America spends an average of $450 billion every year on Christmas. Advent Conspiracy proposes that people buy less and give more–of their time and love through relational giving.
In 2006, five pastors decided to create Advent Conspiracy and revolutionize the increasingly commercialized holiday of Christmas by encouraging their congregations to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all.
Part of the Advent Conspiracy message is a simple suggestion that people buy one less gift, and spend the extra time with people they care about and put the extra money toward projects such as drilling for fresh water wells in India, Liberia, Peru and Sudan. For three years, Advent Conspiracy has partnered with Living Water International to tackle providing clean water to the 1.8 million people who die every year from water-borne illnesses. The $10 billion Advent Conspiracy estimates it would take to solve the world's water woes pales in comparison to the $450 billion Americans spend each year on Christmas.
Advent Conspiracy is a movement that proposes people "spend less, give more."
4 December 2009 by Eliza Strickland 80beats Discover Magazine
From an ancient Peruvian civilization comes this warning: Don't chop down all your trees, or there will be hell to pay.
The Nazca people are famous for the enormous earthworks they carved into an arid plateau, in designs that range from simple geometrical forms to representations of animals like hummingbirds, lizards, and monkeys. They were previously known to have disappeared around A.D. 500, when massive floods powered by El Niño ravaged the valley where they made their home. Now, a new study that examined the pollen in buried layers of soil in order to trace the horticultural history of the land may have revealed why those floods were so devastating.
The Ica Valley, about 120 miles south of Lima, is barren today but was once a riverine oasis — a fertile landscape capable of supporting many people. The key to that fertility was a tree called the huarango [Los Angeles Times]. The huarango tree provided wood for building and fuel, and seed pods that can be ground up and used in flour or beer. Its branches caught the water in morning mists, and its roots stabilized the topsoil. Says lead researcher David Beresford-Jones: "These were very special forests…. It is the ecological keystone species in the desert zone enhancing soil fertility and moisture and underpinning the floodplain with one of the deepest root systems of any tree known" [BBC News]. Read the rest of this entry »
