Discuss: The Big Talk

Forgetting

Forgetting on beached visions,
Succulent findings winding their way home,
Caring still through darkened beech forested hillsides
That bleed fresh water toward the salt,
Marshes rejuvenate the wombs of life,
Tides return with caressing vengeance
Pushing the fresh water back and to itself.

We live alone by the millions
In concrete city so pretty,
Regardless of our inability to love,
Lethargic in our need to hold to heart,
We forget.

But we also remember,
Still hopeful the dominance of human beings flowers
With as much dignity as the dinosaurs the children love,
Who lived top food chain for millions of years,
As do the trees which reach for the light
And push their feet down upon and into the darkness.

Sandra
You have forgotten the bottom line, Life wants to BE. Help your children understand and appreciate; save your pessimism
for your editors who pay you it. Give your children hope. Give yourself hope too.

This is hilarious!  Well done.

The flood metaphor is intriguing! Remember the Noah Ark story? - have we learned anything useful? What are the consequences of the Tsunami, the New Orleans’ flood, the Quebec Ice Storm, the Ike storm? In my practice over 40 years as a land use planner/environmental planner, I deal with regulatory standards, guidelines, conditions of approval, monitoring, and mitigation measures. You ask, what happens? Very few people, particularly political decision-makers think about consequences of actions. There is fear in quantifying risk and certainly the precautionary principle is not a tool that is in the book. Furthermore, politics is a short-term venture. We older people have the means and the ability to take action, but we won’t be here in 2050 to see the consequences. Our young children and grandchildren do not have the means and the ability to take action now and they will be here in 2050. Your question is a start. We need to deep think the solution in terms of the triple bottom line. The question is not valid since it begs complex and complicated answers. Unfortunately, we need to find ways to change behaviour rather than beating up ourselves trying to change values. How do we undertake the “big walk”?

Back when nuclear weapons was the big scare, a Seattle teacher asked her third-graders whether they thought there would be a nuclear war. All but one did. She complimented the hold-out on her bravery in voicing a minority-of-one opinion, and asked why she held it. “Because my parents are working to stop it,” the child answered.

This is the story we tell our children about climate change too. Washington elementary school where I volunteer got solar panels installed over the summer, and this fall I will be teaching the kids a song I wrote with the line “And Washington is part of the solution.”

Efforts at bringing environmental education into the public school systems is slowly progressing, as it is in my state of Washington, including an outdoor experience as part of that education.  Our first challenge is to get our kids outside and removed from their electronics so they can connect with what is happening outside.  I would strongly recommend you all read Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv for research on this problem and ways to get kids outside.  Also, click on http://www.childrenandnature.org/ to see how rapidly this movement to reconnect children with nature is happening.

My mother never told me about how money came to rule the house - what is money? Why can’t we just trade?

My mother didn’t tell me about our rulers: the government. We just knew that policemen must be obeyed, laws followed, and that once in a while there was a thing called “an election”.

Money & power is what caused our animals to die and oil to ooze.

This is a really good piece. I like her comparison of the Global Warming talk to the sex talk and it shows a couple of things. One, the piece shows that children can understand a very complex issue at a basic level. Two, it’s really never too early to begin to educate children on the world around them. As soon as they ask question we as parents should engage them on those questions.

Wow.  Amazing article.  I’ll admit I wouldn’t have seen the connection between sex and environmental devastation, but you nailed it.  I found the article profound and heart-warming at the same time.  Keep it up!

Being an uncle and not a parent per-se, I often make jokes about global warming and capitalism around my four-year-old niece, but I don’t think she’s really getting it and I haven’t had the time to sit down and really give her “the talk”. 

Again, loved the article!