Family Friday: Accentuate the Positive

This month Lucas Miller addresses a common issue – how to keep a positive focus for your children, and yourself, when discussing environmental issues. I love his idea of looking for small changes everywhere – it is a great game to play with children. (Lately we’ve been noticing how many people are bringing reusable bags to stores but I am now expanding our search.)

I’ve been an environmental educator since 1992. I had the good fortune to have some wonderful role models and guidance throughout my career, particularly in those first few years.

One thing that made a big impact on me was a conversation I had with a fellow who hosted an environmental, call-in radio show for kids. He told me that kids would often ask if there would still be squirrels and birds when they grew up; many kids were obviously terrified of the frequent and heavy environmental stories they were hearing. He said he made a big effort to focus on the positive things that people were doing to solve the problems and I made that one of my goals as well.

One thing that I’ve been trying to do with my own kids is point out some of the small things that people are doing to help in our own community. I try not to be heavy-handed about it; I just mention something I notice and see if it sparks a comment from anyone. If so, I try to keep that conversation on the optimistic side and I hope that it reassures my kids that we are beginning to find new ways to live more lightly (even though I know we have a long way to go).

So, as you take your family walk, bike ride, or even drive to the market, here are some things you might want to look for:

1) If it happens to be time to put the recycling bin out, take note of how many are out and maybe see if you can find one that’s particularly full.

2) Have you noticed any of your neighbors trading out to a more eco-vehicle? Our next door neighbor just traded in his pickup for a mini-Cooper–it’s a little victory!

3) Take note of where the rainwater goes on your street. Can you follow the route to the creek it goes to? Do you see anything being done to keep the stream clean like a holding pond, greenbelt or annual cleanup? Cities are making some big changes like this to keep waters clean and it has big benefits for wildlife, too.

4) Do you see any neighbors who are doing something different with their yards and gardens? Is anyone growing some food? Is anyone opting for native landscaping and/or plants that support wildlife? Do you see any bird houses or feeders? Maybe there’s a yard marked with a wildlife habitat certification?

5) Do you have any neighbors with solar panels? A lot more of our energy use is in the form of electricity, you know….

6) What about cisterns to collect rainwater?

7) Are people picking up after their dogs? It’s not just a courtesy to the neighbors, you know, it keeps our water cleaner, too.

8) Do you see bumper stickers or yard signs about protecting the environment in some way? These days, more and more people are “green and proud!”

9) Maybe you can even talk with some of these forward-thinking acquaintances and neighbors so you recognize and thank them for their efforts and start a discussion about other things you’re doing to keep things green.

When you start looking for them, these little things become symbols of hope and may help you and your kids feel like your individual efforts are making a difference. So get out there and feel the growing love for Mother Earth!

Lucas is a professional children’s author and songwriter from Austin, Texas. Check him out at www.lucasmiller.net.

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