Category Archives: Sustainable living

Mission and Polity, Sustainable living

I will if y’all will

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My favorite Linux web audio show is LUG Radio, and on the most recent episode the presenters reprised the idea that open source software users might (not must) reward development of some projects by funding software developers. So that some few people might not be stuck as suckers providing a public good, the presenters mentioned a couple of web sites that had a mechanism that allowed a group of people to fund a project provided enough funders put up the cash. If the appeal was incomplete within a predefined time window, everyone who contribted got their money back.

“What a great idea,” I thought. And what a remedy for the “sucker factor” — the flip side of which is known as the “free rider effect.” (Which also explains why anti-military tax boycotts are unfair. Principled, perhaps, but unfair.)

I’m not a libertarian, but I have wondered why I’m asked to fund projects — back to the UUA now — that could be self-funding but for which no mandate or future support has been cultivated.

The sites mentioned above are Fundable.org and (for cultivating shared common action) Pledgebank.org.

Or you can just read this article at Wikipedia.

Sustainable living, Unitarian Universalist Association

“Suburban Nation”

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The biggest limiting factor for me (ever) preaching at a Unitarian Universalist church is not theology — really — but physical distance. I refuse to get a car to get to church, whether to visit, supply, or potentially pastor. I don’t need one in the rest of my daily life. (Friends I’m visiting may ask, though.)

Which made me think: lacking a robust rural or urban mission, the UUA has to be about as suburban as a denomination can be. Surely rapid post-war growth had an impact.

And the book Suburban Nation is having an impact on me.

Has anyone else read it?

Sustainable living

Eat locally

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I’ll keep this simple — by the time an organic apple comes from California to DC, it isn’t organic anymore. It’s an apple-flavored ball of diesel fuel.

There are radical responses — the hundred mile diet, for one — but shopping at farmers’ markets and abstaining from out-of-season fruit is a better use of petroleum and better for local agriculture.

See also DEFRA [UK] Study About Impact of ‘Food Miles’

Sustainable living, Technology

The Dvorak keyboard

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I’ve been teased for my interest in Esperanto, tofu, Universalism, Linux, and all manner of reformist “improvements” that (I know) causes some people to roll their eyes. Now I have a new one that might preserve my wrists: the Dvorak keyboard, and with it the possibility of becoming a touch-typist.

This little article took ages to get out, but I didn’t hunt and peck.

Sustainable living

What not to buy, what to buy instead

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I’m convinced that consumerism is the great distracter in America today. Why decry the many erosions of personal liberties, civil behavior, or quality of life when I can buy a sharp new outfit. The Style Network is my favorite venue for shadows and delusion. What’s yours?

But there’s a solution: an unpopular, collective solution. But if the least-resistant take it up, promote it a bit, and benefit from it, then perhaps others will follow. Buy less, buy well. Buy from your ethics, and don’t support those whose values you don’t share with your money.

So, if you register Internet domains with GoDaddy, you might want to change registrars given the “it ain’t really torture” attitude of one of its founders. If I did register with them, I’d drop it right now. (Hat tip: Jordon Cooper) I still won’t drink Coors.

But a postive “buy-cott” is a bit more intuitive. Support those companies that reflect your values. But don’t buy more you need.

The money you save might be needed to defend your liberties or help causes you think are vital.

So this is your turn to comment: which companies or products do you like, and what buying strategies do you employ?

Kingdom of God, Sustainable living

Transitioning to vegetarianism?

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I feel myself pulled towards vegetarianism. I know the quality of the pull, seeing as it got me in the ministry, got me to Washington, and got me a husband. I suspect it’s just a matter of time, but I’m making no promises.

There are the ethical, health, and sustainability reasons, and I think I’m leaning more or less to all three.

But how to do it? I know that I’m more likely to do something if I don’t forbid myself to do it. Then, when it becomes a habit I just surrender the option. It worked with WalMart, so it might work with meat.

I’m thinking of applying the strictures of Christian fasting — from the Greek church, say, or Russian — as a way of moderating my meat content until I hit a point where I just stop.

Or until I’m a big meat-eating baby, and give up.

Do you have an experience on tapering off meat, especially if you have Christian fasting experience.

Kingdom of God, Sustainable living

No way to get an education

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I’m mad as hell at the subtle-ish not-about-the-military ad by the US Army that had a young African American man hoping to get an education, with plans to be an engineer, and taking up his role “to be a man.”

The Lord preserve him and all like him.

And det’s hope this new recruit doesn’t need medical help afterwards, because in another cynical turn of the current Administration, that part of our budget is expendable. (On the other hand, GA attendees on my behalf can tell the Texas governor to bite me.)

The point is this: there are better options for an education than going the military route, and if unscrupulous recruitors (CBS News story) can be allowed to prosper, then the rest of us need to speak up and offer alternatives.

Before You Enlist from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors

Bloggers, Sustainable living, Technology

Current blog reading

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I do read non-religious blogs. The newest one’s I’ve added to the news feeder are:

  • Planet Ubuntu: “a window into the world, work and lives of Ubuntu community members and developers,” Ubuntu Linux being the operating system I love oh so much.
  • Apartment Therapy, a light style blog.
  • Tree Hugger, a sometimes grim blog about environmental sustainable living. Live its mantra of use less, drive less, live near your work, and buy locally and the life you save might be year own. One of the few places that doesn’t have sunshine coming out of its rear over the prospect of hydrogen cards.
  • 43 Folders for great tools for effective work, even if it is a bit Moleskine happy. I expecially like the lo-fi articles.

    • OK, there’s also a new-to-me religion blog,

  • Vaughn Thompson’s ICTHUS, but he uses Ubuntu too, so that counts as a tech blog, right?
Church administration, Sustainable living

Two quick efficiency moves this morning

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Did two things in the last twenty-four hours that I hope helps me reclaim more time.

  • Removed all the games from my computer. I don’t even like free cell, and yet I’ve played it several times this week.
  • Started using the Hipster PDA again. (Previously, it was “my research” mr “my sermon file”.) That is, a bundle of 3×5 index cards clipped together to take notes and organize thoughts. After spending about $500 for two PDAs — one lost, one stolen — and a keyboard, I’ve come to re-appreciate the power of index cards. Takes me back to my history major roots, too. There’s a whole movement-ette geared to using the HPDA, too. Lots of good ideas if you don’t let it get too precious. I kinda lump it into the practical folk-knowledge — like knowing how to buy a good melon and tying proper knots — that a lot of people don’t get anymore. (Long-time readers of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship Good News have a right to snicker since I wrote an article a few years back glowing about the usefulness of the PDA.)

Saying more would be inefficient.