new rock pathway planted with mint and nasturiums // good morning // watercress // fog // fancy a wash? // honey and honeyhive orange // seren (dew) // pine firestarter // farm // horse shit makes great compost
Showing posts with label stewardship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stewardship. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
bits and pieces of a weekend on the farm
new rock pathway planted with mint and nasturiums // good morning // watercress // fog // fancy a wash? // honey and honeyhive orange // seren (dew) // pine firestarter // farm // horse shit makes great compost
Monday, November 19, 2012
Changes II
“I like to live in the sound of water, in the feel of the mountain air. A sharp reminder hits me: this world still is alive; it stretches out there shivering toward its own creation, and I’m part of it. Even my breathing enters into this elaborate give-and-take, this bowing to sun and moon, day and night, winter, summer, storm, still—this tranquil chaos that seems to be going somewhere. This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it. This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.” - William Stafford
Over the weekend, Ben and I began moving into a tranquil off-the-grid cottage in the mountains above Port-au-Prince.
We've been desperately in need of change that will ground us to the earth, to god, to more simplicity, intention and space. Our lives in Port-au-Prince have become too busy, too plugged in, too full of politics and constant reaction to crisis. We have become overly judgmental and cynicism has crept into our work and our relationships in unhealthy ways.
Thus, for at least the next six months we'll be living in Kenscoff on a farm and eco-preserve that is only accessible by foot. The land belongs to a dear friend, and we'll be helping her make plans for it, work it, grow in it and build on it.
We will be living in a lush, foggy, quiet, bio-diverse wonderland where there are birds and butterflies and frogs that sound like tinkling bells. We will have a pet horse. We will wake up to this view every single day:
Meanwhile, Ben will continue to work as a photographer and I will continue to work for Other Worlds, but part-time. We've found a roommate for our house in
Pétionville so
that we can still have a place to stay down the mountain when needed.
We don't feel tired anymore.
Over the weekend, Ben and I began moving into a tranquil off-the-grid cottage in the mountains above Port-au-Prince.
We've been desperately in need of change that will ground us to the earth, to god, to more simplicity, intention and space. Our lives in Port-au-Prince have become too busy, too plugged in, too full of politics and constant reaction to crisis. We have become overly judgmental and cynicism has crept into our work and our relationships in unhealthy ways.
Thus, for at least the next six months we'll be living in Kenscoff on a farm and eco-preserve that is only accessible by foot. The land belongs to a dear friend, and we'll be helping her make plans for it, work it, grow in it and build on it.
We will be living in a lush, foggy, quiet, bio-diverse wonderland where there are birds and butterflies and frogs that sound like tinkling bells. We will have a pet horse. We will wake up to this view every single day:
We don't feel tired anymore.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Coming Together for Environmental Restoration in Haiti
"The problem is that the market promotes individualism and a spirit of competition. It can’t instill the feeling of community and citizenship needed to stimulate Haitians to take part in the rehabilitation of the environment..." -- Yves-André Wainright
In honor of Earth Day, Other Worlds ran an interview with Yves-André Wainright, who discusses ways that poor governance and the role of foreign donors have contributed to the country’s environmental catastrophe. He also lays out a blueprint for what could turn the situation around, effectively mobilizing both government and the population to begin restoring the environment.
Wainright served twice as Haiti’s Minister of Environment. Trained as an agronomist, Yves-André’s work has focused on environmental management, especially management of natural resources and waste.
Read the interview here.
In honor of Earth Day, Other Worlds ran an interview with Yves-André Wainright, who discusses ways that poor governance and the role of foreign donors have contributed to the country’s environmental catastrophe. He also lays out a blueprint for what could turn the situation around, effectively mobilizing both government and the population to begin restoring the environment.
Wainright served twice as Haiti’s Minister of Environment. Trained as an agronomist, Yves-André’s work has focused on environmental management, especially management of natural resources and waste.
Read the interview here.
"We
have to start working collaboratively," says former Minister of the
Environment
Yves-André Wainright. Photo by Roberto (Bear) Guerra.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
For Earth Day
There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and dessecrated places.
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.
-- Wendell Berry
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.
-- Wendell Berry
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Reimagining Cité Soleil as a GARDEN
On what used to be an acre of trash, amazing friends over at Pax Christi in Cité Soleil have imagined this wonderful project (Haiti's largest urban vegetable garden, planted by children) into being:
It's called the Tap Tap Garden. See here the press release from Bochika, the organization that, along with SOIL (who also put composting toilets on the site), helped make this happen with the support of MCC and others. Be inspired. Really.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Made in Haiti: A Good Thing?
Alexis Erkert Depp
If you’re wearing Gap, Calvin Klein or Levi Strauss jeans there’s a chance that I’ve met the worker that made your belt loops or your waistband. If you’ve recently bought Hanes underwear or a Maidenform bra, check the label. Was it made in Haiti? If not, the next pair you buy probably will be.
As part of an effort to help Haiti rebuild its economy after the earthquake, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in May of this year to extend U.S. trade preferences to Haiti through 2020 and nearly triple duty-free quotas for Haitian garment exports to the U.S. Last month the World Bank, Haiti and the U.S. signed an agreement with a South Korean clothing producer, Sae-A to build another free-trade garment assembly factory in Haiti.
Garment assembly plants that employ low-wage laborers in poor countries have been seen as a powerful strategy for economic development for several decades. But who really benefits from these factories?
In August, I visited CODEVI, a free trade zone made up of 6 garment assembly factories in Ounaminthe, in Haiti’s North-East Department on the border with the Dominican Republic. A free trade zone is an area of a country where normal trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic requirements, like minimum wage laws, are lowered in hopes of attracting businesses and foreign investments.
Attracting foreign investment in this way was part of Haiti’s “Poverty Reduction Strategy” plan prior to the earthquake and continues to be a priority now for the Haitian government, the world’s International Financial Institutions, donor countries and, of course, multinational companies looking to capitalize on Haiti’s high unemployment and cheap labor. Note that this list of advocates doesn’t include Haitian factory workers, most of whom work full-time and remain in poverty.
Yannick Etienne is the director of the Haitian workers rights’ organization, Batay Ouvriye and tirelessly advocates for workers’ basic rights. Etienne believes, “It is evident that this model of development with free trade zones as its backbone for creating jobs is a failure. It creates wealth for the foreign investors and local factory owners but more misery for the workers. It's a model that sacrifices the future of our youth and puts our country in a more dependent framework. That type of international aid won't bring the change Haitian people envisioned for themselves.”
I spoke to some of the workers from the factories in Ounaminthe during their lunch hour. Thousands of workers were crowded under make-shift tin roofs in the 95 degree heat, eating their main meal of the day, diri Miami (imported rice) and sos pwa (bean sauce).
These workers are barely scraping by. They have a union and have succeeded in demanding a pay raise. They have also succeeded in getting factory owners to hire a Haitian doctor. Nevertheless, they must meet the taxing quota of 4,000 units a week to make 800 gourdes ($20.00 U.S.) a week, which is less than the legal Haitian minimum wage. If they don’t meet weekly quotas, they are paid 600 gourdes ($15.00). They spend more than $10.00 a week just to feed their families.
Higher-paid staff and supervisors are mostly Dominican. The free trade zone employs approximately 6,000 workers, most of whom are younger than 35 years old. 75% of the workforce is women and workers report that sexual harassment is common. Workers are not provided with filtered drinking water and are docked a ¼ of a week’s pay if they miss a single day of work. Workers tell me that they hope for a better future for their children, but that they themselves don’t have any other options.
The economy in and around Ounaminthe is depressed. It is in one of the most fertile agricultural areas of Haiti and yet rice farmers in nearby Ferier cannot sell more than 3,000 tons of rice this year because of Dominican trade barriers on imported rice and an influx of food aid post-earthquake. Meanwhile, factory workers eat “Miami rice” because it’s cheaper.
Support for this kind of economic growth in Haiti is complex. No-one can argue that Haiti doesn’t need more jobs. The production for export factories employ approximately 25,000 Haitians and that number is growing. But, most Haitians would argue that production for export is not a sustainable long-term solution to the country’s lagging economy.
According to Camille Chalmers, Executive director of the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA), “Free trade zones are not a good way to advance economic growth in general because working conditions are poor and this kind of activity has almost no connection to the rest of the country’s economy. It is also unreliable [as a long-term source for employment].”
Although these types of garment factories have provided consumers with increasingly cheap clothes and other goods and have enabled multinational companies to post record profits, as a development model it has repeatedly failed in Haiti and the rest of Latin America to improve the living conditions of the majority of people.
This was abundantly clear to me in my visit to Ounaminthe. Young and able-bodied workers there are working full-time for a wage that will never allow them to break out of the cycle of poverty. The Haitian government doesn’t fully benefit from taxes because CODEVI is a free trade zone. Haitian shipping companies don’t benefit because materials are shipped in and out from the Dominican Republic. The local economy is weakened as it becomes increasingly dependent on the whims of an external market. It’s clear that long-term, the true beneficiaries are not Haitians but rather the companies that own the factories and us, as consumers.
If the Haitian economy is increasingly dependent on cheap labor for growth, it is as much because we want to pay less for our jeans as it is because clothing companies are making a profit. If we truly believe that all human beings have equal rights, then we have a responsibility to support local economic development in Haiti that is determined by and for Haitians. Haitians tell me they want jobs that are sustainable and that will provide them with living wages. On our part, support for this kind of development can begin with ethical and informed consumption.
As I watched the thousands of workers crossing the bridge on their way back to work after their lunch break, I wondered whether I would be willing to pay a higher price for my jeans so that others could live a life of dignity and well-being. So, the question is: Who makes your jeans?
Alexis Erkert Depp coordinates MCC Haiti’s advocacy program.
Download Justice in a Land of Plenty, a resource for worship and advocacy on trade justice.
Check out MCC’s trade justice campaign and actions you can take.
To read more about this issue:
“Re-building Haiti: “The Sweatshop Hoax"
"Poverty Wage Assembly Plants as Development Strategy in Haiti"
If you’re wearing Gap, Calvin Klein or Levi Strauss jeans there’s a chance that I’ve met the worker that made your belt loops or your waistband. If you’ve recently bought Hanes underwear or a Maidenform bra, check the label. Was it made in Haiti? If not, the next pair you buy probably will be.
As part of an effort to help Haiti rebuild its economy after the earthquake, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in May of this year to extend U.S. trade preferences to Haiti through 2020 and nearly triple duty-free quotas for Haitian garment exports to the U.S. Last month the World Bank, Haiti and the U.S. signed an agreement with a South Korean clothing producer, Sae-A to build another free-trade garment assembly factory in Haiti.
Garment assembly plants that employ low-wage laborers in poor countries have been seen as a powerful strategy for economic development for several decades. But who really benefits from these factories?
In August, I visited CODEVI, a free trade zone made up of 6 garment assembly factories in Ounaminthe, in Haiti’s North-East Department on the border with the Dominican Republic. A free trade zone is an area of a country where normal trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic requirements, like minimum wage laws, are lowered in hopes of attracting businesses and foreign investments.
Attracting foreign investment in this way was part of Haiti’s “Poverty Reduction Strategy” plan prior to the earthquake and continues to be a priority now for the Haitian government, the world’s International Financial Institutions, donor countries and, of course, multinational companies looking to capitalize on Haiti’s high unemployment and cheap labor. Note that this list of advocates doesn’t include Haitian factory workers, most of whom work full-time and remain in poverty.
Yannick Etienne is the director of the Haitian workers rights’ organization, Batay Ouvriye and tirelessly advocates for workers’ basic rights. Etienne believes, “It is evident that this model of development with free trade zones as its backbone for creating jobs is a failure. It creates wealth for the foreign investors and local factory owners but more misery for the workers. It's a model that sacrifices the future of our youth and puts our country in a more dependent framework. That type of international aid won't bring the change Haitian people envisioned for themselves.”
I spoke to some of the workers from the factories in Ounaminthe during their lunch hour. Thousands of workers were crowded under make-shift tin roofs in the 95 degree heat, eating their main meal of the day, diri Miami (imported rice) and sos pwa (bean sauce).
These workers are barely scraping by. They have a union and have succeeded in demanding a pay raise. They have also succeeded in getting factory owners to hire a Haitian doctor. Nevertheless, they must meet the taxing quota of 4,000 units a week to make 800 gourdes ($20.00 U.S.) a week, which is less than the legal Haitian minimum wage. If they don’t meet weekly quotas, they are paid 600 gourdes ($15.00). They spend more than $10.00 a week just to feed their families.
Higher-paid staff and supervisors are mostly Dominican. The free trade zone employs approximately 6,000 workers, most of whom are younger than 35 years old. 75% of the workforce is women and workers report that sexual harassment is common. Workers are not provided with filtered drinking water and are docked a ¼ of a week’s pay if they miss a single day of work. Workers tell me that they hope for a better future for their children, but that they themselves don’t have any other options.
The economy in and around Ounaminthe is depressed. It is in one of the most fertile agricultural areas of Haiti and yet rice farmers in nearby Ferier cannot sell more than 3,000 tons of rice this year because of Dominican trade barriers on imported rice and an influx of food aid post-earthquake. Meanwhile, factory workers eat “Miami rice” because it’s cheaper.
Support for this kind of economic growth in Haiti is complex. No-one can argue that Haiti doesn’t need more jobs. The production for export factories employ approximately 25,000 Haitians and that number is growing. But, most Haitians would argue that production for export is not a sustainable long-term solution to the country’s lagging economy.
According to Camille Chalmers, Executive director of the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA), “Free trade zones are not a good way to advance economic growth in general because working conditions are poor and this kind of activity has almost no connection to the rest of the country’s economy. It is also unreliable [as a long-term source for employment].”
Although these types of garment factories have provided consumers with increasingly cheap clothes and other goods and have enabled multinational companies to post record profits, as a development model it has repeatedly failed in Haiti and the rest of Latin America to improve the living conditions of the majority of people.
This was abundantly clear to me in my visit to Ounaminthe. Young and able-bodied workers there are working full-time for a wage that will never allow them to break out of the cycle of poverty. The Haitian government doesn’t fully benefit from taxes because CODEVI is a free trade zone. Haitian shipping companies don’t benefit because materials are shipped in and out from the Dominican Republic. The local economy is weakened as it becomes increasingly dependent on the whims of an external market. It’s clear that long-term, the true beneficiaries are not Haitians but rather the companies that own the factories and us, as consumers.
If the Haitian economy is increasingly dependent on cheap labor for growth, it is as much because we want to pay less for our jeans as it is because clothing companies are making a profit. If we truly believe that all human beings have equal rights, then we have a responsibility to support local economic development in Haiti that is determined by and for Haitians. Haitians tell me they want jobs that are sustainable and that will provide them with living wages. On our part, support for this kind of development can begin with ethical and informed consumption.
As I watched the thousands of workers crossing the bridge on their way back to work after their lunch break, I wondered whether I would be willing to pay a higher price for my jeans so that others could live a life of dignity and well-being. So, the question is: Who makes your jeans?
Alexis Erkert Depp coordinates MCC Haiti’s advocacy program.
Download Justice in a Land of Plenty, a resource for worship and advocacy on trade justice.
Check out MCC’s trade justice campaign and actions you can take.
_______________________________________________________________________________
To read more about this issue:
“Re-building Haiti: “The Sweatshop Hoax"
"Poverty Wage Assembly Plants as Development Strategy in Haiti"
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Churches Week of Action on Food
Take Action: Participate in the Churches Week of Action on Food.
Background: Connect with thousands of people and churches around the world in a movement to lift up the voices of small-scale food producers. In doing this, we support them in having choices as to what crops to grow, how they can grow these crops, and in ensuring that all people have access to affordable, healthy and culturally appropriate food. Many U.S. policies, such as agricultural subsidies, undercut farmers in low-income countries, especially small-scale food producers.
The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act (HR 3012), was introduced to Congress last year by Rep. Michael Michaud [D-ME] in an effort to reshape U.S. trade policy to support small scale producers' livelihoods and aid in sustainable food production. In supporting this, we hope that it would bring people access to affordable and healthy food and support local food producers.
Faith Reflection: Over 1 billion people in the world live in hunger while many in the U.S. have more food than we need. As Christians, we are called not only to feed the hungry, but also to work toward a just global economic system in which all have access to abundant and healthy food.
Action: Support this cause of lifting up the voices of small-scale food producers, and ensuring that all have access to affordable food.
How?
1) Share this information with as many as you can as a way to educate others about the injustice in the distribution of food and how U.S. trade policy might help turn that around.
2) Write to your congressperson to support the TRADE ACT to bolster the food security of impoverished countries.
3) Use these stories to use as bulletin inserts to bring awareness to food issues, available at: http://www.tradeweek.org/typo3/en/learn-more/stories.html.
Background: Connect with thousands of people and churches around the world in a movement to lift up the voices of small-scale food producers. In doing this, we support them in having choices as to what crops to grow, how they can grow these crops, and in ensuring that all people have access to affordable, healthy and culturally appropriate food. Many U.S. policies, such as agricultural subsidies, undercut farmers in low-income countries, especially small-scale food producers.
The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act (HR 3012), was introduced to Congress last year by Rep. Michael Michaud [D-ME] in an effort to reshape U.S. trade policy to support small scale producers' livelihoods and aid in sustainable food production. In supporting this, we hope that it would bring people access to affordable and healthy food and support local food producers.
Faith Reflection: Over 1 billion people in the world live in hunger while many in the U.S. have more food than we need. As Christians, we are called not only to feed the hungry, but also to work toward a just global economic system in which all have access to abundant and healthy food.
Action: Support this cause of lifting up the voices of small-scale food producers, and ensuring that all have access to affordable food.
How?
1) Share this information with as many as you can as a way to educate others about the injustice in the distribution of food and how U.S. trade policy might help turn that around.
2) Write to your congressperson to support the TRADE ACT to bolster the food security of impoverished countries.
3) Use these stories to use as bulletin inserts to bring awareness to food issues, available at: http://www.tradeweek.org/typo3/en/learn-more/stories.html.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Oh, Shopping
I could spend all day in a thrift store, but put me in a Target or one of those other stores and I feel like I’m five years old. I am so overwhelmed by quantity and choice and a cheapness that can’t possibly reflect the actual cost of production that I want to curl up in a fetal position and cry.
Our flight on Monday left Charlotte at 10 PM, so we had time to run some last minute errands. Ben dropped me off at a Michaels to look for embroidery thread while he went to some electronics super-store to look for a laptop for our neighbor and a microphone. As if 20 minutes in Michaels trying to find the embroidery thread aisle and choosing among hundreds of colors and shades of thread wasn’t bad enough, we went to Best Buy next. After that, we stopped by Radio Shack and Ritz Camera (still in search of a microphone). A final stop at Harris Teeter where none of the sullen employees I asked knew where to find the maple flavoring… When we enter big box stores, we feel confronted by a spirit of consumption. We both wanted to take showers by the time we got back to Ben’s parents’ house.
Here’s what I noticed when we went out to get groceries in our Petion-Ville neighborhood on Tuesday (choosing not to go to the new Giant that opened while we were gone, which was probably wise since I was still reeling from trying to buy thread at Michaels): The market ladies that I buy vegetables from ask if I’ve been traveling because they haven’t seen me in awhile. They ask how my family is. They let me buy on credit when I don’t have enough change and they give me a bunch of green onions as I’m walking away. At the tailor shop where we buy eggs (weird, I know), the tailor gives us three extra eggs and painstakingly wraps them in two halves of an egg carton tied up with red string so that they won’t break on our way home. The security guard at the grocery store greets us and helps us stash our motorcycle helmets and the checkout clerk knows that we’re the freaks that bring our own grocery bags. The owner waves at us from behind his desk. As we ride home, the moto taxi drivers at the end of our street honk and wave to let us know that they know we’re back. Later, Ben takes a few empty beer bottles to the old lady down the street and exchanges them for full ones. She knows us, too.
All of this takes place within walking distance of our house. In Haiti, if feels like we shop as part of a community and that – flights to/from Haiti and some imported foodstuffs notwithstanding - our consumption footprint is much smaller. I even buy most of my clothes from piles of used clothing on the street, from women who know my name and my size. This kind of shopping feels healthy to me in a way that the dominant consumption model in the States never has. In Haiti, there are no box stores to lure me in with cheap prices and I never come home from the grocery store or the street market feeling disgusted with myself. Although I do think that it is possible to shop in a healthy way in the States – to buy directly from farmers, to barter with friends, to frequent locally-owned establishments, etc… in most places it takes a lot more effort and planning than it does here.
Leaving North Carolina and our families this time ‘round was harder, partly because of Martha’s cancer and because most of our closest friends in Haiti have moved away this year. But, the contrast between our shopping experiences on Monday and Tuesday reminded me of one of things that I most appreciate about living here and that we have, however unintentionally, become part of the community of our neighborhood.
Our flight on Monday left Charlotte at 10 PM, so we had time to run some last minute errands. Ben dropped me off at a Michaels to look for embroidery thread while he went to some electronics super-store to look for a laptop for our neighbor and a microphone. As if 20 minutes in Michaels trying to find the embroidery thread aisle and choosing among hundreds of colors and shades of thread wasn’t bad enough, we went to Best Buy next. After that, we stopped by Radio Shack and Ritz Camera (still in search of a microphone). A final stop at Harris Teeter where none of the sullen employees I asked knew where to find the maple flavoring… When we enter big box stores, we feel confronted by a spirit of consumption. We both wanted to take showers by the time we got back to Ben’s parents’ house.
Here’s what I noticed when we went out to get groceries in our Petion-Ville neighborhood on Tuesday (choosing not to go to the new Giant that opened while we were gone, which was probably wise since I was still reeling from trying to buy thread at Michaels): The market ladies that I buy vegetables from ask if I’ve been traveling because they haven’t seen me in awhile. They ask how my family is. They let me buy on credit when I don’t have enough change and they give me a bunch of green onions as I’m walking away. At the tailor shop where we buy eggs (weird, I know), the tailor gives us three extra eggs and painstakingly wraps them in two halves of an egg carton tied up with red string so that they won’t break on our way home. The security guard at the grocery store greets us and helps us stash our motorcycle helmets and the checkout clerk knows that we’re the freaks that bring our own grocery bags. The owner waves at us from behind his desk. As we ride home, the moto taxi drivers at the end of our street honk and wave to let us know that they know we’re back. Later, Ben takes a few empty beer bottles to the old lady down the street and exchanges them for full ones. She knows us, too.
All of this takes place within walking distance of our house. In Haiti, if feels like we shop as part of a community and that – flights to/from Haiti and some imported foodstuffs notwithstanding - our consumption footprint is much smaller. I even buy most of my clothes from piles of used clothing on the street, from women who know my name and my size. This kind of shopping feels healthy to me in a way that the dominant consumption model in the States never has. In Haiti, there are no box stores to lure me in with cheap prices and I never come home from the grocery store or the street market feeling disgusted with myself. Although I do think that it is possible to shop in a healthy way in the States – to buy directly from farmers, to barter with friends, to frequent locally-owned establishments, etc… in most places it takes a lot more effort and planning than it does here.
Leaving North Carolina and our families this time ‘round was harder, partly because of Martha’s cancer and because most of our closest friends in Haiti have moved away this year. But, the contrast between our shopping experiences on Monday and Tuesday reminded me of one of things that I most appreciate about living here and that we have, however unintentionally, become part of the community of our neighborhood.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Airsick
Created with 20,000 photographs and a haunting soundtrack, Airsick plays out like an unsettling dream. Photographer Lucas Oleniuk examines our addiction to fossil fuel - and its consequences. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/airsick
Airsick is exactly how I often feel breathing in the diesel smoke pouring from all of the cars and trucks here. Knowing that all of our electricity in Haiti comes from power plants that burn low grade diesel makes me question what development really looks like. Even my laptop runs on diesel here. (Diesel powers alternating current powers batteries powers inverter powers laptop powers me posting videos about pollution on my blog).Speaking of oil, at 11:45 last night Luna ran into the house looking like one of those dead ducks from the BP oil spill. She must have chased something or been chased into a sewer. The sewer is where everybody here dumps their waste motor oil. We tried washing her and although the electricity wasn't on and we ran out of water, we were able to wash off about 50 percent of the oil (and everything else that you might find in a sewer in Port-Au-Prince). We decided that if she dies from licking the oil off, at least she'll cremate well. But seriously, it's disgusting. And there is no waste oil disposal system or recycling center so even the waste oil from NGOs doing environmental conservation will eventually end up in the sewers.
I've been working on an idea for a mango dryer that uses waste motor oil, but that's for another post. Meanwhile, we have oily paw prints everywhere and an oily cat that hates taking baths.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Reading
Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community by Wendell BerryThe Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Seeds a selection of Thomas Merton's writings
Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed edited by Vandana Shiva
I can't do any of these books justice in a short description so I won't try. If you're looking for something to read, check these four out of your local library. The Omnivore's Dilemma took me about a year to read (so this would probably be cheaper to buy than to pay the library fines). Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community and The Manifestos were quick reads and I'm still reading Seeds. I probably shouldn't recommend Seeds since I haven't finished it, so I'll go ahead and just recommend the first half. Start with Wendell Berry then read the other three.
These books have helped me better understand why Haiti and the rest of the world are where they are and and also gave me an idea of how things could be better (which is refreshing when you happen to be living in Port-au-Prince in March 2010. The earthquake was a huge natural disaster but I believe there is also a larger, ongoing man-made disaster that has been killing this island for several hundred years). The common thread: our world is a messed up place but there are ways that we can choose to live in better harmony with creation and with each other that have the potential to heal spiritual, environmental and relational brokenness.
Painting for sale on the street by Louis Murat.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Confession Time
June is *finally* over. This week, as we resume our less calculated and much easier plasticized life, we can buy things like dish soap and cleaner and yogurt and granola again. Oh, the relief! But, that's not to say that a month of attempting to forgo plastic hasn't made for some lasting change: we are more conscious of our choices than we used to be. Trying to avoid all things plastic, we've had to look for creative alternatives to some of our usual purchases and it turns out some of those make a lot of sense. And, I've had to get over my discomfort with insisting on no plastic. It's become kind of automatic. I just hope that the girls at Epi-Dor - where we buy bread and eat sandwiches several times a week - find it endearing rather than extremely annoying.
So here's the final count of the plastic we did end up purchasing in June, mostly inadvertantly but sometimes not (as previously stated, we weren't planning to go without drinking water all month... or, apparently, sour cream) :
9 or so culligan lids (to be honest, I stopped keeping track)
1 bottle of bleach
1 bottle of laundry detergent
1 plastic baggie
1 jar lid (peanuts)
1 baguette bag
1 bag of flour
The ends of Ben's new used shoelaces
2 packages of crackers
5 plastic bags
plastic container of cheese (in very misleading cardboard packaging)
1 plastic twistie-tie
1 straw
2 sets of plastic silverware
1 container of sour cream
plastic-wrapped green peppers
1 package of pita bread
Crazy, right? I'm asking myself how we managed to purchase that much plastic while we were intentionally trying NOT to. One of these days I hope to get around to a thoughtful analysis of the global effects of our plastic consumption (so, in case you're still trying to understand why we would take on this crazy experiment, check back soon).
So here's the final count of the plastic we did end up purchasing in June, mostly inadvertantly but sometimes not (as previously stated, we weren't planning to go without drinking water all month... or, apparently, sour cream) :
9 or so culligan lids (to be honest, I stopped keeping track)
1 bottle of bleach
1 bottle of laundry detergent
1 plastic baggie
1 jar lid (peanuts)
1 baguette bag
1 bag of flour
The ends of Ben's new used shoelaces
2 packages of crackers
5 plastic bags
plastic container of cheese (in very misleading cardboard packaging)
1 plastic twistie-tie
1 straw
2 sets of plastic silverware
1 container of sour cream
plastic-wrapped green peppers
1 package of pita bread
Crazy, right? I'm asking myself how we managed to purchase that much plastic while we were intentionally trying NOT to. One of these days I hope to get around to a thoughtful analysis of the global effects of our plastic consumption (so, in case you're still trying to understand why we would take on this crazy experiment, check back soon).
Monday, June 15, 2009
When the Beajours try to keep up with the Joneses
...they use plastic. Plastic bags, plastic packaging, plastic soda bottles, plastic silverware, plastic cups (and styrofoam takeout containers, too).
When we're in the countryside, it's easy to take my own bag or bottle to the market and get it filled with sugar, cooking oil, laundry detergent, flour, rice, beans, cracked wheat or cornmeal. In Port-Au-Prince, where everyone that can afford to be is image-conscious and prefers the grocery store to the street market, all of these items come in plastic. In this age of global food crisis, 75% of Haiti's food is imported. Wholesale companies import bulk rice, beans, wheat, oats, corn and more and nicely repackage it into plastic to stock the shelves at Public's, Eagle, Caribbean, Big Star, Twins, Express, Royal and Olympic Markets.
But not just imported foods come in plastic. In the stores frequented by wealthier Haitians, produce and eggs are wrapped in plastic to give the illusion of cleanliness (as if they didn't come out of the ground, much less out of a chicken's rear-end). Here is a list of purchases that I passed up today in the grocery store, ALL locally produced and ALL wrapped, packaged or bottled in plastic (I'm sure looking forward to the end of June when we can eat again):
Granola
Yogurt
Coffee
Beans
Bread (pita bread, gingerbread, sliced bread and unsliced bread)
Vinegar
Dish soap
Peanut butter
Snacks
Why so much plastic in Haiti?
Worldwide, choosing the environmentally friendly (or "good stewardship") option is usually a function of privilege. How many struggling single parents can afford to choose Whole Foods or the local farmer's market over McDonald's and the paper, styrofoam and plastic waste that comes with it? Excess waste and environmental degradation are the results of a far more systematic problem than we like to admit.
In Haiti, though, plastic use often seems more a function of image than privilege. For one thing, eco-consciousness is not trendy among wealthy Haitians yet. It's not gauche to litter. It IS gauche to use a djakout (traditional handmade basket) instead of a plastic bag or a kwi (traditional calabash bowl) instead of a styrofoam plate. City-dwellers don't use kwi, lest they be labeled a peasant, backwards and uneducated. Similarly, most prefer imported rice to locally grown, more nutritious and less expensive sorghum. It's all about the image.
Being able to afford plastic is, in it's own way, a status symbol. And so ironically, the poorer you are in Haiti, the less plastic waste you generate. Produce, eggs and meat in the street market are far cheaper than their styrofoam and plastic-wrapped cousins in the supermarket. It's cheaper to buy soda in glass bottles, which are eventually returned to the brewery and reused. It's more expensive and convenient to buy soda in a plastic bottle, which doesn't have to be returned to the vendor and can instead be chucked out the car window with no thought as where it will still be in 1,000 years.
Do we, as excessively-trash producing Americans (in case you were wondering, google analytics has informed me that 70% of our readers live in the USA, which produces the highly quoted statistic of 50% of the world's trash), play a role in the waste production of the rest of the world? As a country that is quote unquote developed, we have a disproportionate amount of power and influence when it comes to our global brothers and sisters. What message are we sending that encourages Haitians, who are currently more connected to the food that they eat than we Americans are (whether by growing it themselves, purchasing it in a basket that was made their neighbor from straw grown by their cousin, or eating it out of a kwi that grew on a tree in their backyard) to aspire to shrink wrapped veggies bought in a supermarket?
Check in on other Plastic Challenge takers:
Sharon's thoughts at Confessions of a Hitherto Unknown Plasti-holic
Karen discusses plastic use and alternatives in North Carolina
-posted by Lexi on Ben's account
When we're in the countryside, it's easy to take my own bag or bottle to the market and get it filled with sugar, cooking oil, laundry detergent, flour, rice, beans, cracked wheat or cornmeal. In Port-Au-Prince, where everyone that can afford to be is image-conscious and prefers the grocery store to the street market, all of these items come in plastic. In this age of global food crisis, 75% of Haiti's food is imported. Wholesale companies import bulk rice, beans, wheat, oats, corn and more and nicely repackage it into plastic to stock the shelves at Public's, Eagle, Caribbean, Big Star, Twins, Express, Royal and Olympic Markets.
But not just imported foods come in plastic. In the stores frequented by wealthier Haitians, produce and eggs are wrapped in plastic to give the illusion of cleanliness (as if they didn't come out of the ground, much less out of a chicken's rear-end). Here is a list of purchases that I passed up today in the grocery store, ALL locally produced and ALL wrapped, packaged or bottled in plastic (I'm sure looking forward to the end of June when we can eat again):
Granola
Yogurt
Coffee
Beans
Bread (pita bread, gingerbread, sliced bread and unsliced bread)
Vinegar
Dish soap
Peanut butter
Snacks
Why so much plastic in Haiti?
Worldwide, choosing the environmentally friendly (or "good stewardship") option is usually a function of privilege. How many struggling single parents can afford to choose Whole Foods or the local farmer's market over McDonald's and the paper, styrofoam and plastic waste that comes with it? Excess waste and environmental degradation are the results of a far more systematic problem than we like to admit.
In Haiti, though, plastic use often seems more a function of image than privilege. For one thing, eco-consciousness is not trendy among wealthy Haitians yet. It's not gauche to litter. It IS gauche to use a djakout (traditional handmade basket) instead of a plastic bag or a kwi (traditional calabash bowl) instead of a styrofoam plate. City-dwellers don't use kwi, lest they be labeled a peasant, backwards and uneducated. Similarly, most prefer imported rice to locally grown, more nutritious and less expensive sorghum. It's all about the image.
Being able to afford plastic is, in it's own way, a status symbol. And so ironically, the poorer you are in Haiti, the less plastic waste you generate. Produce, eggs and meat in the street market are far cheaper than their styrofoam and plastic-wrapped cousins in the supermarket. It's cheaper to buy soda in glass bottles, which are eventually returned to the brewery and reused. It's more expensive and convenient to buy soda in a plastic bottle, which doesn't have to be returned to the vendor and can instead be chucked out the car window with no thought as where it will still be in 1,000 years.
Do we, as excessively-trash producing Americans (in case you were wondering, google analytics has informed me that 70% of our readers live in the USA, which produces the highly quoted statistic of 50% of the world's trash), play a role in the waste production of the rest of the world? As a country that is quote unquote developed, we have a disproportionate amount of power and influence when it comes to our global brothers and sisters. What message are we sending that encourages Haitians, who are currently more connected to the food that they eat than we Americans are (whether by growing it themselves, purchasing it in a basket that was made their neighbor from straw grown by their cousin, or eating it out of a kwi that grew on a tree in their backyard) to aspire to shrink wrapped veggies bought in a supermarket?
Check in on other Plastic Challenge takers:
Sharon's thoughts at Confessions of a Hitherto Unknown Plasti-holic
Karen discusses plastic use and alternatives in North Carolina
-posted by Lexi on Ben's account
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Plastic Plastic Everywhere
If you've been paying attention, you know that Ben and I (along with a few fellow MCCers) are trying to go plastic-less for the month of June. Never did we imagine how difficult this would be. Even when we're being conscientious, plastic seems to be unavoidably pervasive in our lives.
Take, for example, the bleach and laundry detergent I purchased yesterday. It took Ben several "um, are you sure you want to buy that?"'s for me to notice that the bleach bottle and detergent bag were both plastic, by which time, I had already purchased them. My defense: we CAN'T not do laundry for an entire month.
Nor can we go without drinking water. When we got our 5-gallon Culligan bottles (plastic, but refillable!) filled last week, we realized that they get resealed with a new plastic lid.
Our only other oopsies so far: 2 plastic bags. To avoid the plastic packaging on cheese, we bought some at the deli counter and asked that it be wrapped in paper instead of plastic. Before we could stop him, the deli-counter-man then put our paper-wrapped cheese into a plastic bag and slapped a price sticker on it. Nooooo! The 2nd bag was entirely, though inadvertently, my fault.
There's a plastics-related question (read: mounting concern) eating away at me. Even in non plastic-less months, we ignore funny looks at the check-out counter and take cloth bags or the traditional Haitian djakout (basket) with us for groceries. Of course, we still sometimes end up with plastic grocery bags and these become our garbage bags. A whole month of NO plastic bags means NO garbage bags.... With my second to last garbage bag already full, I'm wondering how we should dispose of the non-food (we compost) and non-plastic waste that we generate this month? Any ideas?
Take, for example, the bleach and laundry detergent I purchased yesterday. It took Ben several "um, are you sure you want to buy that?"'s for me to notice that the bleach bottle and detergent bag were both plastic, by which time, I had already purchased them. My defense: we CAN'T not do laundry for an entire month.
Nor can we go without drinking water. When we got our 5-gallon Culligan bottles (plastic, but refillable!) filled last week, we realized that they get resealed with a new plastic lid.
Our only other oopsies so far: 2 plastic bags. To avoid the plastic packaging on cheese, we bought some at the deli counter and asked that it be wrapped in paper instead of plastic. Before we could stop him, the deli-counter-man then put our paper-wrapped cheese into a plastic bag and slapped a price sticker on it. Nooooo! The 2nd bag was entirely, though inadvertently, my fault.
There's a plastics-related question (read: mounting concern) eating away at me. Even in non plastic-less months, we ignore funny looks at the check-out counter and take cloth bags or the traditional Haitian djakout (basket) with us for groceries. Of course, we still sometimes end up with plastic grocery bags and these become our garbage bags. A whole month of NO plastic bags means NO garbage bags.... With my second to last garbage bag already full, I'm wondering how we should dispose of the non-food (we compost) and non-plastic waste that we generate this month? Any ideas?
Monday, June 8, 2009
Take the Plastic Challenge
Litter is a problem in many countries, and Haiti is no exception. There’s little waste management infrastructure in our area, and often the best you can do is sweep your trash (plastic, metal, paper, whatever) into a small pile and burn it. As you can imagine, this presents its own challenges. A better strategy here is to either recycle your own consumer byproducts (using cans and bottles as planting containers, refilling the same bag of flour in the market) or avoiding waste altogether (choosing a refillable glass soda bottle over a plastic one). I know trash management is a large and complex issue, but becoming aware of how much we participate in the problem is an important step in finding a creative solution.
We were talking about this with a few of our fellow MCCers, and decided to step it up a notch. The challenge is simple:
No new plastic for one month.
No wrappers, no bottles, no lids. No see-through windows in cardboard boxes. No plastic buttons on clothing. No new flip-flops. I don’t even know if this will be possible, but trying will at least help us become aware of how much plastic we have in our day-to-day lives.
Why plastic? Even those advertised as “biodegradable” often don’t break down for decades, making our temporary containers a rather permanent part of our environment. Anybody for a vacation to the Pacific Trash Vortex?
Since I assume you’re all already doing things like foregoing Styrofoam, recycling, and using cloth shopping bags, I invite you to participate in No-Plastic June. You can keep the plastic you already have around the house, but don't purchase any new plastic for one month.
Then tell us about it! We’ll be posting here about our attempts to be plastic-free, so please feel free to leave comments about your own challenges and successes.
(text by Sharon T)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Here's to the care and restoration of our earth:
HAAPPY EARTH DAY!
"The biblical concept of peace embraces personal peace
with God, peace in human relations, peace among nations
and peace with God's creation."
- Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995
I recently reread the excerpt that I posted in November from the Cry for Suffering and was touched again by the truth and beauty in it. Since Earth Day is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for our environment, what more fitting day to reflect on whether or not we as individuals are at peace with creation?
A reminder:
Because we believe that God has created all and that which was created is good, we believe in loving stewardship of the physical world:
As images of Christ, we are co-creators with Him, taking care of that which has been given to us, being active in creating and forming instead of consuming and destroying. The world is connected, no matter how much we try to separate it. All that we have comes from the earth. And so we learn to see the connections between living and eating, eating and working, working and loving. Life is sacred, revealing its beauty, pointing us to Christ and His Kingdom that is growing around us and in us.
As followers of Christ, we enter into the world and see its beauty, wanting to conserve and create more of the beauty of the world for those who come after us. This stewardship might mean driving less. It might mean not using air conditioning or turning down the heat. It might mean buying less and having a smaller variety of foods. It might mean planting a garden or taking fewer showers. It might be political or economic involvement that struggles for conservation. Those things are not an end in themselves but are a testimony to our hope of redemption.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Case Against Styrofoam
This is a canal that runs through downtown Port-Au-Prince. No living organism on earth will eat petroleum-based products, so styrofoam can NEVER fully biodegrade. Take your own to-go containers when you eat out or ask for foil!
-Lexi, of course :)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Creation care
When Ben read my post about MCC's reforestion program, he was reminded of something he'd just read in The Cry for Suffering, the advocacy journal of Word Made Flesh, and asked if I would mind posting it.
Because we believe that God has created all and that which was created is good, we believe in loving stewardship of the physical world:
As images of Christ, we are co-creators with Him, taking care of that which has been given to us, being active in creating and forming instead of consuming and destroying. The world is connected, no matter how much we try to separate it. All that we have comes from the earth. And so we learn to see the connections between living and eating, eating and working, working and loving. Life is sacred, revealing its beauty, pointing us to Christ and His Kingdom that is growing around us and in us.
As followers of Christ, we enter into the world and see its beauty, wanting to conserve and create more of the beauty of the world for those who come after us. This stewardship might mean driving less. It might mean not using air conditioning or turning down the heat. It might mean buying less and having a smaller variety of foods. It might mean planting a garden or taking fewer showers. It might be political or economic involvement that struggles for conservation. Those things are not an end in themselves but are a testimony to our hope of redemption.
Because we believe that God has created all and that which was created is good, we believe in loving stewardship of the physical world:
As images of Christ, we are co-creators with Him, taking care of that which has been given to us, being active in creating and forming instead of consuming and destroying. The world is connected, no matter how much we try to separate it. All that we have comes from the earth. And so we learn to see the connections between living and eating, eating and working, working and loving. Life is sacred, revealing its beauty, pointing us to Christ and His Kingdom that is growing around us and in us.
As followers of Christ, we enter into the world and see its beauty, wanting to conserve and create more of the beauty of the world for those who come after us. This stewardship might mean driving less. It might mean not using air conditioning or turning down the heat. It might mean buying less and having a smaller variety of foods. It might mean planting a garden or taking fewer showers. It might be political or economic involvement that struggles for conservation. Those things are not an end in themselves but are a testimony to our hope of redemption.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
peace, love and reforestation
MCC Haiti in brief: peace, love and reforestation... (also upholding and monitoring human rights, empowering the poor and marginalized, facilitating mutually transformative relationships, and so on)
While most of MCC's goals here are hard to measure, my visit to Desarmes and the MCC forestry program was exciting and demonstrative of one of the things MCC does in Haiti: Trees! MCC has helped set up and supports 23 community-run tree nurseries (pepinyè) throughout the Dezam area. The nurseries contract and sell trees to other organizations with forestry programs ie. IOM, and also sell trees at a minimal cost to community members. MCC provides technical and organizational training, some financial assistance and helps to find buyers for the trees, but the nurseries are otherwise run on their own. The goal is obviously that they be self-sustainable. Collectively this year, the pepinyè grew and sold 450,000 trees!
The program also supports privately-owned ti forè, or little forests, which has proven to be the fastest way to carry out reforestation. Individuals receive training (on soil conservation, sustainable harvesting, interplanting trees with corn and sorghum etc) from MCC, purchase tree seedlings and plant forests of their own. The ecological, social and economic (trees are scarce in Haiti and sustainable tree harvesting provides a major economic boost to the owner of a ti forè) impact of these ti forè is notable!
And finally, MCC Dezam has an environmental education program in 14 schools in the area. The MCC team trains teachers, who in turn teach their students about environmental appreciation and protection, the difference between trash and compost, and, with the cooperation of the community pepinyè, how to plant and care for tree seedlings.
I want to end this post with the lyrics to a fun little song that we learned in Dezam:
Piti piti na rive (little by little we'll arrive)
Piti piti si n mache (little by little if we walk)
Yon jou na rive (one day we will arrive)
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