Money on Monday--
What about an economic system based on the ethic of care?
How revolutionary would that be: Organizing around the abundance of care?
Sometimes it takes a more than a 2' by 4' upside the head to get our attention. I am hoping that this moment of financial crisis in our national life will be the moment to get our collective attention
about DOING differently.
A financal bailout of Wall Street might stabalize our system and hold off a global melt down, but no matter what regulations are in place,
the dark side of human nature--greed, lying, and theft, will find its way again
in time into a system that is basically a big craps game. Remember Guy Masterson, blowing on the dice and hoping that Lady Luck would smile on him? Well, we've been blowing on the dice and hoping Luck would come our way. We've felt up or felt down; we've felt lucky or unlucky, and we've kept playing that economic game of craps. And as of this moment, we still are, with congress rejecting a bailout Bailout Article
But now it is time to change our ways and change our definition of success and society that has been based on HOW MUCH you have and the devil take the hindmost how you got it. It's time to rethink our national values and inject care into them as the major component. When you look through the lens of care, the world looks vastly different and you are called to DO DIFFERENTLY.
When you think through the lens of care, your small actions matter, because magnified collectively, what we are all doing can transform us each individually and nationally. We know that Oil Culture is over. I saw that clearly when I came back to the US in 1996 after nearly two years of research in China. I told all who would listen: we have go do something different, because we are over economically. Green is the way to go. And have your kids learn Chinese.
So do some little things that taken together matter.
Make things over, make them do, make them last...ten simple ways to enact care in your life--some of these ideas a so obvious as to be laughable, but they enact care for the environment and ultimately each other. I'll be posting some more tips next week.
1. Bundle your errands to save money on gas...and where possible walk. In many parts of the country that is really difficult, because of how housing and goods supplies are designed in relation to each other (that pod and corridor relation). But I have see folks in shopping malls get into their cars and move them a few stores down so as not to have to walk with a few bags.
2. Reduce your garbage in your community's waste stream--compost your kitchen waste. No real need to get an expensive composter--Use the Kate Ranson Cornue Dump and Go Method. That was my mom's way: dump yard and kitchen waste in a big pile and go do something more fun or rewarding. Let nature do the work of rotting your waste.
3. Make your own cleaning supplies. Martha is credited with this one, but I learned these growing up in 1950s/early 60s pre-consumer disposable society.
4. Mix white vinegar and water to use as a glass cleaner. Crumple newspaper and polish your windows that way. For the price of a few sheets of old newpaper and a few pennies of water and vinegar, you have an outstanding window cleaner
5. Break out the baking soda--it is good for lots of things, but great for non-abrasive scrubbing tubs and sinks. And again pennies. there is no need to use Arm and Hammer brand, use the cheapy, it's all the same and buy in bulk Bulk Foods Info
6. Sprinkle your compost on your lawn to feed it, and stop using synthetics--fertilizers, herbisides and pesticides. Spread it on your veggie garden and under your bushes http://www.compost.org/
7. Start a garden--even if only a tiny window sill one. For a few dollars and a few packs of seeds you can save hundreds even if all you grow are herbs. It's very easy and very inexpensive--use an old sheet cake tin or a used aluminum foil roasting pan set it in a sunny window,fill it with soil or use your compost (bake your compost for an hour or two to sterilize and prevent the little seedlings from falling over) and follow the planting directions on the seed packet. Cover with a plastic bag--recycled--and keep moist until sprouted. Seeds Info You only need a few seeds for home use and Johnny's is a good source. I've used this for years.
8. Lay off the bought coffees and teas--at $3.00-$4.00 dollars a cup and a cup or two a day, that a chunk of change. Make this a once a week treat. Other wise make at home and take in a cup with you. And anyway, all that caffeine is NOT good for you.
9. Use your public library. It is FREE. Books are FREE, movies are FREE, music is FREE http://www.public-libraries.org/
10. And do something for someone else. When someone looks like they might need help, offer it. When someone asks for help, say yes.
11. Remember keep beauty in your life.
