People ask me how I am adjusting to being back in the USA. The question makes me think about the ways we choose to live with the environment. Do you live inside or outside?
(By the way, the nature pictures
with this entry show the Central African Republic, Cameroon and places I have
visited recently in the USA: North Dakota, Texas, and Louisiana. Can you tell which is which?)
I Cameroon/CAR most people live
outside. Yes, they have houses, but most
use them principally for sleeping. OK,
many also have a living room with a TV that they use some of the time, but it is
usually hot in there. Windows are
small. (Central Africans told me they prefer
them that way since it’s harder for thieves to get in.) There is no air conditioning and generally no
fans (since electricity is rare in CAR).
So, much of the time, people live outside.
Usually, women cool outside over
wood fires. People sit outside in the
shade – to visit with others, braid hair, eat, rest, etc.
CAR is a community-oriented
culture in which relationships are
(Relationships are important in the US, too, but individual
concerns/wishes/desires often take precedent over the community.) Being outside encourages relationships and
interactions. People will stop to chat
as they pass by and see others outside their homes. No doubt, these are social interactions, but
work goals are also advanced. 
Do people spend more time outside,
visible to the community, because it facilitates maintaining relationships or
has the maintenance of relationships increased because people are often
outside? (Which comes first, the chicken
or the egg??)
Many people there spend more
time outside, too, because they cultivate fields – even those with “desk” jobs
since those may not pay well or regularly.
Most people also get where they are going on foot leading to more time
outside. There are a lot of motorcycles
taxis and some have cars/trucks, but garages are rare so they can’t go into the
house from the garage – adding at least a little “outside” time. They also play volleyball and soccer outside,
but overall there is less leisure time in CAR.
As you read this, have you been
comparing it to what is often the reality in the USA? Generally, we live inside. Let me acknowledge, upfront, that many people
in the US go outside for picnics, sports, walks, swimming, etc. And, people, in general,
have more leisure
time to engage in these activities. Still, we most often cook inside, work inside, watch TV and play video
games inside, etc. 
Living inside makes sense in the
winder in cold regions when heat is essential to stay alive. But many also prefer to be inside air
conditioning in hot weather. (In fact,
many in the US say they “need” AC and couldn’t live without it. But it wasn’t so long ago that there was no
air conditioning and people did survive.
I think too many people confuse needs and wants…) Then, we travel most everywhere by car/truck
(which is also air conditioned). Many
can get into and out of the car to go into the house without being outside as
they have attached garages. 
I find myself living in both
worlds. I am perfectly comfortable
living and working inside but prefer the windows and doors be open. That means I prefer big windows (that
actually open) that let in sunlight and the breeze. Considering these preferences, my house in
Garoua Boulai was perfect. Doors (with
lockable screen doors) on two sides, large windows that open (with screens to
keep the bugs out) and a great cross-breeze.
I was more likely to sit outside on the porch than on a mat in the
shade, but seeing a computer screen outside is difficult so I generally worked
inside. In GB, I often walked to get where
I was going, but had a truck to use, too.
And, since I am back, I am often cold in air conditioning. Some have exhorted me to carry a sweater all
the time – but this is summer! Why
should I need to? Why can’t there be
more moderation?
How do these approaches (living inside
or outside) affect environmental issues and global climate change? I don’t know.
I see major problems with both.
Cooking over wood fires can’t be good – you have to cut the wood from
somewhere and then the smoke goes into the air.
It is also not an efficient heating/cooking system. But, to use propane (which is cheaper in the
long run) you have to be able to pay money upfront for the compressed energy
instead of a little every day – this is a problem for many, and not only because
it involves planning ahead. Then, too
you have to buy a stove, another big, upfront cost. (And, what are the environmental costs for
producing the gas and getting it into the bottle?)
Constantly controlling indoor
temperatures in the US has an enormous energy cost. Why do many demand lower, colder temperatures
inside in the summer than they will accept in the winter – inside or out? Why do we condition the air when the outside
temperatures are the temperatures we seek? (OK, that doesn’t apply currently in
places like Houston where it goes “down” to 82 degrees at night…) In some “modern” buildings you can’t even
open windows; the buildings are designed that way. I wonder, too, about always cutting ourselves
off from nature; do we end up paying less attention and, therefore, using
resources more quickly or carelessly?
And none of these considerations
address the resources we use to power computers, telephone, and internet! But, let’s leave that issue for another day.
I don’t have any answers, but
since I have been back and traveling around to talk about my work I have often
felt isolated from the natural world around me (once even when I was at a church
camp - in air-conditioned building!) If
we are to be good stewards of this world I believe we need to be paying more
attention to nature and ways our everyday actions impact God’s creation.
What do you think?
