average hourly earnings of an American white-collar man in 1973: $19.18

In 1997: $19.24

Stories appearing in the newspaper that are planted by public-relations firms on behalf of paying clients: 40%

Increase in the amount spent on prisons in the last 20 years nationwide compared to the increased spending on higher education: 6:1.

Revelations from "The page that counts" in Yes! A journal of positive futures, #19, Fall, 2001. To read more visit www.YesMagazine.org. To subscribe, contact Alternatives.

In the same issue on the featured theme "Technology: Who Chooses?" Guy Dauncey claims in "A sustainable energy plan for the U.S." - "All that is needed is the kinds of support Washington gives to the coal, oil, and gas industry be given to the sustainable energy industry instead. Wind, sun, and geothermal take us well over our goal. With this much energy, we can close down the nuclear plants and remove dams that block the rivers

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Earth Island Journal

Prophetic word - An energy policy of drilling and burning and cutting conservation and leaving a legacy of nuclear waste is neither virtue nor wisdom. It is a sin. -Reverend Fred Small, Co-chair, religious witness for the earth (www.ReligiousWitness.org)

Small was arrested at the Department of Energy building after delivering a homily during the Prayer and Witness for the Earth demonstration in Washington D.C., May 3rd.

Harvesting the force of the North sea winds could generate three times the electricity currently consumed by Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and the U.K. -German Wind Energy Institute.

Western multinationals pay an estimated $80 billion a year in bribes to corrupt foreign governments - enough money to eradicate poverty worldwide.

Bottled waters claims to purity are bogus, says a study by the World Wildlife Fund. Selling bottled H2O for 1000 times the price of tap water has given birth to a $22 billion-a-year industry, but the WWF's tests show that bottled water - if it isn't the same as tap water - can be less healthy than the stuff that flows from your faucet. While there are strict laws that govern Municipal Water Quality, private water bottlers are unregulated. Each year, 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to manufacture single use water bottles. A quarter of all bottled water is imported from the other countries: the added transportation fuels the release of greenhouse gases. Even when tap water is of poor quality, it is cheaper to filter or boil it than to buy bottled water. "Clean water is a basic right," says WWF's Richard Holland. And the best way to deliver clean water is by "protecting our rivers, streams and wetlands."

Japanese Leadership - Garage sales may suffer but Japan's landfills will benefit from a new law that requires manufacturers of TV's, washing machines, air-conditioners and refrigerators to reclaim their products for recycling. Japanese shoppers, who cast off some 20 million used appliances every year, will pay an extra $20 to $40 to cover recycling costs.

"Schools should be commerce free zones," syndicated curmudgeon George Will thundered in a May 7th column. Will's outburst was provoked by a report from the Motherhood Project of the Institute for American Values that called on advertisers to stop promoting "an ethic of selfishness." What riled Will was the report's collection of insider quotes that referred to children as "Consumer cadets" capable of forming "Brand Associations" at the age of 12 months. Infants are "born to be consumers," the corporate memos report. Believing that "the consumer embryo begins to develop in the first year of existence," corporate marketing wizards are plotting a brave new world for "toddler age consumers" and the "preschool market." One consultant notes: "Advertising at its best is making people feel that, without the product, you're a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that."

From Earth Island Journal: news of the world environment, Autumn, 2001 (www.earthisland.org) http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/journalTOC.cfm?journalID=48

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PeaceWork

Which makes more sense to you?

From Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America "Peacework," No. 3, 2001. For more information call 704-521-6051 or visit www.BPFNA.ORG.

 

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Military

Art by Steve Babbert (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

The U.S. military plays a large part in the deterioration of the environment and people's health here and abroad.

"The U.S. military plays a large part in the deterioration of the environment and people's health here and abroad. Armor-piercing weapons that contain depleted uranium are having lasting effects in Iraq, Kosovo and Vieques, Puerto Rico."

According to Philip Berrigan in The Other Side magazine, "Upon impact, these shells pulverized, scattering radioactive particles up to 25 miles -- to be breathed or ingested -- or to contaminate the soil. . . . The Pentagon refuses to clean up an estimated 300-800 tons of depleted uranium in Kuwait and Iraq. "

Vieques has been used as a test site for live ammunitions by U.S., NATO, and others since World War II. This activity has left a legacy of heavy metals and now depleted uranium. The people of Vieques, Kosovo, and Iraq are showing higher cancer rates, births of deformed babies, and other illnesses. Soldiers who fought in the Gulf War and Kosovo have similar consequences. Our Government continues to deny its responsibility for these illnesses and environmental contamination.

From Iowa Peace Network "Dovetail" June, 2001, page 7. For more information call 515-255-7114 or write IPNET@earthlink.Net.

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How militarism = violence against women

We live in a militarized world and a heavily militarized nation. The U.S. maintains its national power by a strong military force. And our culture exalts military ideals:

But women are especially hard hit by militarism. A new brochure, "How militarism = violence against women," is available from War Resisters League. Visit http://www.warresisters.org/wrl_publications.htm or write WRL@IGC.ORG or call 212-228-0450.

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Helpful Action

Art from C.I. Publishing (in Spirit of Simplicity)

Boycott Against Taco Bell

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has called a boycott against Taco Bell Restaurants for higher wages for the local tomato farm hands around Immokalee, Florida. Their campaign promotes the public awareness of the conditions under which farm workers labor every day, making everyone aware that if Taco Bell restaurants would pay the farms 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes, the wages of the farm workers would double. They are also seeking public support in contacting Tabo Bell asking them to pay the 1¢ extra per pound of tomatoes. If you send your letters by regular mail, put a 1 cent coin in the envelop to: Taco Bell Restaurants, Attn: Emil J. Brolick, 17901 Von Karman, Irvin, CA 92614 Phone: 949-863-4500 Fax: 949-863-4537

From Highlander Reports, February-July, 2001: Highlander Research and Education Center, 1959 Highlander Way, New Market, Tenn. 37820 (865-933-3443) HREC@HighlanderCenter.ORG.

Rosa Parks received inspiration from the Highander Center before her historic refusal to give up her seat on the bus during the Civil Rights Movement.

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Someone Else's Problem

"Without the belief that change is possible, so outrage is just as likely as ignorance to lead to apathy.

"While the ethnic diversity of the city is often heralded, the economic diversity is ignored."

In "Someone Else's Problem" Benjamin Dow shows how a hunger project moved California students from indifference to activism by volunteering at a local food bank and writing letters. Also in the spring 2001 issue of Teaching Tolerance Magazine, "It's seat is in the heart" gives practical ideas for making peace a priority in the classroom. The United Nations has declared 2001-10 of the decade for the culture of nonviolence. To read more http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/features.jsp?p=0&is=20&ar=206&pa=3

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Turn the Tide and See the Change

All of creation is valuable to God and we, as God's stewards, are entrusted to care for and protect it. We are also asked to treat each other justly. Yet, in this complex, busy world it is often challenging to know how to act on this belief. How can we know which changes are worth the time and effort? Wouldn't it be empowering to be part of a team of people of faith all pulling in the same direction?

Turn the Tide is a program of nine actions each of us can take that will have a measurable, positive impact on our world -- and it lets us see that impact immediately. Through easy-to-use Web technology, you can see the collective impact of your actions as well as see the impact of everyone taking part across the continent. We know we can have a significant positive impact on the environment if we can encourage many people to take small steps together. Needless to say, the more we know about the results of our actions, the more we'll be motivated to keep going.

Our actions not only affect creation -- it impacts our own quality of life and the lives of our neighbors around the world. Our faith tradition teaches us the importance of treating people with love and respect and of living gently on the Earth. Changing what we consume is not just an environmental issue, it is a social justice and spiritual issue. Americans are consuming resources and generating waste greatly out of proportion with the rest of the world. This can rob our neighbors of clean air, clean water, and precious other natural resources. By consuming less, not only do we show respect and love to our neighbors, but we can devote more time and energy to the true meaning in our lives. By changing a few daily consumer activities, we show compassion for our neighbors and Creation.

When these nine little actions are taken together by thousands of us, it will have a significant impact on the environment. For every thousand people who Turn the Tide, we will save a collective 48 million gallons of water, 170 trees, and 12,250 pounds of sea life, and prevent the emission of four million pounds of climate warming carbon dioxide -- every year! We hope you will join with other people of faith who share the vision for a healthy planet.

For more information on how to participate with your faith community contact Cassandra (301) 891-3683 or cassandra@newdream.org, or visit http://www.newdream.org/cnad/user/turn_the_tide.php

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How Green is E-commerce?

How Green is E-commerce? asks Bette Fishbein in Enough! a quarterly report on consumption, quality of life and the environment published by the Center for a new American dream, #16, summer 2001.

She answers with some simple for steps individuals can take:

In the same issue the Center introduces its new program entitled "Turn the tide: nine actions for the planet, a fun way to make a difference." Visit http://www.newdream.org/tttoffline/readmore.php. To subscribe, contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

The nine actions are discussed in greater length at CNADs web site, in the "More fun, less stuff starter kit" and in the "Turn the tide workbook." In brief, they are

  1. Skip a car trip each week
  2. Eat one of less of beef meal each week
  3. Don't eat shrimp
  4. Cut your junk mail in half
  5. Use energy-efficient light bulbs
  6. Move the thermostat 3 degrees
  7. Eliminate lawn and garden pesticides
  8. Use of low-cost water saving devices
  9. Get two of your friends to become Tide-Turner's.

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Media

Overstimulation. Art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

Losing Signal

In his disturbing report on the laissez-faire agenda of the Federal Communications Commission, author Brendan I. Koerner quotes the agency's Bush appointed chairman, Michael K. Powell, as questioning the historic mandate of his agency to act "In the public interest." To Powell, such a concept "is about as empty a vessel as you can accord a regulatory agency," a quaint, outmoded notion that, in his view, has little relevance for the agency charged with addressing the cyber speed changes of the Digital Age.

But just what does the "the public interest" mean? Traditionally, it has referred to a linchpin of true democracy, that is, the government's obligation to act in ways that benefit the greatest number of citizens. Yet to a new generation of public officials -- from Powell, a former corporate lawyer who represented GTE, and fellow FCC commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, a former U.S. West lobbyist, all the way to a president who has spent more time in the oil business than in public service -- these important words have a very special meaning.

To officials who equate "Regulation" with "Oppression," the term "Public interest" now has a decidedly corporate spin, referring to the interest of the public not as citizens, but as consumers. Under this redefinition, the greatest good seems to lie in allowing corporations the maximum freedom to profit from everyone as customers. It is a notion we have heard before, but never so bluntly expressed by those directly charged with protecting the people's welfare.

As Koerner explains in his cover story, "Losing Signal," page 40, the Powell-led FCC understands very well its new mandate and in whose interest it intends to act as it considers sweeping changes in the telecom industry -- changes that will affect virtually every citizen and everything from our access to information to our right to privacy. To augment its relentless lobbying assault (the communications industry now spends more than twice what defense contractors spend on lobbying), the industry is setting up its own "Citizen as customer" groups with names like Keep America Connected and Connect USA, funded by the Bells, and the Alliance for Public Technology, funded by AOL Time Warner and Bell South. The idea that corporations would see a significant role for these phony grass-roots organizations in their lobbying strategy is a chilling reminder that the "Public interest" has lost any real meaning in today's Washington.

From Editor's Note, Mother Jones, September, 2001, page 4. To read more visit http://motherjones.com/magazine/SO01/fcc.php

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Stop teaching our kids to kill

"By giving our children access to the wrong TV and video games, we approximate the same methods used by our Armed Forces to desensitize recruits to violence and turn them into efficient killers."

Co-authors Lt. Col. David Christian and Gloria DeGaetano cite study after scientific study to document the assertion that media violence is indeed related to youth violence and is a public health concern. Some 3500 of the studies have been done since 1950. In a random sample of 1000 of these, only 18 did not establish the link between media of violence and youth violence; 12 of those 18 studies were funded by the TV industry. A review of "Stop teaching our kids to kill: a call to action against TV, movie and video game violence" in Journal for Living, No. 22. To read more visit http://www.jflmag.com/old_back_issues/22parenting.sphp. To subscribe, contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php.

 

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Simplicity Marketing

The authors of "Simplicity Marketing" use the traditional language of environmental responsibility and twist it to -- surprise, surprise -- sell lots of stuff. They have taken the three R's-reduce, reuse, recycle and turn them on their head.

The authors claim to help marketers help "Reduce customer stress" by applying what they're calling the "4 R's of simplification-replace, repackage, reposition and replenish." From Orwell's Corner: shining a light on the shameless use Orwellian doublespeak used to convince Americans to borrow, spend, overconsume and pollute. In Enough! A quarterly report on consumption, quality of life and the environment from the Center for a New American Dream, No. 14, spring, 2001 to read more visits www.NewDream.org. To subscribe to contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Turning the Page: informal impacts of the magazine industry and recommendations for improvements

A new study "Turning the Page: informal impacts of the magazine industry and recommendations for improvements" is designed to encourage and help publishers adopt more environmentally preferable practices. It is available on-line at the PAPER Project web site. In its study the industry the paper projects find:

In addition to but the inviolate friendly alternatives in its report, the paper project produces provides resources, information, and personalized assistance to publishers switching to recycled papers. Contact: Todd Larsen, 202-872-5310, www.EcoPaperAction.ORG.

From "Co-op America Quarterly: celebrating for 19 years of building economic alternatives," No. 54, summer 2001, page 12. Also includes a special section: Co-op America's is guide to ending the sweatshops. To read more visit www.CoopAmerica.org. Co-op America maintains some 10 highly informative web sites. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php.

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Empires of the Senseless

"The media don't just promote globalization, they're an integral part of the process," argues Kathryn Anger IN "Empires of the senseless," New Internationalist #333, April, 2001

In a recent CNN discussion Jerry Levin, chief executive of AOL Time Warner, announced that global media would become the dominant industry of this century, more powerful than governments. U.S. citizens now spend more money on entertainment than on clothing or health care -- and the pattern is being mirrored around the developed world. Michael J. Wolfe, an advisor to the media moguls says: "Entertainment -- not autos, not steel, not financial services -- is fast becoming the driving wheel of the new world economy." Forget the military industrial complex -- this is the media-entertainment complex.

The media corporations, too, are an extractive industry. As Jeremy Rifkin says, they are "mining local cultural resources and every part of the world and repackaging them as cultural commodities and entertainment."

In every country media corporations help to break our relationships to our communities, educators, collected cultures, experiences. They turn us into isolated consumers -- and then sell our stories back to us." To read more visit www.NewInt.org; click on Site Map, then Magazine by year, then on issue, then article title. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Schools should be commerce free zones

"Schools should be commerce free zones," syndicated curmudgeon George Will thundered in a May 7th column. Will's outburst was provoked by a report from the Motherhood Project of the Institute for American Values that called on advertisers to stop promoting "an ethic of selfishness. " What riled Will was the reports collection of insider quotes that referred to children as "Consumer cadets" capable of forming "Brand Association's" at the age of 12 months. Infants are "Born to be consumers," the corporate memos report. Believing that "The consumer embryo begins to develop in the first year of existence," corporate marketing wizards are plotting a brave new world for "Totter age consumers" and the "Preschool market." One consultant notes: "Advertising at its best is making people feel that, without the product, you're a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that." From Earth Island Journal: news of the world environment, autumn, 2001 (www.earthisland.org) http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/journalTOC.cfm?journalID=48

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Really scary ads...

Life Stuff Storage

Where do you put the stuff that you're about?

All that you are?

(from an ad for California Closets
in Simplycity: the Art of Living Well, April, 2001)


Speech.

Entirely optional.

(from a billboard for a cell phone/wireless communications company)


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Environment

"Cherish the Natural Order" art by Kathy Klein (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

Canaries and the Coal Mine

I have always marveled at bumper stickers that say "Save the Earth." Perhaps they would be more effective if they said instead "Save yourself." For ultimately, we are all more vulnerable than the Earth, dependent on this planet and on one another. When the canary died, the miners fled the coal mine. Where would we flee?

From At the well: Women and the Earth, The Other Side magazine, May, 2001, pages 42-45, which includes "Both broken praise" by it Leslie E. Long, "Weaving in a time of ruin," by Cheryl K. Heller and "Canaries and the coal mine" by Monica Anna Day.

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Children at risk

Genetic disposition plays a role in childhood diseases, says one federal official, although environmental factors, he says, "pull the trigger."

Children's bodies are ill-equipped to handle a firestorm of chemical exposure.

Relative to their weight and size, children ingest more food, drink more water and breathe more what they're than adults.

In "Children at risk," Jennifer Bogo explains how widespread chemical exposure threatens our most vulnerable population in "E the environmental magazine," September, 2001 pages 26-39. To read more visits www.emagazine.com. To subscribe, contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Place making

In addition to reduce-reuse-recycle, the ecological mantra now includes restore and respond (advocacy to governments and businesses). Whole Earth: access to tools, ideas, and practices," spring 2001, pages 24-37 is a guide to RESTORING. "Place making" speaks of ecological restoration and the loss of innocence -- a 10 year update on volunteer service, watersheds and community politics, as well as resources for use in the field, restoration mapping, restoration public occasions, restoration schooling. To read more visit http://www.wholeearthmag.com/ArticleBin/FeaturesIssue.php. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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The environmental issue from hell: global warming is the great moral crisis of our time

"There's no better way to screw the poor people of the planet than global climate change," says Bill McKibben in "The environmental issue from hell: global warming is the great moral crisis of our time," originally in "In These Times," reported in Utne Reader, October, 2001 pages 32-35. For more Information about global warming visit www.Utne.com (the specific link /resources is no longer valid).

Read McKibben's take on Christmas in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" and "Hundred Dollar Holiday," both available from Alternatives.

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A Letter to George W. Bush

Dear Mr. Bush,

No challenge we face is more momentous than the threat of global climate change. The current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol are a matter of legitimate debate. But the situation is becoming urgent, and it is time for consensus and action. There are many strategies for curbing greenhouse gas emissions without slowing economic growth. In fact, the spread of advanced, cleaner technology is more of an economic opportunity than a peril. We urge you to develop a plan to reduce U.S. production of greenhouse gases. The future of our children-and their children-depends on their resolve that you and other world leaders show.

Respectfully,

Jimmy Carter
John Glenn
George Soros
Jane Goodall
Harrison Ford
Mikhail Gorbachev
Walter Cronkite
J. Craig Venter
Edward O. Wilson
Stephen Hawking

From World Watch: working for a sustainable future, July, 2001, page 4. To read more visit http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/2001/01-4.php. To subscribe contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Take a parking lot, put up a paradise

Take a parking lot, put up a paradise -- A failing shopping mall may prove to be a blessing to some communities, according to a new study from the Congress for the New Urbanism (www.CNU.ORG/malls). More than 100 major malls in America now face dire economic problems. Instead of trying to revive them in an already overcrowded retail market, the large tracts of land they occupy could be transformed into classic city neighborhoods with sidewalks, elementary schools, and corner shops. It's already happening with the appropriately named Cinderella City Mall in Inglewood, Colorado. From July, 2001, page 22, Utne Reader.

 

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Focus on Global Warming

In its Focus on Global Warming, PeaceWorks Monitor, April, 2001, presents a collection of powerful, brief articles

For a copy contact Mid-Missouri PeaceWorks, 573-875-0539, or visit http://PeaceWorks.Missouri.org (no www), click on Monitor Archives, scroll to issue and title.

 

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For resources on the environment, visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Environment.php

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Energy

Art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

 

Shifting gears

Breaking our dependency on oil is not going to be easy. But there's an enormous array of non polluting, renewable sources of energy waiting in the wings. "Shifting gears" considers solar panels, the hydrogen fuel cell, wind farms in "New internationalist" No. 335, June, 2001, pages 26-27. The focus of the issue is "Mired in Crude: the end of oil." To read more visit www.NewInt.org; click on Site Map, then Magazine by year, then on issue, then article title.

"Big dams create big headaches. So why not capture power from the natural movements of the sea? New technological developments mean we may soon be able to strap the vast energy of ocean tides to generate electrical power. Sea water is 832 times as dense as air and eight knot ocean current has the kinetic energy of a 390 km/hour wind.

"Blue energy systems of Vancouver estimates its Davis Hydro Turbines can produce 180 times more power than wind or solar technologies in the same area. The giant underwater 'windmills' are price competitive, super efficient and non polluting. They've been tested and the company's says the slow-moving blades posed little danger to marine life and allow water and silt to flow freely.

"Blue energy is working on a 4 km tidal fence in the Philippines across the San Bernardino straight from Luzon to Samar. The turbines will generate 2.2 of gigawatts of power. The company is also exploring ocean energy resources around Vancouver Island in cooperation with British Columbia Hydro and claims that the region has ocean energy resources 'akin to a Saudi Arabian oil field.' "

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Country's largest buying groups sign contract

Cleveland-starting this fall, more than 40,000 northeast Ohio residents will stop buying electricity from FirstEnergy and start buying power from Green Mountain Energy Co. In North East Ohio Public Energy Council, a consortium of 94 communities in eight counties negotiated the landmark deal that will deliver modest savings and clean air power than that supplied by first energy.

In November, voters chose to have their government shop on their behalf. With a large guaranteed customer base, we were able to negotiate for a multi-year contract with savings, environmental benefits, and stability. If any residents don't like this offer, they can opt out and stay with FirstEnergy or shop on our own.

The power from Green Mountain will come from natural gas-fired plants and wind, solar and bio mass resources. FirstEnergy's power comes from nuclear and coal plants.

From "Ohio Citizen Action," summer 2001, page 15. For more information visit www.OhioCitizen.org

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Life after oil

The last time Americans recognize that oil was a finite resource, we turned off lights, insulated houses, and reordered our transportation system. The results were remarkable: energy use, especially gasoline, dropped markedly. But then Ronald Reagan barreled into the White House and convinced us there was nothing to worry about. Only now are we realizing, as a report in the British political magazine Prospect makes clear, how wrong he was. Oil supplies are dwindling-and much faster than most business, government, and even environmental leaders recognized. Problems are already appearing and the form of climbing gasoline prices, electricity shortages, and skyrocketing heating bills. But with two Texas oil men in Washington's driver's seat, government responses may be the wrong ones. Instead of loosening environmental regulations, resuscitating nuclear energy, and drilling in Alaska's wildlife refuges, we should once again learn to use less energy-starting with transportation. It can be done. Conspiring and practical solutions are all around, from the bikeways of Montreal to the board rooms of Detroit.

"Life after oil," a special report in Utne Reader, March, 2001, includes: "Bill Ford has a better idea: the new Ford Motor chairman looks into the future-beyond gas guzzlers, gasoline, and maybe even privately owned cars," "America's rail revival: commuters coast-to-coast climb aboard new Train systems," "Car sharing in Portland: how one couple saves big bucks every month," "Motorless in Montreal: in Quebec, bikes are not just a sport but a transport," "Divorce your car! Seven simple steps to less driving. " To read more visit to www.Utne.com.

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Vital Signs: the killing of U.S. alternative energy R&D

In U.S. government funding for energy research and development (R&D), serious investment in renewables has been all but abandoned. R&D funding for renewables has declined by 87 percent, from more than $2 billion in 1980 to just a quarter billion a decade later. But now, the Bush-Cheney team is proposing a further 27% retrenchment in its budget request for fiscal year 2002 -- the second lowest budget in more than 20 years. Wind power R&D is slated to take a 49% hit, and solar a 44% cut.

This comes at a time when wind and solar energy face otherwise increasingly bright prospects. Wind electric generating capacity has grown tenfold during 1990's. The market for solar photovoltaic cells is soaring, too, with PC production having increased tenfold since 1987.

Today, European countries control about 90 percent of worldwide wind turbine sales. In solar PVs, Japanese companies are now the leaders.

U.S. funding for efficiency R&D has been a bit less anemic than that for renewables, though it is still only a pittance of what is allocated for subsidizing programs like gas coal gasification or offshore oil drilling.

Modest though it has been, U.S. federal government support for efficiency has made a difference in the past. The Department of Energy's 20 top efficiency programs have saved businesses and households an estimated $30 billion worth of avoided energy purchases -- 43 times the R&D investment.

Now that the Bush administration is compelled at least pay lip-service to climate change, its proposed solution is to spend twice as much money on "Clean Coal" research as it is prepared to invest and solar R&D.

From "Vital Signs: the killing of U.S. alternative energy R&D," World Watch, September, 2001, page 11. Also "How economists have misjudged global warming" -- "the Bush administration's rejection of the Kyoto climate treaty is based on a fallacious economic theory. The proof that this theory is wrong lies in the real history of how technological progress drives economic growth. " To read more visit http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/2001/01-5.php. To subscribe to contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php.

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The Energy We Overlook

With the United States letting 19 of every 20 units of energy it generates go to waste, no wonder we can't get carbon emissions under control.

If governments focused their energy R&D on the technologies that show real promise for the future, rather than on those of the past, they could substitute higher efficiency for increased energy production -- while helping to wean us off fossil fuels altogether. "The energy we overlook," part 2 of 2 by Robert U. Ayres, World Watch, November, 2001, pages 30-39.

One reason the potential for energy conservation is so grossly underestimated arises from a widespread misunderstanding of the science of thermodynamics. In most assessments of U.S. energy efficiency, the losses from waste heat are conveniently ignored.

The real energy efficiency of the individual economies is probably less than 5%. That leaves an enormous potential for conservation to meet increased demand without new drilling or digging.

Between 1972 and 1988, conservation saved about a third of the energy that would have been needed if the energy industry and government experts had been accurate in their forecasts.

While sport utility vehicles have reduced average fuel economy in the United States, numerous studies indicate that fuel economy could be a least tripled by exploiting new materials, designs, and propulsion technologies.

Extra costs for insulation and high-performance windows are largely offset by the reduced capacity -- meaning reduced capital costs -- of the climate control systems.

With appropriate government policies in place, the residential and commercial uses of energy can be cut by 50% or more by mid-century, while the carbon emissions can be cut by 75%.

For a long time, it has been assumed that local storage of energy -- the thing that would really allow wind and solar power to take off -- is not a serious option. But this is changing.

To read more visit http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/2001/14-06.php. To subscribe to contact Alternatives or visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Magazines.php

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Editorials

To read recent Guest Editorials, visit

http://www.SimpleLiving.org/main/GuestEd.php


To read current and past Alternatives Editorials, visit

http://www.SimpleLiving.org/Archives/InsiderInfoIndex.php

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Correspondence

Art from C.I. Publishing (in "Spirit of Simplicity")

 

To read the many positive things people have shared with us recently, visit - http://www.simpleliving.org/Archives/index.php#Feedback

This column comtains primarily questions and complaints that deserve a public answer or explanation.

 

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I belong to Madison Valley Presbyterian Church. We had gotten an Advent Calendar that was put out by you. It is a great thing to follow daily. When I got to the day 5, Dec. 7th, it said to eat the locally grown organic food as much as possible and meat as little as possible.

We are ranchers and have been ranching for five generations here in the valley. We are a small comparison a lot of places. We run 300 head of cattle. It is our sole living. The meat is as clean and organic as it can be. We feel there was no reason to put it in not to eat it. It made us feel like you were considering meat kind of like your recycling program -- don't throw garbage in the borrow pit and don't eat meat. It affects our livelihood.

We contribute to Presbyterian. I'd like to have a response on what your feeling on the meat is. I called my local pastor and she said it could be they consider meat an expensive item. I got 48 cents a pound for lambs I raised this year. 48 cents a pound, if you realize what it would cost in the store. It's not the rancher that's making it. We need positive to stay in the business.

On another day you talked about local sprawl. If a rancher doesn't made it selling his meat, he is going to go to local sprawl because he has to sell his land. I just want your organization to know that we are affected by it. I'd like a response.

I thank you so much for listening. I hope I'm not being knit picky but it is my livelihood. --Betty Clark, Ennis, MT


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Greetings, Betty,

Thank you for your heartfelt response to our "Spirit of Simplicity" Advent calendar.

I was raised on a cattle and grain ranch in California. We had several thousand head of steers on about 20,000 acres. It was a risky business but a real positive adventure!

The problem is not the Clark ranch in Montana but the vertical integration of the food industry. The same multinational corporations that now control most of the crops and livestock also process and market the products. We North Americans are willing to have multinationals abuse the environment so that we can have cheap food.

Red meat specifically requires a great deal of water and our water supply is decreasing. Meat grown in confinement produces a great deal of sewage waste which is polluting our aquifers.

Aside from any ethical questions about eating animals, meat is a justice issue. North Americans are using far more than their share of the Earth's resources, and one of many reasons is because of our addiction to meat. We have many other places where we can get our daily requirement for protein that are not so grain intensive. Feeding so much grain to animals to fatten them when over 35,000 people around the globe die every day from malnutrition is a justice issue!

Alternatives does not promote vegetarianism. We promote moderation -- for example, one modest helping of beef, pork, mutton, fish and poultry per week.

I recommend "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices." Two of their eleven "Priority Actions for American Consumers" (p. 85) are -- FOOD: 6. East less meat, 7. Buy certified organic produce.

Peace,
Gerald


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To read more about "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices," visit http://www.simpleliving.org/catalog/Environment.php


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I received a paper catalog from you, and just made an on-line order. I appreciate the aims of your organization very much, but balk at membership because of your exclusively Christian orientation. "People of faith" come in all varieties, and I am more and more convinced that major change can only come about through interfaith efforts. This seems to me a major flaw in your philosophic base. When Alternatives becomes interfaith, I will be the first to join! May you be blessed in your work. Cindy Ross

 

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Greetings, Cindy,

We produce three resources per year, all of which are overtly Christian. About half the resources we offer in our catalog are faith-based, the other half are general. We carry titles from Jewish Lights, for example.

We strive to serve everyone. We are not a proselytizing organization. Many of the resources we carry contain sections or references to religions other than Christianity. Our Treasury of Celebrations, for example, includes many non-Christian festivals.

Peace,
Gerald

 

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What about connecting with EarthLight or groups seeking to live in a "sustainable" way upon the Earth? --Marilyn Lines, Clarkston, MI


Greetings, Marilyn,

We offer subscriptions to about two dozen like-minded magazines and swap mailing lists with them to help each of us reach more people. Anyone on our mailing list can opt-out of such trades. We do not trade phone numbers nor email addresses. Sustainability is a major theme in the resources we produce and offer. Your comments are always welcome.

Peace,
Gerald


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I received "Simple Living 101: Toolbook for Activists" quickly and it goes along with my beliefs. I plan to use it in group, study, workshop, coffeehouse. I would like other resources that support workshops. The basic design could look a little better. Content is good but tends to want to sell, sell, sell, which almost goes against the message. --James D. Harvey, King of Prussia, PA


Greetings, James,

You have hit upon one of our big dilemmas. A few others have called our resources cluttered, even "ugly." But we feel constrained to use as few resources as possible, which means using as little paper as possible and very little colored ink. So our catalogs are printed on newsprint quality recycled paper and have as few pages as possible.

On the other hand we are mission-driven. We have a strong desire to share tools to simplify life. We are extremely selective. We offer only about 10% of the new resources that qualify within our mission.

We are now producing more resources on CD-ROM, which uses virtually no paper, and we use electronic communication more and more, printing fewer catalogs than we did just a few years ago.

We mustn't lose our enthusiasm for the cause. Yes, we must be assertive, not aggressive; as tactful as possible; collaborative, not passive. We feel compelled to use the tools we have - within our business ethics and faith beliefs -- to equip people to resist the monumental forces of consumerism. So, we "sell, sell, sell."

When I was hired in 1995, Alternatives was on the brink of extinction. We cut the staff in half, moved to the less-expensive Midwest. We still live two quarters away from extinction.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Peace,
Gerald

 

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Intro | Issue 1 | Issue 2: Part I  Part II  |  Issue 3  |  Index

This page last updated 26 October 2012 (27 February 2003)

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