K: When were you first drawn to sustainability?
C: It didn’t come from learning, “Oh, I want to be more sustainable.” I spent a lot of my young adult life just out in nature…seeing that nature has a way and a cycle…and that humans have removed themselves from it. For example, our waste is supposed to return to the cycle: nature has a way to take care of that. We think that we’re the top and we can do whatever we want, and that’s not the way of Life on the earth, it’s the way of death. Excessive use of something is going to make it more limited resources for everybody. When that happens, there’s going to be more death involved.
K: So do you see reducing consumption and sharing resources as part of your spirituality?
C: Yeah, I feel like everything is really integral. In general I’ve wanted to pursue Life, and things that support life and growth—emotional growth, sustainable growth.
K: What are some of the nitty gritty practical ways of pursuing Life?
C: I think sharing is a huge one. The most important part of sharing is sharing your life with other people, because then you understand the needs of more than just yourself. It’s even better if you can share your life with other living things. Knowing that we’re part of a cycle is key to sustainability.
K: Are there ways you are trying to participate more in that cycle?
C: At this point, I feel like I’m straddling industrial society and that [natural] cycle. In industrial cycles, you just throw things away, and it’s a line, not a circle. I like to dig deep into getting to the root of things. You realize it’s all right here anyway. If I wanted to, I could save all my excrement and use it to fertilize my garden – to grow food – to eat – to make more excrement. But that cycle doesn’t translate to the city very well.
K: What obstacles are there to practicing sustainable cycles in the city?
C: Limited space. But with that comes more people to interact with, to help you, to get ideas from, and to influence. Most people are living their lives the way they are not because they’ve chosen it, but because that’s the way that’s been presented to them. The only way you can get away with having a humanure compost, for instance, is if your neighbors are aware, or to have your neighbors participate. I love that: trying to think about not how I can shelter my life more so I can live in my own little world, but to try to get our neighbors involved and do what we can with them.
K: What are some good starting points for people who want to start participating more in the cycle?
C: There are a lot of current movements. Composting is fairly socially acceptable now. Growing something, even if it’s just a couple plants in your house.
Try to do an organic garden. Instead of buying all your stuff, try to find it or make do without it, to stop consuming unnecessary things. If you’re going to buy something, think about buying it with a group of people. If you have a bunch of tools, share them with other people. Sharing and being neighborly can be a starting point.
Another idea is to get a smaller trash receptacle and see if you can produce less garbage. That’s going to make you really aware of how much you’re consuming. At this point, I think the production of “stuff” is one of today’s main evils—it removes us from the cycle. If you can, make it yourself. Be aware of what you throw away, and try to reduce that. If you’re throwing away a bunch of plastic bags, try to just get one and use it over and over again.
Bicycling is another big thing: getting around without using petroleum.
K: So this sounds like simple living to me.
C: I think it connects really strongly with simplicity. To me it’s all integral. The five tenets of Missio Dei are all connected. We’re doing hospitality as our main thing, but we can’t do hospitality without strong prayer, and you don’t really have justice without simplicity, and you can’t do that either without p
eacemaking. Sustainability to me is just another term for simplicity.
K:
What do you think about the way that “sustainability” has been used as a buzz word and plugged into consumerism— “Buy this and then you’ll be more sustainable!”When you think of a monk, their lives are already pretty sustainable. In an impoverished community, it’s similar. They’re living simple lives mostly because they don’t have an option. The American Dream sort of taints everything… “Oh, we can buy this, so we should. It’s how I show that I’m successful.”
C: I think that’s BS. It’s alright because it removes taboos from certain things. What I don’t like is that it’s the same thing as “buying salvation.” Like thinking, “I’m a part of this church, and I’m saved, so I don’t really have to do a whole lot.”
K: So it’s actually about changing the way that you’re living.
C: Yeah. You can’t just go and buy a Prius, and then you’re saved. The industrial process for making Priuses has a huge impact on our ecological system. A Prius is not sustainable. Can you make it yourself? No. Can you fix it yourself? No. What do you do with it when it breaks down? What do you do with the battery? Are you going to put it in your garden? Probably not. There’s a whole list of questions you can ask yourself. That’s a good sustainability checklist. I like that more people are talking about sustainability because it opens a window for me to challenge people to get deeper. Often people feel guilty. You don’t have to feel guilty, you can just do something about it. Start small.
