The following essay was written for the Christian Faith Journey class by Maddie Gerig (’13). This class is  a requirement for second-semester seniors and taught by Dale Shenk.
Justice and peace are two very important concepts to me. Striving to achieve these traits is very difficult when I think of the way I consume resources. My showers extend longer than five minutes from time to time. I splurge on a nice pair of pants. I purchase an excessive amount of lattes in the cold of winter. Even my dog is pampered with several plastic Frisbees, a plethora of rawhides and an assortment of doggy shampoos. Despite my many shortcomings as a responsible consumerist, I make many conscious decisions that help me strive to achieve sustainability, justice and ultimately peace.
In this time of life, I have limited control over the resources I consume. Currently, I live in my parents’ passive solar and solar powered home with three dogs, a cat, four goats, two horses, eight chickens and a fish. These animals each get their own feed, and consume about a bag a month. The horses and goats also receive hay throughout the winter. We order over one hundred bales. My parents own two hybrid cars and one large truck. My mother does the majority of the cooking and grocery shopping. She often shops at the co-op and fills in the blanks with food from Kroger. My parents have a beautiful garden and receive produce from the Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) provided by Clay Bottom Farm. Despite their many efforts to be vegetarian, my parents are true foodies at heart and thoroughly enjoy their occasional meaty meal. The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope. This Wendell Berry quote is significant to my family because they want to be an integral part of their surrounding environment. Though sacrifices are made in the name of pleasure and privacy, my parents strive for justice and sustainability, just as I hope to someday as well, though I may go about it in different ways.
My family has been very fortunate to live so comfortably. As I grow and leave the house, I am beginning to recognize that I will not be able to live such an extravagant lifestyle. This is because living simply falls in line with my beliefs in a just world and also because the vocations I find myself interested in are not very high paying. God and other artists are always a little obscure. Oscar Wilde embraces an artist’s (and God’s) uniqueness. God’s creativity affects all people whether they pay gratitude to her or not. Hopefully my creativity will affect those who surround me, even if I don’t get paid for it as much as I would hope. Jesus demonstrated that living simply can be very fulfilling. In my future, I hope to live simply with only the resources I need. I hope to have my own garden, heat my home with wood rather than natural gas or electricity, use bikes or public transportation and avoid purchasing items from big corporations. I hope to live in town, sacrificing privacy and comfort for the sake of avoiding urban sprawl. I recognize that I may be faced with a reality check; living alternatively can be very difficult and more expensive in the short term.
In my current situation, there are steps I try to take to decrease my carbon footprint, and advocate for justice in small ways. I purchase clothing at second hand stores (and accept many hand-me-downs from older sisters). I avoid shopping at Wal Mart and other big business stores. When I eat out, I choose local Mexican food over fast food. I avoid Starbucks (I much prefer The Brew, anyways). I take opportunities to eat vegetarian. In the summer months I bike as often as possible.
Though I am clearly a product of society (I purchase cosmetics, new fashions and use many natural resources for my entertainment and comfort) I still strive to reflect my values through the resources I consume. I want to support companies that pay their workers fairly. I want to support local businesses and limit my use of fossil fuels. These are things that are incorporated into my ideals of a sustainable, peaceful and just world.
~Maddie Gerig