Shopping is Important

2007-02-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

Belief is involuntary. I read that in the New Yorker, a famous philosopher, Churchland, said it. So belief is more like an emotion. I feel, therefore I believe. Some people don't believe in global warming, said a letter writer to the local paper. Just like so many smokers didn't (don't?) believe that cigarettes can kill you.

When you're invested in a belief, like you believe you need a giant car, you have a hard time believing that your big car is contributing to climate change. Conflicting beliefs, like conflicting emotions, just don't feel good. I believe it's going to take a long time for many people to feel the urge to make changes that are good for the Earth. I hope it doesn't take too long.

2007-02-03T11:15:00.000-08:00

Do you have a filing system? I just re-did mine and it only took about an hour. The old system wasn't working for me. It went like this: OMG I can't deal with this now! Shove paper into Do Soon v. Things to File v. Taxes piles. Around first of the month, go through Do Soon pile and pay bills just in time or late. Go through Things to File pile when I can't find something. I spent way too much time going through my Things to File pile because I never filed anything. (To tell the absolute truth, I do file stuff about the kids and the cat in easily accessible folders near the mail table.)

The Taxes pile was the only good thing about this system, because I cleared it out every year. I just cleared out 2006, and it led to my discovery of the best filing system ever (patent pending). All it requires is one folder per year. I went through my Things to File pile and sorted by year. Before you laugh at how many years I sorted, let me tell you the reason I had to sort through so many years: 9/11. Right after 9/11, my investment guy told me I probably shouldn't open my statements for a while, which I extended into more than 5 years. For tax reasons, I did open them a few times a year. But I had a pile of about 30 I hadn't opened since 9/11. So, yes, I got out 6 folders and marked them 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. I sorted the Things to File pile into these 6 folders, and now I'm done.

I have concluded that there is absolutely NO reason to sort your papers into separate files for your bills, your insurance, your bank statements, whatever. It's either related to your Taxes or it's not. At the end of the year, go through your Things to File pile and see if anything is in there that should have gone into the Taxes pile. Scoop up the rest, put it in a folder, and shove it in a drawer. Don't be tempted to file any of it. It's a waste of time.

What does this have to do with Shopping? If you have the world's simplest filing system, you will only file once a year, and you will have more time for other things like spending your $ wisely on locally produced products or growing your own veggies.

2007-01-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

Did you know??? Only about 10% of the fossil fuel energy used in the world's food system is used in production; the other 90% goes into packaging, transportation, and marketing. Buy local! Check out foodroutes.org and enter their Buy Local Challenge. You can enter their drawing to win a free box of local food. I just did!

Today I picked up my box of local farm grown food. For $20 I got bok choy, strawberries, arugula, romaine lettuce, oranges, apples, carrots, cabbage, and celery. Enough for 2 weeks, and it stays fresh that long because it didn't have to travel a zillion miles before it got to me. Oh, BTW, it's all organically grown and really delicious. Join a community-supported agriculture group and get your own box of veggies. Or grow your own, even better! What are you having for dinner tonight?

2007-01-16T15:09:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of simpleliving.net? It's not the glossy magazine, Real Simple, that has a lot of products you "need" to be organized. I get the simpleliving newsletter, which is about ways to reduce your standard of living to simplify your life so you can live according to your values. I think people who have read Your Money or Your Life get the values message without much introduction, but those who haven't read it might think that it's just Real Simple Cheap. An article in the latest issue of the newsletter is really sticking with me. The author lives so frugally that he doesn't pay federal taxes. The reason he does this is because it's against his principles to pay for the war in Iraq. The title of the article is Your War Doesn't Fit into my Budget, Frugal Living as a Form of Tax Resistance. Here's a factoid from the article: the average American household has given $4000 toward the Iraq war effort so far. My conscience is bothering me. How do you feel?

http://www.simpleliving.net/news/2007_january_february.asp#03

2007-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

We did a little furniture shopping! After admiring Nutalie's beauteous hand-crafted David Marsh cabinets and shelves for years, we got ourselves one of his coffee tables. He makes furniture from wood reclaimed from barns and old houses and teaches young people the craft of carpentry. Not just hammering and nailing, but decorating the pieces with colorful swirls and beads. When it's all done, everyone who worked on the piece signs his or her name inside or underneath. Sometimes there are groovy messages, like the ones we got: "Ha!" "Quazi" and "Boing Ding!" "That's to tell the customer," says Marsh, "if you don't love it, don't buy it, and to remind the worker, if it's not fun, don't do it." He adds: "Joyfullness is not an accident!"

To create something joyfully! What a great message to pass on. We got much more than a coffee table. Thanks, all you furniture crafters in Austin!

2007-01-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Happy 2007! Well, my little corner of the world has lots to be happy about, relatively healthy, wealthy, and wise, etc. But today I can't stop thinking about the 3000 Americans who've died in Iraq and the 800,000 Iraqis who've died (iraqibodycount.org) since we invaded that country. How is this related to ShoppingisImportant? Maybe we wouldn't be over there if we didn't have an addiction to oil. Maybe if we shopped more carefully (buy local!) in fuel-efficient cars we wouldn't need as much mideast oil.

We need to shop very carefully for our next president. Anyone who thinks that Al Gore's presidency would have been no different from GWB's isn't paying attention (not sure about Kerry...). The way I see it, the democratic dominated congress and senate have about a year to show the people who voted for them that democrats can run the country better than republicans. If they can't do that, we're going to get another republican in the white house. It's up to us to hold our representatives accountable. Let them know what you think! And if you decide you like one of the presidential hopefuls, vote with your $ and send them a few bucks. Shop, then vote as if our future depends on it.

2006-12-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Greetings of the season! We're enjoying the solstice/festivus/Xmas, etc. Holiday with a real tree (though 2 of us argued for an artificial one). I rushed around a little earlier in the month and then had to stop rushing and start icing post knee surgery. Between vicodins I've had time to read, enjoy visitors, and reflect on where I want to put my energy in the new year. It's like trying to figure out the unified field theory of effort. I know when it feels right. Like buying gifts at the alternative gift fairs. Like using all the veggies in my Community Supported Agriculture box and sneaking some into my family's dinners. Like spending time with friends making gingerbread houses. I know when it feels wrong. Like making an extra car trip to pick up unhealthy, unappetizing food because I know that's what my family will eat. Like going to order/pay/eat restaurants where they process the processed food from the central warehouse. Like buying stuff made who knows where under who knows what working conditions and resulting in who knows what kind of environmental consequences.

How will we know when more people are voting with their $? The parking lots at malls and big box stores will be empty. People will shop at farmers' markets and will cook at home. When they go out to eat, it will be to restaurants that bought their food at the farmers' market. People will eat less meat and only meat from farms that treat their animals in a humane way. (Vegans, go to this link for "how we will know" http://www.veganstreet.com/funhouse/veganrevolution.html). People will demand to know to whom and to what institutions they are giving their $.

When I figure out the unified theory of effort, I'll let you know. In the meantime, enjoy your Holiday in whatever way it's meaningful for you.

2006-12-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

This came from a jolly good fellow UU, HoHoHo...

For My Conservative Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

For My Liberal Friends:
"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for
an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday,
practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion
of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the
religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice
not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a
fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated
recognition of the of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not
without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose
contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that
America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America
in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color,
age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.
By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is
subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no
alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to
actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and
is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of
the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual
application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance
of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is
limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole
discretion of the wisher."

2006-12-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

It's holiday shopping time! You can choose how to spend your $. Go to the mall and give your $ to people who get their merchanidise from wherever, or you can go to an alternative gift fair and buy fair trade items that directly benefit the craftspeople who made them. I'm going to 3 alternative gift fairs this year. I've bought gifts from Uganda, Chile, and India. They're just as nice as anything I could get at the mall. Look into thekarmamarket.com and find out what fair trade aims for - a living wage for everyone. Who could be against that?

It's too late to see Fast Food Nation. We saw it with about 5 strangers last weekend. It was delicious and disturbing. When you go to Mickey D's, you're not just getting food that's bad for you, you're supporting a system that rewards ranchers for keeping their cattle in crowded unsanitary feedlots, that forces slaughterhouses to hire undocumented workers to keep the food cheap, and the advertising machine that keeps people going there. Instead of playing that game, give your $ directly to farmers through a Community Supported Agriculture group in your area. Search CSA and Your Town to hook up to organic veggies delivered to your home or close to it that come directly from the farmer who grew them. Healthy, cheap, and delicious.

Shopping is Important is taking most of December off to devote more time to careful shopping. My wish for you (and for myself) for 2007 is to make time to consider whether your actions are consistent with your values. I think this is one thing that draws people to church on Christmas eve. If you haven't been to church in a while, check it out. We found the UU on Christmas eve 3 years ago, and it's made a wonderful difference in our lives. The UU is not for everyone. Shop for the church that's right for you. Happy Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, Winter Solstice!

2006-11-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Buy Nothing Day. We spent it attempting family fun, which didn't work out to be as fun as we thought, but we tried. It's hard to tempt a teen and pre-teen with the prospect of a beautiful drive and lunch out. You don't want the gory details. Bottom line, the 11-year old is grounded for a week. The 16-year old has to wait 5 extra days to get his driver's license once he's ready. Lame? Yes. I feel like I should go back to parenting school. Oh wait, there is no parenting school. I think what I'm trying to say here is that we're suffering the effects of getting caught up in the hi-tech culture. When we got all these electronic toys and gradually stopped doing outdoor things together (though we keep trying), we were setting up the exact situation we had yesterday: kids literally kicking and screaming in the car. Buy Wisely Every Day. Shopping is Important.

Glad I received this photo of me from the home build; it lifted my spirits. I'll post more when I get them.

2006-11-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

Have you started your Christmas, Chanukah, and Winter Solstice shopping yet? I have. Today, I spent a bunch of $ at an alternative gift fair. Tree seedlings to be planted in Africa or Mexico. Organic coffee. Crafts from Bangladesh, Africa, Mexico. How does that differ from buying crafts at the mall? These are fair trade crafts, with the artisans getting enough of the profit to improve their lives.

The fair was at the Presbyterian church on the other side of the freeway from our UU fellowship. They're much bigger than we are. When people shop for their religious experience, most don't end up at the UU. We don't offer salvation, they do. But I'm not sure that's a major reason people choose their religion. I think it's like food. If it's familiar, it's more palatable. Or if the dogma's not palatable, at least it's comfortable. And this church is big on service and youth involvement, a lot like the UU in this way. Excellent to find much in common with these Christians. We should do more together with people from other local congregations. As Rev. Kathy used to say, what we do during the week is more important than what we say on Sunday.

If you don't have a religion, I recommend shopping for one. Pick one where you feel comfortable and challenged at the same time. Find a congregation that feels like home, a clergy person you like is an added bonus, but it's the congregation that will keep you going. It may take you a long time to find one you like, but keep shopping, it's worth it.

2006-11-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

A vegetarian friend sent this from earthsave.org. Something to think about as we approach the season of eating. I'm not saying everyone should stop eating meat, I'm saying we should broaden our food choices so that we eat less meat. Delicious and healthy vegetarian food is out there. Give it a try!

"Methane and Vegetarianism
By far the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane, and the number one source of methane worldwide is animal agriculture.

Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled. Whereas human sources of CO2 amount to just 3% of natural emissions, human sources produce one and a half times as much methane as all natural sources. In fact, the effect of our methane emissions may be compounded as methane-induced warming in turn stimulates microbial decay of organic matter in wetlands—the primary natural source of methane.

With methane emissions causing nearly half of the planet’s human-induced warming, methane reduction must be a priority. Methane is produced by a number of sources, including coal mining and landfills—but the number one source worldwide is animal agriculture. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And this source is on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of abating. About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous. An additional 15% of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the massive “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste, and already a target of environmentalists’ for their role as the number one source of water pollution in the U.S."

2006-11-05T21:01:00.000-08:00

Election day is on Tuesday. How could you miss the signs? Many of us take time to evaluate how we'll vote, especially on those propositions. Done right, this is time-consuming, but gratifying to have an opinion and express it.

Election day comes a few times a year and good citizens cast their votes because it's our right and privilege to vote. But you don't have to wait for election day to cast your votes. You can vote every day with your $. Imagine you've been given a ballot when you go to the store. You can tell the makers of unhealthy food that you don't want their lousy products. You can tell the organic farmers that they should plant more veggies because you care about the Earth and your family's health.

Just like voting on election day, you may feel like your little vote doesn't make much of a difference, but your economic vote cast every time you shop eventually does add up. Grab your cloth bags and go shopping. It's important.

2006-11-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

Nutalie and family just moved. Close by instead of far away, thank the goddess. It's been really hard for her for reasons she writes about on her chickenblog. She's moved 3 times in the 10 years I've known her and each time I feel for her, but also have a bit of envy. Ahhh to start over in a new place. We haven't done that in almost 14 years. And as of last night, it's even less likely we'll move for a long time. That's right, we did what millions are doing all over the US: we got a home equity loan.

Here's what our financial advisor (aka broker) told us. It's important to get one of these loans when you don't need it because you can't get one when you do need it. Here's what he hasn't been telling us all these years. Spend less, save more and you'll never need a home equity loan. And here we are, with an empty backyard and a contractor who likes to be paid for his work (the nerve!). And the broker devil was whispering to us, go ahead, get the loan, don't shop for it, Morgan Stanley will make it easy for you. Think of the security you'll feel when you have college tuition due. You'll know it's there, you use it now and pay it back later, you're going to love it!

I'll tell you something that convinced me to get this loan. We're not getting any younger. Our #1 son will be ready for college in less than 2 years making extra $ hard to find. So it started to seem like it was now or never to remodel the yard. And maybe we're going overboard, with a fountain and flagstone and the rest, but hey, there's no pool, no spa. It's mostly flowers. And as I get older, it's easier to imagine my golden years outside in the yard growing stuff. It's an investment, I tell myself, with visible rewards. What kind of shopping (or not shopping) rationalizations are you using?

2006-10-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I shopped at the Calimex in Tijuana. The UU youth and friends built a house for a lovely, deserving family, and I helped with the cooking for 40 people, ages 11-55. There was lots of shopping to do for the omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans. Most of it was done in the US, but I'm glad we bought the last few things in Mexico so I could have the fish-out-of-water experience. Even with my little bit of Spanish and a fluent Spanish speaker at my side, we couldn't get across that we wanted some fresh tortilla chips! Never mind, we ate pretty well and built a very sweet little blue house. I hope the kids got a lot out of it, I know I did.

It was uncomfortable at the building site, dusty and rocky, garbage all over, no place to take the kind of break we're used to. Here, we have the luxury of taking our creature comforts for granted. There, I was reminded that most of the world doesn't have that luxury.

The senora of the family we built for said all her life she worked for everything she had, and now she has been given a house. She feels very blessed in her heart. She's a mother like me, but she was born on the other side of the border, so her life is very different. We served lunch together. It was really meaningful for me to recognize that she and I have so much in common despite the superficial differences.

One of the dads had this perspective. Imagine your house burns down and a big group of people shows up at your land. They don't speak your language, but they stay for 2 days and build you a new house. Then they leave, and you never see them again. Here's the thing, it wasn't just us who built the house. There were some Mexican Christian missionaries and their friends who spent their weekend helping us. Many of us were quite unskilled at carpentry, etc. These gracious people came to help us help this family, because that's what you do in Mexico. The word goes out that someone needs help and whoever can help does help. Aren't they rich in this way?

Think about this when you're shopping. How lucky you are to bring your groceries back to your big warm house, to have running water, to be as clean as you want to be. Think about what your life would be like if the dice had rolled the other way and you lived on the other side of the border. And yet, they may have financial poverty, but they have a richness of spirit that is hard to find here.

2006-10-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

Nutalie wants to know how high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is made. University of Iowa's Professor Johnson explains it in (guess where) The Omnivore's Dilemma. The corn is soaked in water containing sulphur dioxide. The swollen kernels are ground in a mill. At this step, the germ (containing all the vitamins) is removed, dried, and then squeezed for corn oil, bottled straight or hydrogenated into margarine. The ground kernels are filtered, and gluten is extracted for use in animal feed.
The rest of the corn becomes cornstarch, then acid is added to break it down into glucose. The glucose can be transformed by enzymes into fructose. HFCS is a blend of 55% fructose and 45% glucose, which tastes exactly as sweet as sucrose.

Some of the cornstarch is sold as is, most becomes HFCS, and some is modified to become adhesives, coatings, plastics, thickeners, gels, and "viscosity control agents" for food. Another portion becomes maltodextrin and maltose. A full tenth of the US corn crop becomes ethanol for fuel. To make every calorie of food processed from corn, 10 calories of fossil fuel energy must be burned.

Who eats all the sugars, starches, and food additives? The industrial eater, a "supremely adapted creature: the eater of processed food." Turning cheap corn into complex food systems makes people spend more $ for the same number of calories, making the food processor rich, but not the farmer.

Be careful what you ask for, Nutalie!

2006-10-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th! A great time for a few scary facts about the food chain and our participation in it (all from The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan). Read them if you dare, moohahaha...

1. McNuggets (and other chicken nuggets created by Tyson foods)are made up of 38 ingredients. Thirteen are derived from corn, some are derived from petroleum, others are unpronouncable. One ingredient, TBHQ, is added to help preserve freshness; it's a form of butane (lighter fluid) that the FDA allows on our food in small quantities. Unfortunate fact: one gram of TBHQ (less than an ounce) can make you sick; five grams of it (a few ounces) can kill.

2. When you eat corn directly, without processing it first, you consume all the energy in the corn. But when you feed that corn to a steer or a chicken, 90% of its energy is lost. The amount of food energy lost in the making of a chicken mcnugget could feed a great many people. For every edible pound a steer gains in its short life (about 14 months), he eats 14 pounds of corn. At slaughter, steers weigh hundreds of pounds.

3. A mcgrilled chicken breast is injected with a flavor solution that contains maltodextrin, dextrose, and MSG.

4. Why so many food products based on corn? Our tax dollars subsidize the farmers who grow corn (most of which goes to feed steers, chickens, and pigs), but not the farmers who grow other vegetables, organic or not. Clever food scientists have come up with ways to use up all the surplus corn by making it into high fructose corn syrup (look for it in almost all processed foods) and other products your body doesn't need.

5. These days, 19% of all meals are eaten in the car.

Hungry? Me too. I'm going to stop eating processed foods...right after I make that Duncan Hines cake for my son's birthday.

2006-10-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Does simple living mean less shopping or more shopping? Here are some ideas from that workshop I went to.

Simple living is:
1. Not easy.
2. About choices.
3. Mindful living.
4. A process, not an end goal.
5. Enjoying what you have.
6. Identifying what is "enough".
7. Removing what you don't want.
8. Adding in what you do want.

Our UU green sanctuary group had a potluck last night, and we shared what simple living practices are working for us. One mom described the morning's trip to the farmer's market with her small children. They tasted and bought organically grown fruits and veggies. They spoke to the farmers who grow what they sell. The kids had fun and the family had a great time together. She said it's mornings like this that remind her that enrolling your kids in soccer or T-ball is not the only way to raise your children.

Simple living tip from the workshop: Pick a day when your house is really chaotic. Invite a dear friend over and don't clean up before they arrive. Tell them you're so glad they could come over and knew they wouldn't mind your messy house. The important thing is that you are spending time together.

Simple living means doing more careful shopping, less pointless shopping. Think before you choose.

2006-10-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

I went to Disneyland with my family last Saturday. I feel the need to mitigate. Here are some tips for your next shopping trip. I got them from the San Diego Natural Guide (and revised a few). They left one out: bring your cloth bags into the store instead of leaving them in your trunk (like I do too often).

On average,an individual throws out almost 4 pounds of waste a day (almost a ton of garbage per year). Before making a purchase, ask yourself:

1. Do I really need this?
2. Can I borrow it, rent it, or freecycle it?
3. Can it be recycled, reused, or repaired?
4. How much energy and resources were consumed to create this and transport it to me?
5. Can I get it in a form that has recycled content, was grown organically, or has less packaging?
6. Was this product produced in an environmentally sustainable and socially just manner?
7. Even if this product seems sustainable, do I really want my $ to go to this company?

Buy locally and thoughtfully. Tell your kids and your friends.

2006-09-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was at a UU women's retreat. Lots of hiking, workshops, and organic food from their incredible garden. It wasn't hard to eat 8 or 9 servings of fruits and veggies a day. Back home now and only got to 5 today. Hmmmmm.

I went to a simple living workshop. Lots of practical advice I'd already heard. Clarify your values. Stand up for the right to give from the heart, not from the big box store. If it's not useful or beautiful, give it away. Stuff I've heard before. I wished there had been more WHY in the workshop. Why staying out of stores makes time for self=expression. Why thinking before acquiring can give you time to think about whether buying that thing is consistent with your values. Why being consistent with our values affects people around the world, not just ourselves and our families. That's my rant, you know it by now.

So at the workshop, I ranted silently and then did the values clarification workshop. I prioritized the long list of things I've intended to do but haven't done yet. The clarification question was "What will happen if you don't do that thing that's been on your list and still hasn't gotten done?" Many times, my answer was Nothing. So these items can be postponed and the other items move ahead. Unless the answer is something like, I won't be as cool as my friend or something. Then you should probably throw that one off the list.

Keep it simple. Make family and friends your priorities. Shopping is important.

2006-09-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Bummer! I've been feeling all good about eating more veggie and vegan, fewer meat-based meals. Better for the Earth, healthier for us. Let's get smug. But I'm reading this amazing book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. It's about asking ourselves, What Should We Eat? He writes about all the ethical and ecological reasons to eat more tofu and less beef. That decision's easy enough. Then he got to chicken. I was telling my son I read that the chickens raised for meat have a crappy life, but it's much better for them than for the hens that lay eggs. He said, Duh, Mom, didn't you see Napolean Dynamite? Touche, my son. Tonight he made a cake with 3 eggs. Mom, he said, the hens that laid these were free-range, that's good, right? Hmmm, maybe. I read somewhere else that the only requirement for saying your chickens are "free-range" is that you leave the hen house door open for 5 minutes once a day.

To tell the truth, I've never really thought about chicken happiness, never weighed the suffering of animals against my desire to have whatever I want for dinner. To be consistent with the 7th UU principle (the inter-dependent web of all existence), I need to at least acknowledge my responsibility in helping to maintain current factory farm and slaughter practices.

On the brighter side, I learned about a new diet GUARANTEED to take off weight and keep it off. It's so simple and healthy. Eat 10 servings of veggies and fruits every day. Most servings are 1/2 cup, so it's not that hard (they say). Today I had 5 servings before I had some cake. Yum.

2006-09-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Read what others say about Shopping is Important:

"I think what I like most about your site is that at first you think, what the heck is this? How shallow can you be, shopping is important!? Then, in the context of what you write about you get the bigger picture, that having choices, recognizing choices, using your brain to make good decisions about those choices, understanding the privilege to have the opportunity to inform yourself and decide which way you will choose, is, in the political arena, the ultimate goal and reward of democracy, and on a personal level, the height of maturity and an essential part of developing a positive identity. So, shopping is important."

OK, my brother said it, but didn't he say it well? Shop wisely today.

2006-09-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

"Your daily life is your temple and your religion." -Kahlil Gibran

This is what I'm trying to say (and I can't believe I'm quoting Gibran, but there you have it): your actions come straight from your values, good, bad, or all mixed up. What you do every day, what you say and how you say it reflects your personal religion, and it might not totally resemble your church's religion.

UUs are lucky; our values are logically consistent, they're based on personal responsibility - UUs don't expect someone up in the sky to solve our problems for us, we don't have to pick and choose what to embrace in our religion and what to ignore, it's all good. And yet, although our 7 principles are easy to agree with, they are really hard to live by. Or maybe it's just me?

Consider the FIRST PRINCIPLE: The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
and the SECOND PRINCIPLE: Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

When I try to put my $ where my principles are, I come up short. To live the suburban life requires a bunch of $ for the mortgage, for the cars, for the kids. The more $ that goes for this "lifestyle," the less there is to donate to Father Joe or KPBS. And many of us in Suburbia have constructed very busy lives so that there is very little time to spend thinking about where our $ is going and whether we agree or not and if we don't agree, what can we do about it anyway? If I really believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person and in justice, equity, and compassion, wouldn't I be doing more to help those less fortunate than I am? Wouldn't I always buy organic and local? Wouldn't I be willing to pay more so that all workers could earn a living wage?

At some point, we draw the line and say we can only do so much. We're doing as much as we can and that's it. I say make the line soft. When you can, let the feeling of not doing enough stay a little longer. Then think of one more positive thing you can do, and do it.

2006-08-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

ShoppingisImportant has been on vacation. What do cartoonists and columnists do when they go on vacation? They recycle their old stuff. Even easier, I'm going to steal from my good friend Judwhy, who has some excellent suggestions for shopping and etc. Judwhy has a passion for making choices that are good for the Earth and loves to spread the word. Enjoy what remains of the summer!

1. Life Style Choices
• Buying locally-grown organic food so you’re healthier, workers aren’t exposed to pesticides, beneficial insects such as bees that pollinate much of our food aren’t inadvertently wiped out, and fossil fuels aren’t used to transfer the food from long distances
• Buying shade-grown coffee so that rainforests aren’t destroyed to grow coffee
• Buying clothes from Patagonia or American Apparel or other similar companies where the companies work to end abusive labor practices and strive to restore the earth
• Using public transportation or bicycles or walking to decrease CO2 emissions from automobiles
• Upgrading your home with insulation, solar panels, etc. to decrease your need for natural gas and electricity
2. Working with Government
• Encouraging your mayor to join other mayors across the country in recognizing the potential threats of global warming
• Encouraging your city to make walking and bike riding safer
• Helping to establish laws that will encourage use of alternatives to fossil fuels
3. Educating Yourself
• A few books of interest:
• Let My People Go. . . Surfing by Yvonne Chouinard [the man who started the Patagonia stores], The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery [not the baseball player!], Biomimicry by Janine Benyus
• A few magazines of interest:
• UTNE Reader, Natural Home, ODE (haven’t actually read it, but just received a recommendation for it – includes uplifting stories about successful attempts to restore the earth), Home Power
4. Educating Others
• Teaching kids at school, at home, or in their group activities
• Talking to neighbors
• Talking with friends
• Working with your congregation
• Planting trees to absorb CO2, decrease run off, cool the area, etc.
• Getting your book group to read books about the environment
5. Giving Money or Volunteering
• Natural Resources Defense Council (uses law, science, and the support of more than 1 million members and activists to protect the planet's wildlife)
• Tree People (enlists the community to plant trees in Los Angeles to restore watersheds and fragile habitats, bring neighbors together, revitalize inner-city communities, coos and green campuses, and address serious urban issues including water and energy conservation, flood prevention and stormwater pollution.)
• Heiffer International (a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability)
• Coop America (provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to address today's social and environmental problems)

2006-07-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Do people change their minds because they hear some facts? Or do they change their minds because they hear something that touches their hearts? Last week, our guest minister spoke from her heart about feeling our connection to the interdependent web of existence. To have an intellectual understanding of interdependence, just look at the facts. From the Blossoming Lotus cookbook:

"In order to support cattle grazing, South and Central America are destroying their rainforests. These rainforests contain close to half of all the species on Earth and many medicinal plants. Over a thousand species a year are becoming extinct and most of these are from rain forest and tropical settings. This practice also causes the displacement of indigenous peoples who have been living in these environments."

As someone who eats meat and even steak now and then, I need to understand the facts and recognize the impact of my choices on the planet and on the people who live on the planet. If you think all of your beef comes from the US, think again. Also from the Blossoming Lotus:

"Developing nations use land to raise beef for wealthier nations instead of ustilizing that land for sustainable practices."

Last quote from the same book, about something closer to home:

"Half of the water used in the US goes to irrigate land growing feed and fodder for livestock. It takes approximately 2500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of meat. Similarly, it takes approximately 4000 gallons of water to provide a day's worth of food per person for a meat-centered diet, 1200 gallons for a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, and 300 gallons for a Vegan diet."

Facts are helpful, but do they change minds and behavior? Our guest minister proposed that we can deepen our connection to the interdependent web through our relationships with animals. That if we really feel connected to the animals in our lives, we can't help feeling connected to all animals. We'll know in a deeper way that our living spirits come from the same source. In other words, my love for my kitty can extend to all animals (including humans), and my feeling of connectedness and love for the animal world will help me make different choices at the market.

I like the idea of touching hearts to change minds and behavior. The tricky thing is figuring out what affects people in an emotional way. For some, it's connecting to the animals; for others, it's imagining a better world for children and grandchildren. There might be no way to touch the hearts of people who just think about the convenience of today; for those people, we've got to make vegetarian and vegan food easy and delicious. I don't think I'll ever eat a totally vegetarian diet, but I can make more vegetarian choices. It's good for me, good for the animals, and good for the Earth. Spread the word: shopping is important.

2006-07-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

ShoppingisImportant is a guilt-free blog. It's insanely hot around here right now. A lot of people don't have air conditioners because most years, they just weren't needed. So some people are shopping for air conditioners. I say, buy one. There is no point to being uncomfortable in your own house. Yes, they use a ridiculous amount of electricity, and that puts stress on the power grid. Buy an air conditioner anyway, but keep it set at 78 degrees. If you're not comfortable in your house, you won't be searching the internet for ways to retrofit your home so that it will stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Our house was built in the '70s, with essentially no insulation. We got an energy audit and recommendations to make our house more comfortable and energy-efficient. We're getting a new roof next week. There will be plywood sheathing and tar paper under the tiles (instead of nothing) and lots of insulation batting and blown-in insulation. There will be new vents and a solar-powered fan to keep the air moving through so moisture won't collect up there. We should be much more comfortable; I'll let you know.

So do what you have to do to make your life work. Don't feel guilty! Instead, recognize the impact your choices have and try to mitigate it. Get a more fuel-efficient car, even if a hybrid won't work for you. Eat vegetarian and/or vegan a few times a month. Retrofit your life one step at a time and tell your friends what you're doing. MoL8r.

2006-07-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Our Unitarian-Universalist (UU) congregation is shopping for a new minister. Now I'm not sure, maybe you can help me out here, but if a Catholic priest wants a new congregation, I think he has to ask the Bishop for a transfer and pray he gets one that suits him better. Not so with a UU minister! Ours went shopping for a new congregation, kind of like dating on Match.com. She checked them out, they checked her out and they're going for it. I will miss her tremendously and wish her well on her journey to Ohio, where a lucky congregation will hear an eloquent, thoughtful preacher on Sundays.

I like the dating analogy, but I've never shopped for a date on Match.com, so I'm going to compare the minister search with something I have shopped for. Imagine an intergenerational family who have had a few cars over the last 45 years, but for about half that time has had no car at all. To the family elders, not having a car is something that happens periodically. You just pool your $ and rent cars when you need them. You take the train and the bus, or you walk or bike. The younger people think that's a nice idea, but not very practical. Although it may be ok for the short term, in the long run, the family will get another car, so why not get it right away? Another group advocates getting a loaner; some people groan when they recall the last loaner, oy!

The 5th UU principle affirms the use of the democratic process within our congregations, and it's the same way in this family. Everyone gets a say, and then they say it again. The family rule book is brought out, stories are told about the way the last car was purchased, and those with training in business practices, psychology, and Buddhism back up their opinions with their knowledge and experience. Experts are brought in and family meetings are held. So many family meetings are exhausting! But all agree that this is an important, expensive purchase and will have consequences for years to come. Some family members may decide to move out of the intergenerational housing complex temporarily, or even permanently, if the discussions take too long. However, some in the family believe that moving too quickly could result in getting a car that's all wrong. Choosing the wrong car would be terrible, and they'd be back where they started, shopping again!

What should the family do? Go with the experts' recommendations? Get a loaner? Get the best car possible in the shortest possible time before too many people move out? Take a year or 2 to reflect on the options? Write new family rules? No, really, the family needs your help, please comment! Shopping is important; proceed with caution...

2006-07-05T14:34:00.000-07:00

Don't go shopping today until you've read this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400790.html

2006-07-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

"They keep talking about drafting a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore."
-George Carlin

2006-07-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Did you know that $1.3 billion in subsidies goes to farmers who don't farm? That's right, the US government spends our tax dollars to pay farmers not to farm. Read about it here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/AR2006070100962.html?nav=hcmodule

Imagine what that $ could do to help organic farmers. It wouldn't have to be subsidies, it could be low interest loans. Wouldn't it be great to have a representative in Congress who thinks it's important to grow and eat food grown without chemical pesticides? I would write to my brand new Congressman and tell him that, but he doesn't have email yet. I'll write to my Senators though. Please write to yours.

2006-07-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Inter-dependence Day! A bit early, I know, but we are marking it at our UU service today. I am one of the lay leaders and will also sing a duet, This is My Song, about peace for all nations.

I woke up to a column in the Sunday paper about how much $ you can make by investing in non-US companies. Here is my email to the columnist:

Interesting advice about investing in non-US companies in your column today. I wonder if you would consider writing a column that presents additional information to consider when deciding where to cast one’s economic vote. This is a quote from a recent article in The New Yorker:

“Empty containers are the Port of New York and New Jersey’s biggest export, followed by wastepaper and scrap metal. The wastepaper mainly goes to China, and comes back later as paper goods. No empty containers arrive.” –William Finnegan, Watching the Waterfront, June 19, 2006.

Sure, US investors can make a lot of money in the short term by investing overseas, but in the long run, where are we going to get the money to invest if we don’t have jobs? I hope you will write about the big picture: How we invest has long-term consequences for individuals in our country and around the world.

I hope she writes back to me. And I hope I get some comments about inter-dependence. Here's what I'm going to say at the end of today's service:

We build on foundations we did not lay
We warm ourselves at fires we did not light
We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant
We drink from wells we did not dig
We profit from persons we never knew:
All our lives, we are ever bound in community.

2006-06-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

I can't resist sharing this posting from the UU Ministry for Earth listserv:

Writing in the Washington Post on April 19 (OP ED: "Tilting at Windmills") Anne Applebaum addresses BANANAism as follows( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801188.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns )

"BANANAism: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. The anti-wind brigade, fierce though it is, pales beside the opposition to liquid natural gas terminals, and would fade entirely beside the mass movement that will oppose a new nuclear power plant. Indeed, the founders of Cape Wind say they embarked on the project in part because public antipathy prevents most other utility investments in New England.

"Still, energy projects don't even have to be viable to spark opposition:
Already, there are activists gearing up to fight the nascent biofuel industry, on the grounds that fields of switch grass or cornstalks needed to produce ethanol will replace rainforests and bucolic country landscapes.
Soon the nonexistent "hydrogen economy" will doubtless be under attack as well. There's a lot of earnest, even bipartisan talk nowadays about the need for clean, emissions-free energy. But are we really ready, politically, to build any new energy sources at all?"

2006-06-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last night, our book group dissected, rejected, and embraced The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken http://www.greenbiz.com/reference/bookstore_record.cfm?LinkAdvID=83. For those who haven't read it, the book pleads for a better way to be consumers (shopping is important!) and for business and government leaders to be more environmentally responsible.

Our group of four married couples (ages 40ish to 50ish) has been gathering at each other's houses for almost five years for book discussions and dinner. Six of us are scientists. Two work in the business world. Five are self-employed. Two were born outside the U.S. Three grew up on the east coast of the U.S. Three are native Californians. We're diverse, but not so much. We're all educated, white, reasonably well-off suburbanites and brought that economic perspective to the discussion.

Maybe it was the organic Cabernet that motivated some of us to say that we want to bring the message of sustainable development to a wider audience. But I believe I heard some of the book group members declare their intention to send their thoughts to me so I can post them on ShoppingisImportant. I'd really like to hear from everyone and to have a longer discussion about some topics, such as whether we really need to choose between social justice and environmental responsibility. Would Katrina have destroyed so many homes of poor people if the levee builders hadn't destroyed the wetlands surrounding New Orleans? If we don't slow global warming, won't the consequences be felt by those who can afford it least? Shouldn't we acknowledge that more electricity use means more coal miners getting mesothelioma? Please comment or send posts! MoL8r.

2006-06-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Our co-ed book group is reading The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken. It's a revolutionary book that lays out the case for Shopping is Important so much better than I will ever do. Here's a quote:

"We need to imagine a prosperous commercial culture that is so intelligently designed and constucted that it mimics nature at every step, a symbiosis of company and customer and ecology."

In case you think The Ecology of Commerce is a nice dream, but it’s a dream, check out one website of many that reports on companies that are making the dream come true:

http://www.greenbiz.com/resources/marketing/

2006-06-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

From the China Moon cookbook by Barbara Tropp:

SAVE THE WORLD! LEARN TO COOK!

I cherish a wacky notion that our American world would be a lot saner if we all had the time and knowledge to cook. If every one of our kids had a cooking class in school, if harried workers had a cooking holiday instead of sick days, and if politicians had to make a meal for their constituents and serve it to them once a month, our world might spin a bit better.

We'd grow more aware of our resources. We'd prize the land that brought us real cherries and great-tasting meat. We'd never pollute our oceans if we caught and cooked our own fish.

If I were president, I'd call for a full week's work halt so everyone could stay at home and cook. Friends would gather and eat, kids would curl up in contented balls, and the sound of happy burping would resound throughout the world.

2006-06-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Shop carefully for your blog enjoyment. Don't waste your precious time. When you need to take a break, try http://www.chickenblog.com/, an authentic personal blog with laughter, tears, and suspense. Try http://www.goingjesus.com/ for religiously inspired kvetching. Try http://smallfarms.typepad.com/ to remind you that you can choose to get your veggies from a local farm instead of a plastic-wrapped package at a life-sucking grocery store. There's community-supported agriculture in your area, check it out: http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa/. There are farmers' markets, too. And even better, you can grow your own. You don't have to give your $ to agribusiness, there's a better way. MoL8R.

2006-06-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is Patrick el Gato. He's our beauty cat, our rescued 3-year old yummy sweetie pie. Seventeen pounds of love. We shopped for him at the local humane society. Shop carefully and you may be rewarded with cuddles and purrs.

2006-06-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Shopping is important. I never thought I would hear myself say it, let alone write it. I've spent most of my life avoiding shopping, either because I didn't have any money or because shopping was for girly girls and wannabees. And recreational shopping IS for girly girls and wannabees. But I'm not talking about that kind of shopping. I'm talking about taking the time to recognize that when you spend your $, you're not just buying something on a store shelf. You're giving your $ to the store that bought it to sell to you. And that $ is going to the wholesaler and the shipper. And that $ is going to the manufacturer. And that $ is going to the workers who assembled what you bought. And that $ is going to the companies that acquired the raw materials. And that $ is going to the people who grew, or dug up, or provided the raw materials to manufacture whatever your $ bought.

Look at your shirt label. My shirt was made in Peru. No clue where the shirt material came from. It's not organically grown material, so the people who grew the fiber were exposed to sprays and chemicals. The amount of $ they got from growing my shirt material was a tiny fraction of the cost of the shirt. Same for whoever made the fiber into shirt material. Same for the Peruvians who sewed the shirt, don't want to think about whether they were younger than my 15 year old or my 10 year old. The shirt was shipped to the US and distributed to the Chico stores. How much oil was used to ship the fiber to the weavers/knitters to the cutters to the sewers to the stores? Don't know, but I think about it anyway because when I bought my shirt, my $ went to all of those people. Is that where I want my $ to go? Is this the kind of economy that's best for the people my $ went to? I don't know, but I think it's important to recognize the truth of where my $ goes and how my $ affects individual humans and the world economy. I'm not saying I feel guilty or should feel guilty, just that I want to recognize the truth of where my $ goes. More later...