Everyday Justice

Where does your chocolate come from? Does it matter if your coffee is fair trade or not? It matters--more than you might think.Julie Clawson takes us on a tour of everyday life and shows how our ordinary lifestyle choices have big implications for justice around the world. She unpacks how we get our food and clothing and shows us the surprising costs of consumer waste.How we live can make a difference not only for our own health but also for the well-being of people across the globe. The more sustainable our lifestyle, the more just our world will be.Everyday justice is one way of loving God and our neighbors. We can live more ethically, through the little and big decisions we make every day. Here's how.

Julie Clawson (M.A., intercultural studies, Wheaton College Graduate School) is a writer, blogger, and moderator of the Emerging Women and Emerging Parents blogs. She has been a church planter and served as copastor of Via Christus Community Church in Yorkville, Illinois. She and her family live in Austin, Texas.

Auteur

Julie Clawson has a masters degree in intercultural studies from Wheaton College. She's worked as both a children's ministry director and as a co-pastor. But currently she spends the bulk of her time as a stay-at-home mom in Austin, Texas. While she might like to be volunteering at the local community garden or mentoring at-risk youth, the important and very full-time job of caring for her two toddlers keeps her close to home. It's been in the home environment, however, that Clawson's learned the profound lesson that she can make a big difference for the cause of justice, no matter what stage of life she's in. Through paying closer attention to the injustices in the world around her and listening more closely to the calls for justice throughout Scripture, Clawson started to uncover little things she could do to subvert systems of injustice. Buying fair trade coffee and slave-free chocolate. Growing some of her own food. Driving less. Hanging her clothes out to dry. With these kinds of decisions, she discovered, we can either support systems of injustice, or we can put our faith into action and love people through basic day-to-day choices. Her book, Everyday Justice, is in many ways a reminder that serving God and seeking justice is for everyone, no matter what your life looks like.When she's not changing cloth diapers or shopping fair trade, Clawson is busy blogging regularly at julieclawson.com and everydayjustice.net. She is also the moderator of and regular contributor to Emerging Women (emergingwomen.us) and Emerging Parents (emergingparents.com) and posts regularly at the God's Politics Blog (blog.sojo.net/). In her few minutes of spare time Clawson enjoys listening to the likes of U2 and David Wilcox. She loves watching epic tales like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and slightly less epic tales like Lost and Heroes, because these pop culture tales often serve not only as a reminder that the world is full of injustices, but as encouragement to anyone who wants to make things better. Tom Sine is constantly on the lookout for "mustard seeds"-seemingly insignificant acts that bring faith and compassion to hopeless situations. As cofounder of Mustard Seed Associates, he prepares others to think critically and creatively about the global community and how to serve it according to God's great vision.