The King’s Green Pad

For the second year, the Kings Keepers is running the Environmental Stewardship Challenge (ESC). This four-week challenge encourages members of the King’s community to reflect on their impact on the planet, and take steps to reduce that impact.

King’s Keepers attempts to enhance campus awareness of stewardship issues. We believe that as a faith-based campus, King’s is called to respond as a community to God’s command to be stewards of the Earth in a way that allows all species to thrive.

Each of the four weeks of the challenge has a theme: water, energy, waste, and an integration week. There are only three simple steps to participating in the challenge: set a goal for each themed week, rate yourself each day on how well you did, and submit your journal at the end of each week. This year, the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters has donated a recycled bike, and every week you submit your journal, you get another entry towards winning it!

Inspired by the previous challenge and other conferences run by students at King’s, the kick-off event was organized in the style of a mini conference. Friday, February 26th was the kickoff, with the challenge beginning on the morning of the 27th. Ben Lowe, author of Green Revolution and founder of Renewal, came to speak to King’s about the power of one person to make a difference. Lowe challenged us to ask ourselves three questions: First, what do we want the future to look like? Second, when we look back, what do we want to remember about university? Third, again looking back from the future, what impact do we want to have made on our institution during our time there? He reminded us that none of us are alone in our striving to create change, and inspired us with his own story of how he got to be where he is now.

Ben Lowe might seem to be something of a prodigy – he leads an national organization, has a book published, and is running for congress, all at the age of twenty-five! However, he has clearly not let all this inflate his ego. Lowe started and helps to coordinate Renewal: Students Caring for Creation, a student-led creation-care network. His book, Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation, is both educational and inspirational. He covers the basics of climate change before going on to discuss what Christians are doing about it, why they should take action, and how others can join the movement.

The 2010 ESC challenge will run until March 27th, with a closing event in the evening of Friday March 26th.

This post was authored by Teresa Looy, a first year Environmental Studies student at The King’s University College.

Last week King’s had a guest on campus, Ben Lowe, who gave a lecture and spoke to some classes. Mr Lowe is the author of a recent book on Christian faith and environmental concern, titled Green Revolution.

This reminded me of something I intended to write for The Green Pad a few months back. On September 12, 2009, Norman Borlaug died. He was famously the central figure in a different ‘Green Revolution.’ Borlaug’s research into high yield wheat varieties formed the basis of a worldwide movement toward rationally managed mass agriculture. Beginning in the 1950s, his methods were applied in Mexico, Pakistan and India and, by the close of the 1980s, pretty much the whole world. Like Gutenberg, he lead a worldwide revolution by tinkering around some technical problems.

This piece claims Borlaug, via his Green Revolution (and, given his role in not only the technical research but also its application in various situations, it’s not inappropriate to call it his project), saved more lives than anyone in human history. Others (http://www.neemnico.com/drvandanashiva.htm), however, talk of the Green Revolution with language I prefer we save in case Stalin joins Al-Qaeda.

There were certainly side effects, but it seems to me that Borlaug’s project was on the whole a blessing for humanity. But I’m no expert. I’m interested in what experts around these parts have to say.

The Green Revolution is one of those topics that lead to a naked display of the fault lines at the base of a discipline. Technology and technocratic mentalities, questions of scale, ecosystem/human life tradeoffs (and the problem with the formation of that relationship as such), conservative romanticism, the merits of cost-benefit analysis, deference to local solutions, privilege given to native vegetation, conflicts between long and short term needs, and the role of capitalist corporations and lazy or meddling governments are all matters that matter when we talk about the environment, and all warrant a word or two in relation to Borlaug’s legacy.

So please leave a few words in the comments.

This post was authored by Robert Brink, who taught Political Science at The King’s University College.

Ben Lowe has been active this week blogging about his trip to our university last weekend. Here is another post on his Renewal Blog with pictures from the ESC Kickoff and our trip to Jasper and the Athabasca Glacier. Wow!

http://renewingcreation.org/our-blog/renewal-blog/116-renewal-at-the-kings-university-college

Check out this blog in which Ben Lowe, who recently visited our campus, wrote some very complimentary things about our students:

http://secondnaturebos.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/students-release-groundbreaking-report-sustainability-christian-campuses/

We need to be concerned that inappropriate “solutions” to global warming will do more harm than good. People from Quebec, and from other places, have made statements to the effect that Alberta’s oil sands are to blame for global warming. The truth is that the oil sands would not be developed at the same pace if North America as a whole had reached its Kyoto targets. It should also be noted that other areas of the world flare natural gas in manners which Alberta has not allowed for decades. I believe that we need to thank God that the oil sands are in Alberta. It is easy for other areas to point fingers at Alberta. I do believe that if fossil fuels were a major part of Quebec’s economy, many people would be afraid of offending Quebec to the point that they would go out of the way to pretend that CO2 does not absorb infrared. If the oil sands were in Quebec:

1. Tim Ball would be awarded the Order of Canada.
2. Lorne Gunter would be paid $1 million per episode to appear on the CBC.
3. People who buy Hummers would get government rebates.
4. The Smart Car would be banned for being unsafe.
5. City buses would have to run on gasoline. Diesel is too dirty.
6. Compact fluorescent light bulbs would be banned because they contain mercury.
7. The hydroelectric plants around Ft. MacMurray would be heavily taxed by the federal government.
8. Wind power would be banned because it endangers birds.
9. Hybrid cars and electric cars would be deemed to be hazardous because of the metals in the batteries.
10. Ed Stelmach would be Gubernator Arnold Swartzernegger’s only Canadian friend.
11. However, Awnie would warm up to Danielle Smith.
12. Steven Harper would still be calling global warming a socialist plot.
13. Elizabeth May agree with Steven Harper.
14. Smiling Jack Layton would call global warming a plot to enrich wind power companies.
15. Michael Ignatief’s face would turn red when he is reminded of statements which he made as a Harvard professor to the effect that humans are causing global warming.
16. Jacques Parizeau would hve been the person to have joked about dinosaurs passing gas.

Alberta must do its part to stop global warming. We could that we produce less than one percent of the worlds CO2 emissions but so could one of the coal plants that China opens every few days. However, those who say that the tar sands are too dirty or are being developed at too fast of pace need to look at their own back yards.

This post was written by James P. Yushchyshyn, a part-time science student at The King’s University College in Edmonton, AB.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s “The Last American Man” cemented my age-inappropriate crush on older, bearded men. Beards and the men who sport them convey a sense of woods savvy, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency. Imagine my delight when I found Eustace Conway, a bearded man who in addition to a great storyteller and hunter is still a part of the natural cycle of life.

Conway recognizes that resourcefulness is next to godliness. “Thank God there was one truly resourceful and independent wild soul left in this country,” Gilbert writes. Conway, for Gilbert, signified that America was a nation where people grow free and wild and strong and brave and willful instead of lazy and fat and boring and unmotivated.

The story of Conway, Gilbert maintains, is the story of American manhood. Shrewd, ambitious, energetic, aggressive, expansive – Conway stands at the end of a long and illustrious line of the same.

Living outside of the softening and vision curbing influence of the city, Conway wakes up every morning to a national crisis. He sees America as an impotent nation reflexively ruining everything in its path.

Reduce, re-use and recycle are good concepts, Conway says, but those three concepts should be last resorts. Rather, he says, the focus should be on two other R words – reconsider and refuse.

True to her journalism roots, Gilbert unflinchingly captures many sides of Conway’s personality. She bills him as an old-time mountain man and radical land and water conversationalist, not a wimpy hippy encouraging people to take off their clothes.

While he preserved what was dear to him by buying a forest with a complete watershed inside of it and opening up Turtle Island Preserve in North Carolina, Gilbert also portrays him as a perfectionist workaholic with a host of broken relationships that are testament to his wicked, uncontrollable temper.

Gilbert’s book is a fascinating read and Conway’s drive to influence others to adopt some of his values or lifestyle will stay with you months after the last page.

This post was authored by Sheri Connolly, a fourth year ENVS student at the King’s University College.

The King’s Keeper’s student club at The King’s University College is sponsoring an “Environmental Stewardship Challenge,” which involves a 30 day commitment to attempt to lower your ecological footprint. Each week is centered around a specific theme such as water or energy, and the challenge simply involves participants making small, achievable goals each week based on the theme. I would like to encourage you to try the challenge. Participants are eligible to win a free recycled bike from the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Club – and everyone who registers (until they run out!) gets a free direct trade ESC bracelet purchased in Mexico last week. You can register at the kickoff event tonight at 6:30 pm in the Student Activity Centre at The King’s University College. This event features the band Whisker Kiss and features speaker Ben Lowe, a recent Environmental Studies graduate from Wheaton College who has already authored a book (Green Revolution) and who is running for U.S. Congress in Illinois. Not bad for a 25 year old! Following his talk in the evening (which includes free direct trade food and fair trade coffee) there will be a panel discussion on campus sustainability at King’s.

See you tonight at 6:30 pm!

For part one CLICK HERE.

An old psychological study published in the 1950s involved two groups of people who wanted to learn to brush and floss their teeth daily. One group put nasty pictures of teeth riddled with gum disease on their bathroom mirror: fear motivation. The message was: “If you don’t do this, your teeth will turn out this way.” The other group was given lovely pictures of healthy teeth: hope motivation. The message: “If you do this, your teeth will turn out this way.” People in the hope group significantly outflossed people in the fear group. It wasn’t that people in the fear group disbelieved the message; they just felt so uncomfortable that rather than go to the bathroom to brush and floss, they simply stayed away.
Hope trumped fear in this study…working toward a positive goal was more effective than working to avoid a negative result.
Does this apply to changing our environmentally-destructive behavior? Environmental activists often try to trigger our fear, to take environmental issues seriously. Disaster is around the corner—Storm! Starvation! War! Calamity! We have to work together, make radical changes, to avoid disaster.
Perhaps they are taking the wrong tack. Would messages of hope be more effective? If we do this, our future will look rosier. Life will be (more) peaceful, sustainable. We’ll care for the planet and the planet will care for us.
Chris Turner, author of A Geography of Hope, recently gave a presentation at King’s. He bombarded us with words and images of people finding ways to live more sustainably. I left feeling encouraged and inspired, rather than burdened and despairing.
Still, it’s one thing to brush and floss regularly. The problem and its solution are obvious. Environmental issues are a lot more complicated. Emotions can only motivate effectively when we actually know what to do. As it turns out, more recent psychological research suggests that effective persuasion might not be related to which emotions are triggered, but rather, whether people know what to do when they are. But that’s a topic for next time.

This post was authored by Dr. Heather Looy, Professor of Psychology at The King’s University College.

Renewal: Students Caring for Creation, a student-led, Christian environmental group, released the groundbreaking Green Awakenings Campus Report chronicling environmental initiatives on 52 Christian colleges across the United States and Canada. The report is a project of Renewal, a growing movement of young Christians dedicated to caring for God’s creation through mobilizing and equipping their campuses to be better stewards of the environment.

“The student generation in particular is stepping up to care for God’s creation, but previously little was known about what this movement practically looked like on Christian campuses,” said Ben Lowe, Renewal’s co-coordinator. “The Green Awakenings Campus Report demonstrates to the world what happens when Christian students and campuses come together to care for Creation. Our two-fold goal is to demonstrate to colleges, churches, and communities how we are working together for the renewal of God’s creation, and inspire others to join us.”

The environmental efforts of The King’s University College are featured in the Green Awakenings Campus Report. For those unfamiliar with the student creation care movement, the idea of young Christians taking action on the environment may seem odd. However, a growing number of young people believe that Christians have a mandate to care for God’s creation. “As Christians, the students of Renewal seek to follow His example of love, stewardship, and reconciliation. For us, this means taking care of everything that God so lovingly created- the earth and each other. We seek to care for the earth so that all of God’s people and creatures, as well as future generations, can have a healthy environment in which to live,” said Ben Lowe.

“God promises great things for today’s emerging generation of leaders. These young adults are brave, resourceful, independent, and creative. They are interested in important causes, and many aren’t waiting to graduate college to help out — they are taking action today to leave a better planet to future generations,” said Dr. Matthew Sleeth, bestselling Christian author and speaker. “Through the work of Renewal’s student leaders, a growing number of Christian colleges and universities are, for the first time, thinking about what it means to care for God’s creation in the context of campus settings.”

For more information on Renewal, the Creation Care Movement, and the Green Awakenings Campus Report, please contact Ben Lowe at benloweATrenewingcreation.org or visit www.renewingcreation.org

This is “Reading Week” at King’s, so many of our students are spending time reflecting upon their learning so far this semester while enjoying a well-deserved break. Here are a few questions to contemplate while you relax:

1) This week Flourish makes the list again with its Cultivating Community post asking, “Is Your Church Ready for a Garden?”

2) In this week’s Wonder of Creation blog Dean Ohlman asks, “Who Owns the Earth?”

3) A recent sermon from Redeemer Presbyterian Church, featured on the Deep Green Conversations Blog, asks, “Can Faith Be Green?”