Meat or no meat: still a big question (for me)

We live in a consumer society, there's no escaping it.  Even after ten years of consciously attempting to avoid giving my money to multi-national corporations (as much as I can in this economy), I have to admit, I still get a little thrill out of buying things.  I don't imagine this will ever go away - whether it's the Mad Men and their effect on me, on the evolutionary thrill of getting something new, I am not certain.

But today our household signed up for a food box delivery from Speerville Farms (Stu Fleishaker and Nancy Cantafio and their lovely girls).  Every two weeks we will get bread, eggs, cheese, meat, and veggies delivered to our door.  The price is excellent and everything is organic.

About ten years ago, I quit eating meat.  Lots of people ask me why.  They also ask me how I get my protein, which really bugs me, but that's another story.  Here is a handy reference chart, in case you were wondering:

Food                  Amount of protein (grams)
Dried Parsley    1 cup       31
Lentils, cooked 1 cup       18
Black Beans, cooked 1 cup15
Tofu, firm 4 oz               11
Quinoa, cooked 1 cup     9
Peanut Butter 2 tbsp      8
Almonds 1/4 cup            8
Sun-dried Tomato 1 cup  8
Brown rice, cooked 1 cup 5
Broccoli, cooked 1 cup   4
Potato 1 med.               4
Lambsquarters 1 cup     4

I quit eating meat because I didn't trust where it was coming from - this is the system that gave us listeria, mad cow, swine flu and has increased antibiotic resistance.  I don't have a beef with farmers, but I didn't want to give my money to the corporations who have made it impossible for small pork farmers to make a living.  I also think ten years as a vegetarian has allowed me time to really think about killing and take responsibility for my ethical decisions.

However, in the past year I have noticed an increase in local meat offerings, and I have also noticed that soybeans - which I consume in the soymilk I drink - are driving the destruction of the Amazon rainforests.  So, although I am not ready to go hog-wild just yet, when the food box comes on Monday I will see if I am ready to take on a bit of animal protein.

So, buying feels good.  But buying something that helps a local family make a living feels better.  We live in one of the most food insecure provinces in Canada.  I think we would see a big change in our families, our schools and our economy if more people supported local food.

Word of the day: mendacity

Until today, I had no idea who Chris Hedges is.  My bad.  You can find his bio here but you should really watch this interview with him in Times Square. He is talking about the similarities between the Occupy movement and the people's movements that brought down totalitarian governments in Eastern Europe.  Hedges was a war correspondant for 20 years overseas so he brings a lot of experience to the table.

Mendacity: unthruthfulness; the act or process of lying.

Hedges makes lots of insightful comments about this movement but it's his remarks about the consensus decision-making process that I think most people don't understand.  In our working lives (and in our school experiences) we are told what to do by a 'superior' and we do it, or else.  This is how governments and corporations exert control over massive numbers of people.

In the case of the Occupy movement, the decisions are taken by consensus, where everyone is informed, the terms of engagement are completely transparent, people have the power to amend, support or block motions, and the discussion can't be shut down at will by the chair (or any other party).  It's slow, it can be very frustrating but it is also rock solid when the group finally reaches consensus.

Hedges says that he has written about why the corporations that control the global economy need to be taken out, but never thought about how.  When ordinary people reach a consensus about what to do - whether withdraw their money from mainline banks and put it into credit unions, or something else - that solidarity will be real.

Here's a great video of the people's mic in action.  Blogger won't let me format the link so here's the address to put in your search bar: vimeo.com/30513599

Global Women

I'm halfway through this great podcast about how women are in the process of claiming their rights and standing together for greater equality all over the globe.  It's hard to hear their suffering, but it's so uplifting to know that half the world's population - nearly 3.5 billion people - stand a better chance than ever of being healthy, equal and productive citizens.  It's well past time that happened, and we owe our thanks to all the women and men who struggled to make this happen.

One interesting point they make in this podcast is that policy makers, economists and politicians all around the world have concluded that to make progress on poverty, health, violence and the economy, you have to give women an equal place in society. 

In New Brunswick, we all know our economy could use some improvement (so could our health, not to mention poverty).  This makes me wonder what we are and aren't doing to include girls and women and to ensure that they flourish.  Neglecting to deal with women's issues here only serves to put us a greater disadvantage.

The past is never entirely over

If you're interested in the history of New Brunswick, or forestry or the Irving Companies, you really should go to the CBC.ca/nb site and read the story - and the comments - about the closing of the Deersdale sawmill and the debate about wood from Crown Land vs. private woodlots.

It encapsulates so much of the issues we are facing (and have faced) here in New Brunswick.

The 'Crown Lands' are a creation of the British colonial government - part of the empire of the 1700's and 1800's.  The private woodlots are predominantly in Western NB, which was settled by American Loyalists after the war of independence from the British, and in Miramichi, where more prominent Irish and Scottish immigrants were able to buy or be granted large tracts of land.

I often think about how NB is like a developing country - very concentrated wealth and land ownership in the hands of a few - brain drain - largely disfunctional government - bright people but lacking education.

It's all there on the comment boards, if you're interested.  As for me, I say history lives.

Back to the Forest

I wrote about the opening shots here and here.  This week JDI announced that it is closing the Deersdale sawmill due to lack of wood supply. Deersdale is in the middle of NB, east of Juniper.  Here is a handy dandy map of where the Crown Land is in our fine province.

The Supreme Court of Canad holds that New Brunswick's Crown lands are held by the Province of New Brunswick for the benefit of the people of New Brunswick, not as their owner but as their trustee.  The "public trust doctrine" handed down to us through English Common Law says that resourced of the commons are "gifts of nature's bounty" to benefit present and future generations."

Here is a handy dandy map from JDI's website about their operations.

The NB Federation of Woodlot Owners, which represents 30,000 people in New Brunswick, says that the price JDI is willing to pay from private woodlots is too low.  The Federation says its members are harvesting 72% less wood and revenues have fallen from a combined $100 million to a combined $30 million.

Here's what Ken Hardie has to say about Crown Lands and private woodlots in NB.

"Essentially Crown land is our biggest competitor in the marketplace, which fundamentally has been our fight for many years, is the fact that we're in competition with our own land, pubicly-owned land," he said, noting that they have been in discussion with the Department of Natural Resources on the issue.

"At this time there is some positive.  The department seems to be recognizing that in order for private woodlots to survive, maybe some Crown land needs to come off the market."

You Deserve Good Things

Once I had a conversation with a very wise woman whom I respect very much.  We were talking about why people who are in bad relationships stay there.  She said that it's because they don't feel they have options, or because they are attached to the people who are mistreating them, or because they're not ready to leave. 

I related a conversation I'd had with one of my extended family members, who always seemed to blame himself when someone else treating him poorly.  I asked him if he thought he deserved good things in life.  He avoided the question.  So I asked him again, if he thought he deserved good things.  You mean like, nice stuff, he asked me.  No, I said, like being happy, and being treated with love and kindness by the people around you.  He did not want to answer this question.

The lady looked me squarely in the eye and she said "many people - most people - do not believe that they deserve good things in life.  They don't feel they are worthy." 

I didn't grow up in a Jungian family where my parents told me I was entitled to good things.  But I did grow up in a family where people (inevitably) screwed up, owned up, made it right, and moved on.  I think this was an important lesson that there can be justice in families and relationships, even if it is difficult.

Now that I'm older, and I've seen so many people in bad relationships - and I don't just mean romantic relationships.  I mean with their friends, or siblings, or co-workers, bosses or whomever.  And I see them stick around and I think back to the conversation I had with that woman. 

I wish I could tell people that they deserve good things in life, and I wish they would believe me.  Overall, I think people are much tougher and resilient than they think they are, and when fear keeps them from moving forward I wish they could sense that better things await, and that they are worthy.

Sabbatical: Month 7

Somehow, time crawls by so slowly and I look away - only to look back and find it's been weeks.  A friend of mine mentions she's been reading my blog and I think to myself "my blog?! there's nothing on there to read..."  Which may or may not be true, depending on your perspective.

All around me, I can sense that people's relationships are struggling - word of breakup after breakup reaches me, and other people who normally seem so together seem a little unhinged.  Personally, I feel okay, I feel like things have settled down tremendously after a turbulent and financially stressful summer.  But almost every day I see evidence of how people are equally capable of hurting or supporting each other.  Sometimes it seems like a fine line and I wonder how anyone survives into old age with a positive outlook.  Maybe it's willful ignorance, or wishful thinking, or luck or grace, depending on how you look at it.  I'm not sure. 

The elegy of fall is hard to bear sometimes, and this year since I've been on 'sabbatical' I feel wasteful.  I feel like normally I would be working harder, investing time and energy in projects and seeing them come (hopefully) to fruition.  This year I am not investing in anything, I am watching the time pass. I feel idle sometimes, and guilty as a result.  At the same time, I can feel my inner battery re-charging and I feel much more resilient and joyful than I have in the past few years.


We also have less money in the household, which has been a very interesting process. Since the spring, we are eating a lot of stored food that previously would have gone to waste, altering or repairing clothes that would have gone unworn, visiting people and generally just slowing down the pace of life.  It's been good.

Sometime I wonder about human generations in years past - without the iPhone, with less 'options' but more time for making bread and visiting family, less 'wordly' but more connected to the earth.  I think everything in life is a trade-off and this sabbatical has really made me wonder what I am trading.  Overall, I feel immensely thankful for the gentle and kind people we seem to have in abundance here in New Brunswick.  I realize without a doubt that human relationships are so complicated and difficult, yet so rewarding, and I am thankful for my tiny place in the midst of this great cosmos.