Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities

Global Stewardship Initiative

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER'S VISION OF SUSTAINABILITY AND SOME EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES

Job S. Ebenezer, Ph.D.
Director
Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 West Higgins Road
Chicago, IL 60631

October 1996

The United Nations (UN) report entitled "Our Common Future" introduced the concept of sustainable development to the world of politicians, economists, international development workers and religious community in 1987. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) convened in 1992 brought together bothgovernment representatives and the non governmental agencies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to further develop this concept of global sustainability and to implement appropriateactions worldwide. Recently, several secular organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists recognizes the importance of religious communities in the discussions and practices of global sustainability. Increasingly, many scientists are realizing the need for applying moral values in dealing with the environment. They also recognize the fact the environmental degradation problem cannot be solved by applying more science and technology. Combination of religious teachings about creation and scientific knowledge of the biosphere will enable many to take care of God's creation which will pave way to global sustainability.

George Washington Carver, an outstanding scientist and a deeply religious person, promoted global sustainability several decades ago when he worked at the Tuskegee University in Alabama. He recognized long ago that sustainability can be achieved through combining science and faith. He applied religious values such as justice to the poor and to creation and humility and reverence towards God's creation in his scientific exploration. He firmly believed that through proper keeping of creation motivated by religious values one can achieve sustainability.

In this presentation, we will explore Carver's vision of global sustainability and we will describe a few sustainable technologies appropriate to present conditions that are inspired by Carver's work.

Carver was invited by Booker T. Washington, the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, to create a department of agricultural sciences. In his letter of acceptance, Carver expressed his desire to cooperate with Washington and do all he can through Christ who strengthens him to better the condition of our people. He recognized that a mono-culture, cotton, was degrading the soil and was also keeping the black farmers who were only one generation removed from slavery in poverty. In 1897, he established an experimental station with one horse to power all equipment. He wrote in one of his bulletins,

"For eight years the Tuskegee station has made the subject of soil improvement a special study, emphasizing the subject of crop rotation, deep plowing, terracing, etc., keeping in mind the poor tenant farmer with one-horse equipment; so therefore, every operation performed has been within his reach, the station having only one horse." 1

He applied the principles of loving one's neighbor and caring for the vulnerable persons to degraded and abused soil. He wrote an article in 1914 entitled "Being Kind to the Soil." In that article he observed,

"Unkindness to anything means an injustice to that thing. If I am unkind to you I do you an injustice, or wrong you in so me way. On the other hand, if I try to assist you in every way that I can to make a better citizen and in every way to do my very best for you, I am kind to you. The above principles apply with equal force to the soil. The farmer whose soil produces less every year, is unkind to it in some way; that is, he is not doing by it what he should; he is robbing it of some substance it must have, and he becomes, therefore, a soil robber rather than a progressive farmer." 2

He called on the farmers to use biblical teachings on Sabbath to the land in soil management. In a lecture to farmers in 1921, he noted,

"We take this very book, here - go way ba ck here, almost to the beginning of time and we find.....the farmers were obliged to rest their lands and every fifty years was jubilee year. This was picnic time for the soil. Nothing must be taken off of it. Everything it produced was to go back to the soil. Now then, you know as well as I know that ever since that time we have heard such terms as diversify, diversify, diversify-rest your soil. We paid absolutely no attention to it." 3

Carver considered exploitation of land as sinful. An Atlanta newspaper quoted him as saying,

"Conservation is one of our big problems in this section. You can't tear up everything just to get the dollar out of it without suffering as result. It is a travesty to burn our woods and thereby burn up the fertilizer nature has provided for us. We must enrich our soil every year instead of merely depleting it. It is fundamental that nature will drive away those who commit sin against it." 4

Carver teaches us that in order to achieve global sustainability, we need to apply biblical principles of justice, love, frugality, creativity, and sacrifice even in the area of caring for God's creation.

Carver emphasized the "Divine inspiration" in his scientific exploration. In 1924, Carver expressed his reliance on divine inspiration in the following words,

"I never grope for methods; the method is revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new. With our God to draw aside the curtain, I would be helpless." He was criticized by an anonymous editorial writer in the New York Times for Carver ascribing to divine inspiration for his success. But Carver stood his ground and responded to the editorial with these words,

"I regret exceedingly that such a gross misunderstanding should arise as to what was meant by Divine inspiration.' Inspiration is never at variance with information; in fact, the more information one has the greater will be the inspiration." 5

Nearly 70 years later, the Union of Concerned Scientists have recognized the need for including religious perspectives in caring for creation. A recent video produced by the Union of Concerned Scientist entitled "Keeping the Earth" uses passages from the scripture with scientific perspective on creation to challenge congregations to get involved in the care of creation. Christians who are involved in the environmental sciences should follow Carver in developing innovative solutions through Divine inspiration and by following biblical principles.

Carver's vision of global sustainability was grounded in his deep Christian faith. His reverence for all of God's creation and his humility were essential ingredients for establishing global sustainability. One of the most important aspects of Carver's philosophy regarding global sustaianability is hope. Hope based on the abundance of God's creation to fulfil the basic needs of God's creation. Carver demonstrated through his work that by using God given talents one can find multiple usage for even ordinary plants like peanuts, sweet potatoes and soy beans. Carver also showed us that as Christians we need to be concerned about the persons farthest down. Without justice for the poor, we cannot achieve global sustainability.

Following the vision and practices of Carver, several simple, appropriate technologies have been developed by the author during the last two decades. The following slides show a number of technologies that promote sustainability in the areas of urban agriculture, building techniques, and alternative energy.

Some Appropriate Technologies that can be Developed with Carver's Vision

1. Food Producing Technologies:

As many institutions have developed and are developing some extremely innovative food production systems, we will focus only on those technologies that others are not pursuing and which have potential to help the poor.

Urban Agriculture

It is estimated that in the next century more than 50% of the population will be living in urban areas. One of the consequences of the urbanization is the destruction of productive land all over the world. While it is necessary to slow down or even halt the destruction of productive agricultural lands, wet lands and other habitats for birds and animals, we need to look for innovative ways to grow food in the urban areas to decentralize food production and to reduce energy and other resources spent on transporting and processing food. At the churchwide offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), an experimental urban gardening is being tried on the seventh floor of the parking garage. Using 4' diameter wading pools, a variety of vegetables and fruits are grown in a 9" soil medium. Last year we produced 500 pounds of vegetable in 15 productive containers. It is estimated that each container can yield about 30 to 50 pounds of vegetable during the growing season. The seventh floor garage can hold about 600 such containers and therefore theoretically can yield between 9 to 15 tons of vegetables.

(SLIDES)

Urban aquaculture involving decentralized fish production is yet another system that can be promoted in cities. Unlike other animals fishes may not be barred from cities. They can be kept inside houses without endangering the health of human beings and they do not make noises or produce wastes that cannot be processed easily. The Ocean Ark International at Falmouth, Massachusetts has developed a suitable unit for urban conditions. By converting roofs or top floors of garages that are being underutilized to roof top gardens and fish farms, substantial amount of food can be raised in cities. These techniques also assures food security and safety.

2. Alternative Energy Technologies

One of the sustainable energy sources that does not get enough attention and publicity is the use of human energy for transportation and power production. The World Watch Institute has been promoting bicycle as the best urban transportation system which can reduce pollution and congestion. While bicycles are designed to be used for transportation, they can also be modified to produce power to operate small-scale agriculture and industrial implements. The author has designed an attachment to the bicycle that transforms the bicycle into a small power source to operate a rice thresher, a peanut sheller, a corn sheller, a water pump, grinders, a circular saw, a wood working lathe, and a small metal lathe.

(SLIDES)

3. Building Technologies

Sustainable building technologies have been developed through the centuries in several parts of the world. Rammed earth techniques from China, adobe (mud bricks) building technology from the Native American settlements in the Southwest US, and straw bale construction technology from the early settlers from Nebraska are examples of sustainable technologies that can be adapted to modern conditions and requirements. Recently, some people living in modern buildings are experiencing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity syndrome. It is suspected that the chemical used in the production of the building materials may be the cause for this sickness. There is a definite need to produce safe building products like wood stains, paints, and others. Carver was able to see in the clays of Georgia and Alabama the various color paints that could be made without harmful chemicals. There is so much that nature can give us in terms of building materials if only we can see like Carver did.

The author introduced plastered straw construction to Indian villages last year. Preliminary results show that locally grown non-edible straws can be used as building materials and that such use will reduce the burnt bricks, cement, and other energy intensive materials usage.

(SLIDES)

Today, the proponents of sustainable society realize that science and technology alone cannot establish sustainability and are beginning to give importance to religious beliefs and values. At the turn of this century Carver showed us the need for combining scientific exploration and one's faith. We see the effects of decades of separating faith and values from our daily life resulting in the increase of lawlessness, greed, poverty, violence, environmental degradation, and unsustainable life styles. The churches hurt by the creation and evolution controversy failed to provide vision and leadership based on the kingdom values in the area of environmental stewardship. Environmental degradation, poverty, and violence which all lead to unsustainable society need to be confronted with faith and moral values. Carver's vision and work which combined justice, humility, creativity and scientific exploration provide models for the church to follow as it strives to contribute to global sustainability.

References

1. George Washington Carver, "How to Build up Worn out Soils," Tuskegee Institute Experiment Station, Bulletin 6, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1905.

2. George Washington Carver, "Being Kind to the Soil," Negro Farms, January 31, 1914.

3. George Washington Carver, Stenographic Report of Lecture ar Voorhees Farms Conference, Voorhees Normal and Industrial School, Denmark, S.C., February 16, 1921.

4. James H. Cobb, Jr., "Ford and Carver Point South's Way," Atlanta Journal, March 17, 1940.

5. John Ferrel, Fruits of Creation: A Look at Global Sustainability as Seen Through the Eyes of George Washington Carver, Macalaster Park Publishing Company, Shakopee, Minnesota, 1994.