Fun and Creative Gifts from Equal Exchange

Fun and creative gifts for the holidays

Friday, November 30, 2012 3:00 PM

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From the Office of Public Witness

Advent Expectation and the Fiscal Cliff   At this time of year, as we turn our attention to the waiting and the preparation that characterizes this holy season, and to the hope for the future that will arrive on Christmas morning, we join with you as we wait and hope. And yet we know that God has called us to be in the world and to call the world to better account. In the church, and especially during Advent, we have responsibilities outside of the walls of our houses of worship. We have responsibilities in our families, in our communities, and in our nation.   Most pressing among the many items of business before this lame duck Congress is the looming so-called fiscal cliff – the convergence of a number of policies that will automatically take effect in January, 2013. In this time of intense partisanship and long-term fiscal crisis, it is essential that the church’s voice be loud among those seeking to influence our national decisions. Contact your Members of Congress now to weigh in on the current fiscal cliff debate.   We continue to exhort Members of Congress to bear in mind to common good when making fiscal decisions. We join in concerns about leaving a legacy of mounting debt to future generations, but so too do we abhor leaving a legacy of rising poverty, inequality, and underinvestment. As the national dialogue centers around ways to reduce the federal deficit, it is first important to remember what created our deficit (see chart) and second that there are only two ways to reduce it: cutting spending and raising tax revenue. To date, all deficit reduction measures ($1.5 trillion) have come from spending cuts, mostly from the section of the budget that is not responsible for our ballooning deficit. We cannot cut our way out of our deficit – new revenues must be part of any solution that seeks to reduce the deficit in a just way.   Absent action from Congress, on January 1st, a series of deep automatic spending cuts ($1.2 trillion) and the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will converge to create the so-called fiscal cliff. These policies together will significantly reduce the deficit, but as blunt tools they will also do harm. Combined with the pending need to increase the federal debt ceiling again and the expiration of Unemployment Insurance Benefits for the long-term unemployed, these policies have the potential to cause severe contraction in the economy and the labor market, even as a sluggish recovery from the Great Recession continues to provide too few new jobs to meet the demand of those seeking work.   For slides from a recent presentation on the fiscal cliff, click here.   Even in this time of waiting and thanking and hoping and praying, we know that we have so much work to do, both still to come this year, and as a New Year begins. But we engage with Members of Congress, and with you, during this Lame Duck season with hope and thanksgiving, trusting in our God who calls us into the public square, requiring us to bring our religious understandings of compassion, peace, and justice, to the decisions we make as a nation.   Send a message to your Member of Congress today – make sure they know to protect the poor in a fiscal cliff deal.

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Move...Drafts

More Meaningful Christmas and Advent

Do you long for a more meaningful Christmas? Do you wish Advent were truly a season of holy connectedness to God, to loved ones, to community, to self? This year set an intention to observe the season differently: keep preparations simple, pray more often, reach out to others, and allow yourself time and space for wonder and delight. If you need support, discuss with others ways you can resist getting swept away in our hectic holiday consumer culture. Find a trusted partner or two who can keep you accountable and support your efforts to simplify the season. It can be challenging to make Advent a time for deepening the spiritual walk and drawing closer to God. Simplify the season and increase a sense of wonder 1.  Use Ideas for Reclaiming Advent and Christmas from the Presbyterian Hunger Program in discussion with family and friends. 2.  Read Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben. I first read this delightful little book with a study group at church, and I return to it most years for inspiration and insight. 3.  Treat yourself to a retreat, such as  Cultivating Quiet (December 9-11, 2012), offered by Stony Point Center in NY. Step back from your busy schedule and explore what a time of silence can bring to your life. In an environment of mutual support, participants in this retreat are encouraged to empty themselves of agendas, obligations and goals, and just allow themselves to be, to become comfortable with the quiet and to experience what happens. Email Kitty Ufford-Chase with questions or to register. 4.  Use an Advent Calendar (or two): The 2012 Eco-Justice Advent Calendar by PC(USA) Environmental Ministries encourages daily caring for God's creation as a way to prepare for the coming of Jesus.  Fair Trade Chocolate Advent Calendar: Fair trade heart-shaped milk chocolates are found behind each door of Divine Chocolate's 2012 Advent calendar. Featuring the visual story of Divine as well as a nativity scene, with every purchase of the Advent Calendar through SERRV, a school notebook will be donated to children in chocolate cooperative Kuapa Kokoo's schools and communities in Ghana. 5.  Host a Fair Trade Holiday Bazaar at church. Encourage church members to shop their values by hosting a fair trade sale or holiday bazaar. Visit the PC(USA) Global Marketplace to find fair trade organizations related to the Presbyterian Church (USA). A sale can be as involved or as simple as you like. Consider groups founded by Presbyterians such as Pal Craftaid, Creations of Hope, Partners for Just Trade, and more. 6.  Please recommend materials to us. We love to hear and recommend to others what's been meaningful for you.  In hope, Melanie Hardison Enough for Everyone (800) 728-7228 x5626

Fair Trade Halloween Chocolate from Equal Exchange

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New Products - Partners For Just Trade

 

July 2012 We're Growing! We're expanding our work in Peru to help break the cycle of poverty for even more artisans.  We've partnered with Manos Amigas, a long-time, committed 100% Fair Trade organization based in Lima to bring you new products including musical instruments, chulucanas pottery, and more.  We continue our commitment to working with artisans-in-need and our primary trade partner Bridge of Hope, but know we can do even more for artisans in Peru.  New!  Chulucanas Spiral Bowl  $20 Ceramic chulucanas bowl with dark brown and off-white spiral design inside and out.  Made with a traditional technique of hand applying the ash of mango leaves to achieve the dark design.  Read more about the technique and the producer in the sidebar at right. Shop Now for Chulucanas Bowl  >> New!  Parrot Double Hand Drum  $10  Hand drum hand-painted with bright parrot on both sides of the head.  Roll between your palms or flip back and forth, and beads hit each side of the drum.  We also have a new Shipibo Hand Drum.         Shop Now for Parrot Hand Drum  >> New!  Turquoise Tagua Earrings  $16     These brightly dyed turquoise tagua drop earrings add a pop of color. Made from sustainably harvested tagua nut with silver ear wires.     Shop Now for Tagua Earrings  >>            New!  Geometric Ocarina  $6.50      Traditional ceramic ocarina whistle with hand-painted geometric designs on a cord and accented with a ceramic bead.    Shop Now for Ocarina >> New!  Gourd Cup and Ball  $14      Toss the ball into the cup.  A traditional pastime with a Peruvian twist, made from gourds. Shop Now for Cup and Ball  >> New!  Bird Whistle  $6.50 Charming ceramic bird whistle on a cord accented with a bead.  Blow into the tail to hear the sweet whistling sound.     Shop Now for Bird Whistle >>         Shop All Our New Products from Manos Amigas...

In This Newsletter New Products, New Partner Chulucana Ceramics Traditional Peruvian Chulucanas Ceramics  Our new chulucanas ceramics are created by Ernesto Balladares who has worked with Manos Amigas for two years. Chulucanas pottery is traditional to Peru. Ernesto starts by shaping the piece and letting it dry. He says, "Then you paint it. After that dries, you use a small river rock to polish it, to give it a natural shine. Then you let it dry more, perhaps another day. Then you fire it at 900 degrees Celsius. It takes 8 hours to fire. Then you let it cool for 4 hours." At that point the drawings are added. Ernesto essentially draws with the ash of mango leaves. "You put mango leaves on the parts of the piece that you want to turn light brown, dark brown, or black. What doesn't get covered up stays the same color you've painted. Then you put it into the cylindrical smoker and smoke the piece. After a half hour, the parts that are covered with the mango leaf have turned light brown. After an hour and a half, the parts that are covered with the mango leaf are now dark brown. And after a third smoking, the parts that are covered with the mango leaf have turned black." The piece is taken out of the smoker, cleaned, and polished with a small brush. Ernesto says, "Manos Amigas gives me the price I ask for. It's a fair price.... Many companies just try to get you to give it to them for the cheapest possible price, no matter if it is fair to you or not.... I appreciate that Manos Amigas has rules that they operate by and are faithful to." Ernesto is part of an artisan association of, 5 workshops, each workshop with a different specialty. The association has a shop, with each artisan's products. A local university is working with the association on capacity-building efforts such as costs, marketing, and packaging

Partners for Just Trade 2236 Tower Grove Ave ~ St. Louis, MO 63110 (314) 773-7358 www.partnersforjusttrade.org

Simple Living Works! #11 - August Digest

Simple Living Works!  #11 – August Digest

In this issue. . .

* How Voluntary Simple Living and Jubilee Economics Work Together: July Podcast

* The Practical  Side, August 1st

* Simplifying Fall Celebrations

* Free Simpler Living Videos

* Need I.T. Help?

Read e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d versions of these fascinating articles here.

How Voluntary Simple Living and Jubilee Economics Work Together: July Podcast

In The Common Good Podcast for July, Lee and Gerald find common ground in the micro-economics of voluntary simple living and the macro of Jubilee Economics.Listen or subscribe for free here. Or use iTunes (search for The Common Good Podcast). Like our podcast on Facebook here.

The Practical Side in August

In part 2 in August, Ed and Gerald go beyond the concepts to the practical. Listen or subscribe here.

We wrestle with these topics. . .

1. When do we realize that stuff has too much power in our lives? When we move! Hear the harsh reality and ways to deal with it.

2.  How can our little personal choices really have any effect on the big decisions made by governments and corporations? You may be surprised. . . and annoyed.

3. Advertising is designed to keep us dissatisfied, to make us feel that we’ll be better or more popular when we buy a particular product. How can we resist that pressure? How do we help children?

4. Will Jubilee Economics or simple living make any real difference?

When we’re through, or even while we’re still talking, you can respond easily and quickly to what we’re saying. And your ideas and comments – in your own voice! – can be part of a future ‘cast. Jubilee Economics – or JEM – is about building community that will find, develop and use economic models large and small that are sustainable on ONE Earth.

You can join this community by joining the conversation.  When an idea strikes your imagination, put the podcast on pause. Pick up your phone and call 858-480-6855.  Leave a message of up to three minutes. Or go to either of our web sites –http://Jubilee-Economics.org  or http://TheCommonGoodPodcast.com. Click the microphone in the red bar on the right of the page and record a message of up to 10 minutes using your computer’s microphone (Flash Player required.)

Or drop us email - Podcast@Jubilee-Economics.org

We’re listening.

Simplifying Fall Celebrations

Here’s help.

Join JEM

Receive blog alerts from Jubilee Economics, view simple living videos and more – all for free. Subscribe here. 

Like JEM on Facebook here.

Free Simple Living Videos

Simple Living’s recent free videos on JEM’s new YouTube channel have generated a lot of response. Dedicated to faith-based voluntary simplicity, Simple Living Works! provides many free resources for personal growth, as well as church groups. View the videos here.

More coming this fall! Plans include classic Christmas videos – Alexander Scrooge and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, plus a sing-along version ofCarols with Justice.

Need I.T. Help?

Need help with social media or anything internet? Consider Ed Lucas Social Media Services. Ed works minor miracles for Jubilee Economics and for Simple Living Works! on a regular basis. He can do the same for you personally, for your church, organization or business. No matter where you live, contact The Artist Presently Known As Ed at TAPKAE@TAPKAE.com. Very reasonable rates.

What’s Happened to Simple Living? Subscribing-Unsubscribing and other disclaimers here.

Peace,

Gerald Iversen

National Coordinator, Alternatives for Simple Living, 1995-2007

Send us your Simple Living action. Please attribute it: "For a free monthly eNewsletter, contact SimpleLivingWorks@Yahoo.com."

Equal Exchange Fundraising for Schools and Community Groups

Equal Exchange Catalog Fundraising Add interfaith@equalexchange.coop to your address book. Sign up for a free starter kit. View this message on the web.
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