Alternative Giving

This was a speech I gave at a local church in Hot Springs. It is lenghty, however it outlines many factors about why we should take action in our lives to reduce materialism. Holidays are a perfect time to think about our faith and how our choices effect other's lives.


Connecting Spirituality and Sustainability

Today we can look around us at media and in our own communities and its very easy to become depressed. There is a war going on, most all of us know someone or have been personally affected by the loss of life, limb, or mental health, in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gas prices are painfully high , energy for our homes has become very expensive, food is costly, and the poor are becoming poorer. People who were just making ends meet can no longer get by even month to month. In a statement by Rev. David Beckham , President for Bread for the World, to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental affairs Committee on May 7th 2008 he stated “ Enrollment in the Food Stamp Program has increased 5.6% in one year. The average food stamp benefit is a meager $1 per meal per person. In a recent study by the USDA in 2006 they found 90% of benefits were used up by the 3rd week of the month. With food prices now much higher, that meager benefit is used up all the sooner. Food banks are now reporting an estimated 20 % rise in increased help to needy families.”, End quote.
Corporations are now feeding our school children processed food filled with high fructose corn syrup in school lunch programs, recess has been cut from 1hour a day to fifteen minutes a day in primary school, as well as a decrease in p.e. from daily to only one to two times a week. School building are often built without any connection to the outside such as natural light, many school classrooms do not have one window. . 85% of the worlds ADHD medication is now given in America and 70% of that is to boys .Our society has placed a priority on organized sports at the expense of children with disabilities who need more money for resources such as occupational therapy. This has been a first hand experience for me as the mother of a child with a disability.
How is it that this has happened? Our communities after the Industrial Revolution based our economy on consumerism. With the rise and increase of cars, suburbs, & malls we quit building front porches and sidewalks, put up fences and started driving everywhere. My theory and others such as Duane Elgin activist, lawyer, and writer from the NWEI,And also author Jerry Mander who wrote the book “Growing up with Technology”, is this loss in community has lead to loss in conversations and social responsibly we once felt to our family, friends, and neighbors. There enlies an increase in social illness.
In Living More with Less, by the late Mennonite leader Doris Janzen Longacre she tells this story : Outside of our county in places like Ghana and the Amazon, the energy crisis for the poor is the growing scarcity of firewood . About 90% of of people in these countries depend on firewood for their main source of cooking and in colder climates warmth. Due to deforestation women are walking farther and farther to get firewood. This was in 1978,now due to cattle ranches, corn and soy production and other uses of land the problem is far worse.
Bill Bryson, in his book "Bill Bryson’s African Diary," tells of a visit to Kibera , you cannot find it on a map, as it is a large slum with many factories that houses over 700,000 people. The average income is $280 a year. The average person in a slum like Kibera pays five times what a person in the developed world pays for the same volume of water piped to their homes. Every time a person in the developing world flushes a toilet they use more water than the average person in Kibera uses in one day for cooking, bathing, cleaning, drinking, everything.”
This is only a small portion of the social ills effecting our world. The good news from this is this Recession, Energy Crisis and Global Warming it that it has scared the wits out of many powerful, smart and influential people, many who now are looking seriously at how to make changes.
However when we look in the mirror we ask what should we do, why should we do it, and how do we begin. As spiritual beings how can we connect our spiritual self and spiritual energy towards making this a better world. First lets take a look at teachings from the World Religions and Major Cultures on Consumption and social responsibility to the poor:
1. Islam “Poverty is my pride”,
2. From the Torah Proverbs 30:8 “Give me neither poverty nor riches”
3. The Taoist “He who knows he has enough is rich”
4. Buddhist “Whoever in this world overcomes his selfish cravings, his sorrow fall away from him , like drops of water from a lotus flower”.
5. The Bible, Acts 21:25 Jesus says “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. Psalm 41:1 states “Oh the joys of those who are kind to the poor”.
In the Bible it is clear that giving is good for our souls. Giving weather it is physical giving of time, talents, or money the beneficiary of such joy is often felt deeper within the giver. By all means the desire to be of service is not necessarily a selfish act but one that is mutually beneficial.
Many people have asked me in my journey what has made me so passionate, or maybe they really mean so obsessed about the connection of social health and environmental issues. After much thought I could not pinpoint a specific reason, until last Sunday in church. I often call these God moments, when things become very clear. We were studying Matthew 9:37 Jesus said to his disciples “The harvest is great, the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers into his field”. My grandmother carried this verse in her wallet until her death and today I keep it in mine. Here I think is the answer for me, and in another verse I grew up reading from Matthew 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received.” It does not say convert the sick and give only to the people you feel worthy. I was raised by my Methodist grandmother to live this, and it stuck to me like glue.
We have covered the why , now we look at the how of helping our world heal. Can sustainable practice benefit the overall health and well being of the greater good? I heard someone say there are limits to our dollar vote, or our consumer vote. I disagree. Corporations spend billions of dollars trying to get us to buy their products. So your lack of buying or your buying responsibly is something each one of us can do today. There is a new market that my dear friend Katy O’Byrne taught me about in my time working with her. This market is called the LOHAS market (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). My friend this market is here now because of dollar power.
Sustainable practice starts at home with basic common sense on energy efficiency and wise use of materials, from your buying to your disposal, to your use of natural resources. You can go to your local library and find loads of information. The next step is actively becoming a part of the larger society, stating your beliefs to your local community from your grocer to your local officials. In our communities, close to home now, I am working on a subcommittee of the HSGCBC, called the Green Initiative for our City Director Kent Myers. There are surveys to fill out on what you are doing at home to live more eco-conscious such as composting, recycling to solar panels and so on. We need you to fill out those surveys and tell us what you would like to see. Each week a report is given to Mr. Myers on what the public is asking for. Much of what I am seeing is an emphasis on more bike lanes, better education on recycling practices, and my personal passion more and larger sidewalks. Will it happen? How much of it will happen? I don’t know. From local activist like John and Karen Gardner who took tons of plastics that they collected from their customers to recycle, and counted the bags, and reported the demand to city officials we now have recycling of plastics #1and #2. It’s a grassroots effort that has taken tons of plastics out of the waste stream. One of my favorite quotes that hangs on John and Karen’s fridge is from Margaret Mead “Never underestimate the power of a few concerned citizens’ to change the world, in fact it’s the only thing that ever has.”
As we widen our scope ,It is important that we educate ourselves on public policy. Being an informed voter is crucial, and speaking up about the policy’s to educate others. In this day of mass media there is no excuse when you go to the poll not understanding the public policy beliefs held by, our to be or not to be elected officials. Then getting your behind to the polls and voting. There is so much you can do here that I could not possibly cover it all, but a few more things would be letter writing and calling your elected officials, joining campaigns and volunteering.
In your church or community you could start a discussion course on living a more conscious life that betters your quality of life, as well as the world as a whole. You can have a day to collect electronic waste here at your church or workplace, if you are interested in either of these its easy all you do is tell me, and I can help coordinate that for you.
In the area of schools speak up to the superintendents and principals on the use of Corporate Feeding of our children, ask for more nutritious food, more sustainable building practices, and more activity for these children. By the way these basic steps can be bought into any work place or place of worship to increase community, health and better quality of life.
All of the above practices will help reduce pollution, increase the health of our world socially, emotionally, and physically. Connecting Spirituality and Sustainability is our calling, its something that we can do and its something that with little effort and tons of effort can make this world a place that sees less social illness, less war and more love.