03.29.08
Ecological Footprint
“Have you ever stopped to wonder how your lifestyle impacts the planet we’re living on?”
“The Ecological Footprint measures the amount of nature’s resources an individual, a community, or a country consumes in a given year.”
My family footprint is 5.8 hectares, or around 60% of the North American average. But it would require four earths if we all lived to that standard. When I think about what that means for my children’s future, and even more for the future of African and Asian children, I’m worried.
Take the test HERE.
One of the moves we are considering as a family is to a larger home this year. It seems counter-intuitive, but we have two reasons for considering the move. First, we always seem to know someone who needs a place to stay, and often they need some gentle guidance or mentoring as well. That is much easier done if they don’t have to worry about where they are going to sleep. Second, the home we have now uses space inefficiently. If we add another 250 square feet we would have space for one or two others for part of the year, and could use the space to generate rental income for another part of the year, freeing up our time from work so that it is available for people.
Initially we were thinking about moving to the mission area in the south of the city. But it really makes more sense for us to stay in the lower income area we currently live in, or else to move nearer to the downtown core. We are increasingly involved in METRO, and it makes sense to live nearer to the people who participate in that community.
Simplifying our lifestyle has a lot of potential benefits. First, it sets an alternative example. We can show that these sorts of choices are possible; that we don’t have to jump on the consumption train. Consumption is an issue of global justice, an issue that God’s people need to be informed and then formed around. Second, it enables us to relate more readily to those who don’t have the options that we have in the middle class. Third, if we stop fleeing from the core of our communities to the suburbs, we can help redeem these core areas. We can make a difference by our caring and presence in those areas.
I remember reading a quote from John Wesley during the Welsh revival. He remarked that when a person encounters God their priorities are re-ordered. Inevitably, they care less for the things of this world. But that, and an increase in both wisdom and personal responsibility tends to generate wealth. With wealth arises new options and new temptations. The second and third generation after a revival are often more self-centered that the generation before it. We can’t afford that outcome in our world.
One of the things I love about METRO is that it is such a diverse community. A middle class, overeducated person like me can feel at home, and someone who is unemployed and trying to shake a cocaine habit can also feel welcome. There aren’t many churches in town where that is true. We need these kind of communities, that show in their living together a genuine breaking down of social barriers through the power and example of Jesus, who “broke down the dividing wall of hostility” to make one “new man.”
“God so loved the world.” Brian McLaren asks, “what if that is really true?” LINK
Related: The Up Side of Down
and check out the forum discussion.
Mike O said,
March 30, 2008 at 6:42 am
I like to think of a spectrum of living sites that range from one extreme which is “raw suburbia” – sprawl, no buses, no walkable stores. To the other extreme which is a central city 10 story apartment. And a range of options in between. Some suburbs are dense, have good transit connections and have a few walkable stores. Some urban neighborhoods are detached houses, or duplexes, but have a great collection of walkable stores, as well as “third spaces”.
Two factors govern most Americans – one is the tax code favors home ownership – interest and real estate taxes are deductible. The second is college admission. School districts tend to “groom” kids for the college admissions “game”. The top 20 percent of the suburbs send 80 percent of the kids to the “top 366″ colleges.
Canada seems to have more awareness of and comfort with ranking, social classes and the difference between “college” and “university”. (A British-ism?) I think of Toronto, where there is a much greater percentage of highly-educated kids in the city. Other than New York City, no American city comes close. Academics are one thing, a big factor of admissions is an applicant having some community service experience. That’s much easier to achieve in a city.
Tax-wise, in America, it’s really only desirable to own real estate, you don’t have to live in what you own. You can accomplish the same financial mission by owning a percentage of a Burger King.
It would be interesting to see, from a Canadian perspective, how to achieve the educational level of the suburbs. My guess is there are more church schools – not just Evangelical Protestant, but Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran – in or near the city core? I don’t know of any homeschool/hybrid models other than those at EP schools, maybe they exist?
Christianity and the survival of creation said,
November 22, 2009 at 3:04 pm
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