Blog Action Day: The Environment

Today is Blog Action Day. I know you are on the edge of your seat to find out what is this Blog Action Day (we'll just refer to it as B.A.D.) is all about. Of course if you are on Eastern Time, it is bordering the day after B.A.D., oops. So what is this B.A.D.? B.A.D. means that lots of bloggers everywhere are banding together to write about the same topic to show its importance to us. The topic for B.A.D.: The Environment. Funny--that's what I talked about today at work as well, hehe.

Soooooo...the environment. Let's discuss environmental stewardship. Today, as usual, I made, well persuaded, my students to pick up the litter we saw in Yosemite Valley. Now, this requires a mental picture. This week, I have 8th grade students from Southern California...from the same affluent city where Nick and Jessica Simpson lived. When I would point out litter and say, "Litter! Who's got it?" they would glance around for a while, stare slightly incredulously at me, until one of them realized that yes, once again I was serious, and I was waiting for one of them to help me out. Our human need for approval and to please would out win their disgust of picking up someone's garbage. We want to do things that are good and help others. Unless conditioned otherwise, we want to help. We want to be stewards. One of my messages each week is that we need to be stewards for our national parks (because they belong to us), and we need to be stewards for our planet. I have been discouraged lately by being inundated by media telling me how much we need to do for global warming (or if you prefer the more PC term, "climate change"). We need to all have compact fluorescents, drive less with more fuel efficient cars, basically commit our lives to being less consumeristic and become more energy efficient beings. I sometimes think, we're all screwed. Our earth is screwed. Our political leadership is not stepping up to the plate. The U.S. is not going to give up its need to consume and waste. To top it off: Other developing nations are going to follow in America's footsteps and fall into a reliance on non-renewable resources that deplete our earth of carbon stores and instead spew it into the atmosphere. I am skeptical that our planet will step up and reevaluate our bad habits. It is hard for anyone to step outside of themselves and realize how to improve and change your life for the better--especially when you are quite comfy with your lifestyle. When I get overwhelmed though, I can step back from it all and think, well, today, I got 8th grade SoCal rich girls to pick up trash in their National Park. When I go home (via the bus and not my own personal vehicle with only me in it), I can ride my bike to Yoga instead of taking my car. I can drink juices and eat food that comes from sources I support and that are more locally produced. I can change my life one step at a time so that I am modeling stewardship for others and find the small ways to tell kids what I am doing to help their future. After all, if you aren't doing it for yourself, don't you want to be a better person with better habits for the children and the sanity of future generation? Challenge yourself to be a better steward for the earth and your neighbors.

If you are wondering how you can step it up, sooner rather than later, go to http://www.stepitup2007.org/ and see what you can do in your community.