Carbon Fast 2015

 Exodus 34: 21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. Today is “Internet Sabbath” day. . Switch off that cell phone and that computer.  Sounds very difficult I know! Here’s how one family did it! On a quiet Saturday afternoon at the Powers home in Orleans, author William Powers, his wife Martha Sherrill and 15-year-old son William are quietly observing the Sabbath. It’s not a religious Sabbath; they call it their Internet Sabbath. From Friday night through Sunday evening, there are no video games, no computers and no smartphones. Powers says it was very difficult at first. “It almost had an existential feeling of, ‘I don’t know who I am with the Internet gone.’ But after a few months it hardened into a habit and we all began to realize we were gaining a lot from it.” In our “always on” lives, there are many like Powers who worry we are too immersed in the digital world and not present enough in the real world. Observers such as digital guru Baratunde Thurston say we can’t seem to resist the lure of our smartphones, even when we are in the company of others. They are like a little Christmas present, Thurston says, “a gift where someone is telling you that you are the most important person.” So we check our screens frequently (some say compulsively) — even when we are sitting across from someone else. And that has consequences, according to one recent study, which found the mere presence of cellphones in face-to-face conversations inhibits the development of closeness and trust, and reduces the amount of empathy we feel from our partners. The study reinforces the thinking of some prominent skeptics, chief among them MIT professor and psychologist Sherry Turkle. She applauds the many benefits of digital technology, but she says we still have a lot to learn about how to use it without undermining our values. “We are not meant to get rid of this,” Turkle says. “We are meant to use it for our human purposes, but we first have to figure out what our human purposes are and I am pretty sure they are not sitting at the dinner table not talking to our 8-year-olds.” We’ve all heard plenty of complaints about how these technologies interfere with family life, but Turkle says in her 15 years interviewing hundreds of adults and teens, it’s surprising how often it is young people who complain about their parents’ obsession with these devices. “They complain about parents picking them up at school and not making eye contact with them until they finish the last email,” she says. And she says parents attending sporting events often miss their child’s important play because they have been checking their email. Turkle adds that many young people feel they have to compete for their parents’ attention. “Adolescent men complain about how they used to love watching Sunday sports with their dads, and now dads are on their iPhones or laptops and they are completely sucked into the Internet space.” The kids are plenty distracted as well. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study (PDF), young people ages 8 to 18 now spend nearly every waking moment when they are not in school using media — more than 7.5 hours a day. Ciera Wade says she can’t remember the last time she had a phone conversation with her parents. “It has entirely been text messages,” Wade says. “In a text message, no one can hear your voice, so if I say ‘I am great,’ you believe it, but I might be crying as I am typing ‘I am great.’ So texting allows me to mask.” Wade also admits that she gets nervous when she has to make the leap from texting to an actual phone conversation. MIT’s Turkle has found that many young people, so reliant on texts and tweets, are intimidated by in-person conversation. She worries that as we ramp up our digital communication, we are “dumbing down” our conversations. Digital communication, Turkle says, “is not so good for the sort of nuanced understanding and relationship-building you get when you are present with your friends — for sharing intimacies, for sharing difficult news, for saying you are sorry, for really getting to know someone. It gives us that sense of connection without the demands of intimacy and the responsibilities of intimacy.” So try it out – have an “Internet Sabbath” today!  

Psalm 119:105 Verse Concepts: Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Load shedding – we hate it! But I am sure we also have some good memories of that period when we were informed in advance of the hours of load shedding and planned family meals by candlelight. Tonight, plan your meal, turn off the electricity and enjoy a candle lit meal with your family and no TV, no cell phones. Enjoy spending time with the family and remind yourself that there are benefits to a simpler life-style. Play a game, talk, enjoy! And spend some time thinking and Earth Hour, 19th March, what can you do to celebrate that hour. This year if falls on the day before Palm Sunday.

You are my lamp, o Lord, the Lord turns my darkness into light – 2 Sam 22:29 Today have a thorough look at your daily life Take time today to make a note of each time you use electricity – and how much.  This could be switching on your kettle for your first cup of coffee, turning on lights, computers, TVs, vacuum cleaners, to going through the check-out at the supermarket. Over the course of the day, you will be surprised just how much electricity you DO use! Take a look at your list – were there times when your electricity usage was not crucial?  Will you be able to address electricity wastage going forward? Make those small changes immediately- discuss with the family ways to make sure that lights are turned off, appliances unplugged. And then consider the easy actions change your light bulbs to energy efficient (use LED), put a blanket on your geyser (water heater) and install a timer. check your geyser: You can actually check how much heat your geyser is losing by simply placing your hand on the geyser. If you feel your geyser is warm, then you know it needs a geyser blanket because it is losing heat. Insulate your hot water tank, turn it down to 60⁰C (most are set at 70) And consider investing in the bigger actions Solar Water Heater Having a solar water heater installed can drastically reduce power consumption at home and save a ton of electricity! Using a solar water heater can save up to two thirds of the total water heating cost you build up at home. If you consider the costs of electricity, a solar water heater will pay itself off within six years. Insulation Invest in good insulation in your roof, this will save on heating and you will be more comfortable How do you heat? Look at what you use to heat and cook. Can you look at changing from electricity to gas which is more efficient? Can you use a more efficient heating source..lose those blower fans!!! And watch this video clip to remind yourself that every time to turn on something you are adding carbon emissions to the planet..?

So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments. Exodus 19:14 It has always been said “Cleanliness is next to godliness” but maybe the question that you are asking yourself is  – what does a task like washing my clothes have to do with my faith?We have made an artificial separation between the ‘sacrad’ (what happens in church) and the ‘secular’ (what happens the rest of our lives. You don’t have to go to sacred places to pray or wait for holy days for good things to happen. You can pray always, and everything that happens is potentially sacred if you allow it to be. Once we can accept that God is in all situations, and that God can and will use even bad situations for good, then everything becomes an occasion for good and an occasion for God. “This is the day Yahweh has made memorable, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24). (Richard Rohr) The Celtic Christians understood this and here is a beautiful Celtic prayer for washing day PRAYER FOR MAKING THE BED I make this bed In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit In the name of the night we were conceived, In the name of the night we were born, In the name of the day we were baptized, In the name of each night, each day, Each angel that is in the heavens. So washing day is part of our live with God. Washing involves use of water, use of electricity and use of detergents. Water: try to only run your machine when it is full. Have you considered a “grey water” system where the water from your washing machine (and showers) can be piped out into the garden.? Detergent: what detergent are you using? Can you buy a more environmentally friendly one? Electricity: Doing all your laundry in cold water saves energy. In fact, almost 90% of the energy consumed by a washing machine goes to heating the water,. Newer detergents, plus the washing machine’s agitating action, are enough to remove stains sans heat. And remember to hang your washing up outside, instead of using a tumble drier. In winter you might consider a SPINDLE. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uXr0Giw-N8) which spins the water out of the clothes reducing drying time radically in winter!

“And the Samaritan put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” – Luke 10:44 We have got into the habit of travelling alone, one person in a car. This makes no sense in terms of saving petrol, money and the planet. Here are some ways to reduce your petrol costs and your carbon footprint Find a friend. For those regular trips, can you car pool? Check out your public transport options. It might not work every time, but use it when it does. Combine your trip with another. What about your bike! Get in shape too Couple of km? – walk! Phone ahead – avoid that unnecessary journey by phoning ahead to see if the article you want is in stock Think it through – do you need to do this trip at all? Telecommute – will they allow you to work from home from time to time? Skype your meetings! Is it really necessary to travel for that meeting or can you connect on skype? Buy on the internet. (with thanks to JAEI)

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12 Perhaps you feel that your little actions will make no difference, and so it is important to realise that you are part of a movement of movements around the world. There are three movements coming together, the environmental movement, the social justice movement and the campaign for rights of indigenous people Ordinary and not so ordinary people are willing to confront despair, power and incalculable odds in an attempt to restore grace and beauty to this Earth In his book “Blessed Unrest” Paul Hawken describes this movement that you are part of as the Largest Social Movement in History He began to set up a database of organisations which are part of this ‘movement of movements” , collecting lists, databases. He found the tip of a huge formation and found that there are at least ONE MILLION organisations involved in this movement. You are part of a huge, growing, powerful movement. Each small action you take is multiplied many thousands of times , we are part of change. Margaret Mead famously said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Multiply that by a million and we have power!