Individual choice, or system?

Hello from your new blogger: Anne Basye, who wrote the hunger resource Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal.

I wrote this book in 2005 and 2006, and it came out in 2007. Those of you who have read it or used it in study groups know that it shared one person’s story of living life simply in hopes of prompting more ELCA members to start reflecting on their lifestyles. (And boy, does this blog look at lifestyle! Thank you, Hunger colleagues.)

Since then, Al Gore’s movie has brought global warming into everyday life, and the economy has gone haywire. If global warming and the economy were on everyone’s minds, I started to wonder, why wasn’t everybody moving towards simple living? I got impatient and crabby—at home, in my congregation, and especially at work, where we were taking the first frustrating steps towards figuring out how to be a little greener.

During my crabby phase I realized something that relates to Nancy’s last post about the challenge of selecting the “best” product when your criteria include justice and the environment. Living an intentional life requires systems. I may not have a car, but I don’t wake up every morning wondering how to get to work, because I’ve set up a system of alternative transportation that includes a bike, public transit, car sharing, and friends with cars. Living within that system, I can be confident that I’ll get where I need to go with a pretty small carbon footprint (and no car payment, insurance, or gas!)

But in general, trying to make choices that are easier on the earth, lighter on the pocketbook, and less demeaning of others takes a lot of time, because there’s no system. Every choice is individual. How much easier it would be if we could be reasonably sure that the energy we used, the goods we purchased or made to feed, clothe and shelter one another, and the vehicles we chose to move around the world in all fell within green, just parameters!

Perhaps naively, I’ve always believed that the choices I make widen the path for others seeking lifestyle alternatives. Now, how can we work together to transform the tedious “this product yes, that product no” of individual choice into something that changes the whole system we live in?

That’s what I’ll be blogging about in the weeks to come. See you soon!

Anne Basye

At long last!

One of my ongoing frustrations in trying to be a better consumer is that it's pretty much impossible to judge what the best choice is without spending hours of research on every little purchase. I've blogged about this before. Try this: pick up something around you right now. Anything. What is it made out of? Where did the component parts come from? What inputs went into manufacturing it? Does it contain any chemicals? How were the people who made the item treated? What is required to maintain the item, and what are the impacts of that maintenance? The questions are endless and unanswerable, and apply to nearly everything. So we do the best we can with the information we have and hope for the best. Or we quit trying and just buy whatever we want.

Enter Good Guide! Imagine my delight when I read on their web site,

"GoodGuide strives to provide the world's largest and most reliable source of
information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and
companies. GoodGuide's mission is to help you find safe, healthy, and green
products that are better for you and the planet. From our origins as a UC
Berkeley research project, GoodGuide has developed into a totally independent
"For-Benefit" company. We are committed to providing the information you need to
make better decisions, and to ultimately shifting the balance of information and
power in the marketplace."

It's a new organization. Apparently they're aggregating all of this data and summing it up into product ratings. They seem to be working hard to ensure their data sources and evaluating teams are credible, and they're considering not just health, or environmental, or social impacts, but all of them. Exactly what I need! My own extensive research is not practical, but looking stuff up on a web site is. This one has a long way to go; there are lots of products in the world in need of ratings. But it's a start, and I'm sure glad to see it.

-Nancy Michaelis

The Bellwether Prize

I stumbled across an intriguing book list recently: winners of the Bellwether Prize. I love to read, and one of my favorite authors is Barbara Kingsolver. So when I read that she had founded a prize for literature, I immediately looked it up. Here are the introductory sentences from the Bellwether Prize web site:

"Fiction has a unique capacity to bring difficult issues to a broad readership on a personal level, creating empathy in a reader’s heart for the theoretical stranger. Its capacity for invoking moral and social responsibility is enormous. Throughout history, every movement toward a more peaceful and humane world has begun with those who imagined the possibilities. The Bellwether Prize seeks to support the imagination of humane possibilities."

What a delightful surprise! A list of novels, recommended by a favorite author, that address social justice issues! It's so satisfying when different aspects of one's interests intersect. I am hopeful that some of these books will be another resource for starting conversation and reflection about hunger's root causes.

I admit I haven't read any of the winning books (is it embarrassing to admit I haven't even heard of them?). It's possible that the concept will outshine the reality and I'll regret this blog later. But I'm sure looking forward to finding out!

-Nancy Michaelis

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Did you observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this week? If so, what did you do? Do you have an annual ritual around it?

To be entirely honest, its greatest significance to me has usually been that it’s a day off of work. And mostly, it hasn’t even been that. Some years, I’ve barely registered that it’s a holiday. But this year is different. I’d like to say the change is due to some great personal awakening, but mostly it’s because of my job. By its nature, working to end world hunger requires daily recognition of social injustice. A side effect of my job that I both appreciate and resent is that it’s been impossible to work in this environment and NOT become more aware of inequality and my role in it.

Did you know that Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of only four individuals to have a U.S. federal holiday in his honor? (According to Wikipedia. Points if you can name the other three without looking!) Some of the well-known actions that earned King such status include public speaking, writing, organizing others to stand behind the cause, and employing peaceful activism. His work laid the groundwork for permanent change in laws: the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Right Act. But before he got a holiday, he got jail time, FBI surveillance, a house bombing, and, of course, death.

Which brings me back to my own observation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Clearly I’m supposed to recognize the importance of this man. Should I try to be like him? I have absolutely no interest in going to jail or being watched by authorities. But I do have an interest in ending hunger. And ending hunger requires confronting injustice. And confronting injustice most likely requires me to speak out, write, and stand with others behind the cause – peacefully, of course. So this year, for me, the day was about honestly considering what I’m able and willing to do to achieve social justice. I’m not totally sure of the answer, and I’m no Martin Luther King. But I can call a politician, write a letter to the editor, or donate money. Are things on this scale enough? I generally believe that something is better than nothing, and if everyone does a little, big changes are possible. But sometimes I wonder if I’m only justifying my comfort zone. Still, this smaller, more personal scale of action is where I find myself right now. I’ll work on building from here. And I’ll continue to wonder if the more courageous of you are scoffing at me as you read this from your jail cell.