Water Vigil

Where would we be without water?

As everyday earth care, focus your heart and mind on your relationship with water today. Pay attention to its intersection with your day to day life. Listen to its story. Reflect on its health. Observe what is so easy to forget.

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Picture: Boundary Waters Wilderness.

Community Re-Envisioned

A church parking lot full of cars on a Sunday morning: what do you see?

I issue a challenge to our church: let's get as few cars as possible at church on a Sunday morning. That is not to say that no one should come to church on a Sunday morning (a discussion for a different day). Rather, are there better ways to get there?

As I rode the new W Light Rail Line en route to church this past Sunday, I got to thinking about the concept of Sabbath. For, one of the most common benefits ascribed to personal motorized transport is time and convenience. It strikes me that the Sabbath is a wonderful opportunity to step outside that worldview, to move about at a more measured pace, to see the world anew through inconvenience, inefficiency, and *gasp* boredom.

Taking 80 minutes to get to church gave me time to think. And, I was also able to get my first smell of the season's lilacs (as I biked from Yale Station to church). That was a pleasant surprise. I probably won't get as much "done" today, and I am learning to accept the importance of that.

The automobile has its time and place, certainly. Traveling with a young family or traveling with mobility issues are well served by this technology. New cars are tending to be easier on the Earth (though there numbers continue to grow). I would be a hypocrite to say that you should never drive again (I love road trips).

Nevertheless, there are other ways to get to church that afford the opportunity of happenstance while minimizing your carbon footprint. You can:

1. Ride public transportation. Use the Trip Planner Function on the RTD website.

2. Walk. This is about as straightforward as it gets.

3. Ride your bike. The Highline Trail literally goes right past First Plymouth. Denver has a map of bike routes and bike lanes, too. Follow safe biking protocol.

4. Arrange a carpool.

5. Telecommute. At the moment, this is still hypothetical. But what if we could stream the worship service, or organize church meetings via video chat?

6. Is church just a place? How can we re-envision the covenantal missional church to sprout forth in new and diverse ways?

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Photo: Denver Post, April 2013.

People for Bikes

To ride a bike is to be free. Forged from the bones of the Earth and the gravity of the mind, the bicycle is synergy and harmony. Go for a ride and restore your hope.

1. The wind on your skin, the endorphins pulsing, it is easy to forget that your objective is anything otherwise. Check out the map of Denver routes to determine your commute to work.

2. Feeling like some whimsy? Check out the New Belgium Tour de Fat.

3. Go for a family ride on one of Denver's bike trails: Cherry Creek, Highline, South Platte, Sand Creek, or Clear Creek.

4. Find adventure and beauty on a foothills mountain bike ride: South Valley or Waterton Canyon (beginner), Green Mountain or North Table Mountain (intermediate), or Centennial Cone or Apex (advanced).

5. Advocate for biking policies and infrastructure. Check out People for Bikes.

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Picture: Summit Loop, Green Mountain, May 2008.

Touch

Ecological justice and spirituality can sometimes get bogged down in abstraction. Take time to feel the embrace of the natural world. We protect what we love; strengthen your connection to the Whole as everyday earth care.

1. Go barefoot and experience the grass between your toes.

2. Climb a tree.

3. Lay down in a snow bank.

4. Shut your eyes and feel the breeze blowing across your skin.

5. Pick up a rock.

6. Jump into a lake.

More than Cheese Pizza

Generally, the higher on the food chain you eat, the more energy and resources required to produce your food. Without getting into the thorny moral and biological issues of industrial meat production, it is clear that you should listen to your mom's advice: eat your veggies! Remember, you don't need to be a vegetarian to eat like a vegetarian.

1. A vegetarian meal can be much more than cheese pizza or spaghetti without meatballs. In fact, going meatless for a  couple nights a week may very well open up a whole new world of possibility! Check out Vegetarian Times for no shortage of fun recipes.

2. Go on a date night to Watercourse Restaurant, Mellow Mushroom, or another restaurant with awesome vegetarian food.

3. Take the family to the Farmer's Market and wander around the festival-like atmosphere. While there, talk with the vendors about how your food is raised and where it is coming from.

4. Are you eating more plants, but still hankering for meat? Reduce the amount of meat in any recipe by half and use the money you save to buy organic.

5. Speaking of, it doesn't get more organic, free range, and local than wild game. Not sure if hunting is quite your thing? You can at least read some interesting accounts in The Omnivore's Dilemma or The Mindful Carnivore.

The Frontier Spirit

Reservations aside, the mythic frontier entices with its ideal of self-sufficiency and resourcefulness,
the do it yourself spirit. In today's ease of abundance and planned obsolescence  I think it is especially appealing for the Modern Man to fix something himself, with no clear directions, and little sense of knowing what he is doing. (The same may go for the Modern Woman.)

And in a practical sense, as everyday earth care, maintenance and do-it-yourself projects can mitigate the embedded costs of purchasing a new product.

1. A needle, thread and duct tape will extend the life of most any product.
2. Go ahead and try to repair/maintain your bicycle yourself. With its simplicity of design, you are not likely to make it worse.
3. Instead of buying new, go to the thrift shop to see what sorts of treasures you may be able to restore.
4. The Sierra Club offers all sorts of fun DIY projects for repurposing your stuff.
5. Take pride in making your electronics last far beyond their "relevance." Old School is cool. Besides, on the frontier, you can't just hop online and order up an iGadget 10 to replace your iGadget 9.

The Wheels on the Bus

Yes, they go 'round and 'round, and take you all through the town. They may say taking a car to work is more convenient, but can you do this when driving in rush hour?

1. Take a nap.
2. Read or write (as I am doing now).
3. Engage in some great people watching.
4. Strike up a conversation with a neighbor.
5. Knit (I have not tried this one but I have seen it done.)

Don't have (reliable) public transportation in your community? Car pool, or better yet, advocate.

The Kids Will Be Alright

Give children the opportunity to power down, and follow their lead into the wide world of imagination and creativity instead. Five everyday earth care activities for families.

1. Go ride bikes - what is more fun?!? If you need a bike, consider Craigslist, Goodwill or garage sales first.
2. Turn off the lights and play hide-and-go-seek, in the dark!
3. Create a neighborhood scavenger hunt.
4. Take your recycled materials for the week and make a work of art or engineering feat.
5. Camp out in the backyard, or in a fort in the living room.