The Wild Places

But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray. Luke 5:15-6

When I was about 10, I asked my Mom where her favorite place was to be alone. She, being a practical person, replied that she loved to retreat to the master bathroom and soak in a hot bath with a book. I was stumped. That did not sound interesting at all to my 10-year-old self. Maybe the book part, but a bath? My mom is a self-proclaimed "un-romantic", whereas I am the opposite. My favorite place to be alone was up in a pine tree that I would climb. There was a perfect limb to rest on and lean against the trunk. And the view was great, too. I just could not understand how she would want to be inside, when there were so many things to discover outside.
In this verse, Luke 5:16, Jesus withdraws from his duties to "deserted places": the wild, the untamed, the forgotten places of God's creation. He finds rest and he prays. Solitude in nature can be one of the most inspiring and frightening experiences. You will be reminded of God's majesty in all that he made; you will understand better than anywhere else how small humans really are.
I would like to say that my favorite place to be alone is still that pine tree, but it isn't. That particular pine tree met an untimely death not too long after the conversation I had with my Mom. A bulldozer and a crew of men came and cleared that space to build a house. I was devastated.
And this tale is not unusual. We all know the stats: far too many acres of land gets cleared each year for housing developments (as was this case), farmland, and commercial use. The wild, untamed, deserted places on this earth are becoming fewer and fewer. Where shall we go, to experience the majesty of God's creation? Where will our children and grandchildren go?

Information Overload....

It's the last day of the conference, I've met some great people and learned some wonderful things that I can't wait to work on when I get back to the office. The AASHE conference was really the place to be in Higher Ed Sustainability talks this year- over 2,000 people were there. I am tired. My brain is fried. I'll do a more "official" wrap-up later this week when I have a chance to review my extensive notes!!! Check back!

Denver bound!

AASHE: The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

AASHE has been a major player on the scene of Higher Education sustainability efforts. Each year, in October, AASHE holds a conference for sustainability. Last year it was in Indianapolis, co-sponsored with Ball State University. This year it's in Denver, Colorado!
I'll be there Sunday-Wednesday next week, and I'll be updating as much as possible. Check back in for information about all the cool things happening in the world of Higher Education sustainability! 

CSI is now hiring!

We are hiring a student position for an undergraduate student at the IWU campus in Marion, IN. This student will be helping with the Carbon Footprint analysis that I mentioned a last week, in addition to helping me with publicity, and some of the projects that CSI is currently engaged in. I have thus far received 4 applications. I'm hoping for a few more before I start the selection process.

I would encourage any student to apply who is interested and has 8-12 hours a week available to work. I am, in particular, looking for a student who has an interest in sustainability, although that is not a requirement. Most of the time involved for this position is going to be on the computer, entering data and doing various tasks. Interested students should submit an application to Maxwell 222.

   

Socially Awkward

Confession time: I do not have TV. (gasp!) If you walk into our house, you will see a small, modest entertainment center that has an old tube television set (ask me about it sometime- we got it for $25 and it has a unique story), our Wii, and a DVD player. We watch movies, sometimes. My husband plays video games occasionally- and I'm proud to say that sometimes I can even do a level on the new Super Mario Bros better than he can, the man with a 1 UP tattoo. Also, let me just say that not watching network or cable TV has lead to some socially awkward moments. I've noticed, in the years that I have not had television channels, that people really like to talk about commercials. Not just around superbowl time, either. Commercials come up in conversation far more that you would think. I happen to notice because the commercials I can remember are from circa 2006 and earlier. So when someone starts a sentence off with, "Have you seen that [insert company here] commercial?" I start getting panic-y. What should I do? Launch into a long list of all the reasons that I do not watch television? That's no fun. So I just say no, that I have not seen it. Then there is usually more social awkwardness, as the other person tries to figure out if they should proceed with explaining the commercial to me or just drop it.

I am making this confession today to point out that not everything we do in life is comfortable. And the decisions that we make sometimes lead to unintended consequences, like me feeling socially out of touch with my peers and colleagues whenever commercials come up in conversation. There are many reasons that I do not have network or cable television, not the least of which is money. Cable costs a lot each month. And, I found that watching TV and the commercials that go with it lead to me spending a lot of money on perceived "needs". I would see commercials for the new clothes at such-and-such store, and I would end up buying new clothes, even though my closet is full and so is my dresser. So, I tried reigning in my spending. It didn't work- I attribute it to the fact I was still seeing commercials for all this great stuff that I decided I "needed".  The newest iPod just came out. ABC Warehouse is having great deals on stereo equipment. A SUPER SALE AT MACY'S! Save BIG money at Menard's! And so on and so forth.
Getting rid of the television was just a strategy, at first, to learning to live with less stuff and spend less money. Now I love it. I have time to garden, spend time with my family, read good books, and I get things done around the house. If I'm bored, I don't turn on the TV- I clean the kitchen. I know, you probably just rolled your eyes at that.
So what does this all have to do with Creation Care? I hope this story illustrates that I discovered something about myself and my spending habits, and I was able to be more fiscally conservative with my money as a result of implementing one simple strategy. And that our decisions and actions do have consequences- sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional- and father reaching than one can imagine. I never would have imagined that I would find myself in such socially awkward situations down the road as a result of not watching TV; but I did set out to save money and not buy so much stuff. 
 

Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, I've been away from this blog far too long. This is my attempt to get back on track and post a couple of times a week. Are you like me? If I don't write it down or schedule it in my calendar, I'll forget it. So I have created an "appointment" with my computer twice a week just to write a blog post. I know this blog doesn't show it, thus far, but I really do believe that communication is the key to keeping people up to date with what is going on with CSI and how we are faring on achieving our initiatives. And, to be fair, it also provides another means to keeping myself accountable!! How important that is in our busy lives. Too busy to see the forest for all the trees, or I think that the saying goes something along those lines.

Carpooling rocks!

So here's an update on all that we have been doing in the past few months. Last week we celebrated Pollution Prevention Week, which focuses on reducing pollution at its source. The Environmental Protection Agency is who publishes information about it, which you can find here: http://www.epa.gov/p2week/ . The Pollution Prevention Act was passed in 1990, with the idea that preventing pollution from even happening is the best course of action, as opposed to spending many, many dollars on cleanup and reversal efforts. And, honestly, it saves everyone money. For example, this poster was one of many that CSI made and posted around campus. This poster encourages carpooling. I carpool with several people from work who all live far from campus, like me, and carpooling just 4 days a week has saved me many, many dollars in gas money each month. Carpooling wherever possible is just one example of how a small change in our behavior can not only save us money but also reduce direct pollution before it even happens. CSI also helped to get recycling bins in each student residence room across campus. We hope it will help students to recycle more, and help us capture a bulk of recycleables that currently get thrown away on campus. Some campuses across the US have seen 65% (or more!) of their waste be diverted to recycling after implementing and increasing their recycling program.
Something else that we are proud to announce is that CSI will be conducting a Carbon Footprint Analysis of IWU's campus! This is a long project - we expect it to take up to a calendar year to fully document and benchmark our carbon footprint for campus. However, it is well worth the effort. The Carbon Footprint tells us exactly where we stand with our impact on the environment. Now, before you get all up in arms about the controversial debates about carbon, let me just say this: Carbon output is simply a measurable, quantifiable tool that we are going to use to plan our Creation Care activities. The data that it will provide is a valuable way to strategize, plan, take action, and measure the results of that action. Again, accountability. To achieve this Carbon Footprint analysis, we will be using the Clean Air - Cool Planet tool, which is, in essence, a GIANT spreadsheet. We input data, say, how many gallons of fuel we burn each month in our fleet vehicles and campus equipment, and it will tally that data and convert it into a common measurement equivalency. Once we are done gathering and inputting all that data, we should have some cool charts and graphs to share about IWU's impact on the environment and how to go about reducing that impact.
The other neat thing we are working on this fall is hiring a Sustainability Assistant. This is a student worker position. The sustainability assistant will help in the Carbon Footprint Analysis, and also do various other tasks for the CSI group. IWU students at the Marion campus are eligible to apply. The application and job description can be found at the Wildcat Page/Jobs.
And, I'll conclude with another interesting initiative that we are discussing this year: Sustainability and Creation Care Curriculum in the classroom. Karen Hoffman will be our first point of collaboration as we tackle this initiative. We are excited and we are looking forward to working with Karen, a leader on the IWU campus.

Creation Care and Us

Remember–the root word of humble and human is the same: humus: earth. We are dust. We are created; it is God who made us and not we ourselves. But we were made to be co-creators with our maker.

- Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water