Let nothing be wasted

A plate of food during a feast at the
 Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College,
 this plate has venison rather than walleye. 

By Naomi Yaeger,

Commissioned EarthKeeper, United Methodist Church

The Environmental Institute at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (Cloquet, Minn.) studies promotes sustainable agriculture, and other topics through the use of a medicinal garden, beehives, and a greenhouse. I am fortunate to work for the Institute as a part-time student.

Recently we celebrated Sustainability Awareness Week. We kicked off with a feast of Indigenous foods: fried walleye, maple roasted squash, manoomin (wild rice), cranberry bread, and Baby Cakes (cupcakes baked with wild rice flour and maple syrup made by an Ojibwe mother/daughter team).

 

Before feasts, tobacco and prayers are offered. At one of our feasts, we all stood waiting patiently. I was anxious, however, as no one knew who was going to offer the prayer. One young woman was asked to give the prayer. She said she couldn’t because she didn’t know Ojibwe well enough. Someone replied, “If you didn’t have a voice do you think the Great Spirit wouldn’t know when you were praying.”

Cupcakes made with wild rice flour  and maple syrup by Baby Cakes 

Wild Rice Bakery/Savage Girls Salads

I particularly liked it when she asked, “If you didn’t have a voice would the Great Spirit hear you.” The answer is, “Of course, the Great Spirit would hear you!”
 

My role at the feast was to facilitate composting. I collaborated with other team members to make sure we had compostable dinnerware and contacted Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) to reserve a party kit (which included special bins, compostable liners, and signage) and transport it. At the college, I cheerfully informed people that their dinnerware and all food waste were compostable and showed them exactly where they could dispose of their waste. I’ve found that many people want to do the right thing but are confused. This is true at church. People are often unsure of what they need to dispose of is recyclable or compostable.

                           A coworker and fellow student, Haley, poses beside he composting and recycling station. The large green bags in nearest to her are compostable plasticand are used to collect the dinnerware and leftovers.

I suggest you think of God when you recycle or compost. Unlike, humans God doesn’t waste anything. I think composting is actually a miracle. Make it into an act of conscious gratefulness to the Lord. (God will hear you if even you don’t vocalize it.) Consider when Jesus fed the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fish in John 6:12, after the meal he said, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

(Naomi Yaeger is a commissioned United Methodist Earthkeeper. Contact her at sun_dog_press@yahoo.com, phone or text (218) 591-5277. For more information visit https://umcmission.org/EarthKeepers/)

The author, Naomi, acknowledges that many hurtful events aimed at Native Americans that have and continue to take place in the name of Christianity. Her writings are an attempt to see commonalities with what she believes within the teachings of John Wesley and what she has learned from her Native American coworkers, classmates and friends.

“Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

John 6:12

This venison stew was actually served at another feast than the one the other writes about in this post.
It included cranberry and maple syrup.

Short trip teaches campers about the environment

This post is a guest post by my friend, Wendy Grethen. Wendy is a fellow environmentalist and enjoys learning about the environment and environmentally-friendly practices. 

Wendy and her husband pitched a tent in what had
 been a neighborhood full of houses.

By Wendy Grethen

As a person who loves to travel, I appreciate that there are places to go and things to do that aren’t that far.  My husband and I don’t always have a full weekend free together.  But, we did have time for a 24-hour getaway in early September.   We packed a tent and our bikes and headed to Hibbing on the Iron Range.  We tented at Historic North Hibbing Campground, a municipal campground with a half dozen sites on the actual building and house sites of the town that once stood there.  

Old street signs are up on the end of the roads.  Displays show what was in the town and how many buildings were relocated two miles south to accommodate for mining activity that came in and dug up most of the former town.  With the announcement to move the town, the community members figured out how to move the buildings.  Some moves were a success and some weren’t and the buildings collapsed.  The will of people can be very strong and the town was rebuilt in its new location.  Reuse of materials is one of the top ways to reduce impact on the environment. 

I’m thankful to fit in outdoor-time

in the tail end of summer

to enjoy a mix of cycling, site visiting

and non-highway driving

 

My husband and I woke up the next day to the call of a loon and mining equipment sounds. We went into town to eat an outdoor breakfast from a local bar-restaurant.  
We then hopped on our bicycles and rode on the Mesabi Trail to the town of Keewatin.  The bike trail had other cyclists and walkers using the trail and viewing the scenery of the filled-in mine pits that looked quite beautiful and trees growing up through the mine tailings.  
One pit had a group of swans on the water. The bike route was mostly on a trail but part of the route was through very small towns. It also crossed railroad tracks a few times which were loaded with spilled taconite. After we made the round-trip bike ride we did a little sightseeing and located Bob Dylan’s boyhood home near the high school and the new large sign announcing his receiving a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for his poetic expressions within the Great American song traditions.

The remote spot where the Wellstone plane crashed.

Then, we drove on toward Duluth via a side trip to the Wellstone Memorial site with a short hiking trail near where the plane crashed in October 2002 and all 8 passengers died. Sen. Paul Wellstone was a 58 years old liberal politician and social science teacher. He developed outstanding skills in community organizing and had passion for making the country a better place for all. His successes included limiting international sex trafficking, investing in workforce, and mental health parity act. A quote of his is “We all do better when we all do better.”  The rest of our 24-hour trip involved driving through rural roads toward Duluth.  A bit more needed rain fell. We stopped at a gravel pit and looked for (but didn’t find) agates but enjoyed the time viewing the various colors of the stones. I’m thankful to fit in outdoor time in the tail end of summer season to enjoy a mix of cycling, site visiting and non-highway driving to slow down a bit and see many, many trees.  

Learn more about Wendy at WendyUpNorth.com

Opening a package from an eco-friendly cleaning and beauty products company

The other day I received a package from Grove
collaborative. (Grove.co) With the help of my friend, Gerri, filming me I'll let you see the process of opening the package.

The can containing shampoo is made of aluminum. Some 84% of all aluminum produced is still being used, while plastic can only be down-cycled,  aluminum can be recycled an infinite number of times. 

Take a peek, as my dog watches me unpack. 

https://youtu.be/6qa5JnMztQk

What's Up in August?

Plan ahead to be more environmentally friendly in August

By Naomi Yaeger

Commissioned United Methodist Earthkeeper

Recently I wrote about Plastic-free July. Did you participate in the challenge of saying no to single-use plastic? I thought I’ve been conscientious for several years, but I still ended up using more plastic than I wanted. My biggest tip to reduce your use of plastic is to plan ahead. We had an Independence Day Party. I purchased decorations and party favors at a local craft store. I like my house to be decorated for the occasion and to keep the guests occupied. I kinda waited until the last minute, so I  ran to a local craft store to look for decorations. I was tempted to purchase decorative LED lights. I wasn’t happy about the plastic used in the LED lights, but they were so darn cute and sparkly that I couldn’t resist the temptation. I found all kinds of cute decorations made with one-time-use plastic. I found a streamer made with fabric and wooden beads so I purchased it. One thing I felt guilty about was buying bubbles for guests in plastic bottles. I was getting desperate to keep my guests occupied. I found BINGO games online and trivia games where the correct answer won Silver Kennedy Dollars. I didn’t plan ahead so I gave out the United States quarters. Another prize we had was red, white, and blue candy. I placed it in used glass jars. Then I felt bad about each candy wrapped in plastic.

That brings us to August. The Special Days in August are:

A centuries-old marginalization and a set of different vulnerabilities expose indigenous peoples to the serious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PHOTO:UN Composition with photographs by PAHO (left), Martine Perret (center) and UNICEF Ecuador-Arcos (right)

August 9: International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples; According to the United Nations Secretary-General Throughout modern history, indigenous peoples have been robbed of their lands and territories, of their political and economic autonomy, and even of their own children. Their cultures and languages have been denigrated and extinguished.

August 10: World Lion Day; A Century ago, there were more than 200,000 wild lions living in Africa. Today, there are only about 20,000; lions are extinct in 26 African countries and have vanished from over 95 percent of their historic range. a century ago, there were more than 200,000 wild lions living in Africa. Today, there are only about 20,000; lions are extinct in 26 African countries and have vanished from over 95 percent of their historic range. 

• August 12: World Elephant Day;  promote safe, ethical elephant tourism.  Do not support organizations that exploit or abuse elephants and other animals for entertainment and profit. Do not buy ivory or other wildlife products. Be an elephant-aware consumer.

• August 19: World Orangutan Day; look to see if palm oil is an ingredient in products you use. Palm oil is a key ingredient in many foods and body products. And the population of Orangutans is diminishing due to the harvest of palm oil.

• August 22: National Honey Bee Day*; If you like to eat, you should care about bees, they pollinate food crops and wild plants.

• August 23: International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition; The night August 22, 1791, in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

• August 26: Women's Equality Day*; both environmental and women’s activism are extremely intersectional fights. In each area, individuals of varied races, ethnicities, economic status, gender, and citizenship status are disproportionately affected by these movements’ encompassing issues.

Join millions across the globe in reducing plastic waste by joining Plastic-Free July

By Naomi Yaeger

UMC Earthkeeper

This July participate in a challenge: avoid single-use plastic for the month of July.

Begin at the grocery store. Pack your own lunch using reusable containers or waxed fabric for sandwiches. 

Shop at a farmers market. Talk to the farmer who grew your food. It's a fun experience.

Razors, toothbrushes, and flossing picks, and many toiletries are available as alternatives. How about your shampoo? It’s possible to get nice shampoo in bar form. Laundry detergent is also available as a powder or on strips of paper. You can refill shampoo and detergents at a co-op.

• Keep a spoon, fork, and small knife, along with a straw in your purse or your vehicle glove compartment. You never know when they will become handy and aid in your refusal of plastic. 

• Has the pandemic got you thinking you can’t use your own bag? (This might make people think they shouldn’t bring their own bag. I think most scientific studies agree that covid isn’t spread by bringing your own bag.)  Ask the cashier to place the items back in your grocery cart, take your cart to your car and bag them there. 

• BYO reusable water bottles instead of buying plastic ones

• Reduce the number of soft drink bottles used (e.g. consume less or make your own ‘soda’)

• Prepare lunch boxes without plastic wrap

• Choose alternatives or avoid plastic bottles of milk and juice

• Pick up litter in public places

• Celebrate in style with plastic-free decorations.

We purchased a subscription to a brand with a naughty name, “Who Gives a Crap,” toilet paper. A case of toilet paper is shipped to us periodically; the rolls wrapped in pretty paper with pithy sayings; no plastic wrapping. The company helps build toilets and washing facilities across the world.

Keep a journal of your daily use of disposable plastic. Hosting a July 4th party? See how decorative and fun you can be without using plastics.

Visit PlasticFreeJuly.org 

(Do you feel a call to care for creation? Join the sustainability committee at your house of worship, or learn more about becoming a United Methodist Earthkeeper https://umcmission.org/EarthKeepers/ Contact Naomi at sun_dog_press@yahoo.com, (218) 591-5277))

Ecclesiastes 3:20  

    All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust

You are Wonderfully Made! Respect your Body, Respect God's Creation

By Naomi Yaeger

UMC Earthkeeper

When I was a girl the first television advertisements for menstrual products (period products) upset many people. The public didn’t think this should be mentioned on TV or at all, especially in mixed company.  We had

We had the “Modess...because” ad campaigns. Now, actress Amy Schummer is “turning question marks into periods,” on the web and TV. 

Because of society's reluctance to speak about tampons and pads - there is something called “period poverty.” Nobody wants to talk about that either. Period poverty is when a family can’t afford menstrual products. Many times, especially in third world countries, girls will drop out of school when their first period arrives. What did American women do years ago when they got their periods? Our grandmothers used fabric menstrual pads. Would that have been gross or embarrassing? It was just part of life.

Our mothers used manufactured pads they attached to a belt worn around the waist. Pads attached to panties with self-adhesive were considered a great improvement. They and insertable tampons were and still are an option.

Now many tampons have plastic applicators, which are immediately thrown in the trash, The packaging and the lining of pads is often plastic also. 

About eight years ago my daughter discovered a reusable menstrual product branded “Party in My Pants.” This is a woman-owned company that makes menstrual pads and liners. They are headquartered in Ashland, Wi and make their products “with love.” (partypantspads.com)

There is also a medical-grade silicone device called a menstrual cup. It is inserted near the cervix and catches the flow. There are different sizes of cups depending on the flow. The initial investment for one of these, like the Diva Cup, is $30.

Just think of the savings if you are spending $10 a month on pads and tampons. That’s $120 a year. The cups and pads last at least 7 years. Otherwise, a woman would have spent $840.

Not only will you save money...you will be using less plastic. 

To paraphrase Psalm 139:14  

You are amazingly and miraculously made. God’s works are miraculous.