Young children are idealists by nature. If there is a problem, they will have a solution.
Lately, my six year old has been reading a number of books about nature, animals and the environment, only slightly disheartened by words like “extinct”, “endangered”, and “pollution”. He has devised plans to save all the animals and the environment: He will use a large net to clean the oceans, he will imprison anyone who litters or pollutes or poaches animals.
He will travel to Africa and leave notes in everyone’s mailboxes stating “Don’t Kill Rhinos” as a bid to save the highly endangered black rhinos.
He has started on these notes already; they lay in piles around our house. I don’t discourage him in his idealism, he has his whole life to be overwhelmed by environmental issues and years ahead of him to wonder if he can indeed make a difference.
Media articles about the environmental disaster that is our planet discourage me, the thought of my own carbon footprint is overwhelming: I live in a warm house in a frigid climate, I drive a car daily and fly occasionally, I drink coffee and eat fruit, both of which are emphatically not local. I think of every plastic thing that has ever come through my door and envision them eventually sitting colourfully and sturdily in a landfill for all of eternity, and I feel sick.
I recycle. I take my reusable bags to the grocery store. I use vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice as cleaning products. I buy locally grown food when I can. I try to cut back on consumption, especially of plastic goods. I try to do all these things and convince myself that it does make a difference, every little bit helps, it is not a lost cause.
But I need some of that idealism. I need to believe my son is right, that if we walk to school more often we will save the polar bears and if we pick up garbage in our playground we are saving the world. If we look at the world through the eyes of our children, our children who will inherit this world, we can see that it’s not too far gone.
If we all do our part, we can truly make a difference.
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