Suburbia: A Drought of Conscience

Our water restrictions are now pretty severe. Back in August, we could only water every other day - then it went to 2 days a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) - then it went to Saturdays only (between 5 and 8). As of last Tuesday, we can no longer water our lawns AT ALL. People can water vegetable gardens with a hand held container on Saturdays between 5 and 8. That's it. No washing cars, no hosing down walkways, no serving water in restaurants except upon request (those luxuries were prohibited long ago). Unfortunately, even with all these restrictions, Durham's water usage has only gone down 16%. 16% !! We are entering a crisis. On the city website I found a current lake/river level graph that compared our current state to the drought in 1933-34 (Dust Bowl years). We see people continue to water because they want their grass to grow.

We would like our grass to grow too especially because we just seeded our backyard and we live on a hill. Without roots, our land will erode and void the structural warranty on our new home (and because when it rains here it pours, part of our backyard slides into the neighbor's backyard every time it rains.) So, we are not watering. But we do continue to take regular and long showers, prepare a lot of tea and coffee, use our dishwasher, etc. What we have really started realizing is how strongly we are gripped by a consumer mentality. Several people around us continue to water their lawns (by far the biggest source of water-waste in the present climate), just ignoring the restrictions altogether.......All of us to varying degrees are just thinking "I can have whatever I want and there will always be enough" - it is sickening. Meanwhile every day people are dying in Africa because they don't have clean water to DRINK. And we are concerned about our yards here. Ridiculous.

As Westerners - and especially Americans - most of us see our basic necessities this way - like a grocery store full of unending resources without any consideration for the way that NATURE and the ENTIRE HUMAN COMMUNITY should put limits on what we consume and how often and in what ways. From that perspective, we have surely succumbed to the social conditioning that continually urges us to equate luxury with necessity, and so in our self-deception we GRIEVE when we can't water our lawns, buy our next appliance that makes our lives easier, or improve our "standard of living" etc. We experience the obstacles to reckless consumption as the loss of a BASIC NECESSITY - as a plight that forces us to act to attain e.g., a car with air conditioning with similar relentlessness as we would expect someone from Somalia to pursue the next meal.

Surely a sense of guilt isn't the answer - guilt *alone* seems to just absolve us of responsibility by giving us a cathartic sense of "see - I get it! I care!" and then, once our smitten consciences are pacified, we just turn back to our normal lives of selfish uber-consumption. So yeah, guilt isn't enough, but it sure as hell is a good start.

"For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge humanity into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil deeds, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Flee from these things!!!" (1 Tim. 6:6-11a).

Capitalistic consumption? Environmental stewardship? It's not a conservative or liberal thing. It's a Christian thing.