Tag Climate Change Response

There are a lot of reasons to switch to a plant-based diet. Today, we’re talking about eggs! You might think that they are tough to switch out, but they are actually really easy to eliminate, with a few simple substitutions.

So, you might be wondering why we are talking about substitutions – people have eaten eggs for a long time. Why switch now?

What changes have you already made? Which are you curious about? What might you be ready to try in the next week or two? Share in the comments and I’ll answer your questions!

When it comes to sustainability, one of the big mistakes that people make is treating change as individual OR systemic. Either we change our lifestyle (quit flying, quit eating animal products, quit using single use plastic and so on) OR we elect governments that will enact policies in line with climate science and climate justice. However, it’s not an either/OR – it’s a both/and. We need to radically alter our lifestyle AND elect governments that will radically alter how we operate as a country.

Today, we’re talking about changes that we can make at home – the good news is that these changes are easy to make, can be done today and can be done regardless of what changes your local government is or is not making right now.

So, here are a few ideas to get started. You might have already done and others might not be applicable, so pick and choose the ones that are right for you.

• Instead of single-use zipper bags/wrap, try reusable bags, beeswax wrap or glass/stainless containers
• Instead of single-use water/juice bottles, buy a glass/stainless steel water bottle and refill it. Or, buy juice from concentrate, mix it in a pitcher, and fill from there.
• Switch your bathroom products to zero-waste. Did you know you can get reusable cotton wipes, swabs and more to replace the single use options? Shampoo comes in bars, instead of a plastic bottle!
• Try owning less stuff. Buy a few better quality items and reuse them often – including clothing, footwear, household items and more.
• Want to go one step further? Consider downsizing your living space, if you currently have more than what you need/use. In a larger house, try a smaller house. In a house, try an apartment. Have a long commute to get to most places? Try moving to somewhere closer to public transit.
• Eat fewer (or zero) animal products, and lots more rice, lentils and other plants. It’s better for the environment, healthier, cheaper and easy to stock up in bulk.

What changes have you made? What are you interested in changing but unsure about? Let me know in the comments. I’ll answer your questions, and we’ll celebrate the successes together!

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If you are looking for zero-waste or sustainable items, check the online store at mennoadventures.ca – we have clothing, containers, compostable phone cases and more!

There has been some work going on behind the scenes, and I invite you to check out the new and improved MennoAdventures IG page! There are still a few updates being integrated, and I appreciate your patience as those get fixed.

In the meantime, in the comments, please introduce yourself and share where you live – and one sustainability change you have made in the past that you are excited about. Have you reduced or quit flying? Switched to more plant-based eating? Become vegetarian or vegan? Encouraged your office/school/worship space/extended family/friends to be more actively LGBTQ+ safe? Something else? I look forward to hearing what everyone is up to!

After a quieter than expected spring and summer here, due to some scheduling conflicts and vacation time on my end (sorry about that!), things are back up and running – and there are some big ideas being worked on to build up and improve the website over the fall and winter.

You may have noticed that the online store has been growing slowly and steadily. If you haven’t checked it out recently, I encourage you to do so. One of my favourites, from this summer, is the Lomi home composter – we tested ours on some camping trips this summer, and it performed beautifully!

I also had the privilege of attending my first Toronto Pride Parade this summer, visiting with some family and friends, and finding time for some much needed vacation.

Now, we are into fall, and that means it’s back to work! For the website, fall and winter, this year, means an increased focus on all things sustainable, looking at both individual and systemic changes that we need to make, as well as individual changes that lead to systemic changes.

Looking for things that you can change right now, to help build a better tomorrow? Here’s today’s list:

• Eliminate (or very significantly reduce) consumption of animal products
  • Animal products are a very significant contributor to the climate crisis (plus a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet is far healthier!).
  • Want to go all the way and go into winter plant-based? Use up what you currently have in your fridge or freezer, and don’t by anything else. Instead of adding chicken or other meat to your pasta (for example), add a tin of chickpeas or kidneys – it’s more sustainable, healthier and cheaper. Why pay more to wreck the climate?
• Quit flying
  • If you can’t quit all the way now, cut the worst flights first:
    • short and medium haul flights, as well as any flights for a short trip eg flying to a resort for a week in winter, flying out for a conference/meeting etc. Instead, find somewhere local for a holiday, and join the meeting remotely.
    • If you must fly, limit it to only the absolutely essential trips, and limit yourself to one flight/year or less (as your max – less is much better). Can you challenge yourself (and others in your circles) to reduce yourselves to one flight every 5 years? Every 10 years? Something else?
• Advocate for better choices and policies at the institutional level
  • Ironically, some faith groups (and others) are still acting in a manner that seems completely backwards – actively refusing to do what’s needed to address the climate crisis, while ALSO putting huge amounts of time and energy into things like ensuring that they continue to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, newcomers, women, minorities and others. It’s wrong, and the only thing that will change it is if we all speak up and demand something better.
  • We need to put all of our time and energy into doing what’s right – saving the planet and ending discrimination.

Greta Thunberg Shares Op-Ed Calling Out Trudeau’s Climate Hypocrisy – HP

Liberal MPs Urge Trudeau To Reject Massive Alberta Oilsands Mine – HP

Trudeau’s continued failure to act substantively on climate change has to end. While pretending to care about climate action, Trudeau and the Liberals continue to act in ways that can not be justified – and they are rightly being called out, by environmentalists, and even by some of their own MPs.

”If an alcoholic assured you he was taking his condition very seriously, but also laying in a 40-year store of bourbon, you’d be entitled to doubt his sincerity.”

(Bill McKibben, quoted by Greta Thunberg)

HP

So, to hold this government to account, I am suggesting contacting your MP (whether Liberal or other), and the PM’s office, asking for an immediate commitment to the following:

1) Immediate end to all fossil fuel subsidies, no new fossil fuel or nuclear projects and a rapid phase out of existing projects, with all funds put towards clean projects/sustainability.

2) Support for immediate implementation of Proportional Representation, to give the Green Party and others the voice that they rightfully deserve at the table.

3) Substantial climate targets – with annual and 5-year goals – that are in line with the best science. A theoretical aim to be climate neutral by 2050 is meaningless. If they need something easy to grasp, how about this? 1% reduction/month = approx 10% per year, which then leads to carbon neutral in 10 years, and carbon negative after that. 🙂

I have heard, too often, from a few Liberals (those that I have spoken to about this, which is obviously not a representative sample), that anything that they do has to be considered “good enough”, and we shouldn’t complain, because others – parties or provinces or countries or whoever they can find – are doing less. However, doing the right thing is not a race to the bottom, there is a lot of room for improvement, and it needs to start now. 🙂

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/20/climate-change-morally-wrong-carbon-abolition-movement

I love the approach the author is taking here. I agree that there are certainly technical and financial discussions that need to be had, and they have value. However, doing the right thing, is ultimately a moral/faith issue, not a financial issue.

If our primary motivation is financial or technical, lots of the important decisions and changes that we need to make will not happen – since the right thing is (often) not the easiest or the cheapest. A deeper sense that we owe it to others to live sustainably is, in my opinion, critical to grounding ourselves to make the radical changes that creation care calls us to do.

Societies have rallied around war efforts (which I disagree with). This is the time to rally around what is right, and set ourselves on a rapid transition to zero carbon, then to carbon negative. There is no more time to delay. With collective effort, we can move forward, at an incredible pace – towards what’s right, instead of what’s easy. 🙂

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190909-why-flight-shame-is-making-people-swap-planes-for-trains

I admit that I have flown a lot, including a lot of trips across the Atlantic – at one stage in my life, I was averaging two return trips per year. In my circles, depending on what projects people are working on, that average can be much higher.

So, reducing/eliminating flights is tough, but being hard doesn’t make it any less essential. Regardless of the prevalence of super cheap airlines – or the nice ones, for those who have the money – the cost of flying is much higher than the actual ticket price.

In Canada, I have long been frustrated with the fact that train travel is not more affordable. In my opinion, our big systems should be making it easier to do the right thing, not harder. Therefore, if the lower emissions train trip was cheaper than an equivalent flight, I think that would help create a significant shift in behaviours, patterns and trends.

Until then, the right thing will not necessarily be the easiest or the cheapest, but it is still the right thing to do. 🙂

How much destruction is needed for us to take climate change seriously?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/03/how-much-destruction-is-needed-for-us-to-take-climate-change-seriously?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_WordPress