Celebration of simplicity - killjoy or real joy



|Do we ask questions about the Economic System we are part of? |

| |

|What questions should I be asking? |

| |

|Do we know what the consequences of our choices as consumers are for other people? |

|If we don't question the system, are we implicitly condoning it? |

|What is the real cost of cheap food, cheap clothes and cheap flights? |

|Whether we realise it or not, most of us here are amongst the richest people on the|[pic] |

|planet. (If you’re still at University then the facts say that you are going to be | |

|rich). Its only because we compare ourselves with our peers and those ahead of us | |

|in our careers that we don't think of ourselves as rich. | |

|A quarter of the world's population, 1.5 billion people, have an income of less | |

|than $1000 a year. 3 billion more have an income of less than $10000. | |

| |

|If you're a teacher just out of Stran, your starting salary puts you in the top 0.5% of earners world wide. If you're starting as a lawyer, you'll be in |

|the top 0.1% (and off the scale within ten years). If you're a social science graduate working in McDonald's, you'll still be in the top 1% of world wide |

|earners. |

| |

|Whether we think of ourselves as rich, the facts say that we are. We have economic power, which gives us choices, privileges, and with privileges come |

|responsibilities. The poor have no choices; they can’t change the way things are. |

| |

|What kind of an economic system are we part of? |

| |

|The top three billionaires in the world hold assets worth more than the combined GNP of all 48 least developed countries, with their population of 600 |

|million. |

| |

|5% of the wealth of the richest 225 people in the world would provide food, shelter, basic health care and education for everyone in the world who lacks |

|access to these basic needs. |

| |

|29% of the world's energy is consumed by just one country, the same country which also produces 24% of the world's pollution. |

| |

| |

|Its appallingly unfair. Its unjust. And its unsustainable. Who is my neighbour? - the person living two generations after ours, who has to scratch a |

|living from a ravaged planet. |

|Bush's Speech. Just wait til they run out of water. (You heard it here first). |

|So what are the consequences for other people of the economic benefits we enjoy? |

|cheap flights: |[pic] |

|fossil fuel footprint, pollution, war (oil). | |

|Global warming - its not jet engine science. | |

|At the same time we're pumping all this CO2 into the atmosphere, we're chopping down the rain forests to fuel the | |

|myth of continually increasing prosperity. Will we run out of breathable air before we run out of oil? | |

|cheap clothes: slave/child labour |& animal welfare |

|[pic] |[pic] |

|cheap food: |[pic] |

|environmental damage (e.g. loss of indigenous ways of life, loss of habitats and species, | |

|deforestation leading to flooding) | |

|waste/packaging | |

|obesity (30% of children in the UK are overweight, the figure for those who are clinically obese | |

|is approaching 10%) | |

|chemical fertilisers, GM crops | |

|loss of community, loss of relationship, loss of connectedness | |

|use of artificial flavourings, colours, etc - carcinogenic additives | |

|did God create us to be consumers? Is that how we reflect His Glory? | |

|Consequences for people around us. Richard Wilkinson |Trust and social capital all related to income inequality. [pic] |

| | |

|[pic] |Suicide rates, homicide rates (and, not surprisingly, death rates) are also all |

| |related to income inequality. |

|Other consequences for people in the developing world |Poverty. Disease. Exploitation. (all preventable). Trade Laws perpetuating the debt |

| |cycle. 20 U.S delegates vs 5 for the whole of Africa - who's going to win that vote? |

|What can we do about it? Acknowledge that the economic system stinks |

|In the light of these, will u b a Garden Centre Unionist? How much of my lifestyle could be shared by | |

|the majority of people on the planet? |[pic] |

|Isn’t creating your own heaven here on earth always exclusive? | |

|St Francis esteemed Sister Poverty as his wife, "the fairest bride in all the world". I wouldn't be | |

|practising what I preach if I stood up here and called you to renounce material things altogether, the| |

|way that saints through the ages have done; but I can make an appeal for you to choose a simpler | |

|lifestyle: | |

|Don't aspire to buying an SUV as soon as you can afford one; there are other options: | |

|Just because you can afford to fly half way round the world twice a year to go somewhere windswept and| |

|interesting for your holidays doesn't mean that you have to: check out Ballywalter for your next | |

|holiday, and be thankful. | |

|Ethical investment and consumption. | |

|Trade Justice. Make Poverty History. | |

|Fair Trade. Right here tonight. Organic produce. Food Coop | |

|How do we avoid having to do two weeks of research every time we |[pic] |

|want to go shopping? | |

|My friend's radical choice: | |

|SPEND LESS. GIVE MORE | |

|(GAYE practical) | |

|Why does he do that? |

|in his opinion, the prosperity of the "developed" countries was in part created - and is in part maintained - by injustice. In fact, by exploitation, |

|slavery, war. Therefore part of our wealth does not rightly belong to us - giving is not a question of charity or compassion, it is simply justice |

|there is a principle in life called solidarity - it means choosing to stand alongside someone, at a cost to yourself, because you do not want them to face|

|what confronts them alone. |

|people are in dire need. We all have the capacity to answer some of that need. |

|Remember the statistics at the beginning? Its not just the super-rich that can make a real difference. Think about this when you join the 40% tax bracket:|

| |

| |

|The top three billionaires in the world hold assets worth more than the combined GNP of all 48 least developed countries, with their population of 600 |

|million. The second-home owners of the developed world hold assets worth more than the combined GNP of the 27 least developed countries. |

| |

|5% of the wealth of the richest 225 people in the world would provide food, shelter, basic health care and education for everyone in the world who lacks |

|access to these basic needs. So would 5% of the wealth spent on weddings by the population of the developed world in six months. |

| |

|29% of the world's energy is consumed by just one country, the same country which also produces 24% of the world's pollution. China and India come next; |

|and fourth place in the energy consumption/pollution generation stakes is the aviation fuel burned every year on long haul flights. |

| |

| |

|So what hope is there? |

|The God we worship is a God of abundance; and also a God who has given us wonderful gifts for creativity and innovation. We can get ourselves and the |

|planet out of the mess it is in; but we need a change of mind and a change of heart. |

|if prosperity is the blessing of God, what did the poor do to get |[pic] |

|cursed? | |

|live simply, that others might simply live | |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download