Touch The Earth Lightly

There are so many beautiful churches in Glengarry, and St Andrew's United in Martintown has to be one of the jewels. The church is old, very old. It sits up from the road beside the river looking for all the world like it grew up there, and not (as so many churches today do) like it was foisted on its surroundings without thought to beauty or peace. Rough and weathered gravestones tumble around, at once reminding us of the fleeting nature of life and the paradoxical continuity of it.

We participated this morning - for the first time ever - in a Good Friday church service. It was held in St Andrew's United on behalf of the United and Presbyterian churches in Martintown. The Reverend Andrea Harrison cleverly wove an Earth Day theme into the Good Friday service, reminding us that we all cause great suffering to our planet and need to find ways to live in harmony with it. She invited us because Anna recently participated in a speech competition and spoke about the importance of standing up for the environment, and Andrea kindly asked Anna to do part of her speech again today for the combined congregations.

There are lots of things I could say here. About the service; the music (which was amazing); about how Earth Day isn't about saving our world which has been here for millenia, but is about saving ourselves from our own stupidity; about Anna, her siblings and friends and their "green" outlook (they just started a Going Green in Glengarry club) as they face an environmental crisis they are not yet fully aware of.  But I will save all that for another day, and leave you with words from one of the songs sung this morning, which I think captures the essence of the crucifixion of the earth theme.

Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently
Nourish the life of the world in our care
Gift of great wonder, ours to surrender
Trust for the children tomorrow will bear

We who endanger, who create hunger

Agents of death for all creatures we love

We who would foster clouds of disaster

God of our planet, forstall and forgive.

Thanks to Rev. Andrea Harrison for the invitation, and to her and Rev Ian MacMillan (of another beautiful Glengarry Church) for the service.

Kids and the Environment

I just read an announcement from Jonathan Porritt, Chair of Britain's Sustainable Development Committee, who said,

“I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate.”

“I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible."

Oh dear.

Andrew and I consider ourselves pretty committed to the environment. You know, the whole raise our own food, and contribute to animal biodiversity thing that makes sense to us and makes everyone around us shake their heads. We conserve water, keep the thermostat low, recycle. Heck, despite a busy schedule, I even manage to line-dry our clothes in the summer months. And we’ve just spent a fortune making environmentally friendly energy upgrades to our old farmhouse (actually we’re still spending the fortune, - and may I say how thrilled we are we actually get to take advantage of the government’s $1300 renovation tax break!).

So yeah, we do our part. We could live quite comfortably off our own land if:
1. We didn’t have to work to pay boring things like a mortgage and the hydro bill; and
2. I knew how to spin wool and turn it into clothing (instead of actually being unable of sewing a hem – Andrew does all the mending in our house.)

But oops!

We have three children. Bright, intelligent, articulate, socially and environmentally conscious children, and that, according to Mister Chair of Britain's Sustainable Development Committee, is irresponsible.

To which I reply that I am equally unapologetic about asking Mr Porritt to go and take a flying leap off a short pier if he’s so serious about decreasing the world population.

As for me, if I could have more kids right now I would – we’re obviously going to need more bright, intelligent, articulate, socially and environmentally conscious people in the world if we’re to have any chance of combating this kind of regressive short sightnedness.

Tip of the Iceburg

I've been concerned recently. Watching the price of oil going up. Even as the environmentalist in me welcomes the 40% price increases and thinks maybe a carbon tax will do what people seem unable to do of their own volition, as CFO of our household, I recognize that this will have an effect on our life come winter when we have no choice but to fill up the oil furnace. We're already noticing a difference as we fuel up to go to work, soccer, and the grocery store - I figure without changing any of our current habits, we'll spend an extra $4000 on oil/fuel this year (this includes two cars, two tanks of oil, and fuel for the tractor for hay/snowblowing), which is pretty significant.

What I find really frustrating though, are the smug commentators on various web sites. Ha ha, they gloat. Glad I don't heat with oil. Too bad, they say. You should change your behaviour. Drive less. Use Natural Gas. Turn down your heat. Move closer to work. Take public transport.

Must be nice to live in their ideal little world.

For the rest of us, we'll do what we can. Some people will modify their behaviour. They'll find ways to drive less and will wear extra sweaters in November, or they'll compensate by buying less commodity items, and this will have a slight - but positive effect - on the environment. Some people won't do anything at all - there is a definite group of consumers who have the money and feel they deserve to drive SUV's. Nothing will change that sort of conspicuous consumption.

The effect on us personally will be negligible. It will definitely mean less disposable income over the course of a year, but we already try to tread lightly. We keep the temperature moderate, minimize our use of electricity, grow our own food, are making energy efficient improvements to our century old farmhouse etc, so we won't be modifying our behaviour too much. The children will still be able to go to soccer, dance or Beavers because I think those things are important; I will still drive the 20 km to work and hit the grocery store on the way home.

But what happens, I wonder, to those who have no options? Those on fixed incomes who bundle up in sweaters not because of idealistic environmental concerns, but because they already find it a struggle to make ends meet? What effect will the price of oil have on families already feeling pinched? To whom that extra $400 to fill the tank with oil (and we do live in Canada - heat is not an option!) is not disposable income that might have been spent on a weekend away, but a month's worth of groceries.

We need to find ways to mitigate these issues. The increasing cost of oil will affect us all. This is just the tip of the iceberg.