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Hours of sledding with the youngest to the most experienced sliders, rounds of charades and euchre, sharing slower meals and worshiping with an extended church family — could there be a better way to spend a winter weekend?
It is difficult for me to think of one.
Our winter retreat is one of the ways that our urban congregation escapes the concrete and metal of the city. Camp Menno Haven, in Tiskilwa, Ill., provides just the haven we needed. The snow-covered hills, the frozen lake, an abundance of trees and even some animal tracks that were not left by an alley cat all give us the chance to dwell and rejuvenate in God’s creation.
Camp Menno Haven, like other camps I have visited, should be applauded for being mindful about creation care. Compost and recycling are available and well-advertised. The Lutheran camp I attended for many years has a camp garden that supplements the weekly menu and a human-powered plumbing system, which makes campers aware of the energy and water costs of each flush or shower by requiring various numbers of pumps to operate toilets, sinks and showers.
Yet, there is room for improvement. Large portions of meat were served at nearly every meal during our retreat. While it was likely delicious to the non-vegetarians in the group, serving meat in such quantities is not environmentally responsible. The modern process for raising meat uses significant amounts of water, grains and fossil fuels. The final products are more than just the steaks that are served. Concentrated animal waste from factory farms contaminates water supplies. The livestock industry also emits considerable amounts of greenhouse gases.
Am I implying that all camps with a love for creation should switch to a strict vegetarian menu? No. It can be hospitable for camps to offer familiar foods to camp goers who may enjoy meat as a part their diet. Especially hungry camp goers who have taken advantage of the sledding and cross-country skiing.
However, it is reasonable to expect that organizations that demonstrate their love for the Earth in many creative ways can be inventive in the kitchen and reduce their use of environmentally costly meat.
1 comments:
Your thoughts are timely for us at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, Mallory. We just concluded Creation Care: Stewards of the Earth, a program in partnership with Mennonite Mutual Aid and the Church of the Brethren.
Interestingly, a conversation held around the meal table was on the very subject of environmentally responsible nutrition. Someone expressed frustration with the quantities and selections of meat served during meal times in light of their impact on the environment. Myself a vegetarian for similar reasons, I share in his frustration--though I have little trouble finding meat alternatives (thanks, Laurelville dining hall staff!), I am well aware of the large quantities of meat not offset by the abstinence of myself and a few others.
It was a not-so-subtle reminder that we at Laurelville have a ways to go in truly owning our voiced commitment to sustainability. In fact, we all have a ways to go (even I, the eco-vegetarian, went through several disposable half-and-half containers to feed my coffee (fair trade organic, mind you!) addiction.
David Radcliff, a Church of the Brethren activist who works with the eco-justice collaborative New Community Project, reminds us that recycling and the like is just the tip of the ice berg (which, by the way, is melting, though not in the figurative sense--that problem is far from diminishing). If we are to truly embrace the redemption of all Creation, we must radically change our behavior--from diet to transportation to consumer choices to investment decisions. May God show us grace but also the truth, that we may live more in harmony with Creation.
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