5/15/2005 01:29:00 PM|||Joel VandenBrink|||

For the past two years Brooke and I have been changing our diet. We started to realize the necessity for this when we both starting gaining weight immediately after getting married. It isn't that our diet was all that bad, we were just eating a lot of unnecessary carbs. Growing up in the midwest casseroles are the main entree at most dinners. Casseroles are delicious, and I love almost all of them I've ever eaten, but they are full of stuff that can make ya fat. So the first thing to go was the casseroles -- I don't think we've made on in 18 or so months.

The next conversation we started having was about milk. Brooke and I had both read some articles about artificial growth hormones that are fed to cows. These articles shed light on a potential problem with growth hormones -- and that is that they make it into the cows milk, therefore making it into the human body. Now, I don't know about you, but I prefer to be cow hormone free. Thus, we how purchase organic, growth hormone free milk. This transition didn't include just the milk that comes in gallon jugs. It also included anything that had milk in it. For example, I'm a yogurt fanatic (i eat it at least once every day), I'm also a crackers and cheese fanatic (extra sharp cheddar only), as well as a macaroni and cheese fanatic (bye bye kraft, welcome annie's natural). After converting to organic milk I started to be made aware that I don't really need the extra fat that is in 2% milk, so I now drink skim (except for the cream in my coffee, I prefer half and half in that).

So far casseroles and growth hormones are gone, you may ask 'what's next?'

To answer that question I need to ask you a question back -- have you ever thought about where you spend your money? This is a scary question to ask ourselves. For if we truly answer it, in all aspects, then I guarantee that almost every place we spend money we would change. I know it has for Brooke and I. Let me give some examples.

Major Grocery Chains (i.e. Walmart and anything owned by Kroger)
Although these places give us the cheapest prices they also cause the most damage to the global market as well as the standard of living in the countries that manufacture their products. How, in a country where inflation is increasing can Walmart continue to lower their prices. it isn't because they care about their customer. It is, in part, because they find a cheaper shop, with worse working conditions, in some third world country to manufacture them -- thus they can lower their prices. Walmart has publicly said that they quite often don't check the working conditions of where they get their products from.

I, as a human, cannot buy from Walmart. I know too much. And I will not support, with my money, a company that does not protect its suppliers and give them the human rights that we all deserve.

Brooke and I now shop at farmers markets, road side stands, and whole foods market. Whole foods donates 25% of their profits to sustainable agriculture. We even ask where our fish or chicken is coming from. If it is farmed we don't buy it (too much bacteria and growth hormones). Our chicken is free range and grain fed and out fish is typically caught from the Puget Sound or Alaskan waters.

Major Clothes Makers
These are much the same as the Walmart syndrome (i.e. big business syndrome). Therefore I can't support them with my money either.

This is a little harder to do, as I do need underwear, socks, and white t-shirts. But with all my other clothes I try to research the company before I purchase from them.

Now you may be saying, "Doesn't all this cost a little more, sometimes a lot more?" The answer to that question is not as easy it may seem. If I were to be short-cited, and look at the 'bottom-line' of my grocery bill, then the answer would be yes. But if I were to be 'long-cited' then the answer would most likely be no, although this is harder to quantify.

I view money as a tool. Money is not something that I save, or I earn. Money is simply the system that we have in place to get done what we need to get done. Therefore I don't care if my bottom line is more, because the difference is helping to better the world. I view shopping at sustainable places as a missional act. I am commanded, by the God I serve, to love my neighbor as myself. This first requires that I love myself (otherwise it would be impossible to love my neighbor) and then to think about how my actions affect my neighbor, even if that neighbor doesn't have a face or a name. By shopping at companies that love their neighbors I am doing my part to advance the kingdom of God.

So to answer the original question of 'whats next?' The answer is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Most of the time our fruit that we eat is about a year old and has had certain chemicals sprayed on it to stop it from ripening, and then other chemicals sprayed on it to ripen it 'on demand.' As of this week Brooke and I are supporters of a local farmer in the North Cascades and Yakima Valley. We will pay this farmer, and his family, $25.00 a week and at the local farmers market they will bring us a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that they personally grew -- el natural and in their backyard.

It's good to know where we are spending our money, and that we aren't making a CEO richer, while the government continues to take away money from those that need it most -- the poor. I now know that my $25.00 a week is going toward paying this farmers mortgage, his tractor payment, his boots on his feet.

May we continue to ask ourselves, "Where will this money end up?" If you don't know, then I recommend trying not to spend it.

trying to do my part,
joel

|||111619200614649171|||CSA's and the Kingdom