For The Love of Mother Earth

This evening I plummeted through the dark in Milli-Van in the misty rain, with Peanut sleeping and Boodge full of  questions.  We were on our way home from visits in the city, and I was trying to listen to the CBC's "The Current" (you can listen to the episode here). Anna Maria Tremonti was interviewing the opposition party environment critics, and Environment Minister Peter Kent, about Canada's pull-out of the Kyoto Accord, and their shameful (in my humble opinion) representation of our country and more importantly, our children, in Durban.  My children.  Listening to such discussions, I struggle not to go to a dark place, envisioning my children as adults in a post-apocalyptic, uninhabitable world.  Tell me I'm not the only one?

From the back seat: "Mummy? What's camrit change?"
"Climate change? It's, um, it's changes in our world's weather, in the...."
"No, CAMRIT change.  CAMRIT change." He insisted. 
"Well, camrit change doesn't exist, what they're talking about on the radio is called climate change."  I was happy to buy some time.  I didn't want to have to explain climate change to my son.  What could I tell him these people on the radio were saying about his potential future? That millions may die, billions would suffer, the earth become a hostile place. 
"What's climate change?"
"Well, it's the weather of our world...our world is getting hotter, that's climate change."
"Why's our world getting hotter?"
"It's getting hotter because of...of things we are doing--people are doing.  We're using the earth too much, building and driving a lot and wasting and that is making the earth hotter.  It's not good for the world."
"Why's it not good for the world."
"Because, it hurts the earth." Yes, I copped out on a circular answer.  And then I veered. "That's why we have to do our best to recycle and compost, and not waste and not buy things we don't need.  That's how we can help the earth." 

He stopped asking questions then and I was glad.  Now the Conservative Environment Minister was on the radio, smoothing out his actions over the past two weeks. I drifted back to my own thoughts, checking regularly in the rear view mirror to see if Boodge was finally falling asleep.  He wasn't.  I hoped this wasn't going to be one of those drives home where he never goes to sleep, gets more and more punchy, and arrives at the house drunk-tired.  It was already past 8:30.

Then from the backseat.  "Mummy?  Um, MUMMY!!" He is shouting.  I'd told him he has to speak up in Milli-Van, it's hard to hear him over the buzz of the road and heaters. 
"Yes, honey?"
"MUMMY! I'm trying not to have too many farts."
"What? Are you farting?"
"No, I'm trying not to have too many farts. I don't want to have too many farts."
"Why? Do you have to poo?" That would surely keep him up.  Ugh.
"No, Mummy. I'm trying not to have too many farts for our earth.  To help the world from getting hotter."  

How can my heart break a little while I laugh like that? And where do we go from there? I told him his farts were surely not going to be the problem and he could fart as much as he wanted, people have been farting for all time and that wasn't going to hurt the earth.  And I couldn't resist telling him that if he wanted to help the earth, one way was to not get a lot of plastic toys or other things that would just end up in the garbage one day. 

I'm pretty sure this will not be our last discussion about climate change.  People dread the "sex" talks with their kids, but to me, those seem easy.  This, the fact that our mother planet is in jeopardy, that his generation could see some drastic, difficult changes...this is hard. I need to think about what to say to him, what to teach him to help him live in this possible future, or avoid it.  And to allow him to fart freely, and keep delighting me and making me laugh.

Help me, peoples? What do you tell your children?

Getting a Grip

So, after my last post, I started to feel kind of depressed. I think I have now gone through the whole cycle the title of the video I posted promises—Wake Up, Freak Out, and Get a Grip. Not that I wasn’t already “awake” to the whole environmental Armageddon issue—but I’ve been snoozing lately. It’s a coping strategy. If I let myself think about the worst that could come in the next 50 years or so, I can quickly become hopeless.

And for a day or two, I was. I hate feeling powerless. And when it comes to global warming, I feel that way. I didn't know where to start. Clearly, a huge part of the work is in confronting institutions of power. But I’m not very into arguing and confronting, and I have no patience for people who don’t see what seems obvious to me. Thank goodness some people are good at this. It’s just not for me.

At the same time, I know I can’t just do nothing at all. Because what if it’s not too late, and the changes we make now really will make a difference? And if I don’t do anything, when I’m aware of the problem and I care deeply about it, how can I hold out any hope that anyone else is going to do anything? Besides—now that I opened my mouth about it on my blog….I kind of have to act, don’t I?

We have an expression in our family: “El Taco”. As in...el taco est cheapo. Whenever one of us comes up with another brilliant idea or a "why don't people..." complaint, we like to gently prod each other with a little “El Taco.” To Sean’s credit, though, he didn’t do that to me this time. Instead, when I shared with him how bummed I was feeling, he told me about something he’d seen on a David Suzuki special the other day. Suzuki was talking about his daughter, and how when she reached a certain age he and his wife saw that their worldview was being reflected from her, and that she was hopeless. Their sense of doom had come into her as they raised her. It sounds like this was a turning point for Suzuki, and it was a good thing for me to hear too.

So I and mulled it over one afternoon as I lay next to the sleeping Boodge in a state of depressed inertia. It seems to me that in terms of parenting, I need a two-pronged approach to global warming. One, model and advocate for a conservationist approach to life for the Boodge, teaching him about our interconnectedness with everything on earth and how to lessen our impact. And two, teach him to the best of my ability the skills he will need to survive what may happen. I decided to start where I am, and with the talents and time I have, and build from there. So here are a few things I’ve decided to do.

1: Come up with a family budget based on what we usually spend per month (we’ve tracked that for a long time now). Then see how much I can tighten it by active non-consumerism. I’m going to really think about every purchase, and ask myself—is it necessary? Can I get it used? Can I make it? Where can I cut down on what I habitually consume? Whatever we save from our budget through this process, we will donate half of it to a group that does the active confronting of power and corporations. Bless them. (Why not donate all, you ask? We’re saving for a down payment now, so cutting back our expenses was part of the plan anyway. Once we’re in a new place under a new budget, we’ll work on a bigger donation.)

2. Find a place that I can volunteer with the Boodge. I’m in the process of researching this, but suggestions are welcome. I figure we have time to go out and do something practical that will be our drop in the bucket. But volunteering will help me learn more about what I can do, and also, over time, will model lots of good stuff for the Boodge. I always envisioned community service as part of my parenting and role modelling, so why not start now, with this issue?

3: Read David Suzuki’s “Good News For a Change.” Cause I need good news, and I need to know more about the specific positive things that we can do. I’ve heard this is a great book. I wrote the name of it down in my address book 3 years ago. The other day I got it from the library, since I’m trying not to consume.

4: Start growing our own food (and composting organic waste). This is part of our plan anyway when we buy a house. The food we eat is fraught with ethical issues—is it fairly traded, is it local, is it sustainable, is it genetically engineered, is it full of chemicals or antibiotics? Growing our own will help eliminate some of those issues. Plus, I want the Boodge to know how to grow food, in case it should become scarce to buy sometime in his lifetime. What we don’t grow, I will buy from as ethical and local a sources as I can find.

5: Blog about it all. This blog is about my journey as a mother, in whatever dimensions that takes. This is part of it. I will keep you all “posted” on any discoveries I make, tips I can share, or insights I have, as I work towards these commitments I’m making. Of course, it won’t be the only thing I blog about, but…it will hopefully become part of what I can offer in this space. If anyone gets anything useful and takes it into their own lives, that’s one more drop in the bucket….

So, stay tuned as I get the wheels rolling. I’m going to work on these commitments and then add more as time goes on. The whole thing has helped me out of my funk a bit. I can’t stop global warming single-handedly, but I can be part of raising the new consciousness about it. Now excuse me while I go turn out the kitchen light.

Mother's Work for Mother Earth

I was telling Sean yesterday that lately I find myself thinking about a lot of minute details such as "Should I teach the Boodge not to throw rocks ever, or just not to throw them at people, animals, things, etc?" "Should I let him play with the yogurt if it helps him learn to eat, even if it makes a mess?" "Should I kneel here with him while he plays with these big boys in the park, or is it better if I hang back and let him stand his own little ground?" These little trivial questions are the important work of mothering, the daily decisions that go into teaching our child or helping them learn--everything. Into making good, self-sufficient people.

But yesterday I was reminded by this short video that none of that will matter much if our children spend their adult years on a hostile planet where they have to fight for their basic survival. I hope you will take the time to watch this, though I will also warn you that it paints a bit of a bleak picture. Just as I felt when I watched "An Inconvenient Truth", the film put a pit of fear in my stomach, and a simultaneous feeling of hopelessness and desire to do something. Maybe all that the film says won't come true. But whether it does or not, we have to face the reality that we are teetered at a precarious edge when it comes to our planet.

It seems too big to comprehend, impossible to imagine all of humanity coming together and dramatically changing the way we live. We have gone so far astray in our consumer lifestyle. I am just as guilty as anyone, just as used to being able to get what I want, when I want. And the small steps I take such as recycling, washing out my ziplocks, refusing to buy certain things or buying used, trying to walk instead of drive--these are all too small to make the kind of difference needed. The change needs to come at the level of power, of government and corporations, and we need to pressure them too.

Just the thought of beginning to do something daunts me because I feel I'd have to dedicate my entire life to it. But now I see this as another part of my work as a mother--to find a way to help ensure that my child has a safe world to live in. And it is part of the Boodge's work in becoming a good person, self-sufficient. So I'm planting a seed in my mind, looking for what the two of us can do together. As long as we just keep doing more than we did before, that is good enough. This post is a start. I'm thinking me and the Boodge are the founding members of Parents and Children for the Earth's Future. Anyone want to join?