Jo Hunter Adams
I recently started an indoor composting bin, and wrote about it here.
The last push towards composting came when my sister-in-law assured me that it doesn't smell. "Just put your scraps in, and they'll turn it into compost in a week!" I thought, since she was with us and not with the worms (in Minnesota) they were probably low maintenance, also. Almost like having a really useful pet. If you don't have space for a hamster.
So I went to the baitshop and picked some up. The advantage was that whatever happened to my worms, it couldn't be worse than the fate that would befall the other bait shop worms. For the most part, I was right.
But I didn't realize how their little bodies could squeeze into really tiny spaces. Tiny spaces drilled by me. So I lost a few. Well, 9. or 10. I think they left because it got really hot and they were trying to find somewhere cooler.
So, my advice when pursuing a worm solution: make the holes small and try to keep your babies cool.
That said, despite a heatwave here in Boston the surviving worms seem to be working very hard (well, at the worm work of eating) and the scraps are clearly being processed. And my sister-in-law spoke the truth when she said there is no smell.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Justice Part 4: Jubilee
Jo Hunter Adams
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs- 1 Timothy 6:10
Themes: Wealth should be justly distributed, wealth as a deceptive master.
The concept of jubilee is introduced in Leviticus 25 in the Old Testament. Every fifty years, all debts were to be relieved, all slaves to be set free, all fields to lay fallow, and all lands be returned to their owners (this would apply to people who had lost land as a result of debt). It was meant to prevent extreme inequality (that we see today) from developing. This concept of finances doesn't necessarily seem fair for those who worked really hard to get what they had, but I think it speaks to the fact that often, what we have is not actually a result of our own hard work. Rather than advocating slavery for a generation, I would argue that the jubilee year was a reminder from God of how things were meant to be.
Today, many faith-based organizations are advocating for economic justice based on exactly this concept. And many Jewish organizations have practiced this concept for a very long time.
Thinking about how it applies in our life may be tricky. Maybe it means our inheritances could be given away, maybe it means that we should campaign for the cancellation of all third world debt, or maybe it just means being aware that we are seldom the master of our own situations.
When I'm thinking about justice and about giving money or other resources away, it's easy to feel a bit self-righteous. In a way, this is not surprising because it is always empowering to be able to give, particularly out of generosity rather than obligation.
This feeling of superiority is set against my own romanticization of people who live a simple life, with few resources. I dream of that simplicity, I say naively! However, simplicity should be a choice; extreme poverty is extreme stress, it is a life that is more complicated than any life anywhere.
These two feelings-- and my gut reaction to them-- can prevent me from being generous with my resources. However, just because financial support often comes with strings attached, that doesn't mean my giving must necessarily mean westernization or support of extremely unjust trade.
It could be different. It could be my response against those things, with the recognition that jubilee is slow to come unless I recognize I am the one who is to set the slaves free, I am the one who must return land, and I am the one who must cancel debts, even when it hurts.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs- 1 Timothy 6:10
Themes: Wealth should be justly distributed, wealth as a deceptive master.
The concept of jubilee is introduced in Leviticus 25 in the Old Testament. Every fifty years, all debts were to be relieved, all slaves to be set free, all fields to lay fallow, and all lands be returned to their owners (this would apply to people who had lost land as a result of debt). It was meant to prevent extreme inequality (that we see today) from developing. This concept of finances doesn't necessarily seem fair for those who worked really hard to get what they had, but I think it speaks to the fact that often, what we have is not actually a result of our own hard work. Rather than advocating slavery for a generation, I would argue that the jubilee year was a reminder from God of how things were meant to be.
Today, many faith-based organizations are advocating for economic justice based on exactly this concept. And many Jewish organizations have practiced this concept for a very long time.
Thinking about how it applies in our life may be tricky. Maybe it means our inheritances could be given away, maybe it means that we should campaign for the cancellation of all third world debt, or maybe it just means being aware that we are seldom the master of our own situations.
When I'm thinking about justice and about giving money or other resources away, it's easy to feel a bit self-righteous. In a way, this is not surprising because it is always empowering to be able to give, particularly out of generosity rather than obligation.
This feeling of superiority is set against my own romanticization of people who live a simple life, with few resources. I dream of that simplicity, I say naively! However, simplicity should be a choice; extreme poverty is extreme stress, it is a life that is more complicated than any life anywhere.
These two feelings-- and my gut reaction to them-- can prevent me from being generous with my resources. However, just because financial support often comes with strings attached, that doesn't mean my giving must necessarily mean westernization or support of extremely unjust trade.
It could be different. It could be my response against those things, with the recognition that jubilee is slow to come unless I recognize I am the one who is to set the slaves free, I am the one who must return land, and I am the one who must cancel debts, even when it hurts.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Slow Food: A Case for Taste, by Carlo Petrini
Jo Hunter Adams
This quick read lead me through the history of the Slow Food movement-- from it's motivations in the 1980s to the global movement it is today.
The Slow Food movement is at one level a response to the Fast Food movement. Where fast food is about uniformity, predictability, and speed, the Slow Food movement wants to fight back with variety, surprise, and intentionality. It's about a lifestyle, about training tastebuds, and about placing food back into the hands of the masses. The Slow Food movement is not about emphasizing super-expensive cuisine. It's about upping the overall quality of food, and teaching people how to taste quality.
My only reservation reading Slow Food was the sense it didn't quite fit the paradigm that I sit in. It presented a fast-food slow-food dichotomy, where I would argue, that is only one of the dichotomies around food and food production. In North America and much of Europe, it fits perfectly. Yet I feel as though for the most part, Africa has long sat outside this way of thinking-- food is central, yes; I miss South African foods, yes; but something other than food, something I can't exactly put my finger on, is the fulcrum of changing society. Whereas much of what is happening in North America, particularly (simplistically: individualism, speed, quantity over quality) can be viewed through the lens of food, I am not sure this is universal.
That said, a great introduction to the history of a powerful movement.
This quick read lead me through the history of the Slow Food movement-- from it's motivations in the 1980s to the global movement it is today.
The Slow Food movement is at one level a response to the Fast Food movement. Where fast food is about uniformity, predictability, and speed, the Slow Food movement wants to fight back with variety, surprise, and intentionality. It's about a lifestyle, about training tastebuds, and about placing food back into the hands of the masses. The Slow Food movement is not about emphasizing super-expensive cuisine. It's about upping the overall quality of food, and teaching people how to taste quality.
My only reservation reading Slow Food was the sense it didn't quite fit the paradigm that I sit in. It presented a fast-food slow-food dichotomy, where I would argue, that is only one of the dichotomies around food and food production. In North America and much of Europe, it fits perfectly. Yet I feel as though for the most part, Africa has long sat outside this way of thinking-- food is central, yes; I miss South African foods, yes; but something other than food, something I can't exactly put my finger on, is the fulcrum of changing society. Whereas much of what is happening in North America, particularly (simplistically: individualism, speed, quantity over quality) can be viewed through the lens of food, I am not sure this is universal.
That said, a great introduction to the history of a powerful movement.
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