You Have Heard It Said

Whoever destroys anything that could be useful to others breaks the law of bal tashchit, “Do not waste.”

Babylonian Talmud, Kodashim 32a (second or third century)

The thing that struck me in the quote was the definition of waste, “destroying anything that could be useful to others.” We tend to think of waste primarily as what we put in the trash and what fills our landfills. This definition, however, makes waste relational. In fact thinking about waste relationally makes it much more difficult to do so. If I have to think about how what I am doing impacts others it becomes much more difficult to act harmfully.

The converse is also true. What makes it so easy for us to waste so much is that we choose not to think about it relationally. Consumption is a linear progression from producers to consumers to landfills. The only problem is where to put all the garbage. We know that much of our electronic waste ends up dumped in Africa where poor people sift through it for valuable materials while being exposed to toxic chemicals. Your gadgets don’t just disappear when they become obsolete.

This seems to be one of the things consumerism deadens us to. We are not attached to our things because we’re always obsessed with the newest gadgets. We don’t seem concerned or aware with where the old obsolete gadgets go. It is as if we believe they simply disappear into some old Apple ][ heaven somewhere (or maybe Windows hell…I digress). But they don’t disappear. They go somewhere and they affect someone else for good or bad.

Rather than just thinking about where our waste goes and who it affects, this quote also reminds us that living in community with others, knowing our neighbors, means that more of our “stuff” can find a home where it is needed or can be shared. We can also reduce the amount of things we “need” if we hold more in common with our brothers and sisters. How many lawn mowers would one neighborhood need if they were shared. Less than one (or two) per household I’m sure.

The kingdom of God is other-centered. My guess is that garbage men and sanitation engineers will have to find new jobs in the city of God.

This is an ongoing series exploring Teachings on Creation Through the Ages. Quotes are taken from the article of that name in The Green Bible.

Waste Not: Food Crisis Edition

I actually wrote this back on July 11 this summer. The news is not exactly recent, but I think still relevant.

Apparently the good folks at the G8 summit on the food crisis were treated to an 18 course dinner this week, including milk-fed lamb, sea urchins, caviar and a lot of other foods that you and I could pick up at McDonald’s if we really wanted. Something Jesus said about the “least of these” makes me think he would skip the 18 course meal in solidarity with the good people of Haiti who have been reduced to eating mud pies with a dash of salt.

In addition to the Power’s shenanigans in Japan we’ve been hearing a lot about our personal waste being the cause (and/or solution) of the food crisis. Gordon Brown recently urged Britains to curb their food waste in an effort to alleviate suffering around the world. So, we’re back to the clean your plate because kids in Africa are starving debate.

I am all for reducing our waste. Every little bit helps and I would never want to discourage individuals from taking those steps to make a difference. However, it is disingenuous for the world’s leaders to lay the blame at the door of consumers. The truth is that the individual food waste of consumers is miniscule compared to the waste of corporations and other institutions.

Let’s not forget either that there is no food shortage involved in this food crisis. The world continues to produce more than enough food to feed everyone.

Waste Not: Technolust Edition

Repurposing stuff that’s outdated, not needed or wanted anymore is not only great for reducing your waste, but it can also be stylish and unique. I know this isn’t exactly food related, but I thought this was a sweet idea from Boing Boing. I’ve seen a lot of creative new uses for old techno-garbage there and elsewhere. Use your imagination.

HOWTO make earrings out of old floppy discs

Riding With Ray: Part 1

Everything is a series around here…

This summer I am mentoring for seminary with Jim Mellon and the Killeen House Church Association. You can read my “pre-game” mentoring report on my personal blog. One of the things I’ll be doing all summer is riding around with Ray in his van once a week. Ray supplies many of the local ministries with food to serve to the poor and homeless. I’ll be reflecting on my experience and what I learn about food and ministries to the hungry as we go.

Our first stop was Olive Garden. Ray didn’t get food from them the week before so we got about eight boxes of food that was past its expiration or couldn’t be served for some reason, but could be used by ministries to serve the hungry. It was a lot of food. One box of four cheese rigatoni could probably serve 30-40 people. Ray also gets leftover pastries and expired coffee from Starbucks. Something about the poor eating the leftovers of the wealthy and middle class makes me smile. I love thinking about homeless people chowing down on Olive Garden or drinking a $5 pastry and cup of coffee for free.

The next stop was the Mission Soup Kitchen, where I’ll also be working as a volunteer (more on that to come). We squeezed about half of the food into their freezers. Ray showed me around the soup kitchen and then we headed to one of the Hope Pregnancy Centers in town. Ray gave them the pastries from Starbucks. At first I thought this was kind of wrong, giving free food to people who work for a living and can easily buy it themselves. I realized that a) Ray has more food than he knows what to do with and b) it was a way to bless some people who are spending their lives to help other people.

Then we headed out to Starbucks to pickup leftover pastries, a cup of coffee for ourselves and chat for a while. When Hurricane Katrina happened, Ray volunteered with the Mission Soup Kitchen to help with the relief effort. He ended up helping them get food from some of their sources and this ministry sort of fell in his lap. I asked if he went knocking on doors to get restaurants to supply him. He said no. The Lord just led him to different people and places and things fell into place.

Ray’s story reminds me that sometimes we try so hard to find solutions or figure things out, but the answers are all around us. Ray is probably only getting a small percentage of all the food thrown out by restaurants in our area, but he has more food than the ministries can handle.

Waste Not: Compost

After posting Part 3 in our Ethical Eating series I thought a more in depth space to address waste would be helpful.

One of the biggest problems when it comes to food is waste, personal and corporate. Get a tour of your local landfill sometime and you will be amazed. It boggles the mind to actually see mountains of the stuff we throw out. Obviously this is not the best for the environment and it perpetuates a disposable culture that uses most things once and then tosses them. Jesus also tells a couple stories about being good stewards of what we’ve been given. We’ve also looked at what Genesis has to say about our role as stewards of the earth. So, I want to highlight ways to curb your waste, reuse items and repurpose things for other uses. Let’s call it…Waste Not.

For this first installment I thought we’d talk a little about composting. It’s not something we’ve been able to start at my house yet, but it’s something I’m constantly aware of. I worked at a camp that composted everything and after seeing it in action realize how wasteful it is to toss out all those coffee grounds and banana peels.

The Basics
Composting is really pretty simple. It’s basically a great way to let nature take care of your food waste and create the best fertilizer you’ll find in the process. You need some sort of enclosed space to pile up your compost. It needs to have a cover for it. Then you add your food waste and mix in some mulch or other dirt. The key ingredient to successful composting however is…worms. You can buy worms that are particularly good for composting. Once all the ingredients are there you just add your food waste and let nature do all the work.

Urban Composting
We have almost an acre and a half of land where we live. So, we could easily just start a compost pile in one corner of the yard. For those who don’t have as much room there are some pretty cool space saving composters out there for the urban gardener. There’s one that sits on your countertop and a bigger one for that tiny porch your apartment has. You could also look into community gardens and projects that might take your leftovers.

How To
Recently Chews Wise posted about International Compost Week with a good summary post on some FAQs and links to get you started. Wired has a How To Wiki on Compost that might be helpful.

Obviously composting isn’t very useful unless you are growing your own garden. If not, perhaps you could give away or sell the compost to someone you know or a local farmer who would be happy to put it to good use.