At 01:18 PM 2003-10-02 -0500, Diane wrote A prayer for First Worlders, to this LessIsMore list {at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/11831 after signing-in} :- > A truthful prayer before meals: > >I am sorry, God, for my intentional and unintentional participation in the current world market that has brought this food produced often through environmentally dangerous and negative farming practices, packaged in resource and environmentally unfriendly containers and harvested in many cases by underpaid, abused migrant and alien labor to my table - a table at which I often consume food in unnecessary amounts and even waste it. > >As penance and in hopes of redeeming myself for participation in this daily tragedy which contributes to the unequal distribution of the bounty You do supply, I will strive, with the help of Your grace, to use the energy created by this food in my body to serve someone other than myself and, whenever possible, those in greatest need. > >God, please continue through the Holy Spirit, to work with me on my conversion and awareness so that tomorrow I may buy less and eat less. If I accomplish this, my prayer of thanksgiving can truly be one of simple thanks rather than a confession of my indulgence and the over-importance given to me as a first-world resident so obviously demonstrated by the over abundance of out-of-season, imported, transported and over packaged food on my table. > >May God forgive me for what I am about to do. > >Amen. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 07:25 AM 2003-10-03 +1200, David wrote: · "May God forgive me for what I am about to do" describes almost everything I am thinking of doing, that involves use of materials or energy {though in my case I do it without thinking of a god}. David. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 03:37 PM 2003-10-02 -0400, Molly wrote: ... Like David (except that I do think about God), I often ask God to forgive me for what I am about to do or am doing, more so when driving than eating though. I feel I cause such violence through almost every action I take, no matter how 'innocent' or innocuous it seems. I sent it to friends as a real prayer. ~ Molly - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 08:30 AM 2003-10-03 -0500, Jill wrote {at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/11845 } Molly, ... I often approach things with a mix - with gratefulness awareness for all that went into producing it, with thankfulness for the preciousness of it, and with guilt (thus my laugh while reading it) for the many ways in which it is harmful along the way. With an awareness of the transient nature of the wealth we enjoy right now. The more my diet reflects "appropriate" food, the less guilt and the more gratefulness I feel. I am attempting to look at my actions these days in an affirming way, as so often I look at them with a critical/condemning way. I am thinking that this is a way that will reenergize my efforts towards sustainability. Can others think about the steps that they have taken, therefore setting other possibilities before us that we may not have thought of? I need to take many more steps to take to live more gently on the planet, but here are some steps that I have been acknowledging the past few days - and each have their tradeoffs. 1) Lowering our electric useage - a general trend, with some months without a lowering. Each month I compare this month's useage with the useage from last year. 2) Purchasing some 'green energy' each month, an option from our electric company 3) Purchasing cars with higher MPG than formerly as the old ones died, and and doing research to purchase models that have a track record and will last. 4) Taking my mug with me on trips so that I don't use throw-away cups for coffee, etc. 5) Taking mugs and bowls and plates when we have an event where we eat - for instance, yesterday morning we had a land protection exploratory meeting, and I took homemade applesauce from our tree, with small canning jars and spoons to eat it. 6) Eating what meat we eat from local producers (we rarely eat meat at home), and cutting down on meat I eat at restaurants. 7) Growing and harvesting a fair amount of food, even as I cut down on my gardening 8) Being supportive of my children and my husband 9) Finding "helpful" employment that is not involved in consumerism 10) Working to educate myself, and share what I learn, about possible solutions to the many problems of our consumer society, helping to put a positive vision before myself and others 11) Eliminating our use of paper towels in our house - moving to cloth napkins and rags 12) Offering services (food and pies - made with organic and homegrown ingredients) for auction fundraisers, rather than 'stuff' 13) Buying a winding rechargeable flashlight, that should last, and won't produce a series of spent toxic batteries. At times these past years, I find it hard to think about food, prepare it, decide what to eat, let alone what to make. During these times, I tend to 'pick up something' at a store. This is a serious weakness in me, and makes my life unsustainable, not only in terms of nourishment and inputs into that nourishment, but also in terms of upping income needs. But now Fall is coming, and its bounty inspires me. Also, the cold weather inspires me to bake, thus heating our home from the warmth of the oven! So, that is something that I hope to pick up on, a bit. Jill - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 04:50 PM 2003-10-03 -0400, Molly wrote {at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/11851 } :- Jill et al., Some steps I have taken: 1. Keeping and maintaining in good order older cars that get OK gas mileage (mid to high 30s) rather than buy new vehicles (this is really a step my husband takes) 2. Not working for pay, because we don't need the money and I don't need the stress. Volunteering as I feel called so that I bring joy to my work. 3. Spending lots of time most days with friends, walking and sitting in conversation that brings meaning to our lives. Developing a social network and becoming an active participant in a community. 4. Spending time alone, in spiritual practice (prayer, meditation, awareness, writing, etc.). 5. Moving to a town where I can drive much less and walk much more. And then actually doing it. 6. As you mentioned, giving services instead of products as gifts. Or if giving a product, sometimes giving a locally made product or a gift certificate to a local small business. 7. Being aware of and taking joy in small things -- E.g., early this morning as I was walking and talking with a friend whose sister is likely dying of cancer, I saw a maple leaf on the ground that was red on the edges and green in the center, so I picked it up and held it for a while. I took a walk with another friend on the beach this afternoon and we both really enjoyed smelling the sea air. 8. Not eating meat, reducing consumption of pre-packaged foods, although I have a long way to go here. 9. Not buying from most box stores like Wal-Mart 10. Being part of this list and feeling supported and inspired by you all! I have a long way to go on many issues -- We eat out at restaurants a lot, which supports the local economy but also supports waste; my gardening for food has really slacked off since we moved; I don't go to the available farmers' markets very often; we have not switched to green power though we could (not my decision); I order books I could get from the library from big online booksellers and have them shipped to me; I could walk even more than I do but choose to drive some times and some places; etc. ~ Molly - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 09:05 AM 2003-10-05 -0400, Sharon Gordon wrote {at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/11863 } :- Reducing Waste (was: A prayer for First Worlders) This is something I have been working on and would like more ideas on, both for restaurants and personally. As for the waste at restaurants, you might pick a few local ones that you like and see if you can talk to the owners about buying locally in reusable containers, using real dishes and cloth napkins, composting their peelings and using the compost on their landscaping. It's important to talk about how much this can benefit their business as well as the environment. It might also be worth it to produce a directory of green restaurants perhaps giving a score as to where they are on the greenness continuum. For instance a restaurant that gets a 10 on a 0-10 scale might have/do: 1)95+% of food locally, sustainably, organically grown (even better if a significant portion of the produce is grown on land adjacent or within walking distance of the restaurant 2)Fair wages and healthy working conditions 3)Cloth napkins and cloth wipes used in kitchen wherever they are legal 4)Compost all plant peelings 5)Vegan restaurant or separate compost for animal waste including creating bonemeal for on premises or local fertilizer. 6)At least 80% of the menu reasonably healthy food 7)Reusuable dishes and silverware 8)Asks patrons to bring their own reusuable takeout containers or "doggy bag" containers 9)Most patrons can and do walk to restaurant 10)Permaculture landscaping for restaurant 11)Restaurant serves other community building functions such as providing beautiful outdoor eating area, hosts book clubs, sells from rotating art exhibits, has music nights 12)Reusable drink containers, filtered water unless it has a good well For personal strategies, I keep looking at any waste I am creating and then trying to figure out how to eliminate that. I'd be interested in ways people are doing that. Some I do are: 1) Garden and compost 2) Reusable plates, glasses, silverware, cloth napkins 3) Reusuable fridge storage containers 4) Asking people to bring own dishes, cloth napkin to potlucks 5) Kitchen cloths and cleaning cloths 6) Reusuable containers for liquid bulk items 7) Use clothing of natural materials so it can be composted once it is no longer usable as a rag Things I want to do soon 1) Make some cloth bags for items from bulk bins and produce buying in the winter 2) Make wooden seed starting flats (Have been using plastic ones received as gifts, but they fall apart easily) 3) Figure out ways to grow more of food so won't need to ship as much Longer term goals include: 1) Learn to grow own fibers and process to cloth 2) Learn to grow and coppice firewood 3) Solar retrofitting 4) Acquiring additional land for gardening Would love to hear about less common things that you do. Sharon G. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - {Sam's first post "Keeping hot tea hot" on Sep 7, 2003, is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/11488 after signing-in } At 05:19 AM 2003-10-06 -0700, Sam (Samantha Jones) wrote {at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/11872 , "Reducing waste"}: Hi Sharon, I really enjoyed reading about all the things you are doing and plan/hope to do to reduce waste. I believe that if each individual would take responsibility for his/her own waste, the problem would be manageable. For me personally, I do all the same things you do. I use cloth bags for shopping, rags rather than paper towels, and cloth napkins. We are vegetarians, so I am able to grow a lot of my own food, and then can it, freeze it, dry it or store in the root cellar. What food I do buy is bought at a local Mennonite bulk food store, thereby saving on packaging. Even large blocks of cheese can be kept a very long time when stored in vinegar-soaked cheese cloth. Whenever possible, my household products (tp, dish detergent,shampoo and the like) are bought in bulk and I just continue to refill a small container for daily use. I make my own all natural laundry detergent in a recycled 2 gallon icing bucket that I got free from a local bakery, so no more large plastic detergent bottles to throw away, and no chemicals, dyes or fragrances going into my septic system. I wrote the Direct Marketing Assoc and requested that my name be removed from their mailing lists, and not be resold. That has helped cut down the amount of junk mail tremendously! What junk mail we do get, we try to reuse for scratch paper and list making, etc. We have 5 large compost bins made from free pallets and all of our kitchen/garden/lawn wastes go into it, as well as manure and bedding from the horse barn next door. We have an indoor worm bin that we maintain mainly for the amusement of our grandchildren, but also it's handy in the winter, when you don't want to haul the bucket of kitchen scraps to the outside bins. We use their castings as fertilizer on potted plants and in seed starting trays. We roll our black and white newspapers into logs and burn them in our woodstove, we don't buy ANY beverages in bottles or cans, and we recycle plastics and glass at the local recycling center. They still can't take green glass, so we quit buying it altogether. We live in a semi remote area, and there is no garbage pickup here, which suits us fine. It makes US responsible, and that certainly is an incentive to reduce and recycle. We buy all our clothing, except underwear and socks, used, so there is no excess packaging, and we wear that clothing until its a disgrace -tee hee! We are retired, so are fortunate that we don't have to conform in some way to someone else's ideas of what's acceptable and what's not... We (husband Michael and I) no longer cut our hair, choosing instead to just keep it clean and pulled back in a ponytail or braid. (The expense of haircuts had just gotten completely out of hand for us) Nor do I color my hair anymore, and now it is completely gray, although I DO prefer to call it 'silver'- haha! And I quit shaving my legs about a year ago. That one act simplified my life immensely; now I don't have razors and blades to dispose of, I don't have cuts to tend to, and I have eliminated a chore I always hated. We keep bees too, and have found that their presence helps to complete the loop, the cycle of self sufficiency. They pollinate our gardens and orchard, and we harvest their honey for our homemade bread and teas, their excess wax for our candles, and their extra pollen for our health. We are considering a small flock of chickens or guineas in the spring for eggs. I don't spin or weave, but I can do a mean patch, and occasionally some quilting made from old clothing, etc. We have a very simple rainwater cachement system for watering our gardens and orchard, (barrels under the downspouts) and a composting toilet. A gray water system and solar panel would help us to complete the sustainability loop and they are definitely in the future for us. When our current car has to be replaced, (it hit 170k yesterday) I hope to replace it with a hybrid of some sort. Maybe they'll be more affordable by then as well. However, I did see an ad in the paper for a public draft horse and mule sale scheduled for next weekend. lol In the meantime we try really hard to limit our driving, and to combine errands when we do go to town. I would love to hear what other's are doing. All the things we do are easy and don't require any extra thought or planning, once the systems are in place, and the 'bugs' worked out. It's not perfect, but it has cut down on our waste about 95%. One more thing I just thought of that is so easy to do, saves you soo much money and eliminates another recyclable... Buy a good quality water bottle, one made from Lexan. It won't break if dropped, and doesn't take on tastes or odors. Then use it. We take ours everywhere we go. Since we have developed this one habit, I have become so much more aware of the huge number of throw away water bottles I see. We have a water filter on the kitchen faucet, and fill them directly from the tap that way. I gave water bottles with strap holders for Christmas gifts last year, and all the recipients have thanked me over and over. And I'm sure Mother Earth thanks us everytime we use them too. Blessings, Sam