Recharged by youth

(Emily here)

It has been a very long while since I have written and to be honest it is because Matt and I have stalled out on topics to write about. We have bought a house, and that very large purchase makes us feel excitement and a tad guilty at the same time. But, at least this way we are investing in our own future so that we can continue to help other people (or something like that!).

This past weekend I attended a "youth summit for biodiversity" put on by Ontario Nature. The entire weekend was incredibly inspirational and jam-packed with activities focusing on the importance of biodiversity. Even though I attended as a chaperone, I learned so much and came away feeling just as pumped-up and excited about joining a cause as the students did.

One of my big plugs is that we can't expect to turn around our environmental problems when there are 1.2 billion people in the world fighting for basic survival. If a starving person is faced with choosing between saving an endangered plant or feeding his/her family, what do you think he/she will choose? I have always thought that the answer to our environmental woes is to help the starving/homeless/poor first; and then deal with healing the planet. I understand that both are huge issues and will take a similarly huge amount of political pressure to make happen.

There was one speaker this weekend who runs an organization called "Leadership Rewired." He was incredibly dynamic, entertaining and really got the participants to think about some big issues. He did this great activity where he asked the entire auditorium to stand up. On his projector screen he showed different words and asked us to sit down when we saw something that we couldn't live without. Cell phone. Ipod. Facebook. Music. Coffee. Shopping. And so on, and so on, and so on. At the end of about 25 items on the list there were only 2 people left standing. He went on to say, "there are only two people left standing, and this is before I got to the 4 items that 1.2 billion people in the world live without every day." Food. Water. Shelter. Education.

Pretty poignant.

He continued on to say that if the students want to help out with ANY cause they really need to "use their youth" to do good. Now, I may be coming into the end of my youth (and some may say that boat sailed a long time ago and I should stop dreaming!) but I still felt just as motivated to do good as the students in that room.

So I've come back home from this summit and feel recharged. I want to do more for the global community and for the environment. I'm going to "use my youth" while I still have some left!

The 5.10.5.10

(Matt Talking)



5 reject greed
10 tread lightly
5 connect with (the bright side of) community
10 build up democracy

http://www.fairshareinternational.org/

Fair Share International, (based in Adelaide AUS) is a community that has adopted the 5.10.5.10 rule. (I think) a really simple way to think about how to aim your life in a better direction.

5 - Donating 5 percent of your gross income to help the disadvantaged
I'm finding this one harder than I thought I would... It is really easy for me to fall into the mindset the I "don't have much money". To pull this off I think that I should probably start looking at a deduction at the paycheque level. I'm not sure I'm good enough at saving otherwise.

10 - Reducing your environmentally harmful consumption by 10 percent each year until you can do no more
This one conjures up images of a hippie drum circle upon first reading, but I think can be very practical.
I'm going to try to bike as much as I can (including to work and to the country) until the weather gets cold (using less gas). We just got some smokin' bikes so hopefully the novelty factor will keep us glued to them.
I've already got everything on power bars (exorcism for your phantom drains) so I don't know how much better I can get with electricity use.
I'm going to try to stick to buying used stuff (umm..... except for bikes.. they don't umm... count) whenever possible.
I'm going to try to be more packaging friendly.
I'm going to volunteer in the political campaign of an environmentally friendly politician.

5 - Giving 5 percent of your time to helping people in your community.
Does organizing nerdy board game nights for people in my community count?
I'm going to assume that this means non-sleeping hours. This would put me on a course to do 48 minutes/day if I include working hours in the 5%, or 21 min/day if I only include non-sleeping, non-working. With coaching basketball I was doing great. Perhaps less great now that the season is over. I'm going to count my union role here (unpaid) because organized labour is really important. I think with those I've got it covered. I think that anyone raising small children gets to count those hours too. That's hard work that involves cleaning poop AND making sure that they don't turn into hooligans. Very important.

10 - Taking democratic political action at least 10 times a year.
Writing letters to support wind turbines in the Nor-Westers (yes I'm a PIMBY). Check
Anti-violence/Environmental rallies/marches. Check
Support for Sex Ed bill recently pulled off of the table by the Ontario Government (if you read the whole proposed curriculum I think it will change your mind. Had a good discussion with Gr&Gr the other day about this the other day).

What do you think? Good rules or bad? Do they need some tweaking? What would you add or take away? What do you struggle/have success with?

Birthday

(Matt's Voice)

I really don't care about Birthdays. I know that they are important to other people and so I meet the social expectation of doing things for people's birthdays but all things the same I would happily do away with them entirely.

I am happy to get older. I mean it. I don't get depressed or upset. But I also don't really have positive feelings about my birthday either. I've been given many wonderful birthday parties over the years and have LOVED them, but I think that I would have been just as happy had those parties been for someone else's birthday (or just a party...)

In adulthood, when you can buy anything that you reasonably want or need, I no longer need presents and it just seems greedy to want to have a party and then make it all about me.

So for the past several years I have asked (if anyone inquires) not to be given presents. Some people you can't stop but, fortunately, all of these people have the grace and smarts to get me things that are fantastically useful. Em makes me Naniamo bars. Her extended family gave me bread and Chapters gift cards (love those). My side of the family made/got me a cool nerdy board game (Le Havre), mittens, and $$$. All wonderful and very useful things:)

The best part was that there was no "stuff". I don't need more "stuff" and don't have room for it anyway. Money spent on "stuff" would just end up being wasted when it could go to much better places (see, I did get the poverty donation angle in there!)

One thing slipped through. In the mail I got a card. (I'm not talking about the one from my Grandparents. For the record I love getting mail from my Grandparents because I love them and it's nice to know that they are thinking of me)

Generally, I don't like the idea of cards. They cost $5 to begin with and usually have corny sayings inside. The only part that you would care to read is the note written by a family member/friend which could have been written on a napkin, thereby saving $5. Em cuts up old calendars with nature pics on them to make cards which I like. Reuse AND have a tough looking cougar on your card! Plus no hallmark message that you have to wade through.

So you can imagine my surprise.....
"hmmm... I don't recognize the address..."



That's right. The car dealership. THE CAR DEALERSHIP SENT ME A BIRTHDAY CARD!!!!

I almost called them right then to say "Don't contact me... EVER. I'll call you when something breaks"

I don't want it. I don't need it. They had to spend valuable seconds in the day writing a birthday card to some dude who bought a car from them. I guess this is supposed to make me want to go in there to get my servicing done when the warranty runs out...... YEESH!!!!!

Being Thankful

(Matt here)

In a book that I was just reading, "The Year of Living Biblically" (in which the author strives to follow the Bible very literally for a year), the author places a lot of emphasis on his ritual of thankfulness for things in everyday life.

The other day I went shopping when I was hungry. Not a good idea. First, everything looks good (should I get 4 different jars of pickles or just 3?). Then it looks really good (would it be too weird if I opened this jar of pickles now and just ate a few?). Resisting my urge to eat the food in the cart only made me feel hungry and cranky. At this stage, everyone with bad shopping habits stands out.

The lady who parks her cart in the middle of aisle while browsing.
My Counter: Passive aggressively stand right behind her cart and stare straight down the aisle until she gets the message.
Outcome: She doesn't get the message.

The couple who decides to have a playfight with their cart right in front of me as I'm clearly trying to find a way past.
My Counter: Stare incredulously when it seems that they can't figure out why this might be a problem.
Outcome: Lots of giggling and me tightening my grip on the cart.

However, in this scenario all you need to see is one parent with two little kids crying and grabbing on to him/her while trying to shop and everything feels better.

I decided that this would be a good time to try out some positive thinking.

I was thankful that, at this moment, I only needed to organize my grumpy self.

I was thankful that I would have as much food as I wanted, whenever I wanted.

Really, I could buy anything. I pretty much never have to worry about hunger.

I am very thankful for that.

Guilt Credits

(Emily's Voice)

There should be something called a guilt credit.

I work at an outdoor education centre and spend every day outside - rain, snow, sleet, ice pellets, or shine. There are some things that I just can't live without while working in the outdoors. For instance, a pair of boots that don't leak when being rained upon or stepping into a puddle with. Especially this time of year. These boots must be warm and also tight-fitting; otherwise my socks fall down and end up bunched at my toes - not comfortable.

I have found my dream boots! The brand is BOGS. The fit - like a glove. The style - SO COOL. And they were very expensive.

Our whole mission this year has been to only spend money when necessary and try to avoid frivolous items and in this moment I must admit that I have CHEATED! I could have just as easily gone to Canadian Tire and bought a pair of boots for half the price that would have worked, well, not quite as well but close enough. But I chose to buy an expensive pair because I am a gear head and sometimes my obsession with gear gets the better of me.

So, there should be something called a guilt credit. This would be reminiscent of the carbon credit. Every time someone adds polluting emissions to the atmosphere they can subtract them by purchasing a "carbon offset." You essentially buy these offsets from companies that support projects such as wind farms, solar installations, geothermal retrofits, etc. The idea is that the buyer can bring their emissions to neutral by offsetting them with new, renewable and non-polluting energy solutions.

The guilt credit would work the same way. Every time I purchase something that I feel guilty about buying, I could give the equivalent amount of money to a worthy organization that would offset my guilt about spending that money. Why not just NOT spend it in the first place? Well, I'm working on that. I could have a new designation - "guilt neutral."

Would it be right to be able to buy off our guilt? Should we feel guilty for living in rich North America?

International Women's Day!

(Emily's Voice)

It has been a long while since we have posted and so I thought what better way to send out a message than to preach about the need for solidarity between women across the globe.

Today is International Women's Day and I received an email from the World Food Programme with these statistics:


"Who produces 60 to 80 percent of food in developing nations?
Women.

When food is scarce, who is the last to eat?
Women.

Who ensures that children have food to eat, even before themselves?
Women."

In my past posts I wrote about the importance of educating women and this trend seems to be a focal point for many aid organizations. The WFP wrote that in their emergency relief efforts in Haiti they are reaching the females heads of households first. They write that in their experience they have come to see that in the hands of women, food is most likely to reach the mouths of entire families, including hungry children.

Women have the power to break the cycle of hunger and poverty! Want to help? Go to the WFP's website (link to the right) and show your support by writing a few words of support and encouragement on their message board.

Stones into Schools

(Emily's voice)

I just finished reading the incredible and inspirational book "Stones into Schools" written by Greg Mortenson (author of "Three Cups of Tea") given to me at Christmas this year. The book is his story about building schools in the most remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the goal of educating women. The book is written beautifully and is full of absolutely incredible stories about the hardships the people of these areas live with, as well as the struggles it took to bring literacy to them. I highly recommend this read!

There are huge benefits to educating women, especially in the most removed, impoverished and war-torn nations of this world. Here is an excerpt from Greg's book about the returns of girls' education:

Income Growth:

Girls' education leads to increased income for the girls themselves and for nations as a whole. Increasing the share of women with a secondary education by 1% boosts annual per-capita income growth by 0.3%. That's significant, since per-capita income gains in developing countries seldom exceed 3% a year.

Educating girls also boosts farming productivity. Educated farmers are more efficient and their farms are more productive, which leads to increased crop yields and declines in malnutrition.

(Information from The World Bank and The Council on Foreign Relations)

Maternal and Children's Health

Educated women have smaller, healthier and better-educated families.

The better educated the women in a society, the lower the fertility rate. A 2000 study in Brazil found that literate women had an average of 2.5 children, while illiterate women had an average of 6 children.

The better educated the women, the lower the infant mortality rate. "The mother's education is often the single most important influence on children's survival...Educated mothers learn how to keep their children healthy and how to use health services, improve nutrition and sanitation, and take advantage of their own increased earning capability. Girls who stay in school also marry later, when they are better able to bear and care for children."

(Information from UNESCO, The Council on Foreign Relations)

Women's Empowerment:

Educated girls and women are more likely to stand up for themselves and resist violence. "In poor areas where women are isolated within their communities, have little education and cannot earn much, girls are often regarded as an economic burden and women and girls sometimes suffer deliberate neglect or outright harm."

(Information from The Council on Foreign Relations)


If you are looking for a great read and want to feel that there are some positive changes happening in the world, then look no further! Go get yourself a copy of "Stones into Schools" or just call me and I will lend you mine!

Also, check out Greg Mortenson's website for his organization "the Central Asia Institute." https://www.ikat.org/

Challenge Update

(Emily's Voice)

I realized today that we haven't written about how our challenge is going and whether or not we have been sticking to the rules. So, let me update you a little bit.

Most of the rules were put in place to allow us to have some freedom as we go about our daily lives and so it hasn't really been that hard to follow them! We have both cheated - Matt with buying a book about basketball and me buying a pair of running tights in anticipation of the upcoming running season! But, Matt wanted to add a rule about spending money on sports and sport-related things (see post about dodgeball purchase) and so we have tried to justify these purchases.

About that: before Matt and I even started to think about this challenge, I would always get him to ask me to justify my purchases. I told him that I was only allowed to buy something if I could give him 3 reasons why I needed it - and they had to be 3 good reasons, not just "it's cute, I look great in it, and it's only $20." These are not good reasons. I found this to be an extremely effective tool to curb my shopping for unnecessary items (but it only really worked if Matt was with me during the purchasing)! I often could only come up with 1 good reason to buy something, and a lot of the time I couldn't come up with any reasons. Geez, I'm starting to make myself sound like I have a problem (shop-a-holic, much?).

On the bright side, we watched a show called "Hoarders" last night and it made me feel really good about how much I buy (which is not much) and what I am willing to part with. If you feel like grossing yourself out just look for it on youtube.

Part of our challenge has also been to raise awareness to our friends and family about global poverty and what we can all do to help (hence this blog). I think in this we have been very successful. This past Christmas we asked our family to take the money they would have spent on gifts and give it to the WFP. In my family there is a lot of resistance to this idea, just because gift-giving has always been such a huge part of our tradition. But, this year, they fulfilled our request and gave their money away (thanks again everyone)! This also opened up many opportunities for discussion, as well as the receipt of an interesting little book called "Scroogenomics," which touches on why we should not give gifts at Christmas.

Part of our success has also been in the completion of our "fistula fund." A few days ago I received the certificate pictured above in the mail. It now lives on our fridge and is a daily reminder of how a little money put in the right places can do a lot of good.

So, in short, the challenge has been going very well and we are having little successes every day. We don't feel like we are lacking ANYTHING, and we are going to be able to give the WFP a significant amount by the end of this year. Now, how am I going to justify buying the rats each a torture ball to roll around in?

ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION!!!!

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is matching donations made to UNICEF Canada for the Haiti relief efforts!

Give now to UNICEF and your donation will double!

Just click on link shown on side bar to the right and help the people of Haiti in this great time of need.

What the World Eats

(Emily's Voice)

A very wise woman recommended that I check out a book called "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats." It is a photographic journey around the world, looking at what an average family eats in one week. There are also photos of typical grocery stores/markets that these people shop at. I went online to see if I could find this book somewhere and I found that some of the photos have been published on the TIME website (www.time.com).

Check it out, you will be amazed (just click on the link below)!

What the World Eats, Part I

These pictures really illustrate the cultural food differences of people on the planet. Not only is the food different but the cost is incredibly revealing of the economic times that we live in. The cost of a week's worth of food for a family living in a refugee camp in Chad costs $1.23 and looks like it mostly consists of grains. Meanwhile, a family living in North Carolina spends $342 on a week's worth of food, which looks like it mostly consists of junk. I really enjoyed looking at these pictures and comparing the amount of fresh food that people either choose to buy (or not buy) or have available to them. In a place like North Carolina, people have access to a wide range of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy, grains, etc. And yet the only fresh foods (and by fresh I mean not processed beyond recognition - like the mushrooms on the pizza don't count) we see displayed for the North Carolinian family's week are grapes, tomatoes, salad in a bag, vacuum-sealed meat, and milk in a jug. Ugh. How can a family stay healthy eating so much trash?

Now, from these pictures, it looks as though the North Carolinians aren't the only ones who buy a lot of processed food and drink a lot of pop. Look at the picture of the family from Mexico, where 12 Coca Cola bottles are on display for 4 people's consumption (that is assuming the small child in the arms of his Dad doesn't drink it yet) for one week. And we wonder why Type 2 Diabetes is rampant!

On a different note - I told my coworkers today about this book and how incredible it is. I made the statement that it was so interesting to look at how different cultures eat different foods (something that we've all known but is so poignant to see in a visual comparison between nations). My supervisor, who always has an opinion and has the uncanny ability to retain random knowledge, agreed that food is a cultural vehicle. He told me a story about a place where all the people were starving and the aid organizations sent them huge quantities of wheat. These people lived in an area where they didn't grow wheat or know how to process it. So, they had a giant warehouse filled with food and yet they were starving. He continued to say that it would be like if there was some disaster here and we were all left for starving and the UN World Food Programme sent us truckloads of jellyfish. Do you know how to eat a jellyfish? And it is so true! What would we do? But, if those trucks were sent to a community in, say, northern Japan, they would be whipping up some fried jellyfish served over rice!

Disaster in Haiti

(Emily's Voice)

A huge earthquake has rocked the island of Haiti leaving thousands feared dead and many thousands more injured. The World Food Program has mobilized to assist with this emergency by providing food assistance for the thousands of people left homeless and hungry after this disaster.

"WFP is asking the international community for urgent help to assist Haiti, a country where 1.8 million people were already food insecure before the earthquake and it is also the poorest country in the Western hemisphere." - Haiti: WFP Mobilises To Bring Food Relief After Devastating Quake, www.wfp.org

Interested in donating to provide relief? Copy and paste this link into your browser window https://www.wfp.org/donate/haiti