about cars

I recently began reading Wall Street Journal and I have learned a few things.   1) Americans are buying less gasoline than they have in 11 years.  Whoa!   High prices, efficient cars, fewer places to go in a depression, who knows?    2) In March, the big 3 automakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler) sold a record number of cars--and it's the high fuel economy cars that are driving off the lot in droves.

The federal government required high fuel economy, and funny, I didn't hear any moaning and whining about how hard it would be.  The car makers are putting out small efficient cars and large (more) efficient cars.  Hybrids galore.

I learned today from the editor and creator of GreenBiz.com, Joel Makower, that companies are doing a lot to be more sustainable, but they are not talking about it.   They are not doing it for PR or idealogy.  They are doing it for sound business reasons.

Let's let the carmakers laugh all the way to the bank.

Recently I have blogged a lot about problems, and it depressed me, I admit.  The problems are still out there, but I will turn my focus other places for a while.  

Peace and justice, y'all

Molly

Good health is good business

My community is 9th in the nation for obesity.  What a terrible claim to fame.  A shocking 33.2% of my neighbors are obese,  

Businesses look at factors like this when deciding where to locate.  Because obesity is clearly and strongly correlated with expensive diseases, particularly hypertension, other heart disease, some cancers (digestive-related ones in particular), and diabetes.  These are expensive for employers as well as awful and expensive for the people who suffer from these conditions. 

There is also a strong correlation between a walkable community and good health.  The more we use our cars, the less healthy we are.  

Like so other many good things, good health and good business go together.  Because healthy workers are more productive and less sick.  

Walkable communities are happier communities.  

Get out of your car, and you will not only become healthier, you will save money!  

Many people in the US don't think they have good alternatives to a car.  Certainly a car is convenient, especially in a spread-out community.  (In cities, it's easy to see the merit of ditching the car and using other ways to get around!)   It's up to city leaders to define the vision, and for city staff to define the criteria, to change this status quo.  

Require sidewalks.   Require them to be set off from the street a bit so there can be a strip of grass, or a bench, or a tree or something else to calm the street and make it more pleasant for those who are not in a car (and even for those who are)!  Require connnectiveness.   Don't block access to other areas with cul-de-sacs or long walls, without some breaks -- like a path out of the cul-de-sac and like gates  or breaks in walls. 

Cities shold be designed for people, not cars.  Not that cars don't have a role in our lives.  But this role must be smaller, for the sake of our health, our economy, and our planet.

Good health is good business.   Help people get out of their cars.  

Peace, y'all

Molly

Stuffed and Starved

Yesterday I finished reading Raj Patel's "Stuffed and Starved." Enlightening, showing how all the dots connect to food, poverty, and power on our planet. Raj is not American, and I truly valued the perspective of America's role in the world. Sobering.

The fear of the restless masses destabilizing governments and threatening the bottom line for businesses has made the poor poorer and the rich richer. The poor grow our food, the rich profit from their labors. On the receiving end, the poor cannot afford good healthy food. Instead they are subjected to subsidized, processed crap, cheap carbs, high fructose corn syrup, soy, etc. So as this unhealthy diet spreads, so does diabetes and heart disease.

There are so many things wrong with this picture it would, and did, fill a book. Raj Patel's to be precise.

His prescription is a blend of what I'm starting to do already (locavorism, eating lower on the food chain, CSA, fair trade...), which are personal actions, and the group actions that are so much more challenging-- using those wonderful rights in the USA's First Amendment

Speech
Press
Religion
Assembly
Petitioning the government.

My birthday gift to USA is to flex these rights. That which we exercise gets stronger.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Is the Federal budget a reflection of our country's moral values?

So claims the Friends Committee for National Legislation, a fine Quaker lobbying group. So also claims Matthew in the Gospel: For where your treasure is, they will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21

But the cynic in me (small but still present) says them who have the gold make the rules, and that fits our budget picture more clearly.

For each dollar of federal income tax we paid in 2009, our government spent
33 cents on Pentagon spending for current and past wars (3 cents on veterans, 6 cents on interest on debts, 24 cents on Pentagon and related spending.
27 cents supporting the economy -- recovery and bailouts, 26 cents, other jobs, education and social programs, 1cent.
17 cents on health care, mainl Medicare, I suppose
11 cents responding to poverty
9 cents for general government
2 cents for energy, science, and the environment
1 cent for diplomacy, development, and war prevention

FCNL says if these expenditures don't reflect your values, talk to Congress. Good idea. Also talk to your family and friends, your neighbors, your Facebook community, anyone you can.

FCNL makes it easy to reach your reps in Congress. Visit www.fcnl.org, follow the "contact Congress" link, and there you go!

Honest to goodness, it is so much cheaper to prevent a war than to wage one and pay one off decades later. But there's profit in war and not so much for working on making lives better for the multitudes of poor and disenfranchised.

Okay, I'm going to silence the cynic, who is rarely constructive, and bring back cheerier outlook.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Retail abstinence

I decided last week to have a moratorium for shopping in January. No retail, besides groceries, medicines, stuff for cats, toothpaste, stuff like that. No restaurants either, unless I'm traveling. The very hardest part of this for me is staying away from Starbucks, Coffee Bean, etc.

I am eager to learn what I will say YES to while saying NO to shopping. I am also eager to compare expenditures in January from those say, last September.

This is like the polar bear dip, I think. January is the longest, darkest, coldest month (beside December, which is full of activity and lights).

This is my way of deepening faith and practice, to have a new approach to daily living. I think when it is over I will have learned to spend less, and more wisely.

Peace, y'all

Molly

peacemaking through environmental ed

Today I salute my coworker Ginger. She is a peacemaker even if she doesn't know it. She tends to be on the agressive side interpersonally, and complains a lot. Still--she is always, always seeking to make the world a better place. She is trying to build and strengthen community, promote justice, link people in good ways, help children--all through the lense of environmental education. Helping children understand nature and how to help it is a form of peacemaking. Working to build a stronger and healthier community is peacemaking.

Recently I read a summary she wrote of a summit of community members working to improve the "E3" process in our counties. The three E's are economy, education, and environment. The three need each other. The big move toward green this and green that, even greenwashing, indicateds businesses and business folk see the value of the environmentalism to their bottom line. (Hooray!) What struck me intensely was how all of the elements of the plan support a peaceful community, one that is in greater harmony with Mother Earth.

Hooray for you, Ginger.