Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Slowing down, using less

Today's reflection is brought to you by
Jeremiah 17:5-8.

For too long,
O God,
we have believed
more in ourselves
than really trusted in you.

And now we see
evidence of our own foolishness
everywhere we look.

In turning away from you
and the sacredness
of all that you have made,
we are turning parts of our planet
into salt lands
where we can no longer live.

Help us,
O God,
to reverse what we have done.

Slow the desertification
of our spirits,
of our earth.

Set our hearts and minds
on your streams
of beauty, goodness, and truth
so that we see with your eyes --
that everything
and everyone
is sacred
and deserves our loving care.

Then all of your creation
will be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jer 17:8)

+Amen.

* * * * * * *

This week I've been looking back at paragraphs 17-21 of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Chapter One: What is happening to our common home (the entire text can be accessed by clicking here). It's the beginning of a frank assessment of what's actually happening to our environment before getting into the theology and philosophy that could be helpful in determining how to prevent further damage to the only home we have.

Right off the bat in paragraph 18, Pope Francis and friends name "rapidification" as a factor contributing to the planet's problems. Basically, change is happening more rapidly than we or the earth can actually adapt, and keeping up to the pace is stressing everyone and everything. Human desire tends always toward bigger, bolder, brighter, and better... but in our obsession with our desires, we forget that small, gentle, quiet and simple ways are often much better for our souls and bodies.

For too long, we have gone along with an "irrational confidence in progress and human abilities." The good news is that some of us are starting to see the problems caused when we think we know everything we need to know, and by living in such a hurry all the time. I'll never forget hearing Canadian scientist and TV personality, David Suzuki, at a teacher's conference in 1989 where he talked about the fallacy of perpetual growth. For me, it was the beginning of critical thinking about the pace of North American life and the finite nature of our planet's resources.

Pope Francis is inviting us to "become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it (paragraph 19)." With our planet's declining health and climate change in the news more and more, we can no longer sweep our environmental problems under the carpet and go on as if nothing is wrong. We have the power to stop turning our planet into salt lands by choosing to live more simply, using what we have as well as we can, and demanding that the products we choose are recyclable, or better yet, wasteless (I'm thinking of the endless over-packaging of so many store items).

Back in October, I attended a Zero Waste Workshop led by Bea Johnson. I was well aware that it's possible to avoid many single use items like plastic straws, water bottles, grocery bags and single use coffee cups (I no longer go for groceries/coffee with friends unless I have my reusable bags/mug with me). But Bea and her family take it to a whole other level, and since her workshop, I've been refilling containers at Earth's General Store and Bulk Barn more regularly, and looking for more ways that I can reduce the packaging in our lives. Check out Bea's website and the video below to see Bea show us what's possible...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=6N-rPTJVk80

So how are you going to make less of a mess of our planet in the week ahead? How can you encourage those around you to create less garbage and trouble for our sister, Mother Earth?

Simple Suggestion #149... Grow your own sandwich sprouts

I have to say a huge thank you to Michael K. at Earth's General Store for inspiring this suggestion. Back on Grey Cup Sunday in November, he hosted an evening called "Sprouting 101," and I went and learned all about how to grow sprouts. Shael and Pramila, two interesting presenters, gave us a ton of information. A few days later, I went to EGS and picked up supplies, and I've been enjoying my own sprouts ever since. Might have to increase my production, because my girls have decided they like them, too.

Sprouting can increase the food value of some seeds by up to 20% -- and the little tiny plants that result are full of vitamins. The whole process for sandwich sprouts is super easy -- all you need is a sieve-bottomed plastic box, a little bit of seed (EGS has all sorts of wonderful sprout mixes sold by weight -- I only use a teaspoon's worth at a time) and some water. Here's the whole process from start to delicious finish:

January 22nd -- Starting the seeds. 

I set the sprouting box into water and sprinkled sprouting mix 

until the bottom of the box was nicely covered...

kept them covered, and rinsed them that evening.

January 23rd -- they've soaked up the moisture, 

and are getting ready to sprout!

January 24th -- 

It's important to rinse them morning and evening 

so that they don't rot or get moldy. Can't see it in the picture above,

but there are some little tiny roots beginning to appear.

January 25 -- some people like to eat them now,

but I prefer to wait until they're green. 

January 26th -- they look the same, except for tiny yellow leaves starting to show.

 Time to cover them lightly with a piece of clear plastic 

so their leaves can green up.

January 28th -- Isn't life amazing? I used

my sink sprayer to rinse them, morning and evening, 

and the sprouts kept growing under their little plastic sheet.

January 29th --

yum!

There are lots of other kinds of sprouts that can be grown. Shael and Pramila explained how to grow mung bean sprouts (the pale, crunchy kind you use in stir fries) and all sorts of things I'd never heard of. I'd like to try to grow mung bean sprouts in icecream pails someday, but sandwich mix is a good place for me to start. They're so easy, and with temps having reached -40 C this week, I'm just thrilled to be growing a tiny bit of goodness in my kitchen. Spring will come, but in the meantime, these fresh, green, tasty, wholesome, high vitamin reminders of spring will be great for lunch! Try some for yourself!

And a big thank you to Michael, Shael and Pramila!

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

An excellent place to shop

It's almost time to go into very rainy Banff (I may have to find an umbrella or just sit in a coffee shoppe), but first I want to tell you about Wednesday. I was fortunate enough to have it off, but as usual, many errands suddenly appeared, one of which was taking my daughter's forgotten lunch to school. That provided me with an opportunity to stop on my way home at a marvelous little store that sells a lot of excellent necessities. What's not to love about a place that helps consumers to reduce their ecological and social impact on the planet and its inhabitants? My mission, besides taking a few pictures for my moodlings, was to pick up some fair trade chocolate bars and chocolate chips.

Earth's General Store (EGS) has been in operation for twenty years, which is an excellent run for an environmental establishment in a province with a far-less-than-stellar environmental track record. The proprietor is so environmentally aware, he doesn't even spend energy to light up his signs -- they're simply painted. When I first discovered EGS several years ago, it was situated above a music store on Whyte Avenue, but it made a newsworthy, environmentally-conscious move in 2010, when many people-powered vehicles were employed to carry store merchandise 13 blocks to the new, disabled-accessible location. Some folks carried stuff via transit, too, if I recall correctly. The new location is bright, spacious and colourful.

The store's owner, Michael Kalmanovitch, has long been an advocate for sensible consumerism. He keeps a blog for EGS that provides information about the products he sells, and he's responsible for the Activist Agenda, a weekly newsletter that encourages activism for many different causes. His customers are encouraged to ride their bikes to get to the store, and to bring their own recycled bags and containers for purchasing product. Those who do are given special tokens that they can donate towards assisting charities like the Candora Society of Edmonton and others further afield. Michael's desire that we all consume less, consume wisely, consume locally, consume fairly, and love lots more is taken seriously by many of his patrons. I wonder -- does he keep a running tally of charity monies that EGS has donated through its token program? I'd bet it's a rather impressive sum already.

Just to give you an idea of some of the things you'll find in EGS:

Lovely, certified organic produce, some of it local this time of year...

(peaches from BC, not Chile).

"100 Mile" foods... (don't you love the fast food sticker?)...

an impressive bulk food section with many vegetarian and vegan options

(don't forget to bring your own recycled plastic bags)...

organic baked goods from local small business owners...

all sorts of organic personal care products

that even the David Suzuki Foundation would be proud of... 

environmentally-friendly cookware, underwear, 

diapers, menstrual products, towels...

everything you need to be a successful composter

(including red wiggler worms, if you so desire),

and plenty of knowledge -- books about

everything we can do to aid the enviroment, on loan.

If you've yet to discover Earth's General Store, I'd highly recommend a visit. To my mind, it's difficult to find businesses these days that aren't just pretending to be green. EGS is green in the truest sense! While some of its items might seem pricey, keep in mind that they cost what the larger chains would be charging if they were treating their suppliers and their employees fairly, or if they factored in the true costs associated with the production of the item (organic cotton and fair trade chocolate are not cheap if the labourers are being treated with dignity). We all need to support businesses like EGS for the sake of life on our planet. If you know of other environmentally-aware business people, I'd love to hear about them.