A few weeks ago one of the readers at church read a passage that really struck a cord with me. I thought it was a succinct, well-written outline of some of the thoughts we're pondering as we start making decisions about life after rationing.
I asked the reader for a transcript of the text and I received the following excerpt from Beyond Guilt, by George S. Johnson. My apologies for taking some liberties with the text, as all emphases are my own.
--Rational Mama
....................
Guilt, powerlessness and fear are three dragons that paralyze many people in efforts to move beyond charity toward oppressed people.
The appeal for charity, feeling sorry and sharing our resources is the beginning, a good starting place, but it is only the first step.
There is a saying that helps to explain the challenge to work for justice, not just for charity. “If people are hungry, you can give them some fish and they will live another day. This is called relief, [or charity]. But if you not only give a fish, but teach them how to fish for themselves they will be helped to feed themselves in the future.” This is often called development.
That sounds good, but it can be misleading if it is not followed with the next step.
There is a third part of that saying that is critical to our efforts to move beyond guilt. We must not only offer the fish (relief) and assistance in learning how to fish themselves (development), but we must move over in the pond and GIVE them a place to fish. And, we must stop polluting the pond where they fish … And we must give them a fair price FOR their fish.
This third step clearly has many facets to it. It is called working for justice, fairness. Justice includes efforts to end oppression and unfair practices of the domination system.
Moving from charity to justice is difficult, because it calls for careful listening, increased awareness, and critical thinking about the attitudes and values that have brought us to this current crisis.
To avoid feeling guilty, we may stay at surface-level analysis. Guilt may be preferred to making changes or facing the pain and uncertainty of solidarity with those who cry for justice.
Could it be that, while we complain about guilt, we actually prefer it to enlightened analysis and action?
To get involved may lead to changes we’re not ready to make. Beliefs and values may be challenged. Systems that have blessed us may be examined and found wanting. Our security and prosperity may be jeopardized.
We can surely sleep better at night when we are ignorant of the reality of human suffering and its connection to our acceptable lifestyles.
Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Pledge of the American Housewife
It's been just over a year since we posted the first entry about the rationing project, and our year-long journey will be over in roughly two months and some change. It's time to start thinking about life after rationing.
What do we keep? What do we throw aside? What changes stick and what changes slide away?
We are certain that we want to continuing eating a healthy, ethical diet. What this means has yet to be determined.
In the last post I grumbled about life after rationing c. 1940s. But, as I mentioned, there was a determined group of individuals who encourage Americans to avoid gluttony so that others in poverty abroad could receive our exports. The Famine Emergency Committee put together a pledge to solidify promises against food waste, and it seems like a good place to start for our own post-rationing ideas:
"This is my sincere and voluntary pledge to assist in saving the lives of millions of starvation victims throughout the world."
What do we keep? What do we throw aside? What changes stick and what changes slide away?
We are certain that we want to continuing eating a healthy, ethical diet. What this means has yet to be determined.
In the last post I grumbled about life after rationing c. 1940s. But, as I mentioned, there was a determined group of individuals who encourage Americans to avoid gluttony so that others in poverty abroad could receive our exports. The Famine Emergency Committee put together a pledge to solidify promises against food waste, and it seems like a good place to start for our own post-rationing ideas:
"This is my sincere and voluntary pledge to assist in saving the lives of millions of starvation victims throughout the world."
1. I will do my utmost to conserve any and all foodstuffs which the starving millions of the world need today so desperately.
2. I will buy only the food my family actually needs for its proper nourishment and health.
3. I will neither waste nor hoard...nor discard any article of food...in cooking or in serving...and will ask my family for the fullest possible cooperation.
4. I will be particularly watchful in the use of wheat and cereals...and fats and oils...and will try to make certain that not a scrap of bread is wasted in my home.
5. I will make these little sacrifices gladly...for the sake of those who cannot enjoy my God-given right to live...and give...as an American. [ellipses in original]
How many of us buy that extra bag of lettuce or fruit "just in case" and then watch it rot before it has a chance to be consumed? Or let containers of leftovers mold in the fridge while we do take-out instead?
These are the kinds of things we'll be pondering as we think about life after December 25, 2010.
--Rational Mama
How many of us buy that extra bag of lettuce or fruit "just in case" and then watch it rot before it has a chance to be consumed? Or let containers of leftovers mold in the fridge while we do take-out instead?
These are the kinds of things we'll be pondering as we think about life after December 25, 2010.
--Rational Mama
Friday, October 15, 2010
Dropping the Ball
It's been one week since we prematurely ended the U.K. ration portion of our experiment. I've been doing a lot of soul searching since then.Don't worry; we're still following our U.S. rationing guidelines. It was very easy to fall back into that groove: red points, blue points, etc.
But it feels different this time.
You see, living on U.K. rations was nothing less than hard: each day I had to carefully manage our limited supplies - what fat was available, what would do for breakfasts, and what pantry items were of adequate supply to provide enough dinner for four. The girls were hungry; we were all hungry.
I imagine that, historically, the hardship might have been more manageable if the entire country could commiserate with the shortages and make-do recipes and the hunger (in-between air raids, that is).
But in the U.S. things were different. Sure, there were shortages and occasional items were missing from the shelves. But what has become apparent from this (now over nine month) experience is that U.S. rations during WWII were generous compared to our own Allies across the pond. There was enough that the U.S. could help supplement British diets with exports of canned meat, fruit and vegetables. This was because U.S. food production (both private and commercial) skyrocketed during the War. Between Victory Gardens and factories running 24/7 the availability and variety of foods in America during the War made the grocery store shelves in the U.S. look like technicolor versions of heaven to the impoverished abroad.
And at least during this part of the War Americans had their heads and hearts in the right place: in a 1943 poll 62% of American respondents thought that continued rationing after the War would be necessary for a year or two to better control shortages and continue supplying war-torn nations with much needed food. By 1944 that number had risen to 85%; images of starving children in Europe and Asia were finding their way into U.S. media and it was hard to argue with such evidence. In 1945 individuals in Tokyo were getting only half of their official ration allowances (520 calories a day); at the same time over 70% of Americans thought it in the country's best interest to help overseas after the War.
And then something happened: the War actually ended.
As of August 15, 1945 (the day after V-J Day), rationing in the U.S. was over. History. Tired of the cumulative deprivation that was the Great Depression and WWII, Americans were happy to once again experience a lifestyle of abundance and leisure.
By March of 1946 only 59% of Americans favorite a return to rationing in order to send food to the needy in other nations (and that number dropped even further if the receiving nation was in Asia). Persuaded by the manufacturing and farm lobbyists, most Americans began to believe that advances in science and technology would be the way to rescue the international community out of poverty.
Granted, there was a group of citizens and activists that were not happy with this complacency towards the hungry. Pressure from voters and cabinet members lead President Truman to hastily create the Famine Emergency Committee in the spring of 1946. The FEC emphasized the notion that no other country, aside from Canada, could provide the food needed to rescue the rest of the world from starvation. To accomplish this they recommended that Americans return to rationing. When it became clear that neither industry nor the government was interested that option, the FEC recommended that Americans reduce their wheat consumption by 40% and their usage of fats/oils by 20%.
The response was underwhelming. In a 1947 Gallup Poll only 22% said they followed the government's suggestion of meatless Tuesdays (although 38% said they were planning to follow it). Roughly 29% of respondents replied that eating no meat on Tuesdays was "too difficult." Meanwhile, photos of the food wastage transpiring in the U.S. did little to gain sympathy from world communities that were continuing to suffer from drought conditions and the effects of war.
I know what you (the Americans) are thinking: what about the Marshall Plan? We all learned about the wonders of the Marshall Plan in our high school history classes; how it helped build up Europe after the War and created an efficient, sustainable infrastructure. But do you remember that the Marshall Plan wasn't enacted until 1948 - a full three years after WWII ended? And that only 29% of the multi-billion dollar program went to supply food, feed and fertilizers? The rest was spent on factories, buildings, and roads. And since food supplies were tied with politics, the amount of aid sent to Asian countries during this time period was but a small sliver of the amount sent to Europe.
So what am I trying to say? I'm saying that the U.S. blew it. Dropped the ball 100%. We had the chance to raise millions of lives out of poverty (and even prevent innocent deaths), but in the end we chose a nice steak dinner and chocolate cake rather than subject ourselves to modest, manageable rationing program.
And in reality, things really aren't that different today. The U.S., along with Canada, has the fields, the factories and the transportation needed to provide poverty relief both locally and around the globe.
So when this modern mother had to listen to her children's' repeated requests for food because they were genuinely hungry (and not just bored), it was a wake up call. What was a choice for me (living on restricted rations) is someone else's reality. Today.
According to the World Health Organization, approximately one-third of the world is well fed, one-third of the world is underfed, and one-third of the world is starving. Today.
Meanwhile, incidents of childhood and adult obesity in the U.S. are skyrocketing.
The system is broken. I'm not saying that it's an easy fix, or that it will ever be perfect. But something has to be done - locally and internationally.
And you know what? I'm not going to be the one to drop the ball this time.
--Rational Mama
Sunday, February 7, 2010
A Rational Sunday Program
Last Sunday I was the main program speaker at our church, a local Unitarian Universalist fellowship. The topic? Our rationing program and why we chose such an undertaking. Over 100 folks politely listened, laughed and provided encouragement for our family while we're on this journey. What follows is the text from my presentation, with the names changed (as usual) to protect the innocent (and the guilty).
A few years back when The Man of the House (TMOTH) was going through a stem cell transplant to cure his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, my sanity was kept in check through frequent hugs with our two daughters and by lots of reading on 2 subjects: raising chickens in your backyard and civilian rationing on the U.S. home front during WWII. I’m sure some therapist would be able to extrapolate deeper meaning - and multiple sessions - out of that pairing, but I didn't think too much of it at the time. Since the mid-90’s I've pondered the ins and outs of raising chickens, and I’m a born history-geek, so these seemed like nice, safe subjects to explore in the midst of so much chaos and uncertainty.
During that time I could spot a Polish frizzle hen from across the barnyard AND rattle off significant dates in the American rationing time line. While sitting in the rocking chair next to TMOTH in the darkened hospital room I would share helpful information from the books I was reading, such as frizzles do poorly in areas with hard winters (too many big feathers to freeze), AND that sugar was the first food staple to be rationed during WWII. I was never sure exactly how much TMOTH appreciated, or even comprehended, my useful tidbits. After all, he had a lot on his mind during that time, too. But he listened, and I talked. And as I talked I even said crazy things like, “We could convert half of our small greenhouse into a chicken coop,” or, “Say, we could choose to live on WWII rations - ya know, as an experiment.”
Well, as we adjusted to having TMOTH back at home those topics were pushed to the wayside as gloriously mundane thoughts of work and school and laundry and such became the focus of the household once again. I never completely forgot about the chickens and ration points, they just weren't in the forefront of daily conversation. I would still occasionally point out how half of our greenhouse could comfortable house 4 or so hens, or mention that during rationing I would have had to apply to get the extra sugar needed to make the blackberry preserves . But it was all just talk, and to be honest, I was never really sure that I could convince TMOTH to go along with the idea of chickens OR rationing.
And then last fall I read a book entitled, No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. The author, Colin Beavan, and his household set about to live one year as carbon-neutral as possible. In New York City. Throughout the experiment they phased-in different elements of eco-conscious living, including eating locally, forgoing prepackaged goods and nearly all forms transportation not power by humans (including elevators). Eventually, near the end of the year, the Beavan family forgoes such staples as electricity and toilet paper.
Now, the point of their experiment wasn't to see how folks would react to that last bit; the point was to undergo a personal journey - a chance to dissect how and why we use resources (and the ultimate implications of those choices). What it means to live in the United States and have an enormous amount of resources available at our disposal, and confronting the chain of events that occurs from using those resources.
Beavan's book (and the related documentary based on their experiment) is enlightening, educational, honest and ever aware of the dangers of falling in to a holier-than-thou attitude when it comes to personal claims of living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
I thoroughly enjoyed No Impact Man. I enjoyed the stories about living simply, life in New York and how dogs who live in apartments nearly 20 stories up don’t necessarily appreciate their owner’s eschewing of elevators. But, more importantly, it renewed my interest in my own hypothetical challenge: to live off of WWII rations for one year. I passed the book along to TMOTH, who also enjoyed this story of choices and challenges and morals. It generated great discussions between the two of us, about wants vs. needs, the haves and the have-nots, and the general condition of our planet. During one discussion I brought up the rationing project again. TMOTH agreed to give it a try! I mentioned it would mean giving up things like unlimited gasoline, quality meats or processed snack foods. He still agreed! We talked to our two daughters - Sissy, who’s 9, and Eowyn, who’s 7, and they were quite obliging (I think that might be do to a little “ignorance is bliss“). So, we set a date of Dec. 26, 2009 to begin our rationing experiment.
Don't know much about WWII rationing? Here's your history lesson in a nutshell...Rations were imposed in America once we officially entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While other nations, most notably the UK, began rationing (and fighting) years earlier, the US's delay in entering the war postponed any serious changes in resource management. But once the American industrial complex became focused on supplying the needs of the armed forces and the soldiers fighting for freedom, it became clear that Americans’ gluttonous consumption of goods could not continue if the war effort was to be well-supplied while inflation was kept in check. And thus, rationing was mandated.
At first, only "industrial" materials such as rubber and fuel oil were rationed, beginning in early 1942. But soon such staples as sugar and coffee were only available in restricted amounts. Eventually, a majority of food items (sugar, coffee, beef, pork, all canned and frozen foods, cheeses, butter and fats) as well as everyday goods such as shoes, appliances and gasoline, were rationed. Different items were rationed in different ways; points per item or a set amount of goods per person were both common approaches.
Shortages, even of rationed items, became common as the military devoured all kinds of supplies for the war and transport vessels were redirected to war zones and away from U.S. ports. So even if you had enough ration points for a nice lasagna dinner it didn't always mean that those commodities were available for purchase. And while Americans occasionally complained about missing a favorite cut of meat or patching together a pair of worn shoes that would otherwise be replaced, they complied. Granted, there was a black market where one could obtain otherwise taboo or limited items, but the majority of Americans understood that the war, a greater good, needed those resources. In a 1944 poll of Americans, 90% responded that food rationing provided all the nutrition their families needed. Needed. And that was good enough.
In this movement to sacrifice wants for needs, Americans did something amazing: they completely reorganized their consumer habits to work towards a common goal. This was, after all, the Greatest Generation.
But my family and I are not part of the Greatest Generation. And there isn't a unified war against tyrants threatening American freedoms. My husband and I are thirty-something, middle-class, college-educated parents - why would we do such a thing?
Well, sometimes you just need to stretch beyond your comfort zone; to twist and reach and strain to figure out just how flexible (or crazy) you are. Part of this is a bit of a history experiment, too. How many of us have read accounts of pioneers and wondered if we could have hacked it?
Now, let's be honest - this is a lifestyle change for sure. But mostly, this experiment is about learning how much you're willing to change to make a change.
Because if you think about it, there really is a massive war going on. But it’s a different kind of war. Instead of a trench and tank to mark the battlefield, this war takes place in the air-conditioned aisles of a well-lit store the size of an airplane hanger. And we’re all soldiers, because we‘re all consumers.
American’s insatiable drive to buy and insistence on the lowest price has left behind a worldwide mess. There’s no pretty way to describe it. Stripped resources, bald mountains and populations whose meager wages are often times not enough to provide basic shelter and sustenance. Shelter and sustenance - those are needs, not wants.
So, we choose our sides by the purchases we make. When we casually toss that ridiculously-cheap want (not need) in our cart, we choose our side. A side that doesn't connect our actions down the consumer chain, a side that declares that our needs and wants are more important than others in this world who had the unfortunate circumstance of being born outside of the United States.
But what if you dared to make that connection? What if you dared to only consume what you needed, and then as fairly as possible at that? And what if enough people did it so that it made a measurable difference? And what if those now surplus resources were somehow redirected to create change where it is needed? Taking surplus food to areas of starvation, or bottled water to those who indeed lack potable drinking water?
But that’s crazy talk, you say. That would take a lot of change, and people don’t change. But I don’t believe that - change can happen. But, to paraphrase the adage, if we want to see the change, we will have to be the change first.
And so…how are we changing? Well, for one year we’re going to become, in a sense, anti-consumers. Or, at least, really really mindful consumers. But rather than set up some complex system from scratch that is destined to fail because of poor planning on our part, we’re following a veteran system: a system that proved perfectly reasonable and livable: U.S. civilian WWII rationing guidelines.
And what are these guidelines? Here’s the quick list of the restrictions and limits we’re living with for the next year:
Gasoline: We are allowed a maximum of 193 miles per week combined for our two vehicles - equivalent to the 11 gallons per week we would have been allowed during the War if TMOTH’s job equated to a war-supporting industry. Otherwise, if his job didn't earn us the extra bit of gas, we’d only have 6 gallons, or approximately 105 miles.
Sugar: We can purchase a maximum of 2 pounds per week for our family of four (remember: very few prepackaged sweets are permitted during rationing year)
Coffee: Up to 1 pound per adult every 5 weeks is allowed. Neither TMOTH or I are big coffee drinkers (despite being UU), so this doesn't seem like a particularly daunting limit for us.
Canned, Frozen and Processed Fruits, Vegetables and Soups use blue/green ration points (depending on time period), and we‘ll be following point values on a chart from October 1943. Initially, some sloppy note-taking on my part led us to believe that we were allotted 192 of these points per week, which felt so reasonable that during our fourth week of rationing I revisited the original sources to see if that amount was correct. Sure enough, it wasn't. Our family is allotted only 48 (not 192) of these blue/green ration points per week. Big difference. For an example of point values, an average can of pears and a 14oz bottle of ketchup is worth 34 of our allotted 48 points per week.
Meat/Cheese/Oils use red ration points and we are allowed 64 red points per week. We will be using point values on that same chart from 1943. In general, the lower the quality of meat the lower amount of points required per pound. To give you an idea of point distribution, one pound of butter is worth 16 points, a pound of center-cut pork chops costs 10 points and one pound of cheddar cheese costs 8 points. Those three combined are over ½ of our weekly red point allotment.
One note: in the 1940s fresh poultry and fish were not rationed because they were typically only available on a very local basis, but we are including commercially-raised poultry and commercially distributed fish in our rationing program since their widespread availability today rivals that of beef and pork.
Luckily for us, highly-perishable dairy products like sour cream and cottage cheese were not rationed.
Now, because we’re cooky and want the experience to be near authentic, all of the above rations, as well as some additional food items, are subject to change as a result of Mr. Bowles' Amazing Marketplace Scenario Randomizer. This simple system involving a die and two brown paper bags helps replicate the shortages, random point fluctuations and occasional surpluses common during the war. Each week we roll the die to see how many scenarios we will have that week, and then choose a good and scenario accordingly. (Demonstrate). Goods include both rationed and non-rationed items.
By the way, I couldn't help but name this contraption after Chester Bowles who was the first and most influential director of the Office of Price Administrative (OPA) - the government body responsible for the rationing program. Bowles gave up a very successful career in advertisement to volunteer in the Navy during WWII. Although he was rejected on a health concern, FDR appointed him to the OPA. Some folks who were not happy with the rationing program vilified Mr. Bowles, but the more I read about him the more I like him. He said things like, "Government is too big and important to be left to politicians.” Apparently, lots of other people liked him too, as he was later elected as Governor of Connecticut and served as a U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal. He did one of those “This I Believe” essays in the 1950s and in it he wrote, “The most fundamental of [our convictions to live by] is a certainty that each individual life is a sacred, vital part of the universal whole, and that there is no force superior to the human spirit.” Whoa! Anyone else get a UU vibe there? I did a little research and - guess what? He was a life-long Unitarian! But I digress…
In addition to the above restrictions we have also incorporated a host of self-imposed limitations during the rationing year:
Eating Out: We will eat out at a restaurant as a family only once a month, and I will have one weekend lunch out with the girls just once a month as well. During the week we are scheduled to have our dinner out, our ration point allotments for that week will be decreased by 1/14th.
Limited Processed Foods: Minimally processed and/or minimally-packaged foods will be preferred over other options (i.e. "real" carrots vs. bags of mini peeled carrots, no prepackaged snack cakes or single serving packets of sugar-laden oatmeal).
Seasonal Produce: In general only seasonal fresh produce may be purchased. That means that, right now, our fresh produce selection is pretty much limited to potatoes, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, onions and winter squashes. Grocery ads from 1943 have revealed that during January and February we are also allowed an occasional sweet potato, broccoli, head of lettuce and citrus fruit. If the produce is way off-season, it must be dried, canned or frozen and thus cost blue/green rationing points.
Soda wasn't rationed during the war, but it also wasn't consumed in the same mass quantities that it is today. To keep with the period, the adults of the house are permitted a maximum of three 12 oz servings per week. In the spirit of sacrifice (and because he’s an all-or-nothing, black-and-white kinda guy) TMOTH has sworn off all forms of liquid caffeine during the rationing year.
Limited New Purchases: Nearly all purchases must be evaluated for needs vs. wants and when possible second-hand options should be considered (Craig's List, Ebay, Goodwill and Freecycle). This type of system is, most definitely, the opposite of instant gratification. We are currently in the market to purchase a used treadmill and used pressure canner, just so you know (wink, wink)!
We're also in the process of re-evaluating our energy usage, so additional energy ration guidelines may be added. We’re good at keeping the thermostat between 60 and 62 degrees during the winter but we're notoriously bad about leaving lights on in unoccupied rooms and don't use power strips to power-down idle electronics. This will definitely be area of continual adjustments.
So, we are now a little over one month in to our year of rationing. What have we learned? Well, I learned that I need to be a better note-taker - that switch in blue/green ration points per week was a big shake-up.
We survived a family gathering for Sissy’s birthday that included feeding a group of 15 while staying within rationing limits. It took a bit of creativity and a whole lot of planning and saving weeks worth of sugar and red points items to pull of, but we did it.
Also, we've learned that all four of us were wrong. At the beginning of the year we all expected that the restrictions on eating out were where we would feel the most pain. Oh no, not that. It’s the restrictions on fresh produce that are rocking our world. I’m pretty sure the girls would be willing to trade a favorite toy for a bushel of picked-fresh apples and ripe bananas right now, and I've actually started dreaming of green, crisp salads full of fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Mind you, we have roughly 11 more months of this project ahead of us and many, many more challenges ahead. How will we manage vacations and trips to relatives with the reduce gasoline allowance? Can we survive the summer without air-conditioning, and should we commit to installing a whole-house (or attic) fan? And garden space - oh my! I always manage to have a nice productive vegetable garden, but boy - is the pressure on this year! Clearly, we’re going to need to expand our gardening efforts to include either community gardening or borrow space in a friends backyard in exchange for some of the produce (wink, wink).
We have a blog were we post updates, epiphanies and frustrations about rationing. At the beginning of our project year I stated quite plainly on the blog that I'm 100% certain that there will be moments of weakness and regret, but all the good adventures have those, right?
A year from now I imagine we’ll have a much better understanding of our wants and needs. We’ll have an idea of how our purchases fit into the larger world, and how, buy being conscious about those purchases, we can limit the unintended harm and maximize the positive potential of those purchases.
And maybe, just maybe, they’ll be four fat and happy hens perched inside our converted greenhouse.
Thank you.
--Rational Mama
A few years back when The Man of the House (TMOTH) was going through a stem cell transplant to cure his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, my sanity was kept in check through frequent hugs with our two daughters and by lots of reading on 2 subjects: raising chickens in your backyard and civilian rationing on the U.S. home front during WWII. I’m sure some therapist would be able to extrapolate deeper meaning - and multiple sessions - out of that pairing, but I didn't think too much of it at the time. Since the mid-90’s I've pondered the ins and outs of raising chickens, and I’m a born history-geek, so these seemed like nice, safe subjects to explore in the midst of so much chaos and uncertainty.
During that time I could spot a Polish frizzle hen from across the barnyard AND rattle off significant dates in the American rationing time line. While sitting in the rocking chair next to TMOTH in the darkened hospital room I would share helpful information from the books I was reading, such as frizzles do poorly in areas with hard winters (too many big feathers to freeze), AND that sugar was the first food staple to be rationed during WWII. I was never sure exactly how much TMOTH appreciated, or even comprehended, my useful tidbits. After all, he had a lot on his mind during that time, too. But he listened, and I talked. And as I talked I even said crazy things like, “We could convert half of our small greenhouse into a chicken coop,” or, “Say, we could choose to live on WWII rations - ya know, as an experiment.”
Well, as we adjusted to having TMOTH back at home those topics were pushed to the wayside as gloriously mundane thoughts of work and school and laundry and such became the focus of the household once again. I never completely forgot about the chickens and ration points, they just weren't in the forefront of daily conversation. I would still occasionally point out how half of our greenhouse could comfortable house 4 or so hens, or mention that during rationing I would have had to apply to get the extra sugar needed to make the blackberry preserves . But it was all just talk, and to be honest, I was never really sure that I could convince TMOTH to go along with the idea of chickens OR rationing.
And then last fall I read a book entitled, No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. The author, Colin Beavan, and his household set about to live one year as carbon-neutral as possible. In New York City. Throughout the experiment they phased-in different elements of eco-conscious living, including eating locally, forgoing prepackaged goods and nearly all forms transportation not power by humans (including elevators). Eventually, near the end of the year, the Beavan family forgoes such staples as electricity and toilet paper.
Now, the point of their experiment wasn't to see how folks would react to that last bit; the point was to undergo a personal journey - a chance to dissect how and why we use resources (and the ultimate implications of those choices). What it means to live in the United States and have an enormous amount of resources available at our disposal, and confronting the chain of events that occurs from using those resources.
Beavan's book (and the related documentary based on their experiment) is enlightening, educational, honest and ever aware of the dangers of falling in to a holier-than-thou attitude when it comes to personal claims of living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
I thoroughly enjoyed No Impact Man. I enjoyed the stories about living simply, life in New York and how dogs who live in apartments nearly 20 stories up don’t necessarily appreciate their owner’s eschewing of elevators. But, more importantly, it renewed my interest in my own hypothetical challenge: to live off of WWII rations for one year. I passed the book along to TMOTH, who also enjoyed this story of choices and challenges and morals. It generated great discussions between the two of us, about wants vs. needs, the haves and the have-nots, and the general condition of our planet. During one discussion I brought up the rationing project again. TMOTH agreed to give it a try! I mentioned it would mean giving up things like unlimited gasoline, quality meats or processed snack foods. He still agreed! We talked to our two daughters - Sissy, who’s 9, and Eowyn, who’s 7, and they were quite obliging (I think that might be do to a little “ignorance is bliss“). So, we set a date of Dec. 26, 2009 to begin our rationing experiment.
Don't know much about WWII rationing? Here's your history lesson in a nutshell...Rations were imposed in America once we officially entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While other nations, most notably the UK, began rationing (and fighting) years earlier, the US's delay in entering the war postponed any serious changes in resource management. But once the American industrial complex became focused on supplying the needs of the armed forces and the soldiers fighting for freedom, it became clear that Americans’ gluttonous consumption of goods could not continue if the war effort was to be well-supplied while inflation was kept in check. And thus, rationing was mandated.
At first, only "industrial" materials such as rubber and fuel oil were rationed, beginning in early 1942. But soon such staples as sugar and coffee were only available in restricted amounts. Eventually, a majority of food items (sugar, coffee, beef, pork, all canned and frozen foods, cheeses, butter and fats) as well as everyday goods such as shoes, appliances and gasoline, were rationed. Different items were rationed in different ways; points per item or a set amount of goods per person were both common approaches.
Shortages, even of rationed items, became common as the military devoured all kinds of supplies for the war and transport vessels were redirected to war zones and away from U.S. ports. So even if you had enough ration points for a nice lasagna dinner it didn't always mean that those commodities were available for purchase. And while Americans occasionally complained about missing a favorite cut of meat or patching together a pair of worn shoes that would otherwise be replaced, they complied. Granted, there was a black market where one could obtain otherwise taboo or limited items, but the majority of Americans understood that the war, a greater good, needed those resources. In a 1944 poll of Americans, 90% responded that food rationing provided all the nutrition their families needed. Needed. And that was good enough.
In this movement to sacrifice wants for needs, Americans did something amazing: they completely reorganized their consumer habits to work towards a common goal. This was, after all, the Greatest Generation.
But my family and I are not part of the Greatest Generation. And there isn't a unified war against tyrants threatening American freedoms. My husband and I are thirty-something, middle-class, college-educated parents - why would we do such a thing?
Well, sometimes you just need to stretch beyond your comfort zone; to twist and reach and strain to figure out just how flexible (or crazy) you are. Part of this is a bit of a history experiment, too. How many of us have read accounts of pioneers and wondered if we could have hacked it?
Now, let's be honest - this is a lifestyle change for sure. But mostly, this experiment is about learning how much you're willing to change to make a change.
Because if you think about it, there really is a massive war going on. But it’s a different kind of war. Instead of a trench and tank to mark the battlefield, this war takes place in the air-conditioned aisles of a well-lit store the size of an airplane hanger. And we’re all soldiers, because we‘re all consumers.
American’s insatiable drive to buy and insistence on the lowest price has left behind a worldwide mess. There’s no pretty way to describe it. Stripped resources, bald mountains and populations whose meager wages are often times not enough to provide basic shelter and sustenance. Shelter and sustenance - those are needs, not wants.
So, we choose our sides by the purchases we make. When we casually toss that ridiculously-cheap want (not need) in our cart, we choose our side. A side that doesn't connect our actions down the consumer chain, a side that declares that our needs and wants are more important than others in this world who had the unfortunate circumstance of being born outside of the United States.
But what if you dared to make that connection? What if you dared to only consume what you needed, and then as fairly as possible at that? And what if enough people did it so that it made a measurable difference? And what if those now surplus resources were somehow redirected to create change where it is needed? Taking surplus food to areas of starvation, or bottled water to those who indeed lack potable drinking water?
But that’s crazy talk, you say. That would take a lot of change, and people don’t change. But I don’t believe that - change can happen. But, to paraphrase the adage, if we want to see the change, we will have to be the change first.
And so…how are we changing? Well, for one year we’re going to become, in a sense, anti-consumers. Or, at least, really really mindful consumers. But rather than set up some complex system from scratch that is destined to fail because of poor planning on our part, we’re following a veteran system: a system that proved perfectly reasonable and livable: U.S. civilian WWII rationing guidelines.
And what are these guidelines? Here’s the quick list of the restrictions and limits we’re living with for the next year:
Gasoline: We are allowed a maximum of 193 miles per week combined for our two vehicles - equivalent to the 11 gallons per week we would have been allowed during the War if TMOTH’s job equated to a war-supporting industry. Otherwise, if his job didn't earn us the extra bit of gas, we’d only have 6 gallons, or approximately 105 miles.
Sugar: We can purchase a maximum of 2 pounds per week for our family of four (remember: very few prepackaged sweets are permitted during rationing year)
Coffee: Up to 1 pound per adult every 5 weeks is allowed. Neither TMOTH or I are big coffee drinkers (despite being UU), so this doesn't seem like a particularly daunting limit for us.
Canned, Frozen and Processed Fruits, Vegetables and Soups use blue/green ration points (depending on time period), and we‘ll be following point values on a chart from October 1943. Initially, some sloppy note-taking on my part led us to believe that we were allotted 192 of these points per week, which felt so reasonable that during our fourth week of rationing I revisited the original sources to see if that amount was correct. Sure enough, it wasn't. Our family is allotted only 48 (not 192) of these blue/green ration points per week. Big difference. For an example of point values, an average can of pears and a 14oz bottle of ketchup is worth 34 of our allotted 48 points per week.
Meat/Cheese/Oils use red ration points and we are allowed 64 red points per week. We will be using point values on that same chart from 1943. In general, the lower the quality of meat the lower amount of points required per pound. To give you an idea of point distribution, one pound of butter is worth 16 points, a pound of center-cut pork chops costs 10 points and one pound of cheddar cheese costs 8 points. Those three combined are over ½ of our weekly red point allotment.
One note: in the 1940s fresh poultry and fish were not rationed because they were typically only available on a very local basis, but we are including commercially-raised poultry and commercially distributed fish in our rationing program since their widespread availability today rivals that of beef and pork.
Luckily for us, highly-perishable dairy products like sour cream and cottage cheese were not rationed.
Now, because we’re cooky and want the experience to be near authentic, all of the above rations, as well as some additional food items, are subject to change as a result of Mr. Bowles' Amazing Marketplace Scenario Randomizer. This simple system involving a die and two brown paper bags helps replicate the shortages, random point fluctuations and occasional surpluses common during the war. Each week we roll the die to see how many scenarios we will have that week, and then choose a good and scenario accordingly. (Demonstrate). Goods include both rationed and non-rationed items.
By the way, I couldn't help but name this contraption after Chester Bowles who was the first and most influential director of the Office of Price Administrative (OPA) - the government body responsible for the rationing program. Bowles gave up a very successful career in advertisement to volunteer in the Navy during WWII. Although he was rejected on a health concern, FDR appointed him to the OPA. Some folks who were not happy with the rationing program vilified Mr. Bowles, but the more I read about him the more I like him. He said things like, "Government is too big and important to be left to politicians.” Apparently, lots of other people liked him too, as he was later elected as Governor of Connecticut and served as a U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal. He did one of those “This I Believe” essays in the 1950s and in it he wrote, “The most fundamental of [our convictions to live by] is a certainty that each individual life is a sacred, vital part of the universal whole, and that there is no force superior to the human spirit.” Whoa! Anyone else get a UU vibe there? I did a little research and - guess what? He was a life-long Unitarian! But I digress…
In addition to the above restrictions we have also incorporated a host of self-imposed limitations during the rationing year:
Eating Out: We will eat out at a restaurant as a family only once a month, and I will have one weekend lunch out with the girls just once a month as well. During the week we are scheduled to have our dinner out, our ration point allotments for that week will be decreased by 1/14th.
Limited Processed Foods: Minimally processed and/or minimally-packaged foods will be preferred over other options (i.e. "real" carrots vs. bags of mini peeled carrots, no prepackaged snack cakes or single serving packets of sugar-laden oatmeal).
Seasonal Produce: In general only seasonal fresh produce may be purchased. That means that, right now, our fresh produce selection is pretty much limited to potatoes, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, onions and winter squashes. Grocery ads from 1943 have revealed that during January and February we are also allowed an occasional sweet potato, broccoli, head of lettuce and citrus fruit. If the produce is way off-season, it must be dried, canned or frozen and thus cost blue/green rationing points.
Soda wasn't rationed during the war, but it also wasn't consumed in the same mass quantities that it is today. To keep with the period, the adults of the house are permitted a maximum of three 12 oz servings per week. In the spirit of sacrifice (and because he’s an all-or-nothing, black-and-white kinda guy) TMOTH has sworn off all forms of liquid caffeine during the rationing year.
Limited New Purchases: Nearly all purchases must be evaluated for needs vs. wants and when possible second-hand options should be considered (Craig's List, Ebay, Goodwill and Freecycle). This type of system is, most definitely, the opposite of instant gratification. We are currently in the market to purchase a used treadmill and used pressure canner, just so you know (wink, wink)!
We're also in the process of re-evaluating our energy usage, so additional energy ration guidelines may be added. We’re good at keeping the thermostat between 60 and 62 degrees during the winter but we're notoriously bad about leaving lights on in unoccupied rooms and don't use power strips to power-down idle electronics. This will definitely be area of continual adjustments.
So, we are now a little over one month in to our year of rationing. What have we learned? Well, I learned that I need to be a better note-taker - that switch in blue/green ration points per week was a big shake-up.
We survived a family gathering for Sissy’s birthday that included feeding a group of 15 while staying within rationing limits. It took a bit of creativity and a whole lot of planning and saving weeks worth of sugar and red points items to pull of, but we did it.
Also, we've learned that all four of us were wrong. At the beginning of the year we all expected that the restrictions on eating out were where we would feel the most pain. Oh no, not that. It’s the restrictions on fresh produce that are rocking our world. I’m pretty sure the girls would be willing to trade a favorite toy for a bushel of picked-fresh apples and ripe bananas right now, and I've actually started dreaming of green, crisp salads full of fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Mind you, we have roughly 11 more months of this project ahead of us and many, many more challenges ahead. How will we manage vacations and trips to relatives with the reduce gasoline allowance? Can we survive the summer without air-conditioning, and should we commit to installing a whole-house (or attic) fan? And garden space - oh my! I always manage to have a nice productive vegetable garden, but boy - is the pressure on this year! Clearly, we’re going to need to expand our gardening efforts to include either community gardening or borrow space in a friends backyard in exchange for some of the produce (wink, wink).
We have a blog were we post updates, epiphanies and frustrations about rationing. At the beginning of our project year I stated quite plainly on the blog that I'm 100% certain that there will be moments of weakness and regret, but all the good adventures have those, right?
A year from now I imagine we’ll have a much better understanding of our wants and needs. We’ll have an idea of how our purchases fit into the larger world, and how, buy being conscious about those purchases, we can limit the unintended harm and maximize the positive potential of those purchases.
And maybe, just maybe, they’ll be four fat and happy hens perched inside our converted greenhouse.
Thank you.
--Rational Mama
Friday, January 1, 2010
Why Ration?
Happy New Year from the Rational Living household! A new year seemed like a good time to reassess why we undertook this year-long rationing project (of which we just completed our first week). The Man of the House has provided the following essay…
--Rational Mama
When Rational Mama asked me to help explain the reasons we are undertaking this project, I was looking forward to writing a well organized and moving essay. It turns out that I am not quite the essayist that I used to think I was. Maybe it's the 15 years of not writing anything or maybe if she gave me a due date I could wait until the night before, get hopped up on Mountain Dew and microwave popcorn and pull an all-nighter of writing AND studying for the calculus midterm. Actually, my personal solution to the coffee vs. soda dilemma was to swear off caffeine completely, so the Mountain Dew solution isn't really an option now.
Anyway, when she mentioned that she would like to do something like the rationing project someday I pretty much immediately said "lets go."
For my part I think I was aware that I am guilty of being the type to talk about all that is wrong in the world and what should be done and then go back to hiding in my comfortable middle-class oblivion without committing to do anything about anything. Then this opportunity to commit to making some real changes to our habits and lifestyles came up. It just seemed like the right time to actually “get off the sofa” and do something. I don't have any delusions about saving the world from gluttonous consumerism and all it's cascading affects but at least for my own mental well being it's better than living with blinders on and pretending that nothing is wrong.
This is where the moving essay was going to be but for now you will have to settle for a quick survey of some of the issues that could be improved by those with the most using less and sharing more.
First off, there is the environment. This is the big one and it is more complicated that I can do justice. It’s not just one of the issues, it is many issues rolled together. Let's be clear from the beginning: in high school I was the idealistic type of environmentalist who thought we were supposed to save nature for nature’s sake. I have replaced that guy with a realistic and occasionally cynical and pessimistic environmentalist. I now realize that nature doesn't feel or care - people feel and care. We need to protect nature for the people. I’m sorry to have to bring up such an overworked topic, but Global Warming is real. Your children and grandchildren will live in a world shaped by our actions today.
So how is this an environmental project? That is the complicated part. I really believe that everything is connected and every action has consequences. The more we consume, the greater our impact on so many levels. We have chosen the World War II rationing scenario to make it interesting and give us specific guidelines but the real issue for me is to slow down our consumption.
Another personal goal is to increase awareness of some more directly humanitarian issues we feel strongly about.
By rationing, we are forcing ourselves to be mindful and not take for granted how lucky we are just to live in one of the "first world" nations. For example, as I gave the dog a bath, did some laundry, ran the dishwasher and took a bath yesterday I was really aware of how much I take for granted an abundant supply of clean water - and that is just the beginning. During our year of rationing there will be restrictions on what we can eat and when, but we will never go hungry. We may move the needle on the thermostat (between 60 and 62 degrees Fahrenheit going into January), but we won't be truly cold. We will carpool or walk when possible and combine and minimize shopping trips but I still am grateful that I am not one of the people I see standing in the snow and wind waiting for public transit.
I am not half the researcher Rational Mama is but in the future I will be posting highlights of other areas of the world (and some not so far away) where people have to make due with so much less than even our restricted amounts, along with some ideas about what we (and you) can do to make an impact. More good impact, less bad impact - that is the general idea we are working on.
I hope you enjoy reading about the nuts and bolts of our experiences trying to match the restricted consumption that was experienced by “The Greatest Generation.” While you do, please remember that they are considered Great because of the sacrifices they made and the change they brought about in the world. It may be difficult to convince today's populace in general that global environmental degradation is an enemy on par with those faced in WWII. But perhaps as you follow along with our little project you will consider if there are any small sacrifices you can make to help give a better world to our descendants and comfort to those who are suffering now.
--The Man of the House
--Rational Mama
When Rational Mama asked me to help explain the reasons we are undertaking this project, I was looking forward to writing a well organized and moving essay. It turns out that I am not quite the essayist that I used to think I was. Maybe it's the 15 years of not writing anything or maybe if she gave me a due date I could wait until the night before, get hopped up on Mountain Dew and microwave popcorn and pull an all-nighter of writing AND studying for the calculus midterm. Actually, my personal solution to the coffee vs. soda dilemma was to swear off caffeine completely, so the Mountain Dew solution isn't really an option now.
Anyway, when she mentioned that she would like to do something like the rationing project someday I pretty much immediately said "lets go."
For my part I think I was aware that I am guilty of being the type to talk about all that is wrong in the world and what should be done and then go back to hiding in my comfortable middle-class oblivion without committing to do anything about anything. Then this opportunity to commit to making some real changes to our habits and lifestyles came up. It just seemed like the right time to actually “get off the sofa” and do something. I don't have any delusions about saving the world from gluttonous consumerism and all it's cascading affects but at least for my own mental well being it's better than living with blinders on and pretending that nothing is wrong.
This is where the moving essay was going to be but for now you will have to settle for a quick survey of some of the issues that could be improved by those with the most using less and sharing more.
First off, there is the environment. This is the big one and it is more complicated that I can do justice. It’s not just one of the issues, it is many issues rolled together. Let's be clear from the beginning: in high school I was the idealistic type of environmentalist who thought we were supposed to save nature for nature’s sake. I have replaced that guy with a realistic and occasionally cynical and pessimistic environmentalist. I now realize that nature doesn't feel or care - people feel and care. We need to protect nature for the people. I’m sorry to have to bring up such an overworked topic, but Global Warming is real. Your children and grandchildren will live in a world shaped by our actions today.
So how is this an environmental project? That is the complicated part. I really believe that everything is connected and every action has consequences. The more we consume, the greater our impact on so many levels. We have chosen the World War II rationing scenario to make it interesting and give us specific guidelines but the real issue for me is to slow down our consumption.
Another personal goal is to increase awareness of some more directly humanitarian issues we feel strongly about.
By rationing, we are forcing ourselves to be mindful and not take for granted how lucky we are just to live in one of the "first world" nations. For example, as I gave the dog a bath, did some laundry, ran the dishwasher and took a bath yesterday I was really aware of how much I take for granted an abundant supply of clean water - and that is just the beginning. During our year of rationing there will be restrictions on what we can eat and when, but we will never go hungry. We may move the needle on the thermostat (between 60 and 62 degrees Fahrenheit going into January), but we won't be truly cold. We will carpool or walk when possible and combine and minimize shopping trips but I still am grateful that I am not one of the people I see standing in the snow and wind waiting for public transit.
I am not half the researcher Rational Mama is but in the future I will be posting highlights of other areas of the world (and some not so far away) where people have to make due with so much less than even our restricted amounts, along with some ideas about what we (and you) can do to make an impact. More good impact, less bad impact - that is the general idea we are working on.
I hope you enjoy reading about the nuts and bolts of our experiences trying to match the restricted consumption that was experienced by “The Greatest Generation.” While you do, please remember that they are considered Great because of the sacrifices they made and the change they brought about in the world. It may be difficult to convince today's populace in general that global environmental degradation is an enemy on par with those faced in WWII. But perhaps as you follow along with our little project you will consider if there are any small sacrifices you can make to help give a better world to our descendants and comfort to those who are suffering now.
--The Man of the House
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)