Buy your fruit and veg this month without using plastic packaging. You can do this by avoiding pre-packaged fruit and veg and by not using little plastic bags provided for fruit and veg. Use the brown paper bags provided for mushrooms if you need to use a bag.
Last week the IPCC called for an overhaul of our global food production system to help fight climate change, and tackling food waste was one component of this.
In its special report on Climate Change and Land, the IPCC called for urgent change to farming practices, land use and dietary habits in order to maintain global food security, and to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
It found climate change is already affecting the whole food system — from drought reducing crop yields to extreme weather events damaging produce, food shortages are leading to increased poverty.
And while food waste can occur as a direct result of climate change, reducing it was also identified in the report as critical for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and improving food security.
So what’s the situation in Australia?
It’s normal to feel stressed at work from time to time. But for some people, the stress becomes all-consuming, leading to exhaustion, cynicism and hatred towards your job. This is known as burnout.
Flanders challenges the notion that the Christmas customs of the past were primarily religious. She does not deny their spiritual significance for the believer, but she does contest the idea “that Christmas was once religious, and only in our debased, commercial age has been reduced to its current shabby, market-driven modern form.” In other words, she disputes the presumption that the holiday was in the beginning primarily or even exclusively observed by devout Christians and that only in the last 200 years has its “real” significance been displaced by the forces of secularism and consumerism….
Proverbs 14 vs 30 says:
“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”
This month’s Live Free Tip is about slowing down and re-focussing….
So here I find myself at Christmas 2019 and in a bit of pickle.
I don’t want my choices at Christmas to mean I keep people in modern-day slavery.
I don’t want my choices at Christmas to mean I’m sending the environment on a crash course with disaster.
But I also choose to not disappoint my nieces and nephews.
I fell out of love with Christmas when I saw how my choices were not truly aligned with the meaning of Christmas. If Christmas is about Jesus, then what does Jesus want Christmas to look like?
If you are not already, set up a bag or bin in your home to collect soft plastics. Recycle them at Coles or Woolworths. You will be amazed about how much less waste goes into your red bin.
Flanders challenges the notion that the Christmas customs of the past were primarily religious. She does not deny their spiritual significance for the believer, but she does contest the idea “that Christmas was once religious, and only in our debased, commercial age has been reduced to its current shabby, market-driven modern form.” In other words, she disputes the presumption that the holiday was in the beginning primarily or even exclusively observed by devout Christians and that only in the last 200 years has its “real” significance been displaced by the forces of secularism and consumerism….
Shopping is also an opportunity to exercise God’s call to steward the Earth and to love my neighbour. Scientists tell us that the sheer scale of consumption has set us on a path of unsustainable use of the Earth’s resources. Species are disappearing at a frightening rate, the oceans are acidifying, the climate is changing and dead zones are appearing in our rivers and seas. Every time I enter a shopping mall I hear the seductive voice of consumerism promising me that I can have everything I desire; but concealing the terrible consequences of that promise….
