The Household That Composts Together

COLUMBUS, Ohio - How much landfill-bound garbage does one household produce per week? Could that amount be reduced by starting a compost pile in the backyard? Could neighbors carpool together or take the bus to work rather than driving in three separate vehicles? Is household money being spent in constructive, life-giving ways, or does it create more "clutter"?

In the fast-paced city of Columbus, Ohio, small groups of households and individuals gather monthly to grapple with such concrete questions about consumption and simple lifestyles, and to build relationships of support and challenge. Ranging from college students to professionals to retirees, and differing broadly in faith backgrounds, the 50 people who have embraced the name "Simply Living" are translating their concern for global justice and ecological sustainability into tangible local action.

Although Simply Living is not exclusively a faith-based organization, participants ground their work for social change in the reflection/action model practiced in many Christian communities. In less than two years, members have launched a number of "learning groups" that meet monthly to examine topics such as financial stewardship, voluntary simplicity, holistic health, and spirituality and ritual, and to incorporate the fruits of their study into their daily lives.

More than 20 households have formed "eco-teams," groups of approximately five households that pursue a six-month course of assessment and reduction of their own ecological consumption. These teams, complete with a "coach" (a leadership role rotated among various participants), provide not only fertile ground for developing conservation strategies but also the accountability necessary to implement those plans on a habitual basis. Having fun and developing friendships are not ignored amid activism, however; the group gathers as a whole every few months for a potluck or social, such as a mid-October bonfire or December holiday celebration.

While Simply Living members focus primarily on social change on a grassroots level, they are not working in isolation. Eco-teams report their insights and growth to the New York-based Global Action Plan, which compiles and publicizes such local efforts and draws on them to provide community organizations with resources such as the workbook the eco-teams utilize in their meetings.

One member has made her home available for what is hoped will be the first of many resource centers for meeting, reference, reflection, and connection with like-minded community organizations and individuals around the city. How to reach out to the broader Columbus community - especially to people of differing socioeconomic status - is a question being explored.

Simply Living founder and longtime activist Marilyn Welker acknowledges the importance of outreach but stresses that the mission of the organization is to effect individual transformation - "becoming the change we seek for the world," she says, quoting Gandhi. "The crux of what we're about is facilitating personal responsibility in our own lifestyles," Welker explains. "I believe that if people engage individually, with a learning group approach, then they will naturally move out to address broader needs, such as community-supported agriculture and community credit unions."

Janet Ingraham, a Simply Living member who first discovered the organization close to a year ago through the "Sharing the Sojourn" program, is excited to be learning to live in a less complicated, more sustainable, and more hospitable manner. Moreover, she has found the organization to be a spiritual home as well as a place of social activism - much as she hoped for when she joined "Sharing the Sojourn."

"I have been amazed and invigorated by the surprising interconnections among groups in my area such as my church, my food co-op, the Simply Living group," says Ingraham. "Often in the past I felt a chasm between my religious activities and my social justice and environmental activities. Sojourners has helped me reconnect these things, and my involvement in Simply Living is deepening that integration.

"While the members of Simply Living may not share the same spiritual background, I don't think we'd do what we're doing without a common acknowledgment of a love beyond ourselves and a commitment to the unity of creation. I feel my faith can be welcomed and nurtured here," Ingraham concludes.

For more information on Simply Living, please send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to: Simply Living, 335 East 19th Ave., Columbus, OH 43201.