where did THAT come from?

Wow, I wasn’t expecting such an intense visceral reaction to the conversation in class yesterday! I mean, I’ve always believed in the importance of non-violent resistance, of active pacifism. I’ve always believed that there are alternatives to the use of violence to resolve conflict. (Granted, this doesn’t mean I’ve never yelled, never fought with my big brother while growing up, never felt like committing violence!!) But why was my stomach churning for the whole class time? Why did I need an hour in my office after class to quietly and thoroughly come unglued? Why did it take me hours of time with a long hike in the sunshine and quiet of the woods, some helpful listening by coworkers and family, playtime with my children and a glass of good wine before I felt remotely “normal” again?

In hindsight, some of this internal tension started developing earlier. Last week I was pre-reading/screening a book for Benjamin about a Jewish family escaping from Russia during the pogroms. (Some of Phil’s/Benjamin’s/Alta’s ancestors were Russian Jews). Then on Thursday as I was reading for class, I ended up reading details about the Vietnam War, specifically about the My Lai massacre by US soldiers. Both of these moved the whole topic out of the nicely intellectual level of the readings and started putting real people into it for me again - both people who were behaving horrifically, people who were dying in terrible ways and people who were putting their own lives in danger to protect others.

War is always such a waste! What a waste of lives – people killed, people who have to deal for the rest of their lives with the killing or torturing they’ve done or the things they’ve seen & experienced. What a waste of money! What a waste of so many beautiful and amazing places, plants and creatures!

I think part of what really topped it off for me yesterday was thinking again about the ways I contribute to this horror while saying I’m a pacifist. Through the portions of my taxes that go into the military budgets, through my taxes that go to pay Israel $7 MILLION each day in spite of the systematic marginalization and dehumanization of the Palestinian people, through my use of gasoline and motor oil that pours money into governments that abuse many people within their countries, through my taxes that are sent to Colombia to pay the salaries of soldiers who torture and murder First Nations people there… and through NOT speaking out more strongly to my family, friends, community, church, government against these things.

God forgive me and give me the strength to do what I can from here on out.

Blog #2- Globalization

So I have recently watched a couple of documentaries- The World According to Monsanto and Food Inc. for now. I am working on a couple more soon. I then just read our reading for Paul's class on Monday, and I think it is ironic how much of a correlation our reading is to what I have watched. The reading mentioned how the farmers in India purchased this magic cotton to grow in there fields to make money. It also talked about how people are growing monocultures to supposedly "make it" in the global market. I had no idea how much of a negative impact that the global market had on people. I knew that it was bad, but I never stopped to think that it really effected many people, the poor mainly, and only benefits a few rich people. These multinational corporations purposely lie to these people because they want to make money. These countries want to make money as well so they exploit their resources in order to make money. These countries could be sustainably farming and living well, many of them, because of their resources, but because these corporations have in a way "duped" many of them with the example of the golden cotton, these countries are now hurting and are living on untillable land because of the pesticides and are suffering many consequences because of this. I am right now not sure how we can fix this but we need to. It is sad that there are players in the governments and the world organizations that will side with these companies and not with the people. What happened to the good of the people? Where ARE our morals? I am very sad that I have been so sheltered all of my life. Seeing the reality is really upsetting, and to think that in a way I am contributing to this madness because of my purchasing many of the items that are being made in these poor countries and hurting the people and the land because of my purchasing products such as Dole bananas and Dove products. I then noticed though from Food Inc. that many of our products that we consider "green" are now owned by these big non ecofriendly companies, such as Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate! What are we to do?

Grassroots efforts vs. top-down policies (revisited)

Oops! I didn't clarify myself well enough. To better clarify:
Ideas that are not our own--what I mean is that the ideas (especially for energy use) are top-down policies, not coming from the majority of people...at least that is what I feel is being said when I hear so many people argue against these top-down policies like taxes.
How does driving my car affect kids in Boston--we have fallen into the trap of expecting exact proof, we argue against strong correlations. It's the prove it syndrom. Science only finds correlations, not proof, isn't that what we learned from Lisa's class?
Okay, please read the rest of the blog with this revised comments in mind. Sorry for the confusion. K

Grassroots efforts vs. top-down policies

Does anyone else feel frustrated and discouraged from these classes? It seems like every initiative that is suggested is shot down right away...I'm trying to remember what we talked about in Luke's class, but it is difficult. Why are all these ideas so controversial? I think it is because it is not our own ideas.

How did the tree planting initiative in Kenya become so successful? Wasn't it because 1) Dr. Maathai listened to the concerns of the people, 2) she helped local communities understand the importance of the trees and then how it will benefit the communities, and 3) she got the communities involved in the planting of the trees? This grassroots effort is starting to affect a nation and even the rest of the world. Pretty amazing for planting a few trees.

So what about energy (i.e. oil use, nuclear power, coal, etc.)? Why is this so contentious? I think a big part of it is that it is difficult to see the negative effects of all this rampant oil use right in our own communities. Sure, the kids in Boston may be suffering from childhood asthma, but how does that relate to my heating my house, driving my car? We still think and act very locally, though the rest of our true actions are very global.

I agree with LaToyia's comments in class this week. We expect people to agree to a tax (and let's face it, who really enjoys having their money taken away from them. Even I don't like it, though I agree with it), but don't have anything for them to be involved with. With respect to energy savings/reduction, we don't have a grassroots movement that stirs up camaraderie between people, we don't have something to talk about over the water cooler. "Guess what I did this weekend! I changed my lightbulbs to compact fluorescents!" That really doesn't inspire many people to join in. David Suzuki has advertised the CFLs a lot, but even a very motivating person like him has not created a big social movement. Even more difficult is when you hear reports saying that changing the lightbulbs doesn't do much in the grand scheme of things. So what can I do if my actions really don't make a difference? Defeat is sometimes too easy to accept (and my cynical, conspiracy theory side would say that is what "Big Brother" wants us to do).

So what can we do? I think we do agree that uncontrolled resource use can lead to environmental and social degradation, and maybe even war. Not good. Now this is where I feel like I am lost. I want to create a grassroots movement that helps people understand that energy conservation and alternative energy use is effective in my community and the world and that also is motivating to others to join in. No small task. I think policies need to made to conserve energy, but we need to expend more energy as educators on motivating citizens, because then the government will definitely follow.

So what can we do? Any ideas? I'm still brainstorming, I'd be happy to have more people join me brainstorm.

Rumors of Wars

Matthew 24:6 - You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.


Ever since sin entered the world, there has been evil. With the presence of evil comes wars, famines, droughts, devastation, etc. Does this mean we can stop them entirely? Unfortunately, no. But, can, we as humans, establish alternative measures to counteract the disagreements peacefully instead of always going to war? I believe so.

Throughout the Bible, we read of wars that were fought with God's help on one side. Does that mean God is for war? I don't think so. God distinctly says,"Thou shalt not kill." How, then, can a war fought in God's name be good? Due to the effects of sin in this world, God can use this measure to bring about his plan for humanity. When will wars cease? When His Son returns.

So, what can I do if I don't agree with the mindless killing of innocent civilians and children right here in Indiana where God has placed me? I can influence my students and children at church to approach situations with an open mind and remind them to "talk it through". These children are our future. They will need to know how to handle situations in a peaceful manner instead of guns and violence. Will I be able to make a significant difference on the world? Probably not. But, will I make a difference for a few? Hopefully.

War - Who Needs It?

This class comes at a perfect time. It's depressing, but fitting to be discussing war tomorrow in light of the recent announcement that 30,000 more troops will be sent to Afghanistan and Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize and giving a speech about just wars.

I thought that Robert Kaplan's quote was interesting: "in places where Western Enlightenment has not penetrated and where there has always been mass poverty, people find liberation in violence" (Environment, p223). I disagree with this. The United States, which was built on Western Enlightenment, is not lacking in violence against people (or the environment). India, a country that was forced to accept concepts of Western Enlightenment as superior to their own ways of living, is still struggling with violence, corruption, and environmental degradation. Israel, which is a country founded on so called Western enlightenment, is obviously fighting with people who are resorting to violence to obtain liberation and water concerns are a key issue there. Western Enlightenment has nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, I don't know what does. It seems that violence and environmental degradation are a common trait of rich and poor nations, east and west culture alike.

Another very interesting concept brought up in the reading for Friday's war discussion is that humans are not necessarily worse to the environment in times of war than in times of peace. Peaceful selling/buying of natural resources can occur between cooperating nations that are far worse to the environment than war. True, but that is an examination of direct results of war. What about indirect environmental destruction? What about all of the money that is being spent on the war that COULD be spent on renewable energy R&D? And the thought that every dollar spent in Iraq keeps us burning coal for energy.

According to the CQ_Iraq article for tomorrow, by 2012 we will have spent 3 trillion dollars on the Iraq war! That's just a tad more than estimated 60 billion initially. And as much as World War II. I know many people who would call the US investment in WWII just. I don't know many who would call the Iraq war just. Think of all of the good that money could have gone towards. Education. Renewable energy R&D. Health Care. It is so scary how speeches like Obama's in Norway about just war makes it sound like war is his only option. But it is not. What happens in a year and a half when they say "just 30,000 more troops and then we can discuss an exit strategy later." Will the price of Afghanistan reach the price of Iraq? Will we be in even more debt? Will we have exhausted our resources making investment in renewable energy and environmental protection so far down on the list of priorities that it's not even an option? He was right that knowing that war is bad doesn't make it go away, or that knowing that peace is good doesn't make it easy to achieve. But it has to begin somewhere.

At least he mentioned climate change in his speech.... that was perhaps the only hopeful thing about it.

Let's Hear it for the Trees

Please note, I try to use lighthearted titles because point blank some of the issues and topics in which we discuss are rather dismal and downright depressing and I refuse to let anything steal my joy.
That being said I enjoyed to discussion on trees and the whole issue of deforestation which I will admit did not mean much to myself. The only time I think about trees in the city is when I have to rake my yard and then I think get rid of them all. I have noticed since enlisting in this field that there is a forest preserve that I pass on my way to church and I always wondered the reasoning behind preserving a forest, I mean like what is the use. It was not until I read the article about the effects of deforestation and how women in other countries has to walk further just to try to find wood for fire in order to cook and about how it affect the soil, etc that I began to see the need for preservation of our trees. However I must admit that I can see the other side of the argument because there are necessities in which we need that trees provide and it is recognized as a renewable resource so that sort of decreases the face value of the forest because we see the trees as profit. Talk about seeing the forest for the trees. ( I should have titled this) I really was impressed with the article about Wangari Maathai and her tree-planting efforts in Kenya. I really enjoyed and felt moved by her article because it incorporated the sense of community and allowed the common folks like myself a part in the mission. I felt connected and inspired and if I was in Kenya I could and would have participated in. It also offered hope!!! The story highlighted her efforts and noted the issues while presenting solutions which were activated and not just spoken of. Because plainly talk is cheap.