Six months ago I got rid of most of my worldly goods, sold my house, put things in storage, left my ELCA job, and commenced a simple living-style midlife sabbatical. Since then I’ve been a guest, not a resident, in more than 30 places, privy to an intimate view of how we live and consume today.

When I had a home address, simplifying and greening my life was about building a system of regular habits: recycling, public transit, car sharing, community-supported agriculture, resale shopping, expense tracking, green cleaning practices, line drying, etc. My everyday system has vanished. As a guest, I participate as gracefully and gratefully as possible (I don’t always succeed) in the systems around me. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Too much stuff.

It’s a mess out there. Almost everyone lives in confusion and clutter. The households you could call “spare” belong to retired people (raised under in less materialistic times), former Holden Village long-term staffers (veterans of life in the wilderness) and former ELCA missionaries (like me, visitors to planet consumer, due to their cross-cultural, outside-the-US experiences).

Everyone else, especially those with kids still at home, is too overwhelmed with obligations to bring any kind of order to rooms full of toys and furniture and knick-knacks and sports equipment and coats and shoes and books and televisions and laptops and CDs and DVDs and computers and toys.

My Christmas present to my siblings with families was a day of deep cleaning, of tackling big problems they had not time for. Because I love cleaning with the stereo up loud, I had fun, and my work was significant and appreciated…but hardly made a dent.

If everyone in the US had a garage sale at the same time, would it be like a run on the bank? Would everything suddenly be valueless, so we could somehow stop the flow of stuff from Stuff Central, wherever that is?

Perhaps, like that drawing in The Little Prince of the boa constrictor that has swallowed an elephant, we have a hump stuck in us, and after we digest, recycle, or landfill it, we will get over having to own everything someone tells us to buy, and we can go on to valuing ideas, services, art, music, skills—“things” that are non-material and ask only for space in our hearts and minds.

But hospitality still rules.

Last summer a former ELCA missionary told me that her family noticed, after they came back from 6 years in Tanzania, that nobody invited them home for dinner anymore. All they got were invitations to go out for coffee. After the intense hospitality of Arusha, they were very lonely indeed.

Are we afraid to invite people into our messes, or too worried about time to turn an hour of coffee into a full evening? Somehow my status as relative or very old friend has gotten me around the “let’s meet for coffee” barrier, because I’ve discovered that no matter what the mess, people do still cook, bake, and linger around the table in private. Is there something we can do to open up our homes, and put dinner invitations back at the top of our social lives?

Too many cars.

In the face of nearly universal car ownership, I keep slogging away at getting from point A to point B without one. Portland, Oregon, makes it easy. And if you’ve got three hours, it’s possible to cover the 75 miles between the Seattle airport and my family’s farm in Mt. Vernon on public transportation. In Sacramento, I bike a lot.

When I need a car, I try to be creative. Without a fixed address, I can’t participate in a formal car sharing program, so I share informally by using or renting my siblings’ cars when they are not using them. (I like to think of this as using excess capacity.) I got to Berkeley today by emailing friends and siblings to see if they or anyone they knew had to be in the Bay Area for meetings or work this week. A college friend dropped me here on his way to San Francisco this morning, and my sister will drive me back to Sacramento after a board meeting here tomorrow. I could have taken Amtrak, but using social media—the online equivalent of the ride boards we used to depend on in the 70s—to make a car pool saved me $48 and is giving me three hours of conversation with two dear people.

But where are the others who are thinking this way? Car pooling, public transportation, bicycling and walking—even one or two days a week!—get little more than lip service from drivers. Drivers just keep…driving.

Deciding to live simply and sustainably is harder in a family.

Brushing my teeth in other homes has shown me that simplifying my own life was a piece of cake. As a single parent, I could make and enforce the big lifestyle decisions. And I wouldn’t be on this west coast sofa tour if I weren’t already an empty nester. People in couples and people with children at home don’t get to act unilaterally. More compromise is involved. This has been humbling.

Living simply on the road can make you feel needy.

Could I borrow your car this morning if I take you to work buy you some gas? Can we drive to Berkeley together? Since you’re dropping your daughter off at her job at the mall, could I run into that REI store, so I don’t have to figure out how to get there on the bus? Is there a library with wireless somewhere near by? Could I do a load of wash this morning? Sure, if you really don’t need that GoreTex raincoat, I’ll be glad to use it.

Living simply on the road can make you feel resourceful.

Of course I can show you how to get from your place to the airport on public transit. Have a slice of the pie I just baked you. The Greyhound gets in at 3:00 pm so we can meet at 4:00. Here, let me pick up the lunch tab/buy the concert tickets/get those groceries. Check out the kitchen cabinets I washed and organized for you!

If you’re a web designer, could you please build my dream web site?

In the last two weeks I flew from Sacramento to Seattle to Portland to Sacramento, all on Alaska Air. I need a web site that lets me mix and match modes of transportation, so I could book a flight to Seattle, a train or bus to Portland (because for trips under 500 miles, it’s “greener” to use ground transportation), and then the Portland to Seattle flight. If I can’t book it all at once, could the site please recommend ALL the options for traveling between cities before I default to the most common and most highly advertised alternative? If you build it, I will come, and tell everybody else about it. The only thing close is hopstop.com, which offers bus & subway directions for 12 cities plus all of metropolitan New York/New Jersey. This has already been named a “top startup” by some Internet rating agency. I’ll bet my idea would find many fans.

Next stop, Latin America

A sabbatical is freeing but not free. Travel expenses have replaced mortgage, utilities, and grocery bills. Next week, my visits to planet consumer take a dramatic turn as I go off to Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala and Suriname for the next three months. I’ll get to visit Lutherans all along the way (more sofas!), and will post whenever possible. Thank you for traveling with me this far.

Anne Basye

Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal

This week’s post will be a collection of thoughts I’ve been having about the still unfolding tragedy in Haiti.  As you may guess, I have been watching the news and the Web with particular interest as the situation has developed.

By now we are all familiar with the country–how it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, how it shares the island of Hispaniola with it relatively wealthier neighbor, the Dominican Republic, and how that the disparity between the two countries is at least in part the result of U.S. policies (for a great informative piece on the history of Haiti, click here).   The earthquake was especially devastating because of the extreme poverty and its proximity to the main population center.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, we have seen many things that demonstrate the difficulty in providing effective aid.  The total loss of infrastructure has made it difficult to deliver aid in the first place.  We have seen people trying to work around the infrastructure, like the (well-meaning, I hope) Baptist missionaries trying to smuggle non-orphaned kids to the Dominican Republic.  This has now decreased the effectiveness of other agencies doing legitimately good work (such as the private air lifts that previously took 15 critically injured children a day to hospitals in the United States to receive treatment–since the arrest of the missionaries, they have taken three children total, leading to the death or permanent injury of at least 10 children).  There was also the debate about who would pay for the treatment of the critically wounded coming to Florida hospitals that led to a halt to airlifts.  (As an aside, this was for me one of the real tragic stories in the whole affair–we have the means to provide immediate aid, but we are worried about costs.  I recognize that nothing is free, and that Florida does have other financial obligations, but it just felt wrong to put money ahead of lives.  Your thoughts?)

To close this post, looking ahead, we need to make sure we maintain our commitment to the people of Haiti.  There have been rumblings of forgiving Haiti’s debt and I, for one, think this would be a good thing to continue to advocate for.  Our continued financial support can do much good, especially since many of our partners work very close to the ground.  As to the desire to go down to Haiti, which I find myself fighting, unless you have a particular skill to offer, it is much better to pray and advocate and give.  Haiti lost a lot of its skilled labor force (they were the ones inside the buildings–the doctors, the lawyers, the teachers–when the earthquake struck), and now has many unemployed, unskilled hands that need work and the money that comes from work.  We should be very slow to take that away from them in our desire be a part of the action.

-David Creech

On Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, a man lingered on a street corner, examining a trash bin for items worthy of rescue.  He wore long sleeves and slacks—items that had seen their better days—even though the June air approached 75 degrees.  While pondering whether or not to approach him, give him a few bucks, or just walk by, I studied his face.  An unexpected peace emanated from his eyes.  Not a frantic or dejected survival instinct—no, that was not what was at work.  Clearly something unusual guided this man’s approach to the work of the moment.

I forgot about this man within a few minutes, days (for sure), and after a week I doubt I thought about that encounter.  A few weeks later, I walked the streets of St. Louis during the ELCA Youth Gathering.  One night, I saw the same man doing the same thing on a street corner not unlike the one where I’d met him in Chicago.  I confronted him, unable to determine how this was possible.  Was he the most ambitious traveling homeless man in the country?  Did he migrate from big city to big city when he’d seen all he cared to see?

“I saw you in Chicago a few weeks ago,” I said.

“No, sir.  You must be mistaken,” he replied.

“No, I’m sure I’m not,” I said.  There was no mistake.  “It was definitely you.  Downtown Chicago.”

The man studied my face, a slight grin on his face though his eyes conveyed utter surprise.  That evening, he was wearing a cap.  He removed it and motioned down his body as if to say ‘have a good look.’  “I don’t know what to tell you,” he said, smiling.  “Have a good night.”

I didn’t offer to help the man that night, just as I hadn’t a few weeks before.  It wasn’t my place.  Something much bigger was at work, something I only understood weeks or even months later.

I don’t recall when I have felt a stronger presence of God on earth, embodied in a man who carried his cross with no shame, sleeping wherever he probably could, living by the grace of God.  But that’s just the thing.  One can believe it was an ordinary man, and that built on my certainty that the two were not look-alikes, this homeless man happened to garner a way to St. Louis from Chicago.  Not only that, but I happened to encounter him of all people in both cities, weeks apart.

When we’re called to act, we must act.  But why is it that those in a position to offer help assume that is what is needed?  I realized only later that the reason I didn’t offer to help the man was that he was not the one who needed something.

I was.

-Aaron Cooper is Writer-Editor for ELCA World Hunger

As I was pondering this week’s post I got excited thinking about the fact that today was Groundhog Day (I’m not so excited that Mr. P. Phil saw his shadow, though…).  I was excited to talk about the clichéd definition of insanity–doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.  As I gleefully plotted the post I realized that Groundhog Day historically had nothing to do with doing the same thing over and over.  This idea was introduced in a 1993 film starring Bill Murray, with the apt, though perhaps uncreative, title, Groundhog Day.  I marveled at the notion that my precognitive connection, my free association, was something entirely unrelated to the original understanding of the day.  Even more amazing, my first understanding of Groundhog Day (having to do with the length of winter) was something that had been learned then supplanted.  And I’m not alone with this shift in thinking.

So what does this have to do with hunger?  A lot, I think.  For one, much has been made by folks like Nick Kristof and Peter Singer about the intuitive joy we feel when we help someone (a good thing!), especially when our help (e.g., filling a bag of food or serving someone a meal) or the person (e.g., sponsoring a child or giving to a specific project) is tangible and the need is immediate.  While this probably has some evolutionary benefits–human beings are social creatures after all–attending only to immediate needs does not help us in the long term goal of eliminating hunger and poverty.  It could even be detrimental.  Take, for example, the situation in Haiti.  As noted in the ELCA Disaster Response report on Haiti, “With the huge influx of humanitarian aid coming into the country, a negative impact is being realized by business owners.”  The report goes on to explain some of the complexities of the situation, but the point is still the same.  (To be clear, both immediate relief and long term development are needed, and both are integral to ELCA World Hunger’s approach to dealing with hunger and poverty, domestically and internationally.)  In short, maybe our first impulse, our precognitive response, needs to be tempered.  That intuitive joy we may feel by doing something tangible and immediate is good, but maybe we need to also find joy in the long term, and perhaps less glamorous, work of working with and on behalf of those who are vulnerable.

-David Creech

So I’ve been struggling lately to write anything worth reading (I hope this post will be an exception!).  It’ s not that there isn’t anything to write about–there’s the horrible tragedy unfolding in Haiti and the long road to recovery (for more on the ELCA’s response and how you can help, click here; a blog chronicling the ELCA’s response will be up and running soon here).  There was the very interesting piece by Nick Kristof on women and development and how religion can help or hinder efforts.  I just spent a week in Tijuana, Mexico, thinking about issues that confront women and children, with a dash of reflection on U.S. immigration policy.  Massachusetts recently held an election that significantly shifted the balance of power in Washington–in addition to potentially changing the contours of health care reform, the election also will likely impact climate change legislation, immigration policy, and economic reform.

So why the difficulty writing and reflecting on any one of these significant events and ideas?  I think it lies in the complexity of it all.  I like to offer pat answers and provide simple ways forward (like, for example, just give to support relief efforts in Haiti–not a bad idea).  But the realities of hunger and poverty are much more complex than that.  Hunger and poverty won’t go away with one simple step.  The way forward (hold on while I simplify it!) is a sustained effort that addresses the multiple causes of poverty (such as racism, sexism, war, corruption, and so on) through multiple channels (such as business, politics, and personal choices).  In that vein, I commend to you (if you’ve not yet seen them) the recent series of posts on this blog by Nancy Michaelis who writes about it with much more ease and eloquence.  The good news is that my colleagues at ELCA World Hunger and our partners in the field get it, even if I struggle from time to time to write about it.

-David Creech

This is the second post in a series considering the root causes of hunger. The Millenium Development Goals serve as a helpful framework, and this week, we’re looking at education.

Millenium Development Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

In Cusco, Peru, an ELCA World Hunger-supported ministry called Huchuy Runa teaches kids about human rights.

It is difficult to overemphasize the importance of education in social and economic development. Both marginalized people in developed nations and many people in developing nations lack access to basic education. In a developed nation, lack of education can doom a person to a life of unskilled, low-paying work that makes it nearly impossible to avoid poverty. Minimum wage – or worse – just doesn’t buy a lot of food or shelter. In developing nations, where even primary education is often unavailable or inaccessible, the results range from continued impoverishment to death.

The need for universal primary education includes matters well beyond reading and writing. Knowledge of basic sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and health are essential to improving people’s lives. For example, health education decreases maternal and infant mortality rates, and slows the rate of contagious diseases as people learn how illnesses spread and are able to improve their response to outbreaks. Healthy, energetic people are productive workers who will have better chances of economic success and reduced risk of hunger.

Literacy is another goal of universal primary education. Without the ability to read and write, people are more vulnerable to a life of poverty and hunger. Even marginally skilled work requires literacy. Without the ability to read pamphlets, packaging, or instructions, people miss opportunities to learn about resources available to them. Without the ability to read newspapers it is more difficult to participate in local political or developmental processes which might improve one’s economic situation. Literacy opens many avenues to improve lives, and widespread literacy opens new avenues for whole communities to pursue more ambitious opportunities together. Universal primary education is an essential tool for giving people the knowledge they need to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.

-Nancy Michaelis

There is a place where the trees breathe wind and the skies bring nourishing rain. There is a place where rivers supply food and flowers spout bursts of joy. There is a place that was created with love and beauty and a pulse. If you’ve seen Avatar lately you may be dreaming about the planet of Pandora, but I’m describing the very dirt on which you stand.

When I was younger my siblings and I practically lived in the forest behind our house. We built forts, climbed trees and unblocked the stream after storms. We only came in at the call of dinner from my mother, a woman who grew up learning from the woods and was sure that we were safe doing the same. We would run home through our self-made trails dirty and scratched, all from a good day’s work. Yes, we played video games and “house”, but we also had mud ball fights. There were also the days when we kayaked on the lake nearby. I remember being both frightened and intrigued by the lily pads at the end of the lake surrounded by a small inlet with hanging trees and sparkling silence. I built a connection with nature at a young age, and had a lot of fun doing so.

When I think about the environment today I hope that we don’t forget the beauty and connection we instinctively have with nature, God created this Earth to be cherished and enjoyed. My reaction, however, is my own realization that I must start thinking about that nature when I think about “environmentalism”. There are lots of lenses through which people connect with an environmental cause – global warming, climate change, save the whales, hunting & fishing rights, organic agriculture, protecting national forests and habitats, endangered species…whatever way that you look at the environment around us, thank you for caring. A need to reconnect with the environmental movement on a very personal and real level has been brewing in me for awhile. You might even call it a spiritual necessity.

Outside my window trees sway, rain falls and in the spring time flowers will bloom. The Pacific Northwest is my backyard. I love barbecues with fresh caught wild salmon and picking my own pumpkins for Halloween. I smile when I see the little trees popping up all over a clear-cut thanks to renewable forestry, and when I see an advertisement for Harbor 100 – a carbon neutral, 100 percent recycled paper product. I breathe deeply when I visit our temperate rainforest and when I step outside after a nourishing spring rain. My favorite place on Earth is this tiny tulip and daffodil bulb farm 20 minutes from my house – you could make anywhere beautiful with a few bunches of their fresh cut perfection. Each of these things makes my life happy and full. While I’m glad that environmentalism through climate change is being addressed worldwide, I think it’s also so important to remember what feeds the soul right where we are. For me, remembering that God created this world is the most influential environmental lobby I can think of. I think of our interconnection with the resources of the earth – food, shelter, water, joy and peace can all be found in the nature and wildlife that surround us. I can’t imagine giving away the earth for prosperity, indeed there is no such thing as prosperity without our natural environment.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Feed your soul.

~Lana

Here’s a bunch of interesting things I’ve come across lately, about simplicity and sustainability, some of it here in California.

Individual carbon credits? Among the “10 ideas that might make the next 10 years more interesting, healthy or civil” proposed by U2 star Bono in the January 3 New York Times is the concept that individuals, not industries or countries, be allowed to trade carbon credits. “The average Ethiopian can sell her underpolluting ways (people in Ethiopia emit about 0.1 ton of carbon a year) to the average American (about 20 tons a year) and use the proceeds to deal with the effects of climate change (like drought), educate her kids, and send them to university,” he suggested.

Spending time, not money. A recent New York times/CBS News poll found that instead of spending money, Americans “are spending additional time with family and friends, gardening, cooking, reading, watching television and engaging in other hobbies.” See, we’re already taking steps away from consumerism towards communitarianism, which I got all excited about before Christmas in this post.   

Urban gardening  One of those backyard gardening places has begun in my town – a community-supported agriculture project that farms in its subscriber backyards and the farmers’ own yards. The farmers are still struggling financially because “it isn’t as income-producing as we’d like,” they say. Can you start one in your town – or maybe build community by creating a CSA on your block with your neighbors? Maybe add some chickens? 

Quit watering your lawn. Lawn watering uses more than half the water used by households in California. Sacramento has a campaign to turn off automatic sprinkler systems (especially in winter – for heaven’s sake, it’s raining!), and the Bay Area is looking at limiting lawns or landscapes to no more than 50 square feet per dwelling unit or no more than 25 percent of the landscaped area. The rest would have to be planted in native plants or plants requiring little or no water. Owners of upscale manors with millions in landscaping are not happy about this.   

Then mow your lawn with a goat.  Forget your push lawnmower. If you have more than an acre of land, you can rent goats to chomp your weeds and unwanted vegetation. You can hire 20 to 200, depending on the size of the project.

Save trees by changing toilet paper. Because we love ‘super soft’ toilet tissue, we consume 67.2 million trees annually.” How about saving a tree by using tissue made from post-consumer waste?

Talking about simple living in Oregon.  I’m honored to be speaking about simple living and global mission at the Oregon Synod Global Mission Event on February 6 in Milwaukie, Oregon. I hope to see you there!

Anne Basye, Sustaining Simplicity

The news from the earthquake in Haiti permeates our media and our hearts.  When we turn on the television there are images of death and destruction, and for some loss and despair.  At times like this hope can seem hard to grasp.  Andrew Brown is a former classmate of mine at California Lutheran University; his numerous trips to Haiti have greatly impacted his life and deepened his faith.  I was able to ask him a few questions about his experiences.  I hope that his answers help to paint for you a living picture of the country and it’s people.  Please read on as Andrew helps us to see into the heart of Haiti.

How many times have you been to Haiti and what did you do while you were there?

Andrew: I have been to Haiti on four different occasions.  My first three trips I took to Haiti were work trips focused on building an orphanage, hospital, and school for children living just outside downtown Port-Au-Prince.  My last trip, however, was to visit friends and film their stories for a documentary.  All of my trips to Haiti have been extremely humbling experiences and root my life again in Christ’s work.

What is your favorite memory from your time there?

Andrew: Where to begin.  I think my favorite memories are the times I get to share with my Haitian friends.  Leonard is a Haitian man who works as a “Taxi driver” in Haiti.  He is usually our driver when we are in Haiti working or visiting.  Leonard is the kindest man I have ever met.  The times I have been able to share with Leonard fill my life with purpose to be a better person.  You often hear him shouting the Lord’s praise in song on our car rides or simply shouting, “No problem!!!”  Each time I have been to Haiti he has kindly opened his home to my friends and I.  It is somewhat dangerous for a Haitian to open his house to white people as it puts a target on them as being rich, or privileged.  Leonard does not care.  We are his friends.  And he opens his home for us because God called us to do so.  The faith Leonard demonstrates is often incomprehensible.

My other memory, although a little more difficult to understand are the times I have spent in hospitals and orphanages.  Holding children who are very ill or massaging lotion onto the dying.  I never realized how my hands, how my presence, could soothe a crying child, or calm a dying man.  I get to be Jesus for a moment and feel the presence of him through my hands.  Those little moments are always in my heart and resonate with me whenever pain and sadness exist.

How has your experience in Haiti impacted your life?

Andrew: The relationships I have built with Haitian friends over the years continues to impact my life everyday.  Many of the men and women I have met have very little by world standards.  But yet I find myself being called to become a better person because of the faith they have in God.  It has caused me to remember their faces and in time of trial praise God for all of the blessings in my life.  The people of Haiti have instilled a sense of urgency to serve.  Since the moment I arrived in Haiti, I have not forgotten their faces or their smiles.  I feel called to give my time, my talent, and my gifts to the Lord who has created me.  The people of Haiti have taught me what it means to love unconditionally, and to have faith in a God who’s plan isn’t always prevalent.

What is one thing we should all know about the people of Haiti?

Andrew: The people of Haiti are some of the most incredible people I have ever met.  They have literally been plagued by corruption, famine, poverty, and injustice for 200 years, and yet continue to love each other and their country so much.  The people of Haiti are good.  They will give you the shirt off their back, even if it is their last.  Haitians are the hardest working people I have ever encountered.  They will prosper and they will succeed.

Have you personally heard any updates from people you know in Haiti? Would you be willing to share?

Andrew: I have a very close friend who has been working in Haiti since Thanksgiving of 2009.  I received word this morning through Facebook that she has been working around the clock at a make shift outdoor clinic.

From her Facebook: “I know very little other than I am ok. We are working through the night at an outdoor clinic. 3 hours of sleep since the incident. I have to be honest it is kind of terrifying to be here. It is a total battelfield. My heart races all the time. Thanks so much for your prayers.”

Other than Joanna, I have heard various reports of other friends in Haiti being safe, but the news is very scarce.  It could be many days before I am able to really understand the gravity of loss to the great people of Haiti.  Their words are piercing.  But God is good and in control.

How does your faith affect your response to the recent earthquake in Haiti?

Andrew: I think in any time of catastrophe, our faith is challenged.  We ask ourselves, “why do bad things happen?”  I don’t know that I have that answer, but I do know that God is good.  Faith is something you cannot see, and the basis of faith is to trust in the Lord in times like these.  That is what faith is built for, times of darkness and hurting.  So although it can become easy to question God and His plan, your faith grows exponentially in times of trails.  God allows us to suffer because it unlocks our ability to love unconditionally.  When we struggle we are able to love without question.  We come together, separate our differences, and remember the common good of humanity.

Is there is anything else that you would like to offer?

Andrew: “‘I may have lost a loved one, but also I may have lost my country.’ You feel so sad, terribly sad. Everyone does. But Haiti’s the kind of place where people develop an incredibly strong will. The motto of Haiti is ‘L’union fait la force’: ‘in unity there is strength.'”  -Haitian-born American novelist Edwidge Danticat

If you are comfortable, would you please write a short prayer that readers could pray for the people of Haiti?

Andrew’s Prayer: Father, the people of Haiti are hurting.  They are crying out in pain asking for your healing.  May your hand come down on them and provide them the strength they will need to rebuild their country.  May you comfort those who have lost everything.  Father, may you sing praise through the streets of rubble that Your will be done and you are present in every corner of their country.  Father, give strength to the rescue teams.  Father, bring compassion to the world and give us the desire to share our resources necessary for healing and rebuilding.  Just be present Lord.  In any way.  Haiti needs you.  The world needs you.  May we remember the unconditional Love you give us in these days of hurt.  Be with us now and forever. Amen.

Andrew currently resides in California; he is still a member at the church where he grew up, Calvary Lutheran Church, Golden Valley, MN

You can help make a difference today. Please consider making a donation to help the ELCA’s efforts in Haiti. We are currently working with the Lutheran World Federation. Our partners in Haiti have survived the quake and are already working on the ground. Please make all donations directly at www.elca.org/haitiearthquake. You can also read more information and download bulletin inserts for Sunday here. Thank you for your gifts and your prayers.

~Lana

When you think of hunger, what images come to mind? A line of people waiting for a meal at a soup kitchen? A bony African child pounding grain near a cook-fire? A man standing in a dry, cracked field? Something else entirely?

When we see such images, we naturally want to help. One important way to do so is to provide desperately needed relief: food, water, shelter, etc. Such immediate assistance is critical. Another important way to help is to ask how we got here and what can we do about it. Why are so many people waiting for a hot meal? How much will the dangerously thin child get to eat after spending precious energy pounding grain? What happened to destroy the man’s field and what are his options now?

There are many contributors to hunger, and they often interact in complex ways. But addressing the root causes is critical to ending hunger. My posts over the next several weeks are adapted from something I wrote a few years ago. They will introduce some of the reasons that hunger is such a tenacious problem. This first post is the longest; thanks in advance for your patience!

~~~

The Millennium Development Goals
In September of 2000, the 189 member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted eight goals that would, if accomplished, dramatically improve the lives of poor and hungry people throughout the world. To get 189 politicians to agree indicates the importance of these goals! Each one addresses an issue that affects hunger in the world. So for the purpose of this series of posts, the Millennium Development Goals provide a useful framework for considering many of the primary causes of world hunger.

 Millennium Development Goal 1:  Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

It doesn’t really get more direct than this! If someone pressed you against a wall and demanded to know the one cause of hunger, “poverty” would be an excellent answer. Obviously, people have to eat to live. So people with means will gladly buy or grow food. Meanwhile, people lacking means either can’t get food, or find that skipping food is a lesser problem than skipping something else – such as paying rent to retain shelter, paying for fuel to stay warm, or paying for child care to retain a job. In developed countries like the United States, where food is generally plentiful, hunger is frequently experienced as food insecurity. Food insecurity is “the limited or uncertain availability or ability to acquire safe, nutritious food in a socially acceptable way.” For people with inadequate income, food may be the necessity most easily skipped near the end of a pay period. That leaves people unsure how they will eat for a few days each month or periodically between jobs. In other words, they experience hunger. But as bad as it is, it could be worse. Because food is available in developed countries (there are farms, gardens, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) and social support programs often exist, debilitating hunger and starvation are not widespread.

The same cannot be said everywhere. Poor individuals in many developing countries have it even worse. They suffer from chronic food insecurity, meaning they lack adequate food supplies not just periodically, but most of the time. Imagine this: you live in a developing country, you have very little income, and so you want a job. The thing is, there aren’t any. There’s very little infrastructure and even less industry. With almost no industry, no one is hiring and unemployment rates are very high. Besides, you are illiterate. The nearest school is miles from your village, and you were not able to go as a child. Your labor was needed on your family’s small farm. What’s more, you have periodic bouts of malaria that leave you bedridden and weak. There is no health clinic nearby or medicine to help. So even if there were jobs, you’d have a hard time getting or keeping one. When you’re well and strong enough, you still work on the farm, but the nutrients in the soil have been depleted and it produces less food each year, and you have no money to buy fertilizer. Or crop yields are low or fail altogether. Or stored food has run out and new crops are not yet ready for harvest. Most of your neighbors live under similar circumstances. All of these obstacles contribute to your poverty, and consequently, your hunger.

On an individual level, food may be unavailable or unaffordable. But widespread poverty is usually the result of systemic national problems.  On a national level, such issues as unstable or corrupt governments, insurmountable national debt, trade barriers, war, disease, insufficient infrastructure, and detrimental environmental practices all contribute to poverty and food availability with a country. (Several of these will be topics of later posts in this series.) In countries lacking the resources to address national problems, poverty and hunger persist. At both an individual and national level, hunger cannot be stopped without also addressing poverty.

-Nancy Michaelis