British church leaders are encouraging people to give up their iPods for Lent, instead of more traditional vices such as chocolate, to help save the planet.
They are calling for a carbon fast for Lent — a period ahead of Easter which Christians traditionally consider a time of penance and reflection — which begins on Ash Wednesday.
As well as spending a day without using technology such as mobile phones or iPods, the 46 daily suggestions also include eating by candlelight, cutting meat and vegetables thinner so they cook faster and flushing the toilet less often (smelly).
What happened to giving up meat or chocolate?
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Nope….bad christian that I am…I would not!!
I don’t have an Ipod….and I hardly use my cell phone, except in emergencies and to contact my high schooler. Giving it up wouldn’t really put a big dent in my life!
How about walking whenever possible?
No, my cell is the only phone I have.
What bothers me is the specific New Tech slant to this (or at least, to the way it’s been reported.)
No one suggests you give up the phone – just the cell phone. But I freelance, and that’s my office phone… I make social calls at home, on the land line. I make business calls when I’m out on a job… with no desk phone and no receptionist.
No one suggests that everyone stop playing music at home or in an office, or stop using the car radio. But again, I travel, and use public transit (I notice they don’t suggest anyone stop driving…) and the IPod is my version of someone else’s home or car stereo.(And I don’t listen to music at work.)
I was arguing this with a friend the other day. She was all for this, as she sees these things purely as luxuries of Young People (she’s younger than I am… lol) rather than as merely a portable version of things she totally expects to have and use. It had been presented to her entirely as What They Should Do – not what We should do.
Now – I do think reducing carbon footprint for Lent is an interesting and worthy idea – but that’s hardly the only or major way. Reduce driving would be the biggest for many people (and the easiest for me to say, as I use public transit!) I think we each need to focus on our own waste, rather than telling others what they do that we think is wasteful.
I gather the church leaders had this merely as 2 items in a list of many suggestions – but these are the ones everyone has jumped on. Interesting…