Thoughts During Earth Hour 2010

Last night the kids were very excited about Earth Hour…went to great lengths to make sure we were ‘prepared’ for it.  Adam had games picked out and Caity was quietly freaking about the thought of having to go to bed in the dark.

They loved that I lit candles and they loved us sitting around together playing Monopoly.

Adam was very big on us doing our part to save our planet…and that got me thinking…

Perhaps I am more crunchy than I think  I am.

I love nature.  Have always loved scenery, animal life, etc.  I have always tried to respect it too.

I was always a city girl, but my family took me out for ‘runs’ to the country on weekends and we holidayed down in the English countryside too, so I KNEW where my food came from.  I knew and appreciated the world around me.

Living on the coast, here and in Edinburgh has also helped my appreciation for all that is living.

I teach my kids to not pick the wild flowers…even daisies…(granted not just for altruistic reasons – I get sick of bowls of dead daisies littering my kitchen all summer long), but I teach them to enjoy them growing.  To admire their beauty.

I am also this way when when it comes to bugs.  And I am the biggest hee bee jee bee dancer when it comes to bugs..but I don’t want to pass on my irrational issues with the insect world onto my kids, so I happily ooh and aah along with them at every creepy crawly we come across.

We are big on respect.  Big on respecting our pets.  Don’t manhandle them.  Don’t bug the cats.  Give them all room.  Don’t be mean.   My kids know how to approach other dogs.  They know to be gentle with animals.

It was MY kids teaching the OTHER kids at a spring fair on how to handle the poor stressed snakes there.

And this is where my kids are noticing now that they feel a tad different about the world around them than their peers.

With all the rain we get here, there is usually a mass ‘beaching’ of worms after every rainfall.  My kids don’t like to touch the worms, but will avoid stepping on them and make HUGE attempts at rescue…..they are thus HORRIFIED when other kids don’t see what the fuss is all about.

They are even MORE horrified when kids STEP on the worms.  I hear about this a lot.

Last big drama was a kid stomping on a ‘beetle’ in the gym.  Adam was beside himself, that they did this.  Furious.  I have a feeling the ‘beetle’ was more likely a cockroach, which sadly….I am less sympathetic about.

But the point is…my kids were ready to go to bat for these bugs.  To defend them with their lives….they probably learned this from watching their heavily pregnant mom leap out of a car into traffic to try to save a doomed baby duck.

They have also learned to speak up for trees and other shrubbery from me.  I HATE watching kids beat and pull small saplings apart…the destruction fills me with rage.

The lack of respect and awareness of the things around them really makes me sad for the human race.

And you know they “learned” this from their parents.

For me ‘caring’ start with the small and insignificant.   It should grow from their.  How can you teach about issues like littering, or recycling or helping the poor and homeless, if you don’t pay attention to the simple and little things that are sharing our planet with us.

In a city surrounded by nature…the lack of respect is very upsetting.   The amount of road kill around here horrifies me.  I am sure a huge percentage of the dead animals on the roads are deliberate.

If we don’t care about the things that ‘don’t affect us’ how do you teach people to care for their own pets….their own children…their own family.

How do you teach people to care for each other if they don’t show any care for anything else.