In 2005, Mennonite Central Committee published a cookbook called, “Simply in Season.” It is a delightful  work that gently invites us to eat fresh, seasonal foods instead of relying on the mono-culture of produce  found in supermarkets year-round.  Here in Manitoba, we have four very distinct seasons. I lived in a tropical climate for a number of years  where temperatures and daylight hours varied only slightly throughout the year. After a few years I found  this quite monotonous. When I came back home I gained a renewed appreciation for the ever-changing  seasons in this part of the world.  As I reflect on the many tidbits of writing scattered throughout, “Simply in Season,” I am reminded that a  sustainable lifestyle requires two things of us all – living more simply and making the most of each  season.  Living more simply is not as simple as it sounds. Every day we are bombarded with messages telling us  that in order to b...

  Covid-19 has restricted non-essential travel significantly for all of us. Most of us have never been so confined and we look forward to getting on the road or in the air again. Since the 1950s, many in the western world have come to think of unlimited travel almost as a human right. Cheap and abundant oil and advances in technology have allowed even modest income earners to travel to many parts of the world. This has been a unique time in human history. More people have traveled more miles than ever before, and we have begun to think that “getting away” involves traveling thousands of miles to destinations that await our arrival.  But even before the Covid-19 epidemic arrived, there were signs that the party would soon be over. Increasing the number of cars and airplanes was becoming unsustainable. Not only were they choking our highways and airways, they were adding to the environmental degradation that lies at the root of the climate crisis we are now in.   ...