Yesterday at lunch, I was asked if I drove a hybrid (I don't own one, but have driven them), and then asked whether I thought that hybrids were "the answer" or just a fad. Here are the basics of my answer:
First, the places where we live and work (whether cities or suburban communities) need to be redesigned to allow for more mass and alternative transportation. We need our streets to be places where people can walk, bike, take the bus (or train) as well as drive a car. If we continue to design only for autos, we will continue to have problems.
Second, if an individual chooses to drive a car, they should make sure that the choice of vehicle fits their needs. For me, most of my driving is highway driving - and this is not where hybrids have an advantage. So I chose a compact car that gets decent mileage on the highway. Hybrids can be very efficient in cities, where the electric motor is an advantage over short distances and the stop and go driving that is typical in urban areas.
So my thought is that while hybrid cars are not the answer, they can be an important piece of the puzzle. More importantly (as with most things environmental) there is a greater need for all of us to adjust our thinking about cars. Our current culture still likes to promote power and "cool" over function - instead of choosing based on what we need, we go for what we want. Transportation is a significant contributor to air pollution, and this country needs to commit to changing our behavior related to cars in order to make things better.
2/10/10
Good Coffee
When you talk about reducing the impact of your favorite food/beverage, the best way to do that is to either grow it yourself or find someone near you who does and buy it from them. Unfortunately, last I checked, there were no coffee plantations in southern Indiana. In cases like this, the next best thing is to find a local shop that does the best they can to reduce their impact and buy from them.
My Favorite -
Heine Brothers Coffee is my "go to" local coffee shop - and when you take a look at what these folks are doing, it is pretty amazing. To start with, HBC offers organic and fair trade certified coffee - that in of itself might not seem like a big deal since there are a lot of coffee stores/producers doing the same. But when you go into a HBC store, they have pictures, stories and handmade goods from the people that they buy the coffee from. You start to get a sense of the human impact of growing coffee. Many of the best regions for growing coffee are areas where poverty is the rule, not the exception. But when folks like HBC support local cooperatives of growers by providing a fair wage, you can start to make a real difference.
But the story doesn't end there. HBC took one of their biggest wastes and is in the process of turning it into an asset. The HBC stores produce a lot of used coffee grounds, and the HBC founders weren't satisfied with just tossing this into the garbage. Instead, they started a non-profit called Breaking New Grounds - the mission of BNG is to grow food, grow farmers and grow jobs. BNG takes the coffee grounds and mixes them with food waste from local grocery stores and turns them into compost using worms. They sell this compost in their stores to help support their primary mission of creating urban vegetable gardens. By locating gardens in areas that have limited access to fresh produce, they can improve the diets of those in the surrounding community (positively impacting human health). BNG can also train people to grow vegetables and flowers (producing local jobs and improving the local economy) and set up programs to help out at risk populations (such as youth, or people integrating back into society).
What you can do -
For those out there looking to do some good, first stop is to check your own backyard. There are lots of farmer's markets and other places where you can find fresh, local food. And make sure that you give the local stores a chance - for so many of us, we have allowed the major chains to become our default choice for whatever item we need. While those large companies have their place (and their advantages), local businesses can often do things in a very different way. And that can be a good thing, as seen by our friends at HBC.
And when you do find a great local option, let your friends know. As consumers, we need to reward those businesses that are doing good. So raise a cup of (very tasty, organic, fair trade, shade grown) coffee and salute your favorite local business!
My Favorite -
Heine Brothers Coffee is my "go to" local coffee shop - and when you take a look at what these folks are doing, it is pretty amazing. To start with, HBC offers organic and fair trade certified coffee - that in of itself might not seem like a big deal since there are a lot of coffee stores/producers doing the same. But when you go into a HBC store, they have pictures, stories and handmade goods from the people that they buy the coffee from. You start to get a sense of the human impact of growing coffee. Many of the best regions for growing coffee are areas where poverty is the rule, not the exception. But when folks like HBC support local cooperatives of growers by providing a fair wage, you can start to make a real difference.
But the story doesn't end there. HBC took one of their biggest wastes and is in the process of turning it into an asset. The HBC stores produce a lot of used coffee grounds, and the HBC founders weren't satisfied with just tossing this into the garbage. Instead, they started a non-profit called Breaking New Grounds - the mission of BNG is to grow food, grow farmers and grow jobs. BNG takes the coffee grounds and mixes them with food waste from local grocery stores and turns them into compost using worms. They sell this compost in their stores to help support their primary mission of creating urban vegetable gardens. By locating gardens in areas that have limited access to fresh produce, they can improve the diets of those in the surrounding community (positively impacting human health). BNG can also train people to grow vegetables and flowers (producing local jobs and improving the local economy) and set up programs to help out at risk populations (such as youth, or people integrating back into society).
What you can do -
For those out there looking to do some good, first stop is to check your own backyard. There are lots of farmer's markets and other places where you can find fresh, local food. And make sure that you give the local stores a chance - for so many of us, we have allowed the major chains to become our default choice for whatever item we need. While those large companies have their place (and their advantages), local businesses can often do things in a very different way. And that can be a good thing, as seen by our friends at HBC.
And when you do find a great local option, let your friends know. As consumers, we need to reward those businesses that are doing good. So raise a cup of (very tasty, organic, fair trade, shade grown) coffee and salute your favorite local business!
2/3/10
Living Without
A couple of stories caught my eye recently about "normal" people who gave up money. Let me say that again - of their own free will, they have stopped using money. For anything. In the US, we have Daniel Suelo; and in the UK we have Mark Boyle.
Both are really interesting stories, and if I am honest with myself there is a certain appeal. Neither man is tied down to a job - each spends his time taking care of what they need for that day. There is time for quiet reflection, for reading/studying, for spending time in nature, etc. On one hand it brings up questions like this - If I were to "unplug" from this consumer culture, maybe it would bring me closer to God? If I truly put my faith and trust in Him and allowed Him to provide my daily bread, how blessed would I be?
But these stories also bring up other thoughts - two big ones come to mind:
WASTE - because our society throws away a lot of stuff that is good, people like Daniel and Mark can provide for their food and clothing, fuel, entertainment, whatever. As a society, we waste a lot - at home, at work, restaurants, shops, etc.
Both are really interesting stories, and if I am honest with myself there is a certain appeal. Neither man is tied down to a job - each spends his time taking care of what they need for that day. There is time for quiet reflection, for reading/studying, for spending time in nature, etc. On one hand it brings up questions like this - If I were to "unplug" from this consumer culture, maybe it would bring me closer to God? If I truly put my faith and trust in Him and allowed Him to provide my daily bread, how blessed would I be?
But these stories also bring up other thoughts - two big ones come to mind:
WASTE - because our society throws away a lot of stuff that is good, people like Daniel and Mark can provide for their food and clothing, fuel, entertainment, whatever. As a society, we waste a lot - at home, at work, restaurants, shops, etc.
- Maybe it's because stuff is "too cheap" - there is no value to these things, or they don't cost us enough, or they don't last long enough. So it becomes easy to toss something when it becomes faded or "uncool"
- Maybe it's because there's just too much stuff - obviously we don't need these things to survive if we can simply pitch them out the door on a whim
- Maybe it's because we don't have the right incentives in place to keep businesses from wasting stuff; restaurants and groceries shouldn't be so worried about violating food safety laws that they throw away food because it is past an artificial date
PEOPLE - the stories about Daniel and Mark are interesting to most of us, because these men chose to give up money. But how many people out there right now didn't make that choice for themselves? There are a lot of people out there doing what these guys are doing, but because they go by a different name (the homeless) they don't get the same level of attention. There are people who on a daily basis don't get enough to eat; don't have access to clean water; don't have a secure shelter to spend the night in; don't get education or work. And yet, I can toss something because it's "out of style".
Once again, I am reminded that the choices I make each day have an impact on myself and others. And if I am not aware of how dire the consequences can be, I will often make poor choices. Jesus put it very simply when he told his disciples to "Love your neighbor as yourself". Now I just have to go and live that out, one day at a time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
