believe me good will come

 

Global meat production has increased fivefold since the 1950s and more than doubled since the 1970s. Consumption of meat continues to rise, especially in developing countries. From the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, meat consumption in developing countries grew by 70 million tons – almost three times as much as in industrial countries. - Worldwatch Institute/FAO, UN

The amount of red meat that we eat in the developed world is bad for our health, bad for the environment and contributes to global poverty.

Eating too much red meat increases your risk of bowel cancer, colorectal cancer, lymph node cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Eating less red meat (maybe having one serving a week) can reduce the risk of such cancers and reduce the risk of heart disease. It can also cut cholesterol levels and the chances of suffering from kidney and gall stones, diet-related diabetes and high blood pressure. [e.g.]

The livestock industry is incredibly damaging to our world:

The human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future – deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilization of communities, and the spread of disease. – Worldwatch Institute

The livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions than transport. – FAO, United Nations

Livestock production now uses 30% of the earth’s entire land surface (mostly permanent pasture) and 33% of global arable land is also used to produce feed for livestock. – FAO, United Nations 

In Latin America, some 70% of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing. – FAO, United Nations

A kilogram of grain-fed beef needs at least 15 cubic metres of water.
A kilo of cereals needs from 0.4 to 3 cubic metres of water. – BBC

Meat-eaters consume the equivalent of about 5,000 litres of water a day compared to the 1,000-2,000 litres used by people on vegetarian diets. – Guardian

On average, it takes 1,790 litres of water to grow 1kg of wheat compared with 9,680 litres of water for 1kg of beef. – Guardian 

Two-thirds of all the grain exported from the US to other countries goes to feed livestock rather than to feed hungry people. – Guardian

An acre of cereal produces five times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production; legumes (beans, peas, lentils) can produce 10 times more protein and leafy vegetables 15 times more. – Guardian  

Some 80% of the world’s hungry children live in countries with actual food surpluses, much of which is in the form of feed fed to animals which will be consumed by only the well-to-do consumers. – Guardian

Some Articles:

UN – Livestock a major threat to environment
“[T]he livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation.”

BBC – Hungry world ‘must eat less meat’
“World water supplies will not be enough for our descendants to enjoy the sort of diet the West eats now, experts say….[T]he growth in demand for meat and dairy products is unsustainable…Animals need much more water than grain to produce the same amount of food.”

The Guardian – Meat-eaters soak up the world’s water 
“Governments may have to persuade people to eat less meat because of increasing demands on water supplies”

The Guardian – The world’s problems on a plate
“Meat production is making the rich ill and the poor hungry”

The NewStandard – Meat Contributes to Climate Change, UN Study Confirms
“The typical American diet adds significantly to pollution, water scarcity, land degradation and climate change, according to a United Nations report released last week.”

Worldwatch Institute – New Meat Byproducts: Avian Flu and Global Climate Change
“The growth of factory farms, their proximity to congested cities in the developing world, and the globalized poultry trade are all culprits behind the spread of avian flu, while livestock wastes damage the climate at a rate that surpasses emissions from cars and SUVs.”

China Needs a New Type of Livestock Revolution
“Animal manure has become one of the main pollution sources in China”

GoVeg.com – Meat and the Environment
“Many leading environmental organizations, including the National Audubon Society, the WorldWatch Institute, the Sierra Club, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, have recognized that raising animals for food damages the environment more than just about anything else that we do.”

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will only be an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., from ‘Beyond Vietnam’, New York, 4 April 1967, in Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepherd (eds.), A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., New York, 2001.

As Christians we must think not only about “mansions in the sky,” but also about the slums and ghettos that cripple the human soul, not merely about streets in heaven “flowing with milk and honey,” but also about the millions of people in this world who go to bed hungry at night. Any religion that professes concern regarding the souls of men and fails to be concerned by social conditions that corrupt, and economic conditions that cripple the soul, is a do-nothing religion, in need of new blood. Such a religion fails to realise that man is an animal having physical and material needs.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘What is Man?’ I, Strength to Love.

Our nation’s productive machinery constantly brings forth such an abundance of food that we must build larger barns and spend more than a million dollars daily to store our surplus. Year after year we ask, “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” I have seen an answer in the faces of millions of poverty-stricken men and women in Asia, Africa, and South America. I have seen an answer in the appalling poverty in the Mississippi Delta and the tragic insecurity of the unemployed in large industrial cities of the North. What can we do? The answer is simple: feed the poor, clothe the naked, and heal the sick. Where can we store our goods? Again the answer is simple: We can store our surplus food free of charge in the shrivelled stomachs of the millions of God’s children who go to bed hungry at night. We can use our vast resources of wealth to wipe poverty from the earth.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘The Man Who Was A Fool’, II, Strength to Love.

When questions of human rights achieve a prominent place on the agenda of world  political discussion, it is because it is the policy of particular states to raise them. The world…after the Second World War witnessed the trial and punishment of German and Japanese leaders and soldiers for war crimes and crimes against the peace. It did not witness the trial and punishment of American, British and Soviet leaders and soldiers who prima facie might have been as much or as little guilty of disregarding their human obligations as Goering, Yamamoto and the rest. This is not to say that the idea of the trial and punishment of war criminals by international procedure is an unjust or unwise one, only that it operates in a selective way. That these men and not others were brought to trial by the victors was an accident of power politics.

In the same way….the rights of Africans in black African states, or of intellectuals in the Soviet Union, or of Tibetans in China or Nagas in India or communists in Indonesia are less likely to be upheld by international action because it is not the policy of any prominent group of states to protect them. The international order does not provide any general protection of human rights, only a selective protection that is determined not by the merits of the cause but by the vagaries of international politics. – Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, New York, 1977, pp. 89-90.

A few nights ago I watched the film Hotel Rwanda for the first time. Only 13 years ago, the world sat on its hands while 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in the space of 100 days. There were UN peacekeepers in Rwanda at the time, along with foreign media reporting what was happening. But no one intervened.

Hotel Rwanda is worth watching if you haven’t already. If you’re one of those people who say: “Oh, but I don’t like watching ‘depressing’ movies”, then you should definitely watch it – welcome to the reality of life for millions of people. And (for my religious-type readers) here’s a good article contrasting Hotel Rwanda with The Passion.

“I think if people see this footage, they’ll say “Oh, my God, that’s horrible!” And then they’ll go on eating their dinners.” – quote from a foreign cameraman in Hotel Rwanda

Now we’ve had Darfur on our television screens. And again the world has failed to act.

Through my study this year I’m beginning to understand why world powers and organisations are reluctant to get involved in some places (Rwanda, Congo, Darfur) but happy to jump into other places (Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq). 

On some level I suspect that the lack of action in Darfur is partly because we care less about Africa:

[T]here’s no way we can look at what’s happening in Africa and, if we’re honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us.  Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn’t accept it. – Bono

The United States has called it genocide. For you [the UN], it’s called ethnic cleansing. But make no mistake, it is the first genocide of the 21st century….How you deal with it will be your legacy — your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz. We were brought up to believe that the Holocaust could never happen again….We are one “yes” away from ending this. And if not the UN, then who? – George Clooney (talking to the UN about Darfur)

[you know it’s bad when even rock stars and movie stars are being ignored :P]

• Flight of the Conchords - Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros:

• Late night TV won’t be as funny when George W. Bush when is replaced by a [more] competent President in 2008. One of Letternman’s ‘Great Moments in Presidential Speeches’:

• Letterman makes fun of Schwarzenegger:

• Flight of the Conchords – Albi the Racist Dragon:

• Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra plays Hey Ya by Outkast:

• Spiders on drugs:

• The saddest music video ever:

• MuteMath perform Typical on Jimmy Kimmel Live (I like watching the little singer guy jumping around in the last 50 seconds):

• Wikipedia can be funny. This is from the entry for Coldplay (read it fast, before someone fixes it):

Despite Coldplay’s large worldwide popularity, the band have remained protective of how their music is used in the media, refusing its use for product endorsements. In the past, Coldplay turned down multi-million dollar contracts from Gatorade, Diet Coke, and Gap, who wanted to use the songs “Yellow”, “Trouble”, and “Don’t Panic” respectively. According to Martin, “We wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if we sold the songs’ meanings like that.”[12] However, he is more than happy to sell his prepackaged teen depression lite to impressionable people the world over without an ounce of guilt. There are no appropriate quotes to suggest how well he sleeps at night.

To be very honest I’m angry. Angry that so many young people are missing out on the honest conversations about following Jesus; the conversations around faithfulness, around serving others, especially the poor, about the hard times, and the many moments of failure. I’m angry because I’m having so many conversations with kids disillusioned and munted because they couldn’t keep the “happy christian” facade going any longer. - Sam Harvey

When I ask people what they want out of life, the most common answer is “To be happy”. People feel that they deserve to be happy – that it is their right (“…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”). This is equally true in Christian circles. Yet the more I read of real Christians who’ve lived real lives in the real world, the more irrelevant happiness seems:

It is not some religious act that makes a Christian what he is, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, (July 18th 1944).

One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, a converted sinner, a churchman (the priestly type, so-called!), a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. This is what I mean by worldliness – talking life in one’s stride, with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessnesses. It is in such a life that we throw ourselves utterly into the arms of God and participate in his sufferings in the world and watch with Christ in Gethsemane. That is faith, that is metanoia, and that is what makes a man a Christian. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, (July 21st 1944).

[W]e are gravely mistaken to think that Christianity protects us from the pain and agony of mortal existence. Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear. To be a Christian, one must take up his cross, with all of its difficulties and agonizing and tragedy-packed content, and carry it until that very cross leaves its mark upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering. - Martin Luther King, Jr., ’Transformed Noncomformist’, III, Strength to Love.

The quotes above emphasise suffering, not happiness. Jesus said that his followers would suffer, and that this was a blessing (you could say this is real happiness). The letters of the New Testament talk of sharing in Christ’s suffering:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. – Mt 5:11

Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. – Mt 10:39

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. – Jn 15:20

[E]veryone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted – 2 Ti 3:12

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and fellowship of his sufferings – Php 3:10

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our own lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. – 2 Co 1:5

[R]ejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. – 1 Pe 4:13

We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. – Ro 8:17

Martin Luther King writes about the idea of redemptive suffering:

[U]nearned suffering is redemptive. Suffering, the nonviolent resister realizes, has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities. “Things of fundamental importance to people are not secured by reason alone, but have to be purchased with their suffering,” said Gandhi. He continues: “Suffering is infinitely more powerful than the law of the jungle for converting the opponent and opening his ears which are otherwise shut to the voice of reason.” Martin Luther King, Jr., ’Pilgrimage to Nonviolence’, Stride Towards Freedom.

My personal trials have also taught me the value of unmerited suffering. As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation – either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering, I tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transfigure myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive. There are some who still find the Cross a stumbling block, others consider it foolishness, but I am more convinced than ever before that it is the power of God unto social and individual salvation. [Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Pilgrimage to Nonviolence’, III, Strength to Love.

Redemptive suffering is a fascinating concept; a concept largely absent from Western culture. Our popular culture is more likely to emphasise the idea of redemptive violence (think of movies like Braveheart and Gladiator – a man is wronged and he redeems himself by extracting revenge on those who wronged him). And, unfortunately, redemptive violence is too often the ideology of choice at the political level (e.g. George W Bush sought to ‘free’ Iraq through warfare).

Considering the fact that the redemptive suffering of Jesus is the core of the Christian message, it’s strange that much of mainstream Christian culture ignores the idea of suffering. Jesus’ suffering is emphasised, but our personal suffering much less so. Actually, it’s not that strange – suffering isn’t a popular topic. We all have a natural tendency towards selfishness and laziness; we don’t like hearing about pain and sacrifice.

Romantic fantasy of suffering can only be dispelled by suffering in reality. – from ‘Manifesto of Hunger Strike’, Tiananmen Square, 1989.

I don’t believe that war is ever just or justifiable.

I believe that countries are artificial, man-made creations that have no meaning beyond what people choose to allot to them. But I’m not sure of a better way to order the world.

I don’t believe that homosexuality is wrong.

RELIGION:

I don’t believe in tithing – at least in the idea of giving 10% of your income to the church. For the most part, I don’t believe in giving money to the church. I believe in giving money to the poor.

Feel free to ask me my view on anything else while I’m still in an honest mood…

Shine is one of my good friends from China. She used to teach at the school I taught at in Changzhou, but now works for CCTV (Chinese television). Late last year she traveled to Tajikstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as part of a television documentary series. She was in New Zealand last week and spent four days in Wellington.

Shine and a surprised Rochelle. We (six Wellingtonians who had all taught at Changzhou International School plus assorted friends) gathered at a Chinese restaurant last Thursday, with everyone but Rochelle knowing that Shine was in the country. Shine disguised herself as a waitress and then surprised Rochelle.

Shine and Rochelle on a bushwalk in the Rimutakas.

Shine and Don on Petone Beach.

Rochelle, Shine, Renee, Andrew and Don enjoying home-cooked Chinese food at Rochelle’s (and Renee and Andrew’s) flat.

Looking out the flat window. Not bad.