sustainableflatbush.org

I’ve recently learned from Streetsblog that a church choir director from the suburbs of Washington DC is leading groups around the nation in prayers for lower gas prices.

“God, deliver us from these high gas prices,” Twyman said. “That’s all they have to say.”

THAT should work, right?

According to a San Franciso Chronicle article, Rocky Twyman has been traveling around the country staging pray-ins: “God is the only one we can turn to at this point,” said Twyman, 59. “Our leaders don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring.”

To his credit, Twyman also points out that we mortals have to take some responsibility for ourselves:

Twyman knows his approach to gasoline prices may sound simplistic. He’s quick to point out that anyone praying for cheaper fuel also has an obligation to do something more active about the problem.

“People have to walk more, leave those cars at home, and carpool, man,” he said. “We have to become more practical.”

Well, yeah. And for a few extra spiritual points, how about this:

photo by ACUPOFGREENTEA

Back in May I wrote my first post about the unsustainability of bottled water, and it has been gratifying to see the growing attention being focused on this issue over the last few months. Today the Bottled Water Story continues, with this very informative article from Earth Policy about efforts around the world to move citizens and city governments away from bottled water and back to the tap. Recommended reading! Here’s a taste:

Tap water promotional campaigns would have seemed quaint a few decades ago, when water in bottles was a rarity. Now such endeavors are needed to counteract the pervasive marketing that has caused consumers to lose faith in the faucet. In fact, more than a quarter of bottled water is just processed tap water, including top-selling Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani.

Issues at stake here range from the huge trash problem created by plastic water bottles (recycling rates tend to be very low, especially in states — including NY — where there is no bottle deposit on non-carbonated beverages), to the amount of petroleum used in the creation of those bottles and transporting them around the globe, to the threat to funding of municipal water systems — which in some cases has resulted in their privatization.

I would venture to say that there is also a social justice issue involved when the public has been led to believe that a product will be healthier for themselves and their families at such an astronomical cost difference compared to an equal or better product they can already access for free. Here in NYC we are blessed with excellent tap water, and even using a filter system only adds a few dollars a year to the cost. It has been a great step to see bottled water promoted in schools instead of sodas, but an even better step would be for every child to have their own reusable water bottle. Sounds crazy? To see how one NYC teacher (and parent) did it, check out Brooklyn’s own Urban Botany blog. Who says one person can’t make a difference?

The time has come to take back the tap. As individuals and as a society, we can find better uses for the many dollars we would save by doing so:

With more than 1 billion people around the globe still lacking access to a safe and reliable source of water, the $100 billion the world spends on bottled water every year could certainly be put to better use creating and maintaining safe public water infrastructure everywhere.

So… maybe an excellent holiday gift would be a reusable water bottle, eh?

“Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving, when highly-motivated holiday shoppers convene at their local malls starting at 4am, is also Buy Nothing Day in the U.S. and Canada. (The rest of the world will celebrate Buy Nothing Day on Saturday November 24th.) While its name strikes me as rather self-explanatory, here is Wikipedia’s description of the event:

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists.

The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 “as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption.” In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.

While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters states that it “isn’t just about changing your habits for one day” but “about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste.”

My strong aversion to crowds of rabid shoppers is usually reason enough to avoid any place and time where they tend to gather, lemming-like. (No Macy’s Thanksgiving sales for me!) There is something about the mad rush to buy things, many of which will be abandoned soon after the holidays are over, that I find depressing. So if that impulse means I will participate by default in the statement that Buy Nothing Day represents, that is just an added benefit as far as I’m concerned. There will be plenty of leftover food on Friday, and whatever gift purchases the holidays require can wait.