When the Power Goes Off

Events of the past few weeks have again reinforced the awareness that as a society we are extremely vulnerable to extended electrical power outages.

In my world, three recent events have helped to focus my attention and concern. At the Annual General Meeting of Steinbach Housing, Inc. on June 27^th, it was reported that a faulty stand-by generator had recently been replaced with a new one. Shortly after the announcement, the power went out, leaving the gathering in semi-darkness. “Will the new, standby generator work?” could be heard here and there. Fortunately the power came back on in about a minute so the standby system did not get a workout.

Then about a week ago a severe storm passed through Prince Albert, Saskatchewan where my son is working at Camp Kadesh. In that case power was restored a day and a half later, just in time to begin their annual staff training sessions.

Last week Friday, my sister flew home to Virginia after spending a week with family here in Manitoba. She made it as far as Richmond and then was advised to seek shelter from the “derecho” storm instead of attempting the one-hour drive to her home. She barely made it into a motel before the deluge hit. As we all heard in the news, electrical power went down for three million people. Four days later, 1.2 million people still were without power, and that amid sweltering heat.

All this makes me wonder what impact an extended power outage would have on us in Southeastern Manitoba. Of course the winter season is of greatest concern, but our normal lives would come to a virtual standstill during any season of the year should our electrical power system fail for more than a few hours.

Most of us don’t want to think about how vulnerable our power supply really is and don’t make even minimal plans for life without electricity. There is a collective denial among us that extended power outages could happen where we live. We simply choose to believe that when the lights go out, they will be back on shortly. Sometimes that happens. What if it doesn’t?

Larger institutions in our area place their hope on stand-by generators. These are good for short-term outages, but are less reliable when the power stays off for extended periods of time. And even so, these generators do not bring power to the larger population in the area.

A sustainable solution to such an eventuality has become quite elusive because we have built dependency on electrical power into the fabric of our modern life styles. Our grandparents survived quite well without electricity and so could we if we put our minds to it. But we cannot ‘flick a switch’ to erase such dependency. We have to think long and hard about how to minimize our dependence on electricity.

The question is whether we have the courage and willingness to change our lifestyles to reduce the vulnerability we now live with.

Jack Heppner

Beyond Capitalism

We had a booth at Summer in the City. Our theme was Envisioning a Solar Future. We drew attention to the many opportunities we have to harness solar power: solar for electricity – to light our houses and to pump water in off-grid situations; solar to heat water – for domestic use and to heat our homes; solar to bake our food and solar to dry and preserve our food. We had some excellent conversations.

Many people wondered what price they would pay for the various solar systems. We did have the answer that question and advised them to check with suppliers.

However there is another answer to the question of cost, that suppliers can’t answer. I recently spoke with a friend who has covered most of his south facing roof with solar electric panels. On a sunny day he generates more electricity than he can use, and sells the surplus to Manitoba Hydro. When the sun goes down, he purchases electricity from Manitoba Hydro. It all looks impressive.

I challenged my friend and suggested it would take him twenty years to recover his investment. He told me that, by his calculations, cost recovery will take seventeen years without considering interest; perhaps thirty years considering interest. But, he challenged me, why should the rate of return on an investment be considered the most important criteria when making an investment.

“Were I seeking the highest financial return on an investment I am making,” he continued, “I should invest in the Alberta tar sands. Were I to do that, I believe my investment would be bad for my children on the long run. With these solar panels, I am investing in something I believe will be good for them.”

As I have reflected on what he said, I come to realize there is something very profound in that way of thinking.

Capitalist thinking has had a profound effect on all of us. It has taught us that the most important, perhaps only, consideration when making an investment is the financial return on that investment. I dare say those of us who have our savings in the Credit Union, have them there primarily because the return there is higher than at the bank. The fact that the Credit Union is built on not-for-profit principles is incidental to our investment choice. This is capitalism at its best, but not humanity at its best.

Capitalism does not ask whether an investment contributes to the creation of beauty or the destruction of beauty. It does not ask whether an investment contributes to the taking of life or the giving of life. It is concerned only with the financial return.

This does not mean capitalism is bad. It becomes bad, however, when the investor is not conscious of capitalism’s limitations. Unfortunately, all too often we are so enamored with the allure of capitalism that we forget this limitation. If more of us would apply ethical criteria to our investments, there is little doubt that the world would be a better place.

By Eric Rempel

Measuring Wellbeing

Last week I lamented the continuing emphasis on GNP and growth, not only by our governments at all levels, but also within our news media. The media is educating us in the inadequacy of GNP as a measure of our wellbeing, and then that same media floods us with information about GNP as if that is the only measurable indicator of wellbeing.

As long as we focus on GNP, our concern will be the amount of money changing hands each quarter, not the actual well-being delivered by the economy. Taking seriously a different way of measuring wellbeing is crucial to establishing a sane, sustainable, steady state economy.

The unlikely country of Bhutan, a kingdom in the Himalayas with a population about that of Winnipeg, is giving world leadership in the development of a “Gross National Happiness” indicator. By the standard measurements of wealth, Bhutan is not a rich country. In terms of GNP per capita, Bhutan is ranked 130 in the world. But they have established as a national goal, to become happy, rather than to become rich. As early as 2007, Business Week ranked Bhutan as the happiest country in Asia, and the eighth happiest in the world.

At a recent UN conference, the Prime Minister of Bhutan observed that GDP growth is killing the planet, destroying our future, and making humanity less equitable and, on the whole, more miserable. I think he’s right.

Any attempt to measure happiness will, without a doubt, draw the skeptical response that any such measure must, by its nature, be subjective. While this is true, the implied inference that such a measurement is then unreliable and of little value needs to be challenged. If we limit our pursuits to the attainment of indicators that are easily measured (economic growth), we are doomed to pursue that which is unattainable: perpetual growth.

Remember, if you hang your laundry out to dry, letting the sun and wind do the drying, you do not contribute to GNP. But if you throw it in the dryer and use electricity, you give the GNP a nudge upward. If one parent stays home to care for children, the GNP index is not happy. If both parents take a job and place their children in daycare, the GNP smiles.

It is interesting to note that following Bhutan’s lead, Britain's David Cameron, and France's Nicolas Sarkozy have become supporters of adding well-being to raw economic indicators. Australia, New Zealand, China, Italy, Japan and South Africa are some other countries that are considering measuring wellbeing as a way of informing policy.

Here we have the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. Data for this is being collected by a non-government group, which may be a good thing in that it makes it independent of political bias.

Unfortunately however, any reading of the federal omnibus budget bill now before the house must conclude that the only interest this federal government has, is in economic growth. This bias could be offset by greater enlightenment at the provincial or municipal level. But it is lacking there too.

Eric Rempel

Pesticide Ban in Manitoba

The Manitoba government recently gave notice that it is leaning toward banning the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes. We remain one of four provinces without such a regulation. So it appears likely that it is only a matter of time before Manitoba follows suit. 

Of course, there will be opposition from chemical companies. Like tobacco companies before them, the chemical industry continues to argue that there are no conclusive, scientific studies that prove that such chemicals are harmful to human health. And they may have a point. But just like any person of average intelligence knew a few decades ago that inhaling smoke was not healthy, so it is becoming increasingly clear that exposure to industrial chemicals can be harmful, especially to young children. There is no shortage of anecdotal evidence to support such an assertion.

Many will charge that such a ban is a threat to individual freedom; another example of the government telling me what I cannot do! I concede that sometimes government regulations are unfair and favor only certain sectors of society while, at the same time, harming others. However, from my point of view, this coming regulation will benefit us all in the end with respect to what really matters.

Most of us have been used to the “Betty Crocker” approach to maintain our lawns and gardens in the past half century or so. (Do you have a problem? Reach for the latest chemical and spread it around!) So the move toward a chemical-free approach is almost unthinkable. But one should remember that there were lots of lawns and gardens around before the age of unlimited access to chemicals.

Moving toward chemical-free lawns and gardens is not a regressive step, as some charge. Even while chemical usage was mushrooming, various groups and individuals suspicious of this new trend were developing techniques for chemical-free gardening. They discovered things that even our grandparents didn’t know. So the coming ban on pesticides does not spell a cataclysmic end to lawns and gardens.

What is required, however, is a reorientation of our approach to lawns and gardens. No longer able to “spray and forget,” we will have to enter into a long-term relationship with our soil and our plants to ensure a better future.

I offer a few pointers to help us move in that direction. Reduce the size of your lawn. Spread compost and aerate your lawn regularly. Don’t insist on a “monoculture” lawn. Remember that a healthy lawn is the best defense against unwanted weeds. I know, because it works for me. 

Similarly, in your garden, make generous use of compost, green manure and straw to create a vibrant soil and control weeds. Try companion planting and crop rotation. Reduce the size of your garden by making use of raised beds and vertical gardening techniques. And finally, don’t be afraid of getting some exercise in your garden.

In light of the coming ban on pesticides, it is fair to say that the best is yet to come!

 By Jack Heppner

Local, Efficient Protein Production

Meat! I like meat. I also like eggs, cheese and other milk products. Meat, eggs, milk and plants contain amino acids that form proteins. Our bodies need eight different amino acids to survive. However, it takes ten vegetable proteins to produce one animal protein, so the production of animal protein takes about ten times as much space and resources as it takes to produce the equivalent amount of plant protein. In a finite, polluted, populated world, a world running out of resources, surely it makes sense to eat less animal product. Should we live without animal products? Probably not, but I say we need to do with less animal products? I do. I have been doing it for a several years.

Cereals (wheat, oats, barley) have six of the amino acids our bodies need. The two missing ones are present in legumes (peas, beans, lentils). If you eat your cereals together with legumes (a common, ancient practice in many traditions), you will get all the essential amino acids your body needs. It is equivalent eating meat – well, almost. Vitamin B12 is also essential, and this we cannot get from plants. Most of us get the small amount we need in meat and milk. However, vegetable B12 is available at your natural food store (food yeast, naturally brewed soya sauce, supplements). Alternatively, you can continue eating small amounts of local animal products.

Responsible eating also means we examine how far our food travels. Locally grown whole cereals, legumes, meats, eggs, milk products are available. We do not have to depend on food produced far away (In North America food travels an average of 2000 kms. between field and plate). There is no need to burn tons of fossil fuels transporting the food we need. If I have to burn fossil fuels, I prefer burning it to travel myself. My food cannot enjoy traveling anyway!

I am an organic gardener and I have found a relatively easy way to reduce my dependency on animal products. I now produce my own dry beans. For the last two years, I have been producing my own organic red kidney and pinto beans! Legumes grow well in poor soils and are good companions for potatoes because they confuse potato beetles and their roots fix nitrogen: they produce a natural fertilizer. Most of the beans dry on the plant, so you do not have to can, freeze or dry them. You simply throw the pods in a burlap bag, tread on them and beat them up a bit (excellent frustration spender and good exercise! Save on gym costs!). Then wait for a windy day and let the wind separate the beans from the chaff. Bonanza!

I can already envision the yummy chillies, soups, stews! Life is great! Yes, there are challenges, but solutions are available everywhere for those who want to find them!

The South Eastman Transition Initiative (SETI) gathers people who are concerned about the use of fossil fuel. We meet to encourage one another in the search for solutions to problems of this nature. SETI is sponsoring a workshop on organic backyard food production on Thursday, April 26. The workshop will be at the allotment gardens behind the Steinbach Mennonite Church, 134 Loewen Blvd. Anyone is welcome. Check southeasttransition.com for details.

Gabriel Gagne

Lights Out…

Although it was only 8:30 p.m. on February 9^th, the temperature outside had slipped to minus 25 Celsius. John and Mary were enjoying a quiet evening in their home on First Street in Steinbach when the lights went out.

“They’ll be back on in a few minutes,” declared John confidently.

Meanwhile Mary felt her way to a drawer where she found a candle. 

“Where are the matches, honey?” she called from the kitchen.

“Check the junk drawer in the utility room,” responded John.

Once a candle was lit, John and Mary huddled around it, even feeling somewhat romantic. By 10:00 p.m. the power was still off, and the temperature in the house had dropped by one degree.

“Let’s go to bed to wait this out,” said John. “We like it cool at nights anyway, and surely by morning everything will be back to normal.”

The next morning John stuck his foot out from under the covers. The cold shock quickly shot up to his groggy mind and suddenly he was wide awake. 

“Mary, wake up! The power’s still off!”

Once up and dressed in multiple layers they noticed the temperature in the house had dipped to 14 degrees.

“Let’s check the radio to see what’s happening,” muttered John under his breath.

“The only working radio we have is in the car,” replied Mary.

A few minutes later, huddled together in a cold car, they heard a Manitoba Hydro representative saying that the outage was widespread and that no one knew when the power would come back on. And, as though to comfort himself, he added, “But we know that everyone has a plan for such an emergency.”

“So what is our plan?” inquired Mary. Only silence from John.

“I know we’re out of milk,” said John, “so I’ll pop over to Extra Foods so we can at least have a normal breakfast.”

As John approached the supermarket he noticed the lights were out and no one was around.

Then he noticed a commotion around Main Bread and Butter. As he got closer he noticed a sign in the window, CASH ONLY.  “Lucky me,” he thought, “I have ten dollars in my wallet!” He managed to leave with a litre of milk in hand.

“So how do we cook our lunch?” Mary wondered after finishing their granola with milk.

“Hey, our barbeque has a cooking element on it! I’ll haul it out,” John answered cheerfully as though congratulating himself.

By evening the house had cooled to eight degrees. “Let’s go to bed early and just hope and pray for the best,” suggested Mary. “I’ll throw on an extra comforter.”

Once under the covers, John and Mary cuddled a little closer than usual to keep each other warm.

“So what do we do tomorrow, my dear,” queried Mary.

“Don’t worry, honey,” replied John, “All we need is for the power to be restored by morning.”

“But what if it isn’t?” probed Mary.

“Don’t worry, my love. I’m sure the city has a plan.”

Join us for a discussion of solar possibilities Thursday, Feb 23. 

Jack Heppner

An Ode to Walking (Part Two)

(without a mention of high gas prices)

I number it among my blessings that my father had no car…The deadly power of rushing about wherever I pleased had not been given me. I measured distances by the standard of man, man walking on his own two feet, not by the standard of the internal combustion engine …The truest and most horrible claim made for modern transport is that it “annihilates space.” It does. It annihilates one of the most glorious gifts we have been given…Of course if a man hates space and wants it annihilated that is another matter. Why not creep into his coffin at once. There is little enough space there. (C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy).

Last week I suggested that there is merit in walking because it takes the world on its terms.  That is, there is merit in needing to acknowledge the hills, the weather, the mosquitoes, the aromas, the distance.

Walking also takes people seriously. When I walk, I take people seriously. Walking to church, for example, I pass through a real human community. I find people digging dandelions in their front yard. I see people reading their paper with the morning coffee. I step around hopscotch on the sidewalk. The neighbor’s dog frightens me from the other side of the fence. I am a real person in a real human community.

When I drive, I paratroop into the church from nowhere. I am worshipping in No-Place. In most cities, churches have literally become the church of no-Place. Situated far from where anyone calls home, you can’t get there except by car and the church’s neighborhood matters not a whit.

This can be confirmed by the fact that, as far as I know, there is no such thing as sidewalk rage. Why is it that, Layton Friesen, otherwise calm, cool and collected, when he gets behind the wheel of a car, will fly into a fit of rage at other drivers? Two reasons: As the barber in Wendell Berry’s novel Jayber Crow says about his recent car purchase, “Ease of going was translated with our pause into a principled unwillingness to stop.”

My speed of travel seems directly proportionate to my annoyance at being interrupted. And besides, to a walker an interruption is a rest.

However, more importantly, I get angry with other drivers because those beings sitting in other cars are not real human beings. The glass and steel and the speed at which we drive have made them into an abstractions. The minute they become real, I am mortally embarrassed for having become so angry. Have you ever shaken your fist at another driver, only to discover that she is your next-door neighbor?

When I walk, people become people and I have the possibility of relating to them, human to human. No one can love abstractions. There is good reason for the Bible telling us to love our neighbor. When I walk I have moved from being something analogous to a pornographer (degrading others by dehumanizing them into abstractions) to being a neighbor (relating to people who present themselves to me in all their uniqueness).

By Layton Friesen 

An Ode to Walking (Part 0ne)

(Without a mention of high gas prices)

A thoughtful essay lifting the merits of walking recently came to my attention. As written, it is too long for this column so it will be presented in  three columns. ER

What follows is the kind of congratulations-to-self that occasionally sits in my mind when I find myself walking while others drive. Nevertheless, it might serve as a kind of proposal for enshrining walking as a Christian form of transportation.

It may strike you as odd that such a primal and common means of transport should need a defense. But by now, mostly, it is really only the young and the poor who still use walking as a means of transport. Others will occasionally “go for a walk” but for the most part, we think and live by the terms of the automobile.

If the tone here seems exaggerated and overstated it is because I have set out to tangle with a tyrant; the automobile has such a grip on our minds that only drastic measures can put it on the defensive.

When I walk, I take the world on its own terms. A rule of stewardship says that what is stewarded needs to be taken with a measure of seriousness and attentions. When I walk, the puddle, the steep hill, the sub-zero temperature, the mosquitoes, the lilac bush, begin to mean something to me, they have become a part of my world. In other words, my neighborhood has become a place, not just a space to move through.

Driving, on the other hand, flattens the world into non-existence. The steep hill is as flat as the plain, the puddle causes me not a moment’s thought. The lilacs I see from afar, insulated from their aroma. This elimination of the world is obvious when the weather plunges below -25C.

It is not the walkers who complain of the cold, it is the drivers. When I walk, the cold becomes something to be defied; I dress and exert myself to elude its grip. The icy world around me has become a formidable other to be taken seriously (hence the satisfaction of coming in from a cold walk). When I drive, the best I can do is sit helplessly shivering and curse, hoping my car warms up before I arrive at my destination.

This, it seems to me, is where stewardship and incarnation meet. God, in order to save the world, did not transcend it but moved into the neighborhood. He became a particular Jewish man who never ventured far from the village of his birth; he got about as far as he could walk. He took one place very seriously and thereby delivered the cosmos.

By staying close to home and committing himself to one place seriously, the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, and seeds of the path, the figs on the tree and the foxes in the holes meant something. They were lifted up as the stuff of salvation. They were noticed because Jesus the walker had the time and the opportunity to live in the place where he was.

By Layton Friesen  The rest of Layton’s essay will follow in future weeks.

Why I Ride My Bicycle

A few months ago, Eric Rempel posted a column about why he biked. This motivated me to share my story.

Were I to choose a personal zodiac, 2011 would be the year of the Bicycle. Last summer I found my self completely smitten with a mode of transportation that was simply too intimidating and/or inconvenient a few years ago.   This epiphany occurred because I had become increasingly aware of the effects of “unconscious living” and that such a lifestyle was destroying the very environment I love.  I realized that I had a responsibility to do something. I also needed to save money.

In the past few years, some friends at the University of Winnipeg have opened my eyes to the concept of sustainable living.  I have become alarmed by the realization that our lives are completely dependent on petroleum, a resource that is finite and non-renewable, causes wars, and is becoming increasingly expensive. I had been living in ignorant bliss for most of my life and suddenly I became painfully aware.

This awareness placed me at a fork in the road, with a map and no compass. I knew where I was and where I wanted to go, but had to find a way to get there. I had friends who were vegan, others were dedicated winter cyclists, and some attempted to follow a 100 mile diet.  That was all too extreme. I was overwhelmed but decided to take baby steps. I have begun by composting, noting where food I buy comes from and riding my bike.

I have never been athletic and the mere thought of biking exhausted me at first. I had no leg muscles, no endurance, was terrified of cars on the road and did not know what traffic laws to follow. 

Then I decided I would like to travel, and go back to school.

I hate to make it seem like money is the ultimate motivator, but a tight budget is.  Driving my car less was an easy penny saver and that meant biking more. And then I began to love it! Biking was actually exhilarating! Not only was I saving money, I was gaining muscle. It was like I was on Body Break – staying fit and having fun!

When I returned to Steinbach this past June after a two-year hiatus, I needed to share my new discovery with my old town. Some friends and I organized group bike rides. I wanted people to realize that riding a bike doesn’t have to mean that you can’t afford a car, or that you are an athlete. It can simply mean you like riding your bike and want to consume less gasoline.

Hey, give it a go! Start small. Next time you need to dash to the store or return a movie, ride your bike. January may be a difficult time of year to start, so maybe you wait till spring. But now is the time to resolve to ride your bike more. The city of Steinbach has done a great job of making the city bicycle friendly. For cycling information check both www.steinbach.ca and southeasttrasniton.com.

Hilary Klassen

Too Many Disposable Diapers

“We pick up thousands of [disposable] diapers on a daily basis,” states Eldon Wallman from the Steinbach landfill. This calculates to around half a million diapers being delivered to rot in our own small landfill every year. Imagine the numbers worldwide!

Many parents choose disposable diapers because of simplicity. Disposables can be bought in bulk, they hold a lot of waste, and they make for quick diaper changes.

All this convenience comes at a huge expense. Most parents are innocently ignorant of what happens after the disposable diaper leaves their hands. That diaper travels to a landfill where it will sit for many thousands of years. Much of the diaper is made from plastics that will not breakdown. These chemicals, along with the human waste products contained in the diaper, leach from the landfill into the water system. We are voluntarily polluting our earth with raw human waste and untreated chemicals. Is there an alternative? Yes there is.

Cloth diapers are an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable diapers.  The cloth diaper system allows parents to wash and reuse diapers repeatedly throughout their baby’s diapering lifetime. The waste is removed from the diaper and deposited in the toilet where it can be properly treated along with the rest of the family’s waste. Additionally, cloth diapers can be used with multiple children before being retired. Many parents actually keep the diapers for rags after all their children are potty trained.  Only when these cloth diapers have been thoroughly exhausted do they end up in the landfill, once there, they break down quickly because they are made from natural materials such as cotton, wool, or bamboo.

Some parents are hesitant about switching to cloth diapers because they have seen the complicated folding and pinning required from the older styles. However, current cloth diapers are more user-friendly involving snaps or Velcro with no pinning required. Current cloth diapers are made from fun and funky fabrics with all sorts of luxurious textures.

Not only are cloth diapers environmentally friendly, they are economically friendly as well. The average family spends about $2500 to disposable diaper one child until potty training. Conversely, a child can be totally cloth diapered for as little as $200, less if the diapers are handmade from recycled materials or purchased used. Furthermore, subsequent children in the family will then be diapered for free using their older sibling’s diapers.

The bottom line is that disposable diapers pose a dangerous risk to our environment by filling up our landfills and leaching hazardous chemicals into our ecosystems.  Conversely, cloth diapers are reused for many years and human waste from cloth diapers is properly treated through the sewage system, majorly reducing the impact on the water systems of the community. Coupled with the fact that cloth diapers can save you over $2000 per child, we should all make the switch to cloth.

By Rebecca Hiebert

Giving to the Earth this Year

The time of gift giving is upon us. Most people spend many hours planning and shopping for loved ones. Sadly, most items in our stores are manufactured from cheap plastics or thin metals that break quickly. Current available merchandise has degenerated to the point where what we buy is often low priced and low quality, and an item that the recipient does not really want or need. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, the gift quickly ends up in the garbage.

Once these items are in the landfill their fate is to sit for thousands of years. Our landfills are already bursting at the seams from daily waste produced by every household; there really is no room for additional holiday garbage.

Gift giving is an important part of our Christmas season. By changing the way we give gifts we can increase their longevity. Instead of each individual relative buying each child a less expensive toy, relatives could pool their money to buy one higher quality, more expensive toy that will last through the rough and tumble play of childhood. Toys that are made from strong durable materials can be enjoyed by one child and then passed on to younger children, delaying their trip to the landfill.

Giving a child one highly valued, good quality gift also helps reduce that child’s insatiable appetite for presents that often develops at Christmas time.  Teaching a child to treasure one truly special toy will send the message that gifts are not expendable, that toys are to be treasured and not tossed in the trash when something better comes along.

Adult presents are sometimes a challenge because adults often buy what they need during the year. What is left for a relative to give during the holidays? Instead of buying something cheap and unnecessary, give tickets to a local play or musical or a sentimental gift such as a photo-book or photo-calendar. These types of special gifts will not be easily tossed.

Perhaps the pinnacle of gift giving is finding a well-suited, used gift at a thrift store. Gifting used items benefits the Earth in a two-fold way: firstly, this delay’s that items trip to the landfill for many years and, secondly the money spent at the thrift shop goes in-part towards funding programs to help others live sustainably in the Third World.

Finally, when you do decide what to buy for your family consider the wrapping. How absurd that commercial wrapping paper once purchased is immediately tossed! Consider using recycled items to wrap your presents: the comics from the newspaper or handmade reusable cloth bags. Avoid expensive Christmas cards that are read only once and then added to the holiday layer at the landfill.

  

How ironical that the holiday season, which is a special time to celebrate generosity, contributes to a stressing of the Earth we live on. This year give the Planet a present: think carefully how your gift giving will affect the environment. 

By Rebecca Hiebert

Slowing Down

Recently I have been thinking about slowing down. Of course, say my friends, you have reached retirement and so that is a legitimate proposition. But then, when I connect with some of my retired friends, one of their complaints I hear most often is that they are busier than ever.

I conclude that busyness has become one of our culture’s virtues. We tend to think more highly of people whose calendars are chock-full than of those who have a few open spaces left.

A lot has been written in recent decades about margins and boundaries. How long would you stay with a book, for example, that had no margins. Most of the book would likely remain unread. Slowing down reminds us that we are most fully alive when we live within appropriate boundaries that allow some room for surprise and flexibility. A good cup of coffee is best taken slowly, as is a good quality wine! So why do we gulp down our lives so quickly?

Beyond being better for you, slowing down is becoming imperative in our day because a fast life always leaves a larger ecological footprint than necessary. This is so very evident in the fast food industry to which many of us have become enslaved. We grab our food on the run and wolf it down on our way to the next thing on our calendars. Of course, on our way in we drop a large bag of paper and plastic into the garbage. Sometimes we even just throw it out the car window. We have yet to add up the personal and social cost of giving up a regular, slow-paced, family dinner.

Feeling the need to take in every possible event we can, we zip around in our vehicles and fly around the world lest we commit the “sin” of missing out on something. Of course, in the process we build up a large number of experiences we can share with our friends. The only problem is we don’t really have time to get together much for a leisurely sharing of life. And at the same time we keep on using up more and more of diminishing fossil fuel reserves of the world.

One commitment I have recently made is to literally slow down while driving. I have developed a 90-90 principle which states that 90 percent of the time on the road I will not exceed 90 kilometers an hour. Some of my trucker friends tell me that such a move can make the difference between breaking even or earning a decent living – given the amount of fuel you save at the slower speed. 

An additional benefit I experience is that every time I set my cruise on 90, I am reminded to slow down in other areas of life as well. Perhaps I can retrain myself to leave a smaller ecological footprint as I learn to slow down and actually have time to smell the flowers.

By Jack Heppner

Voluntary Simplicity

I recently heard about a survey that found that those young adults who carry the most debt are also the one who feel most empowered with their finances. It is only as they get older that they realize that their debt does not empower them; rather it controls them. The above poll-based observation describes the average Canadian! The average Canadian owes $1.50 for every $1.00 he owns and does not realize how much he is controlled by his debt. 

It seems bizarre, but I can understand why we feel that sense of empowerment.  When we buy something, we experience the power of money – the power to get what we want.  If we buy something with cash, that feeling goes away once the money is gone and the novelty of the purchase wears off; but with credit, we carry a constant power source in our wallets, with a power that doesn't really wear off until we go bankrupt.

However, that feeling of power is just that: a feeling, an illusion – not reality. In the ancient world, prisons were used primarily to house people who couldn't pay their debts.  We may not be in prison because of our debts; nevertheless, our debts control us as if we were. Our grandparents didn't carry so much debt. So why do we?

You may have heard of something called "Voluntary Simplicity.” Depending on whom you heard it from; you may believe that it is a growing movement of self-sufficiency and non-compliance to corporate powers. On the other hand, you may consider it a hippy stunt that would have us all poor and living in communes. Voluntary Simplicity has to do with being frugal, making things rather than buying them, and making do with less – and depending on your perspective, that could sound like heaven, or even hell. 

Let me suggest another way altogether of looking at this concept of Voluntary Simplicity, a way we all be able to relate to: voluntary simplicity is about financial freedom in a world full of debt. It's about knowing the true value of things, and refusing to pay more – or less – than something is worth.  It's about re-learning the skills that make our heritage so rich, and sharing our knowledge and support with our communities.  It's about knowing that spending money only gives you a feeling of power, whereas the real power lies in deciding not to spend money on things you don't need. It's about knowing that, as Scotiabank regularly reminds us, "you're richer than you think" – because real wealth is not defined by our credit limits.

We invite you to join us in thinking about voluntary simplicity and simpler living. Val Hiebert, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Providence University College will share her insights as she addresses the South Eastman Transition Initiative at the Eastman Education Centre, Loewen Blvd, next Thursday, November 24th at 7:00 pm.

By Jeff Wheeldon             

Why I Ride My Bicycle

Three reasons, really! It is good for my health, it is economical, and it is the only sensible thing to do if one takes the long view. Which of these I consider most important depends on which day you ask me.

When I retired from my last paying job three years ago, I realized that if I wanted to maintain my health I would need to discipline myself in terms of exercise. Necessary exercise could take the form of a regular workout at a gym, or on some exercise equipment in my basement. It could take the form of a disciplined walk or jog every day, but I knew from experience, that I do not take to this kind of discipline well. As I thought about my options, I realized that the most pleasant discipline for me would be to deliberately limit my options with respect to getting around Steinbach.  I resolved that I would not use motorized transport to get myself between points within Steinbach and environs.

For the most part, I have stuck with my resolve. I am grateful that my health allows me to cycle. I do need a car to carry goods from time to time, but the bike trailer I now have handles most of the things I need to carry. Winter riding is a challenge, but that challenge is not insurmountable. Studded tires reduce wipeouts, and appropriate clothing protects me from the weather. At minus thirty, properly dressed, I arrive at my destination warmer than if I had ridden in a car.

Was I not committed to cycling, Mary and I would need an additional vehicle. According to a recent Globe and Mail article, car ownership in Canada costs at least $6,000 annually, in some cases as much as $13,000. So because of my cycling habit, we can manage with $6,000 less pension income.

Then there is the long view. What do we expect our city to look like in 20 years, in 30 years or 50 years? Will we still be dependant on the gasoline-powered automobile? I do not think so. The current gasoline dominated era will end soon. When that happens, a sprawling city of large parking lots and wide streets will not be a welcoming city.

Some people place their hope in plug-in vehicles. But plug-in vehicles are no more energy efficient than gasoline powered vehicles. They merely substitute hydro energy for oil energy.

Today, if I ride my car from my house to the Clearspring Mall, I consume more than a million calories. If I walk that same distance, I consume 185 calories. If I cycle, I also consume 185 calories, but cover the distance in one-third the time.

If we want our city to survive into the future, we need a city built around energy efficiency, not around the squandering of energy. The planet will give us no choice. By riding my bike, I am sending a signal, however small, to whoever will listen, that we need to, much more consciously, move towards energy efficiency in our city.

Cycling is one expression of voluntary simplicity. Join us at the Eastman Educational Centre November 24 for a discussion of voluntary simplicity with Val Hiebert, sociology prof at Providence. 

Eric Rempel

Saving Summer Shine

Just a few weeks ago, Ruth and I harvested a dozen large, organically-grown cabbages from our garden.

Most of those cabbages ended up as sauerkraut. For the most part, our generation has forgotten about this wonder-food. But last year, Ruth and I made our first attempt to re-discover lacto-fermentation, one of the oldest preservation methods known to humankind.

The process is really quite simple. Cut up the cabbages into thin wedges or send them through a food processor. As you layer this cabbage in a large container, preferably a stone crock, sprinkle on a bit of salt and break open the cells of the cabbage with a “stomper.” Repeat this process until either your container is nearly full or you run out of cabbage. Then cover it with a large plate and place a weight on it.

Within 24 hours the natural juices will have covered the cabbage and the fermentation process will be underway. After about six weeks, when the juices have been reabsorbed into the cabbage, you will know that your sauerkraut is ready. Then it is a matter of placing the sauerkraut in clean jars and storing them in a cool place. And bingo – you are set for the winter.

Even before modern studies have proclaimed fermented sauerkraut as an amazing health food, James Cook introduced it as a staple food for his sailors and found that it helped to prevent the plague of the seas; namely scurvy. He didn’t know exactly why it worked, but later studies showed that it was because of the high level of vitamin C in sauerkraut.

Further studies through the years have identified many health benefits to sauerkraut. For starters, it is an immune booster. The common cold and flu, skin problems, weight gain and tainted blood can all be fixed with a healthy immune system.

Sauerkraut is also a cancer fighter. An interesting study of breast cancer rates among Polish-American women showed that they were much more likely to contract cancer than Polish women who had stayed in Poland and continued to each generous amounts of sauerkraut.

And sauerkraut is an amazing digestive aid, protecting the balance of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. It also helps to neutralize anti-nutrients found in many foods and facilitates the breakdown and assimilation of proteins.

So this is the second winter in which we will be eating sauerkraut three or four times a week as a side-dish to whatever else we eat. We find it goes amazingly well with most dishes.

Now if I have convinced you to eat sauerkraut and you head to the supermarket to buy some, be forewarned that much that passes for sauerkraut is simply cabbage soaked in vinegar and salt. Make sure that what you buy is “fermented” cabbage if you want to experience the benefits listed above.

Better still, grow your own cabbage next year and make your own sauerkraut. And save some summer sunshine for the dark winter months. 

Jack Heppner

Is Growth Always Good?

I recently had a conversation with a local farmer who reflected that the farm work he is able to complete before breakfast today, would have taken his father, in his time, the best part of a week to complete. Bigger, better-designed machines have made this possible. But that’s not all. Indeed the 400 HP tractor replaced the 40 HP tractor, but farmers and researchers also found ways of increasing crop yield more than four fold.

This is just one example of the efficiencies we have gained  in the last 100 years. So how have we all benefited from this increased efficiency? A single farmer today replaces ten farmers of yesteryear. What are the nine “surplus farmers” doing? Something good, I hope! Well some of these “farmers” are now working in a factory where they are building the tractors today’s farmer needs. Others are building roads, and others are marketing farm produce. That all seems to be good.

However, many of the displaced farmers are now working in factories making widgets we do not need. Others are working in the advertizing sector where they are trying to persuade us that we need the widgets that are being produced. And others are working at landfills where these widgets end up very shortly after they have been bought. Some have become doctors, doctors that deal primarily with diseases brought on by overeating and inactivity.

There are two ironies in the situation I have described. First, surely increased efficiency ought to result in increased leisure. Surely, time spent at leisure is better than time spent making unneeded widgets. That increased leisure should give parents more time with their children, teachers more time with their students and nurses more time with their patients. But we all know this has not happened. Parents, teachers and nurses all seem to have less time to do the things they know to be important.

The second irony is that as humans become more efficient in the use of their time, they of necessity replace human resources with other resources. Unfortunately most of the resources we end up using more of are of a finite nature, whether that be fossil fuel, steel, or some other resource. Tragically, as we humans become more efficient in the use of our time, we also become more effective in diminishing the resources our children will need if they are to enjoy the same good life we enjoy.

Those are the down sides. Nevertheless, apparently we believe all economic growth has been good for us and we want to keep it that way. The only alternative we know to economic growth is recession with unacceptable levels of unemployment and worse. So we avoid even thinking of alternatives.

Fortunately, there are an increasing number of economists and other thinkers exploring alternatives. One place alternatives are being explored is at the Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE).

James Johnston, an associate with CASSE will be making a presentation at the Eastman Education Centre October 27, 7:00PM. Join us and learn with us.

Eric Rempel

Inspiration to Rethink Lifestyle

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear, to give hope to one another. That time is now.

Activities that devastate the environment and societies continue unabated … The Norwegian Nobel Committee has placed the central issue of the environment and its linkage to democracy before the world.

The challenge is to restore this home … and give back to the children a world of beauty and wonder.

The world needs lifestyle rethinkers. Consider the example of this courageous and brilliant Kenyan woman.

With humble beginnings in a small village, she became the first East African woman to earn a PhD, then taught in a Kenyan University. From her position of relative privilege, she was moved especially by the poverty of rural women and the scarcity of water and fuel to found the Green Belt movement, a grass roots organization, which to date has planted more than 35 million trees in Kenya and nearby countries.

Empowering rural women to believe they could be foresters led them to challenge the forest destruction fuelled by post colonial greed and corruption. In the 1980s and 90s, she and others were beaten and imprisoned for speaking out in defense of democracy and the environment. She lost her academic position.

But by 2004, when she said the above words in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (the first African woman to be so honoured), trees planted by the first Green Belt women’s groups were being harvested for lumber, arid and dry lands were reforested, streams were again flowing, and soldiers were planting trees alongside villagers.

The inspiring story is told in a documentary video, Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai. Who?? Most of us have never heard of her. She was a lifestyle rethinker, and her thinking led to practical action … the simple act of collecting tree seeds, propagating them, establishing local nurseries, and then planting and tending the seedlings, eventually by the millions All accomplished by dozens of women’s groups throughout the country. The Kenyan countryside is being transformed and revived by these simple, practical activities and the Green Belt movement has spread throughout East Africa.

Initially, the women did not believe they were capable. Many were illiterate. Their cultural tradition did not include tree planting among women’s tasks. “You need a diploma to plant a tree” professional foresters told them.

But Maathai doggedly questioned all the assumptions – the women’s, the foresters’, the corporations’, the governments’ – and pushed for change. Why were forest lands being clear-cut, why were parks and preserves being logged, why were people being jailed and mistreated for challenging government corruption?

There was push back by those in power - beatings, death threats, imprisonment – but changes came. And finally recognition and acceptance for Wangari Matthai. She died of cancer September 25 at age 71.

Some lessons for me emerge from her story ….

I need to watch more good documentary and fewer “entertainment” videos. Like Wangari Maathai’s story, they inspire! This video and others are available from SETI.

 

I can sit back and let the “powers” run the show, but eventually my family and I will feel the environmental impact of greed, mismanagement and bad policy.

Look around. What is obviously incongruent in our lifestyle? What is clearly destructive and unsustainable? I need to respond with personal lifestyle changes, but I need to also question and challenge government and corporate practice and policy.

Take this link to the movie web site.

Take this link to the Green Belt web site.

 Tim Kroeker

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Simply in Season

In 2005, Mennonite Central Committee published a cook book called, “Simply in Season.” It is a delightful work that gently invites us to eat fresh, seasonal foods instead of relying on the mono-culture of produce found in supermarkets year-round.

Here in Southeastern Manitoba, we have four very distinct seasons. I lived in a tropical climate for a number of years where temperatures and daylight hours varied only slightly throughout the year. After a few years I found this quite monotonous. When I came back home I gained a renewed appreciation for the ever-changing seasons in this part of the world.

As I reflect on the many tidbits of writing scattered throughout, “Simply in Season,” I am reminded that a sustainable lifestyle requires two things of us all – living more simply and making the most of each season.

Living more simply is not as simple as it sounds. Every day we are bombarded with messages telling us that in order to be happier and more fulfilled we need to buy more stuff, travel more widely, participate in more activities and eat “fast” and “processed” food. Mostly we believe these lies.  

Yet, if we are to survive as a human race with any degree of social justice, we will need to move toward simplified lifestyles. Our earth simply does not provide enough resources for all of its citizens to live the consumptive lifestyles we have become used to in the western world.

Living more simply will mean different things for different people. For my Ruth and me, it means walking or biking more, down-sizing to become a one-vehicle family, growing most of our own vegetables and, if at all possible, purchasing whatever else we need locally. That may not seem like much, but we are in transition. 

And that brings me to the idea of making the most of each season. Supermarkets and shopping malls have pretty much obliterated seasons for most of us. Apart from seasonal changes in the clothing stores, most everything remains the same all year round. We can buy California lettuce and “notional” tomatoes any day of the year, plus fruit from the farthest corners of the world. And no matter what the weather, we are accustomed to climbing into our climate-controlled vehicles and burning precious fuel to get ourselves around.

So the lifestyles we have adopted have gradually removed us from living well “in season.” A simpler lifestyle re-connects us with the diverse challenges and delights that each season brings. My favorite season is autumn. It is the time of the year when we eat mostly from our garden. All year I look forward to biting into that first vine-ripened tomato as well as other organically grown vegetables fresh from the garden. And the colors of autumn never cease to amaze me.

I am convinced that the more we simplify our lives the more we will get in touch with our four distinct seasons – a blessing we cannot really afford to miss.

Jack Heppner

Can We Recycle the Phosphate?

Readers of this column will have noted that two weeks ago I wrote about the pending worldwide scarcity of phosphate. Last week I wrote about the pollution caused by phosphate. This week I deal with some ways of addressing both problems.

As we have noted, all animals ingest phosphate. It is a necessary component of the food they eat. Their bodies use a very small portion of the phosphate they ingest. The remainder is expelled in the urine and feces. That phosphate can have one of two destinies, but only two: it can recycle and again become a plant nutrient; or it does not recycle, and becomes a pollutant.

So there is an incentive for us to find ways of recycling the phosphate.

Were phosphate the only component of interest in excrement, we would probably be recycling the phosphate now. However, we have been much more interested in the pathogens found in excrement. We have become singularly adept at dealing with those pathogens. We are all familiar with the tragic part of the Walkerton story, but we should also note the other part of that narrative – the Walkerton story is unusual, a commentary on the effectiveness of our common treatment technologies in dealing with these pathogens. Unfortunately, as we deal with the pathogens, we more or less disregard the phosphate.

It need not be so. There is technology that will deal with human excrement in a way that will kill pathogens and allow the recycling of the plant nutrient component. The most familiar technology is composting toilets. These come in many designs, but all ultimately convert the excrement into compost in a way that will kill any pathogens. Unfortunately, managing a composting toilet is not as easy as pressing a leaver to generate a five-gallon flush. Any composting toilet requires committed management if it is to work well.

There are also technologies that allow for the safe application of municipal sewage onto cropland in a way that conserves the plant nutrients. Nevertheless, because of the way the sewage has been treated before it gets to the application stage, this is problematic. Firstly, our households dilute any organic effluent with prodigious amounts of water. This water needs to be dealt with if the organic matter is to be applied to cropland. Secondly, so much of what we flush plants do not like, things like cleaning agents, paints, and petroleum derivatives.

The best way of dealing with the phosphate and other potential plant foods generated in our households is to separate them from other waste at source. This way we would not dilute it with perfectly clean water or contaminate it with other waste. This could be done quite easily at the municipal level, but requires a cultural commitment to work.

At this time, we are probably not ready to change the way we treat human effluent, but as phosphate for food production becomes harder to get, and the impact of the pollution of our waterways with phosphates becomes more evident, we will have little choice but to become more resourceful in what and how we recycle.

Eric Rempel

Purposeful Exercise

Our push-button lifestyles emerged in the 20^th century along with the introduction of electricity. I still remember the euphoria that swept the countryside around 1950 as we all got “plugged in.”

Of course by that time tractors and cars had, for the most part, replaced horses. A gallon of gasoline probably got more done in an hour than man and animal together had formerly done in a day. And the advent of petro-chemicals on the farm eased the burden of keeping weeds at bay.

Modernity was celebrated. Perhaps nothing symbolized this shift better than the thermostat. In earlier times it required a lot of physical activity to keep one’s house warm. Now, with the advent of the modern oil furnace, you could do it with a little push of your index finger.

As the decades rolled on, technology advanced steadily with gizmos and gadgets that allowed us the luxury of not using our muscles very much at all. Soon cars had automatic transmissions, power steering and electric window openers. Manual typewriters became electric and then morphed into computer keyboards. Fruits and vegetables for which we used to labor now appeared like magic year-round in supermarkets.

Ah yes, utopia was within reach! But as we bore down on the close of that great century we gradually became aware that modernity was bringing with it unintended consequences. We were being changed as people.

The term, “couch potato” was born. The word “obesity” found its way into our vocabulary from relative obscurity. Books and articles about the negative effects of a “sedentary” lifestyle began to flood the market. And, wouldn’t you know it, soon it was suggested that a host of medical problems were linked, directly or indirectly, to lack of exercise. Modernity was beginning to bite back.

And so emerged the modern exercise gym. Many of us began to drive miles for the opportunity to sweat it out at the gym in order to gain back the health that modernity had taken from us. Or we could be found walking or running around town, going nowhere in particular, just to get back into shape. But most of us soon gave up. It was too hard to fit modern exercise programs into a tight schedule in which we drove from one sedentary activity to another.

So what is emerging now in the 21^st century is an attempt to build purposeful exercise into our lifestyles. In some senses it is a throwback to earlier times before electricity and oil took over most of our daily physical responsibilities. Walking or biking instead of driving is making a comeback. Growing your own food is gaining popularity. Participatory sports is putting a dent into spectator sports.

The genie is out of the bottle. Once we begin to comprehend what the modern lifestyle has taken from us, we will find many ingenious ways of putting exercise back into our daily routines. The more we do, the more our bodies and our environment will thank us.

Jack Heppner