Reflections

Mirror Lake, Vermont, from www.mytripjournal.com/wiseman

The last month of blogging about the environment has been enjoyable for me. I have been an environmentalist since I was a child, at least in my heart. I used to put up posters in our basement (mom wouldn't let me tape things on the walls upstairs!) that had to do with pollution, littering, nuclear energy worries, and the like. My parents loved animals and nature and I absorbed this easily. Caring about the environment, then, comes naturally (no pun intended.)

As an adult I have finally been able to put my actions where my heart is. Nevertheless, I am no expert on the subject. I had to do a lot of research on the subjects about which I wrote and I realize I've only superficially dipped into the subject. Clearly this will be an area for further reading and I will implement changes in my life where possible.

One of the most shocking and frustrating facts I have had to come to terms with is that this problem is so big. I can change all the habits I want to, but if the big things don't change, my little contribution won't matter at all. I may have the satisfaction that I did what I could, but that's worth nothing to anyone but me. Governments, businesses, and societies are the big groups that need to change their negative impacts on the environment.

If you look into history one can find a plethora of examples of single individual activists that did their own "weird" thing while everyone looked at them askance. One hundred years later the issue against which they spoke out is an acknowledged societal problem for which legislation has been crafted and passed. For example, it was acceptable for young children to work long hours to earn money for the family instead of go to school (actually this still happens around the world but not legally in the U.S.) It was also acceptable to own and mistreat slaves, beat women and children, and deny certain groups the right to vote. These things changed because of the actions of a few brave, noisy people.

I am not a brave, noisy person, but I do care about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." So at the very least I can't be silent about them... I shouldn't be silent about them.... I won't be silent about them.