Tikkun Olam Fridays – Repairing the World One Step at a Time

Another Friday, another post on tikkun olam – to repair the world. Remember, you don’t have to finish the job, but it is your responsibility to start.

What action did you take this week, big or little, to make a difference?

A month ago we started composting. I love it. We recycled some wood to build a container, placed a spare plastic shoe box above the kitchen sink to hold the carrot peelings, stale bagels and constant supply of coffee grounds and raked up a huge mass of brown leaves from the yard. Brown and green, I know the drill. Then we watered the whole mess down, good and soppy like a rung out towel. We keep the pitch fork nearby, so we can turn the mound and cover the food. I’m hospitable and enjoy inviting in a few friends for a bite, but I don’t want any creeping night crawlers, like coyotes, to be tempted by our leftovers.

For anyone who loves order and efficiency, these ‘nothing goes to waste’ activities will bring a smile to your face. It focuses me on how much food gets wasted so I think before I buy. Knowing that I’m building compost that will improve our little patch of soil is so fulfilling. Soil is basic; it’s our food’s lifeblood. That we’re letting it blow away or poisoning it is crazy.

Oh, and that compost bin in the photo. Not mine, too bad. I found it outside a restaurant on Granville Island, Vancouver. It’s my visual aid for encouragement.

Tikkun Olam Fridays - repairing the world one small step at a time

Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada

©2008 Bobbi Rubinstein

Every Friday I’m going to post on the concept of tikkun olam. It means ‘to repair the world’. The nice thing about tikkun olam is what Rabbi Tarfon, a sage of the first century AD says: you don’t have to finish the job, but it is your responsibility to start.

What did you do this week to repair the world? What one little thing, or big thing, did you do to make a difference?

This is what I’d like to share …

I like to pick up freebies. I LOVE handouts. Free newspapers in cities I’m visiting, local magazines – green or otherwise, articles at conferences. Sure it’s a lot of paper – and I’m really drowning in paper at the moment – but I just love to read short pieces. (As a kid, I read the World Book Encyclopedia for fun – what an info geek!)

So when I found that someone had started a green magazine for the Conejo Valley/Ventura County area, I was really excited. Green Home and Family Magazine. This was one freebie I grabbed and saved.

After a few issues, I realized that while I could pick it up at the libraries around town, it was an organization I wanted to get behind. The writing was solid, and it was getting the word out to the region and covering events.

So this week I signed up for a subscription. Small thing, for sure, but no one but me would have known I was reading it every month, free of charge, and not giving anything back. Like listening to your local NPR station and never subscribing. (Mea culpa there.)

The sands of summer are falling away – savor them this weekend with family and friends.