Global Warming Era Parenting

[RestoreGore]

This is actually true, because the few teens I have spoken to about this have given the same somber and negative reply. I think it is time for the adults who are spreading this truth to do so in a way that highlights that we can have a positive effect on the future. If our children see US doing something and see us doing it in such way that will instill hope rather than negativity, that will inspire it in them. My son is the same age as those questioned in this article and he does not have a doom and gloom attitude, because he sees me talking to people about it, passing out flyers, and living my life in such way as to illustrate to him that it CAN be done. We are failing our children if they are not getting the proper information about this crisis and about what they can also do to help solve it, or at the very least slow down the process. And we also have to demand that our schools also instill TRUTH and hope in our children regarding this issue. Talk to your children. They understand much more than you may think they do.
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Published on Saturday, December 23, 2006 by the Los Angeles Times
Global Warming-era Parenthood

How do you tell your kids about climate change when they've heard so much about it elsewhere?

by Katherine Ellison

Global warming is a bit like sex: Long before you think it's time to explain it to your children, they've already heard the mixed-up details on the playground. I asked my 11-year-old son what he knew. "The water is going to rise about 20 feet, and we're all doomed," he said matter of factly, before dashing off to slug his brother.

Two recent national polls, taken in the wake of "An Inconvenient Truth" and mounting news coverage of heat waves and hurricanes, show the majority of Americans now see global warming as a personal threat. And apparently, word has spread to the prepubescent set that they'd better see the San Diego Zoo while it's still dry.

Apocalyptic fears have shadowed U.S. childhood before this. Who among us boomers doesn't remember all that Cold War ducking and covering? But global warming is profoundly scarier. For starters, to trigger a nuclear holocaust, somebody has to be the first to bomb. To trigger eco-Armageddon, all we need do is continue to ignore leading scientists' warnings.

Besides, quite unlike during the Cold War, there's no evidence that Washington has recognized this crisis. That leaves parents — hard-wired, unlike politicians, to engage in long-term thinking, calculate risks and buy insurance — in a bind. Given our government's glacial response to real-time melting glaciers, how can we help our kids cope?

When it comes to displaying anxiety, adolescents are usually good at jamming parental radar. The essence of juvenile cool is to pretend nothing bothers them, which, combined with shorter attention spans, may be why my son could so deftly juggle species doom and sibling rivalry. And yet as much as kids have faith in their own immortality, experts agree that they're deeply worried.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1223-25.htm

More at the link.

[YankeyMCC]

1. This is an important aspect of the whole issue

Perhaps THE most important because the young are the ones with the most at stake and unfair as it may be they'll probably have to most work to do to fight the worst of the effects or just continue holding civilization together.

And this is the phrase that really hits home:

"When I asked why they hadn't brought it up before, they said, yeah, well, it really sucks, but nobody's going to give up their car, so we're screwed.""

[RestoreGore]

8. This is the world they will inherit

They have to know there is hope in their hands.

[IndyOp]

2. Revolutions happen when people believe they can make a difference --

The old idea that when things just get bad enough then people will rise up - is bunk.

When people believe they can make a difference - then there can be revolutionary change.

We must model proactive responses to today's challenges. I am inviting my campus' Public Interest Research Group to the careers class I teach right off the bat this semester. I always encourage students to get involved in student groups as part of the "full college experience" -- and PIRG is going to be featured this year.

:-)

[Jcrowley]

3. K & R n/t

[BlueEyedSon]

4. And oil will run out, and the population of earth is unsustainable, and pollution.....

:cry:

[kestrel91316]

11. Buck up. Do everything you personally can. Tell everyone you can,

how to make a difference. It's going to have to be good enough.

Be strong.

:hug:

[Mind_your_head]

5. My kids are pretty aware, but it's difficult when it SEEMS like you're

the only one that cares or is cognizant of global warming or you're fighting an 'uphill battle' against denial all the time.

One of my kids did their science fair project on greenhouse gases (with tie in comments about how greenhouse gases impacts global warming). Although my kid got a high grade, the teacher made comments on the report like "there are varying scientific opinions about this", etc.

Also, I had to laugh when my other kid asked the her friend's mother why she drove and SUV when they only had one kid? My child continued on, "I can see why the 'Smith' family has one cause they have a lot of kids, but there are only 3 total in your family. The mom didn't know what to say. Kids say the darndest things sometimes! :rofl:

[YankeyMCC]

6. Fantastic..

your kid asking about the SUV I mean. Kids can get away with that - because if you think about it they have every right to ask such questions, when, although we adults have a similar right if not quiet as much stake as the younger, we just don't seem to be able to get away with it as cleanly.

Or maybe it's just that an adult asking that is assumed to have ultirior motives and when a child asks it just has much more moral punch. :)

And someone ought to look into the credentials of your other child's teacher. ;)

[RestoreGore]

7. That sure is true...

Good for your daughter about the SUV remark. My son was helping me pass out flyers for An Inconvenient Truth regarding ten ways to lessen your carbon foot print... he deliberately sought out Hummers to put them on;-). I now have him very aware of the amount of water we use and what is going on around the world regarding the global water crisis. We have to instill these values in our children in order to foster change. Thanks for your comment.

[Boomer]

9. What you can do for your kids

The best lessons are the ones they'll need to survive: how to grow food from their own vegetable garden, how to preserve what they grow to last through the winter, how to build a fire from scratch, carpentry with basic hand tools, how to live without electricity, and even how to handle a gun.

Global climate change is happening already; we are beyond the point of being able to stop it, and we may well be beyond the point of even being able to moderate it. We must trying by all means -- can't hurt, might help.

But the best insurance for your children's future is to give them the skills to deal with famine, disease and civil disorder. Chances are very good that they're going to get big helpings of all of those at some point in their adult lives. Hopefully not sooner, but even that may be naive optimism.

I have NONE of those skills, so I've pretty much resigned myself to having a short-lived existence in a Mad Max world. Since I'm on the other side of 50, I'm banking on being at least in my 60s or 70s before chaos descends. At which point I'll have lived a full life and can't really complain if I check out a little earlier than I might have under different circumstances. I'll leave room and resources for the young, who are going to need it.

[lostnfound]

10. My 5 year old knows the ice caps are melting becuz people are burning too much oil

and that oil must never be wasted becuz people are fighting wars about it.
And that plastic is made from oil. (more or less)