Let's Get Off Our Arses.....

I consider our family to be fairly environmentally conscious, quite earth friendly. We have, over the last 11 years, paid close attention to the way that we live and have done our best to make less of an impact on the earth. Yes, there is still much more that we could do, there always will be, but feeling overwhelmed by the direness of the situation is no excuse not to make a start, to do something. If you aren't appalled by the lack of concern and the lack of real action taken by the leaders and by most people in North America then clearly you are not paying attention. We really must step up and make reducing our impact on the Earth a priority. I believe that by teaching my children how easy it is to live happily and meaningfully, in a way that respects the earth, that I am giving them one of the most important lessons they will ever have, and one of the most important skills they will ever need. We all gain from working towards living in a more sustainable way.

In the last couple years my oldest son, W, has begun taking a more personal interest in the environment and has started writing letters to the Mayor and City Council about issues that concern him. When he wrote his last letter I thought perhaps it wouldn't hurt for us to discuss some writing skills, particularly skills pertaining to writing a compelling argument, and so we talked about logic - premises, valid syllogism, conclusions and sound arguments. We also talked about having a "call for action" in his letters and how this is so very important. He seems to do this naturally anyway but I wanted him to know about these terms and why this works well.

Yesterday, I was reading this passionate post, written by Mary-Sue - you really must read it- and I was chuckling to myself over her point, "We keep sitting on our fat asses waiting for someone ELSE to wake up and save the planet for us." (Isn't that great? Please go read it, I think you will love it) And I thought "Yes! Yes! Yes!" here is someone who cares deeply enough that she is willing to ruffle some feathers; someone willing to get her own arse into gear and not only do all that she can to minimize her family's impact but also to take the time to beseech others to do the same. I don't know Mary-sue, but I can tell you that I like her very much already.


I am hard-pressed to imagine a more apt call to action than to 'get off our fat asses and do something", really, it is succinct, compelling... what more could you want? Will my son include it in his next letter to the mayor? Likely not, but it might cause some people to sit up and take notice, don't you think?

I realize that many of us are doing many things to lessen our impact, I realize that we all know some wankers that are doing nothing, and that that can be very frustrating sometimes. I guess what I am thinking about now - especially after reading Mary-Sue's post- and what I would like other people to think, is what more can I do, because we all know that there is always something more, and then let's get to it.