Curt's Ponderings From The Bioshelter

In an earlier entry to this blog I commented that one of the goals undergirding the permaculture philosophy is to develop a 30-year plan for the property. The idea behind this goal is to think through what kind of future the land will be able to provide for the human and non-human residents on the property; both need to flourish, and both need to flourish as well as possible. When Cindee and I commented, recently, that we were taking the long view in developing our property, someone took issue with it. “Why put such time and energy in the kind of development that won’t bear fruit for many years? You might not even be there to see it through, and you certainly won’t be there to enjoy the outcome for very long.” I don’t honestly remember our response. It probably had something to do with the notion that we don’t live our lives just for ourselves, but for those who follow us as well. Whatever our response, this notion has stayed with me that for too many in

Even without proof of global warming, we absolutely must deal with our carbon emissions, or we will be responsibility for the death of hundreds of millions. We know this is true, and I can tell you how we know. It should not be a great surprise that our extravagant use of fossil fuels has created a huge problem. Even well-intentioned human behavior causes unexpected problems all the time and, once those problems present themselves, we have to deal with them. A case in p oint is an issue we are currently facing on our bioshelter-home property. We thought we were solving one problem, but now realize we have actually created a new problem. Let me tell you the story. Cindee and I are both allergic to cottonwoods. While trying to decide whether or not to make an offer to buy the place, the fact that it was set in cottonwoods was a serious point of discussion. Still, we were so interested in a more eco-friendly lifestyle that we decided we would find a way to d

This summer we added a cat to our bioshelter family. The decisions to get a cat came as a result of a thriving shrew and vole population that loved our vegetables too much. I am sorry to say that we got very little broccoli or cauliflower this year, despite efforts to develop the soil and nurture the young plants. Once the voles found it, it was gone. We decided something had to be done, hence the cat. Latté came from the animal shelter. We do not really know her background, though she looks like something of a Siamese mix to me. I think she had been strictly a house cat before we got her. She was very reluctant to go outside the first time we invited her out, but stood in the door, sniffing curiously from the safety of the house. It didn’t take long, however, before she did go out, and soon she was staying out all day. Much to our joy, it also didn’t take long before she discovere d our resident population of voles and shrews. She happily did her job

I don't have time these days to post daily. Some of my last posts were not well written and needed rewrites. I just didn't have the time, either for the rewrites, or to keep up the kind of thinking that leads to substantive posts each day. So I am going to weekly posts. They won't be substantially different, but I will at least have the chance to clean them up some. Watch for my next full post later this week!

Yesterday, I described some of the actions that individual people or households could take to reduce CO 2 emissions. Yesterday’s list reflected the kinds of things we talked about as a part of the One People, One Earth presentation in Anchorage on November 5. Today, citizens of the USA are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving—just two more days. And across the world, Christians are preparing to kick of the season of Advent—just five more days. Advent is the season of reflection on the real need the human race and all creation had to receive a Savior, Jesus. The arrival of Jesus opens the way for real transformation of people to live for God on earth. That is, the life and work of the Savior, Jesus, restores us to God’s good grace, and opens us to life in God’s Spirit—a life of joining God in restoring the whole of creation. This has been the traditional teaching of Christian life for over 2000 years. However, joining God in the work of restoring the whole of crea

Introduction I always say that any Christian message worth sharing needs to show itself in real life. Giving a sermon or a teaching doesn’t seem to have much value unless a connection can be made to authentic faith that shows itself in life. Whenever I am writing a sermon, or preparing a lesson plan for teaching, I am always asking myself, “so what? What difference does this make in how people really live?” Last week I took some time to give a very bri ef theology for earth care. Today, I want to talk about some specifics. Since last week’s writings were about our dire need to change our behavior, because of the overwhelming consequences of human-driven climate change, talking about concrete actions has to happen. I have already offered one concrete action, asking that you sign our petition calling for our government to follow through on regulating carbon as the law requires. You can still sign that petition at http://onepeopleoneearth.o rg . To

Because God chose the Hebrew people, a tribal people, to be the ones through whom the Bible would come, the scriptures are filled with a strong sense of relationship. Tribal peoples are particularly aware of the importance of our relationship with God, and our relationships between people and all of God’s creatures. This awareness of the relatedness of things is quite different than the awarenesses that most naturally flow through Western culture since the Enlightenment. We westerners are more comfortable thinking about our own liberty and individuality, and the importance of thinking our own thoughts. The power and pervasiveness of “relatedness” is secondary. But to understand the message intended to come through scripture, we must remember that God specifically chose to send the scripture through the Hebrew people—a tribal people. With this in mind, there are some significant messages that we westerners may have missed. Reclaiming the Task of Dominion For i

In the previous post I promised to post the biographical statements describing the speakers as soon as I got a copy. Here they are. We all wrote our own bios, but I see that mine, at least, had additions attached. I also googled these people and loved learning more about these amazing people. It has been. and continues to be a privilege to serve with them. Moderator: Libby Roderick is Associate Director for the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence at UAA as well as the Director of the UAA/APU Ford Foundation-sponsored Difficult Dialogues initiative. She works with faculty nationally and internationally to more effectively address controversial top ics in the classroom, including issues related to Alaska’s Native communities. She is the editor of Alaska Native Cultures and Issues: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions, which provide s responses to commonly asked questions thr ough the eyes of Alaska’s indigenous scholars, leaders and community members. She also oversees f