Senior Momentum - What Can Just One Do? - by Zoe Tummillo - May 2018
One of the best resources I have found for staying on top of
“Climate Forward:” is a benefit I mention just because of the value of the network. One connection leads to another, then another. Most with whom I discuss such stuff also have “networks” that spring from some preferred base to an outreach in that base’s sphere of interest and influence. This one is a real treasure. And the Internet makes it all so easy!
The challenge concerning what one person can do – for the health of our environment—is an important discussion, and one that must include our young children!
appears so daunting to some that they allow the frustration to foster inaction. The issues seem so huge, so awful, so out of control and so fraught with ambiguity that some convince themselves that there’s no use in trying. While I can understand the frustration, to me it is often just a big excuse that probably helps rationalize away “small” abuses as so inconsequential as to not matter at all.
What bothers me the most when I encounter that position and attitude happens to fall on point to the suggested theme for this May 2018 issue of our Gazette: Parenting the Next Generation. How can we effectively guide our kids into caring for the sustainability of our planet when it is a concept many intelligent adults blow off as a “not-to-worry.” Denial concerning climate change seems incredible. Explaining to our children things that some see as futile, requires first a belief in the solutions we ourselves. Many feel helpless in the face of huge environmental issues like how many tons of food are wasted, the impact of garbage on wildlife, the poison of fuel emissions and the strange shifts in the Seasons.
There are many old adages one could cite that I guess were intended to teach us to value the factor and power of “one”—a little goes a long way; a single vote is important; waste not want not; every little bit counts, little drops of water and little grains of sand make the mighty ocean and the (something) land...etc.,etc. Parents who are activists teach by example. I know from my own parenting years, that those lessons move forward in their adult lives. When mine were very young and we were at the park, for instance, the ticket into the van heading home, was at least one piece of litter, not ours, to be put in the trash receptacle! Taking the youngsters with you to the polls—worth its weight in gold concerning their future attitudes.
My personal patterns are so ingrained that, for instance, I can’t even remember when I began to divide ridiculously large meal portions in restaurants. (If I don’t want it later, my Ravens will eat anything!) Recycling, conservation and other efforts for environmental health are not new concepts, and it is profoundly simple the many things one person can do. Most important in the parenting of the next generation, I believe, is teaching our children and grandchildren in simple but accurate ways, at so young an age that they don’t remember when they learned it!
