Happy Earth Day!
As I was walking to work this morning, I made up a little song in my head (as I am wont to do) thanking the earth for existing, and also apologizing that for a lot of us, we spent years doing damaging things, not out of spite or avarice, but because we just didn't know.
I remember one of the first grades I was in (we moved four times during first grade!), we used to get a morning break, and they would give us little glass bottles of milk to drink. How I loved those little glass bottles! They had such a pretty design, and I always felt like someone in an old-timey movie where the milkman would deliver bottles of milk. As a kid who loved drinking milk, it was a treat, both aesthetically and physically.
That was in the first of the first grades where I went to school. At all of the ones after that, we first of all, didn't get a morning break, and secondly, when you got milk at lunchtime, it was always in those plastic-coated cartons. Which was also what we had at home, so it was no big deal.
Of course, at the time, the things we didn't know about (at least the average American didn't know) was the impact of a) using a glass bottle once and then tossing it, b) the problems with plastic (it was such a big thing - so convenient, it didn't break, it was lighter to carry!), and of course 3) the impact of farming (especially once factory farms got going) on the environment.
Anyway, then I moved on to other things that - at least in my case - I didn't do, because I just didn't know. I have always been someone who turns beet red in 10 minutes or less if I am outside in the direct sun and not completely covered up. I can remember as a kid, my mother would slather suntan lotion on me, thinking it would protect my skin. Because again, the average person had never heard of something like sunscreen, and especially as a kid, I didn't want to walk around all year in long pants and long sleeves. I did usually wear a hat, especially after a bad burn on my scalp one year. I spent a good deal of my life looking for shade to be honest (still do!)
There are so many other things that were innovative, convenient, and inexpensive that we used (i.e., styrofoam), or wore (i.e, polyester), or loved (i.e, driving EVERYWHERE, even if a block away), only to learn years later that they were sometimes bad for us, and almost always bad for the earth.
I used to feel really guilty about all of this. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was just doing the best I could with what I had to work with, financially, and informationally. Once we started to learn more about organic things, sustainability, etc., I tried hard to start "doing the right thing," even when it was hard to remember and/or afford to do. So although I regret that it all turned out this way, I no longer feel guilty, because there is a huge difference between willful ignorance and plain old ignorance, and the "bad" things I did were from plain old ignorance.
The things we didn't know, right?
Give thanks to your Mother Earth today, if nothing else for allowing you to still be here. And have a lovely weekend!
(Now I have to go as it is time to make up a little song in my head about how I can't wait for the workday to be over ... 😏 )
8 comments:
I recall the little bottles of milk, too, though not with the same fondness. I never did like milk--still don't. And it was always tepid at school, making it even less appealing.
Your point about willful ignorance is so very true, and about everything. In this day of Instant Information, there is no reason for it. And while there is low-quality information and downright Misinformation available, it doesn't take much to find reputable and unbiased sources if one truly wants the Truth.
Our generation gets a great deal of blame about harming the Earth, and while some of it is justified, I think that later generations don't stop to think that so many of us were operating, as you said, on the information that we had, and we have been doing our very best to make up for it ever since.
Yes, when we knew better, we did better. Or a least we are trying to do better...
When I was a teacher I leaned heavily on environmental issues with my students. We adopted whales and rainforests. We grew tomatoes from seeds that flew in space. We recycled trash into art. I hope some of those lessons stuck. Of course today I would be called a "groomer" and probably fired.
Happy Earth Day!
One thing I used to do with students (college level) was an exercise called "No IMpact Week" which was developed based on a book/documentary called "No Impact Man". It highlighted both the importance and the challenge of making small changes. I think the best thing that came out of it was students starting turning off lights.
Milk Break! 3 cemts for a little carton, and paper straws. I remember the ritual and the taste vividly.
I think many of us fee1 as you do. We never meant to hurt the Earth and are now doing our best to repair it.
Absolutely right, Bridget. We didn't know any better. YET. But now we do, so we need to DO better. :-)
And I never had the little glass bottles of milk, but we did have "milk break" every morning in elementary school . . . with the wax cartons. White (2 cents) or Chocolate (3 cents). One of our "classroom chores" was a weekly stint as "Milk Monitor." Lovely memories . . . :-)
I read an article a while back that was about the rise of single use plastics - and like you said, better, cheaper, lighter... and convenient. This article brought up a very good point - humans will almost always turn to cheap and convenient over everything else. So what we need to do is not ban plastics... but develop BETTER plastics - ie ones that are biodegradable, more environmentally friendly to produce, and sustainable.
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