Sustainability in a pocket of change
When we moved to the farm we found that it had been abandoned for
two years. Conventionally-grown
potatoes were the last crop raised here. Those first
few years on the farm were a little eerie.
There were no birds or animals on the property.
The heavy use of petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers had
taken its toll. Today,
eleven years later, the farm is turning a corner.
Life has returned.
And with this new wild-life there are some disturbing problems.
A beaver population moved into the slough, cutting down newly
planted trees. We also have a coyote
population and for the most part they keep to themselves, except for
one. Coyotes tend to be skittish around humans, but not this one. She’s
much bigger than most and very bold.
She’s probably a cross between the coyotes and dogs, therefore larger with
little fear of humans. But
all in all, it’s a refreshing change to have the wildlife return and the
ground develop a sustainable health.
Sustainability is a popular term today, especially in the circles
we frequent. The history of sustainability
on our farm is very short though.
The first homesteads in the area began in the early 1870’s, ours
being one of them. At that
time the timber industry was working at full-tilt to clear the land of
the old growth Cedar and Douglas fir.
It took just thirty years to clear-cut Western Washington of
a forest that took thousands of years to grow, hardly a sustainable
practice. So, the potato harvest
with the nuking of the land wasn’t the first time our farm was abused.
We have a stump that survived those early years, the kids play there calling it their
fort. They little realize the significance of the twelve-foot-diameter tree that once stood
there, a tree that was one among hundreds
and hundreds of thousands locally. Many much bigger.
Today, timber companies work on a much more manageable level,
harvesting and re-foresting.
But they still face the difficult decisions farms face in the production
of food. The problem is that
sustainable production takes time and effort.
Often more time and effort than what the consumer wants to pay for.
So, the grower is tempted to raise volume to make a living and to push
production far beyond the brink of sustainability, into conventional
practices that can't be maintained over the long haul.
Something eventually has to give.
Consumer expectations, which drive supply and demand, play a
heavy part. Sustainability
can’t survive among a people who want what they want, in great quantity
and cheap. Yet, this problem isn’t just in agriculture.
Within the Christian life, we are called to practice economic
sustainability; the idea of not spending more than we are earning,
making sure we have excess to share with others.
This remains a defining issue in every personal Christian budget.
Yet, problems crop-up when our consumption out-strips our income
or when we damage our finances using credit to purchase depreciable
items, or when we spend everything on ourselves.
We are also called to relational sustainability. Our families must be able to remain healthy over the long haul as well. In the onslaught of divorce and withdrawal there is an exploitation that wreaks havoc on both sides of a marriage. It's a mindset that develops from conventional wisdom that poisons the family, causing all the wild-life (if you will) to flee. This conventional wisdom wants to run the marriage on a 50/50 basis, always trying to make sure personal justice is maintained. Selfishness, presumption and personal agenda are sprayed-on relationships with devastating effect. Corporate agri-industry nukes the land leaving it sterile, just as conventional wisdom poisons the family. Conventionally-grown crops look orderly, bright green and weed-free on the outside, but inside they are dead of nutrition and completely absorbed with poisons that drive our oncology departments. Marriages that practice conventional wisdom follow the same pattern, they look good on the outside but give no nutrition to others and simply pass on poison as an inheritance.
Christian sustainability is the root of all relational health, and perhaps for the environment as well, who knows? The Gospel is the only thing that will create personal sustainability. Only Jesus Christ can supply what we need. Neither our marriage partner nor wealth, nor any environmental cause will be able to fulfill us. We were created to be fulfilled by God. Our thirst for satisfaction is meant to be like a homing-beacon, keeping us attached to him. But if we choose to strike out on our own, independent of him, we become a people who consume resources and relationships decade after decade, century after century, laying waste to others and the earth. It’s a wonder that the planet isn’t worse off than it already is. Better management isn’t going to help, only the Gospel can help us. Being 'green' won't fix it if we haven’t been reconciled to him. It’s a guarantee we will abuse and exploit others, and the world around us, if we haven't come to repentance. We have no choice. Sustainability may currently be a popular term, but it originated in the Gospel and is still very relevant today. Jesus Christ is reality, only he can bring us to a place of spiritual sustainability, which will affect those around us and I suppose, the earth too.
The abuse of the land is only an extension of personal and social selfishness.
Those who ignore God, those who abuse relationships and economics will also drain
the life out of the land.
That’s why it says the earth is groaning in hope that the children
will be brought into freedom.
The earth is a third party, but it’s affected. We are all
affected by each other’s choices, good or bad.
But as it says, there is hope.
The world will not change in masse, but there can be pockets of
change. Places where people are
responding to him and changing, becoming like him. There may be
some disturbing problems that arise as the wild-life returns, but it's
worth it. I pray that you will
find sustainability in a pocket of change.