Plastic Picnics

Finally, after a cool and wet spring, we have arrived at the summer picnic season! We all look forward to times of “dining out” with family and friends, especially since that option is only available here in Southern Manitoba for a few months every year.

My concern is that such events have become “plastic picnics.” I have an image clearly etched on my mind that leaves me with a feeling that something has gone wrong with our picnics.

Two or three families have just finished a picnic in the park – perhaps a family gathering or simply friends getting together. The feast is over and now the picnic tables are piled high with garbage, mostly some form of plastic, styrofoam or paper. Cups, plates, cutlery, food containers, bags, wrappers, pop and water bottles and everything else you need for a modern picnic.

But this is only the beginning of the unfolding tragedy. Now you see a couple of the adults swooping up all these disposables into a couple of large plastic garbage bags. And bingo – they hit the garbage can! And now all are free to enjoy their post-picnic rituals. Nothing to take home! As a matter of fact, it only took ten minutes to erase any evidence that there had even been a picnic in this place – except of course for the over-flowing garbage bins.

Now this may be an extreme example of our picnic habits. But, truth be told, it is closer to reality than we care to believe. Perhaps, if these picnickers had separated their disposables and deposited them in recycling bins there would have been at least a partial redemption of sorts. “But hey, we’re out here to enjoy ourselves, so don’t make us feel guilty about our burgeoning landfill site just out of town!”

I think it is time to rethink our picnic habits. Some of us are old enough to remember picnics before the throw-away culture overtook us. And I don’t think the quality of our “outings” was lower then. Perhaps it was even higher.

So here is the challenge. Plan for a “throw-away-nothing picnic” this summer or at least see how close you can come to this standard. Here are some ideas to make it happen:

•  Purchase a set of light-weight dishes, cups and cutlery for the family and take them with you to the picnic in their own special container. Take it back home when the sun sets and wash its contents together as you reminisce about the good time you had.
• If you are going alone, always bring your own non-disposable plate, bowl, cup and cutlery. You may stand out like a sore thumb, but you will be a positive example.
• Plan for a “finger-food” picnic that cuts down on the need for dishes.
• If you happen upon a picnic unprepared, consume only those items that don’t require the help of disposable products. A few awkward moments perhaps, but also a chance to begin a conversation about a less polluted planet.

Jack Heppner

The Paradox of Efficiency

The advent of more efficient electric lights ought to be hailed as a great step forward for energy conservation, since lighting consumes a hefty 6.5 percent of the world’s energy supply.

But human behavior regularly confounds expectations, and in this case we find a seeming paradox. Researchers expect energy efficiency increases to raise the amount of energy consumed in lighting. It’s basic economics, in a way.

Surely light is a good thing. And the law of demand in economics suggests that if the price of a good thing goes down, people will always want more of it. (The concept of “enough” has never really caught on in economics.)

This was the case when gas lighting replaced candles and whale fat – cheaper light led to higher demand, including street lights (!). The conversion to more-energy-efficient electric lights led to another increase. A typical resident of the western world now consumes 100,000 times as much light as he would have had he lived in western Europe in 1700. 

Light is so much in demand that the increase in consumption wiped out the gains from efficiency, so more energy rather than less was used. The same is expected to occur in the future, as solid-state lighting replaces today’s compact fluorescent lamps. This was recently reported in Economist news magazine. They’ll be better for the environment, if and only if we were satisfied with today’s level of lighting. But we won’t be, if history is a judge. Efficiency is expected to increase by a factor of 3, while consumption of light is expected to increase by a factor of 10. We’ll need twice as much energy to make that light.

We’ll have brighter indoor lighting, better-lit retail spaces. And, security-obsessed as we are, we’ll light up outdoor spaces that are currently dark. That would be a good thing in some neighborhoods, but it has side-effects.

If you haven’t seen the Milky Way lately, get your views in now. Light pollution (combined with air pollution) already obscures all but the brightest stars in urban areas.

More efficient cars don’t lead to less gasoline consumption, either, in case you were wondering. Cheaper car travel makes private transportation more attractive relative to public transportation. With more efficient cars, people drive more.

It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue those gains, it just means we can’t expect relative prices to make us virtuous people. We still have to confront the culture of “more” in the context of well-lit 24/7 consumerism.

This is known as Jevon’s effect. This is another reason we should embrace a carbon tax if we want to move to a more sustainable future.

Eric Rempel

Let’s Talk about our Lifestyle

I find critical thinking, particularly about the way I live and the life choices I make, inherently uncomfortable. When I do the critical thinking, I invariably find that too many of the choices I make favour what gives me pleasure on the short run. My long term welfare, and the welfare of others takes second place. I suspect I am not unique, and I suspect this is why we all avoid this kind of thinking. The course of least resistance is certainly to avoid that critical analysis of the choices we make – too assume, and to live as if the good times we now experience will continue forever, and that our consumption has no effect on others. We would rather not think critically about our lifestyle – the lifestyle most people in the affluent West live, and the lifestyle most of the rest of the world aspires to. Yet, if we have any concern about the future of the civilized world, someone needs to think about the long term viability of this lifestyle. And, like it or not, since we live in a democracy, that “someone” needs to be “all of us”. That is hard and uncomfortable, because as we do that we soon realize that our lifestyle can only be justified by believing at least one of the following:

ñ    The  resources essential to our way of life will last forever.

ñ    The resources will last long enough for me and nothing else matters.

ñ    They will last long enough to find more and then those will last forever.

ñ    It's not my problem. I deserve everything I have.

ñ    We are doomed anyway and I can’t affect anything.

Wow! Really!? That's shocking! In fact it’s too shocking. So we continue with our denial.

A recent survey polled 9,000 individuals in 22 countries about their attitudes on energy. It found 90% were concerned by rising energy costs, and 76% by the prospect of shortages; 83% were concerned by climate change, and 89% thought it was important to reduce their country's reliance on fossil fuels. But barely a third thought they should be using less energy; the remainder believed their governments should find new sources, stat. Now doesn’t that say it all – about us.

Yet, yet, deep down we all know we need to curb our consumption. There is a growing interest in simpler living.

So let’s talk about it. Spend some time with us at Summer in the City. We will have a booth “somewhere” on main street and we invite you to join us for some conversation as to how we move this agenda forward in this city we consider home. Let’s have a discussion as to why a carbon tax would (or wouldn’t) be good for all of us. Let’s have a discussion about how a more energy aware set of building bylaws would lead to a better city.

We will also have an assortment of fact sheets and brochures you can take home with you. We believe that together we can make a difference.

Eric Rempel

Twenty Years

I will be 27 years old this year, so perhaps my scope is a bit small, but when I think about the passing of twenty years it seems to me to be a long time. A lot can happen in a day, much less a year; and being only 26 years old, I’m well aware that much has changed in my lifetime. Twenty years, in terms of our planet, is a drop in the bucket; but in terms of the way we humans change our world, and change the way we interact with it and with each other, twenty years holds an awful lot of change. Or does it?

Reading a book from 1990, I came across a section on “The Ecological Crisis.” I was continually surprised to find the dates of references to be no later than 1990, because they read like today’s newspaper. Twenty years ago, we faced the same ecological issues we face today, including climate change, water and air pollution, threats from non-native species that lack predators in their new environments, overflowing landfills, and the extinction of as many as two dozen species per day, to name but a few. We’ve come so far since then in technology, human rights, health, and many other areas; why hasn’t the headline changed for ecology?

That’s not to say that we’ve done nothing. In 1990, when I was six years old, there were only two ecological problems that I was aware of: acid rain, and the hole in the ozone layer. Both of those issues have, to some extent, been solved by new technology. But what hasn’t changed at all was the real cause of those issues: human consumption of fossil fuels, and the over-use of chemicals. Since 1990 our culture has changed dramatically, our access to information has never been better, and our connectivity to one another and the rest of the world is almost beyond belief – yet when it comes to the environment, we’ve merely replaced one chemical with another rather than change our behaviour. And these are for our environmental successes: there remain the issues of deforestation, destructive mining practices, extinction of species, and of course climate change, that we’ve hardly begun to address.

Since 1990 we have seen some improvements in the way we think: attitudes about things like recycling and smoking have changed dramatically. Green has become chic. But attitudes and actions do not always go together, and if we want to live responsibly in this world, they must. I don’t expect human behaviour to change as quickly as technology, or even as quickly as attitudes; meaningful trends take longer to develop than fashion or technology. But what if we didn’t wait for the trend to develop, and instead were intentional about making a change, as individuals, as communities, and as a nation? If we set our minds to it, there doesn’t seem to be much that we can’t accomplish in a very short time. Let’s make the next 20 years count.

Jeff Wheeldon

So Why Not Garden?

Interest in gardening in the South East is growing. Participants in last week’s Urban Organic Gardening Workshop in Steinbach shared information and ideas on a wide range of topics related to gardening. These included raised beds, vertical gardening, composting, inter-planting, companion planting, crop rotation and many more. Lots of enthusiasm there!

Yet it seems that many in our region find reasons enough not to grow their own food, a habit that their parents and grandparents took for granted. What are those reasons and how can we keep them from becoming excuses?

Food is still relatively cheap in the grocery stores. Yes, this is true, but food prices are rising quickly. As the price of fuel and fertilizers continue to climb, which they undoubtedly will, so will the price of food, especially food imported from afar. The rich will still likely be able to buy what they want, but others will find it increasingly difficult to acquire the food they need. Getting a head start on growing your own food is a smart move.

I am too busy to garden. How true it is that our modern lives are too busy. But we really do have some control over how busy we make our lives and what priorities we choose. There is something about gardening that forces you to slow down, savor the beauty and bounty of nature and discover an amazingly generous and delightful community together with other gardeners.

My yard is not big enough for a garden. I am troubled by the fact that most of the housing developments in our area assume that people will not garden and so do not allow for more than a few square feet of yard space. This is a travesty in a land where we still have a lot of elbow room. But even in a small yard, you can raise an amazing amount of food in a small raised bed. Or you can find space in one of our community gardens where you will be warmly welcomed. 

It is just too much work. Right, gardening takes physical exercise – and that is just what the doctor ordered. Our modern aversion to regular exercise lies at the root of many of our physical ills. So some of us run around town, cycle across the country, pump iron at the gym, etc., but can’t imagine doing some purposeful work like digging in a garden. Many have mostly forgotten the joy of actually “feeling” their muscles once in a while!

I don’t know how. I have met many people who say they just haven’t got a clue about gardening because they have never seen it done. But it’s never too late to learn, and there are still plenty of teachers around. Check with older family members or friends - they still know how. You could contact members of the South Eastman Transition Initiative or the Steinbach and Area Garden Club who are ready to help you transition toward growing some of your own food.

No excuses left! And it’s not too late to get started this spring..

Jack Heppner

Loosening Corporate Grip

In an article, “The Corporation As Psychopath,” Michael Jessen states, “Our economic system will eventually change. As currently structured, the system is unsustainable for both people and the planet.

Believe it or not, there was a time when corporations did not exist. Now “…they determine what we wear, where we work, what we read, what we listen to, what we watch, and what we do.” Many corporations are larger and more powerful than most countries. One result is political apathy in western democracies because people sense that their governments are mostly incapable of loosening the corporate grip on society.

In law, a corporation is defined as a “person” and, according to Noam Chomsky, “…its legally defined mandate is to pursue its self-interest regardless of who or what suffers as a result of its actions.”

In his ground-breaking book, “The Corporation: the Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power,” Joel Bakan asks the question what kind of a “person” a corporation might be. Using standard checklists for personality types and mental disorders, he concludes the corporation is a psychopathic personality.

“A Corporation has a callous unconcern for the feelings of others, an incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, a reckless disregard for the safety of others, a pattern of deceitfulness, an incapacity to experience guilt and a failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviour.”

Such psychopaths are normally locked up to protect the public. But in the corporate world they are allowed to dictate to the rest of us how we should live. Sad that many are willing to march to the beat of a psychopath’s drum.

Fortunately there is a push back beginning to happen. Within the corporate world there is a lot of window dressing going on right now to appease our new consciousness about social and environmental sustainability. A lot of money is being spent on “cleaning up the corporate image.” A case in point: change the traditional designation of “tar sands” to “oil sands.” And, hey, Walmart is going “Green!” But there is reason to be skeptical. The bottom line is still what share-holders care about, not much else.

Here and there corporations have gone through a conversion of sorts and have in fact incorporated social and environmental sustainability into their mandate. For example, Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, the world’s largest carpet manufacturing company, is determined to “give back to the planet instead of taking from it.” Such corporations will survive into the future. Psychopaths will eventually be “locked up.”

Meanwhile there are a lot of things we as individuals can do to loosen the corporate grip on our lives.

1. Resist the temptation to buy needless goods and services psychopaths thrust at us.
2. Avoid doing business with multi-national corporations as much as possible.
3. Buy needed goods and services from local people and businesses you know personally.
4. Reduce your need to accumulate ever-more stuff, especially stuff from a distance.
5. Recycle, share and cooperate.
6. Petition lawmakers to limit the powers of corporations.

Jack Heppner

The Importance of Home Gardening

Recently a class of bright-eyed Grade 2 students met me at the community garden.  They came to check out the plot they will be seeding this spring.  They eagerly surveyed the freshly dug dirt and had visions of perfect orange globes on trailing pumpkin vines filling their plot and reaching beyond. 

This early gardening experience comes at a crucial time for these children.  They will come into contact with a local source for their food supply.  In their future the skill of growing their own food will likely become ever more essential.  As we see the gas prices rise there will be increases in the cost of production and in the long distance hauling of the fresh foods that we demand year round.  We can be sure food prices will spiral up.  Growing more food ourselves can substantially contribute to decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels. 

The new life skills of these young gardeners will contribute to their healthy life-style.  Experience has shown that children involved in gardening increase their vegetable consumption.  It’s a “Vitamin- D Sport” in this outdoor classroom.  Food production knowledge can be shared among gardeners of all ages.  They are joining a social network where they are contributing to a healthy community and a healthy planet.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency announced last week that the world food price index reached an all-time high in February.  An estimated 44 million people have been pushed into poverty since last June because of rising food prices.  With the continuing effects of climate change there is an expected decline in the global output of agricultural products resulting in food shortages and increased food prices.  In 2007 and 2008 similar shortages led to food riots in a number of countries in the developing world.  This of course needs to be addressed on a global scale.  But we can begin now with awareness and some action -- grow some of our own food. 

Do you remember picking and eating that vine-ripened heirloom tomato in your garden last summer?  Wow – the flavour was great!  No insecticides, chemical or toxins!  Just a real tomato grown in sunshine in soil enriched with composted organic matter.  When you grow your own food you can eat with healthy confidence!  We need to take a stand against the petroleum-based agriculture that big business forces on us with the resulting environmental and health consequences.

More people are experiencing the delight of the “seed to table” experience as they dig up part of their back (or front!) yards.  Others reserve a plot in a community garden or join a community supported agriculture program.  If you have garden space that you don’t use why not make it available to someone?  Need help with gardening chores or problems?  Gardeners are always ready to help.

Local experienced gardeners will be sharing their best practices at an “in garden” organic gardening workshop.  Join us on Thursday May 26,  7pm at 69 Westdale in Steinbach. Check our web site for more information.

Ernie Klassen