There are a lot of things about my environment I can’t afford to change right now. There isn’t room or money for me to add more insulation to my house. Even though we have a geothermal heatpump, I don’t have the money to generate the electricity needed with renewable/non-polluting resources. We are exploring different options for hot water that would pollute less, but if we do that, it will stretch the budget. We will have to go without something else, so we can afford it. And right now there are not a lot of extras in our lives to cut back on.
We live a fairly frugal and environmentally conscious life. I hang my clothes to dry –in the basement if I have to. I eat nearly vegetarian. I pick most of my fruits and vegetables off the quick sale rack. I grow some of our food. I compost our food waste. I recycle anything I can. I wear second hand clothing. I don’t iron unless it’s absolutely necessary. And I use environmentally friendly cleaning products, and recycled paper products.
Even so, I have found there are other ways I can reduce my impact on global warming. But it requires sacrifice. I have been adjusting my life in order to wake up with the sun so that I use less electricity at night. I am taking bucket baths instead of showers, because I have very little self-control about time spent under the water. And I am choosing to restrict my travel to places I can get to with walking or by bike.
Restricting my travel is a big sacrifice. It limits my choices of entertainment, friend/family connecting time, groceries, and other purchases. Because of how restrictive it is, I have chosen some exceptions to my anti-drive policy, but I would really like to get to a place where I didn’t drive any more, at least any more fossil fuel propelled vehicles. And my commitment will be challenged even more as the weather becomes more inclement.
I’m hoping that maybe I can get a wind up/solar powered lamp for Christmas and then I can use even fewer lights at night. It would be nice to get a solar battery charger that would work for my computer, but I think that would be too rich for Santa. I think I could also improve in the area of entertainment –choosing things to do that don’t require electricity or driving long distances. That will require quite a bit of research and creativity to find things that my husband would like to do too.
Making changes to my life is challenging. It requires a new way of thinking. It requires breaking old habits and making new ones. It requires persistence to continue to go against the grain of society. It requires putting up with family members that think I’m going too extreme and aren’t afraid to let me know in a variety of ways.
But the issue of global warming can’t be solved by me alone. It requires everyone. And no matter how small my carbon footprint is, if other people don’t reduce theirs, it won’t really change the situation. If I want to reduce global warming, I really need to convince others to reduce their carbon footprints too. I need to speak not only with actions, but words as well.
Speaking out against global warming in this country is not a popular thing to do. I have been criticized by family and friends, some close, others not so close. I have been described as fanatical, deluded, divisive, and arrogant. Even my faith has been questioned because of my stance. And I have been accused of having some particular political agenda.
I am not particularly in favor of big government. I would rather see people care about each other and there not be a need for government. I believe that global warming is one of the gravest injustices of the world. It is the means by which the poor lose their homes, their livelihoods, and possibly their lives all for the sake of the convenience of the wealthy. The poor cannot escape the consequences of global warming; the wealthy can. But I recognize that if people, out of the goodness of their hearts, can’t rectify such an injustice, then there will come a day when the government will or risk anarchy.
I am a Christian and I believe that my faith has noble values that care about the poor. It hurts and angers me that there is such reticence to change with respect to global warming in the Christian community. It hurts that even in my own local church community (which I consider more progressive than most) that global warming is only a concern of a few, and is not considered as important as consumerism. It hurts that issues of global warming are sidelined or ignored for issues of being missional or communal.
I don’t want to suggest that being missional, communal, or preaching about the forgiveness of sins isn’t important. But I do want to suggest that NOT being concerned about global warming is hypocritical with respect to everything else that is taught. It does not work to give a token of relief to the poor, if by the way we are living we are taking away the poor’s life, livelihood, and living quarters. It does not work to speak of God’s grace, but ignore how we treat the least of these through our use of fossil fuels. It does not work to say that we care about God’s creation when we drive long miles to sit in an air-conditioned room with the lights on when sun is pouring through the windows.
When I make such intimations, then I am criticized for being judgmental, or shaming others. I am accused of having an arrogant attitude that communicates that others are ignorant or disobedient. Or that I am not trusting that God will move people’s hearts and trying to take more responsibility than I should. It could be that I could be more gracious about how I witness about global warming. But I get the feeling that people would rather I not say anything at all. They would rather I live my own quiet low carbon emitting life myself and not bother others about an issue, that in their minds is controversial, unproven, political, and not as important as saving souls.
I believe that if we don’t address global warming, we will lose a lot more souls than we will save otherwise.
3 comments:
Well done, Maria!
Big government is not nearly so much the problem as is Big Subsidy.
If a proper carbon emissions bill were enacted, all the activities you describe would be correctly priced. You could go about your life without having to feel guilty about having hot water or electric lights, because the market would already have priced the emissions correctly.
Without the correct price for emissions, we have to take things into our own hands, substituting our guilt and activism for good government policy. It's too bad! Maybe President Obama can get it sorted out.
Until then, keep up the good work!
Still not convinced it exists. I see the movement as a political device to move the country to the hard left, "Global Warming" is only a tool to this end. Now that the world is in a ten year cooling trend, and the science is trending away from this conclusion they want to change the name to "Climate Change" to hide they were wrong. The only climate change is the four seasons! What WILL hurt the world and the USA is more socialism from junk science claims. Is it not odd that the same "fixes" to the environment is ALLWAYS more government and control no mater what the problem? There was an old cartoon from a Detroit newspaper I saved titled "How a liberal changes a tire"; it shows his car with a flat tire and he is " fixing it" by throwing money at the tire from his open wallet! That's why the "Cap and tax" bill will kill the economy by throwing money to government to fix a problem that does not exist. This is just another left power grab. Tell me what the government is going to do to fix this so called problem? Restrict liberty is the only outcome. Remember government has the "Midas Touch" everything it touches turns to garbage! Tell one thing the government does well? the answer is not much! Big government is rarely the solution to a problem.
Maria I do like what you are doing however believe it or not; saving money by using less energy is a worthy goal. To be off grid is my goal, only for the liberty from government. If I am off grid they can't tell me not to run this device, or I can't buy this thing because it will use too much energy.
In the United States we have the concept of private property which drives our ‘free’ market economy. Land and objects are easy to quantify as private property; air and water less so. And yet, each of us feel entitled to breathe and drink. We feel we have a right to air and water that is not going to make us sick. If our water makes us sick, we expect our government to provide us justice. We want to sue whoever contaminated our water for damages, and have our justice system will award us money to compensate us for our pain and suffering that we endured from drinking contaminated water.
If can expect justice with respect to water, surely we can also expect justice with respect to air. If we can be compensated for pollution in our water, I would think we could expect compensation from those who pollute our air. And who would be best to determine just compensation if not the government?
Economists have thought that a market system that would hold polluters accountable for their emissions would work well. The government would define the limits of pollution allowed (the “cap”) and if anyone went above those limits they would have to buy credits from those who polluted less (the “trade”).
A system of “CAP and TRADE” gives some compensation to those who don’t pollute from those who do. However, there are two problems with this situation: the suffering because of the pollution is not directly proportional to the lack of polluting, and a cap that is imposed by popular combined vote of polluters and non-polluters is most likely going to be generous to the polluters and not reduce pollution in the long run.
If the system is modified such that instead of trading for credits the money is taxed and distributed to those who suffer more, we take away market incentives for pollution ‘sinks’ –places that actively remove pollutants for a price. And the original problem of reducing the quantity of pollution through ‘capping’ is still not address effectively.
I like the idea of letting natural market forces reduce pollution because I think that natural market forces can be more effective than government rules and regulations. But I’m skeptical that such a system would completely eliminate pollution. And I am very concerned about the injustice that the pollution causes in the first place.
I believe that it is necessary for governments to regulate ‘free’ markets because otherwise greedy people would take advantage of others. I also think it is necessary for government to provide justice. I feel that the lack of government involvement in the situation of global warming is a grave injustice. However, I don’t think that any system the government implements will prevent people from polluting, it will only penalize those who do.
I would like us to move beyond fear of punishment for polluting to compassion for those who suffer because of our pollution. I would like us to not pollute. And I believe it is possible. I believe that it is possible for us to live in the comfort of our homes and use the energy that God gives us from the sun, wind, or other renewable energy sources. I believe that our comfort does not have to come at the expense of the poor of the world, the environment, or the future welfare of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
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