My wife and I have been sharing our views of Sustainable Living with a small group for the last three Sundays. Looking back over our notes, we realized that we have not shared the reasons behind our decision to live in a more sustainable manner. As we discussed how we personalized the path we took, we also realized that we never have written down on paper our personal reasons or train of thought behind living a sustainable life. I want to share now some of the main ideas or drives we used to decide how we wanted to get started.
The first step in our journey was less of a step and more of an awakening. I can’t pin point one time, but both of us realized that we were not living in a fashion that would allow us to continue down the path we were on. We were not living in a sustainable manner and what we were doing would not allow us to focus on what was important to us. Short term goals or milestones were always pushed into the long term plans; it was not sustainable. We were waiting for something to happen to us to break the cycle; there was seemingly no end in sight. We weren’t panicking; we just couldn’t see an end in sight. We decided to make a conscious and intentional decision to stop the cycle. We also came to the realization that there was no easy answer or magic pill to help get us on track of living in a sustainable manner; we had to figure it out.
I supposed if my wife and I realized what we were committing ourselves to there may have been some apprehension. Being as stubborn as I am, I convinced my whole family that is was time to start living sustainably. Being as stubborn as my wife is, she held me to that responsibility. If you want to lose weight, you don’t eat so much and you exercise more. People ask us for a simple answer…the simple abbreviated answer is hard work.
We first started by identifying what was important to us, as a family and as individuals- our core values. Looking specifically at what our core values were helped us decide what deserved our time and attention. Throwing aside what we were currently focusing on, we asked what we should be focusing on. We took what was important to us and developed specific targeted areas in our life. These areas became our targets for change.
This was how we started.
What was important to us?
Our core values:
· Realizing where our food came from, how it was made and appreciating what God provides.
o As a chef, the people I cooked food for, were offered better food than what I offered my family due to time constraints, money and resources.
· Family Time with our kids without having negative affect on their health and wellness.
o Refused to short change our kids sleep so we could spend time with them and fit them into our schedules.
· Paying off debt- living in a financially sustainable manner.
o Just wanted to be in the black all the time.
o Didn’t want to be 1 gallon of milk away from overdraft at the end of the month.
· Have our kids share in our fond memories of when food was in season and tasted good- was only available in season. I wanted our kids to have that, not settle on mediocrity just so that all food can be available year around.
· Appreciating God’s incredible creation
o Appreciate animals and how they live, provide food for us, and survive.
o Appreciate how things grow
· Not Modifying God’s creation for our convenience was important to me.
o Hydrogenation of fats
§ Margarine
o Homogenization of milk
o Genetically modified crops
o Growth Hormones
o Blanket antibiotics
o Blanket pesticides and herbicides
o HFCS
o Artificial Sweeteners
§ Aspartame
§ Splenda
§ Saccharine
· Diet Soda
o Artificial Colors
§ “Blue” is official referred to as a flavor.
Identifying what was important to us was the easy part. The hard part was how we were going to make a dramatic change and target areas in our life that will allow and force us into sustainable living. We used these targets as global areas in our life in which we wanted to effect change. We than listed individual ways under each target that we could alter into a sustainable cycle; keeping in mind that everyone and everything is intertwined together.
What are we going to focus on?
Our targets for change:
· Stewardship
o Responsibly taking care of what is given and entrusted to us.
· Financial obligations and needs / Occupations
o Needs versus Wants
o Breaking the Demand cycle in Supply and Demand
o Purchasing
§ Product Sourcing
o Transportation
· Family Life / Marriage
o Schedule
o Meals
o Extra-Curricular Activities
o Shopping
o Family Time
· School and Education
o Homework
o Tutoring
o Speech Therapy
· Faith
o Church Life
o Pioneer Club
· Health and Wellness
I hope to touch on all of our targets for change in the weeks to come; to help share how we got started, first by looking at the why and then focusing on the how. Every decision we made, was made specific to our family. What worked for us, may not work for others. At times it may seem that we contradict ourselves in our decisions, but we try to make decisions not based on only one target for change or core value, but we look at how the decision may affect the entire sustainable living cycle we are working on. I encourage you to ask yourself the same questions we did and see where it takes you.
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