The kids may be the only ones who can unite us to take America back. There is a human instinct to leave our children a world as good as the one we've inherited--better, if possible-- which is not exactly what we're doing. I wrote As If We Were Grownups (on the sidebar to the right) in part to suggest that an effective, unifying politics for grownups would take us back to that principle. What if we insisted on leaders who, on the brink of every major decision, asked themselves this touchstone question: Of the options available to me here, which one is best for my children and their children?
But nothing my generation writes or says can move us like the kids can. This 13-yr-old Canadian girl spoke to the Rio summit in the early 90s. Just notice what shifts as you listen to her.
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2 comments:
That's very insightful and I particularly enjoyed listening to the young girl's speech, I'd be curious to see what direction Severn Suzuki's life has gone in as it's been almost 10 years and I was happy to find out she's still very active.
One site in particular is The Skyfish Project :
http://skyfishproject.org/
I think that as an adult it's easy to visualize environmental issues with a hereditary/stewardship type of attitude and I think by and large not too many people would disagree that it's good for us and good for our children and grandchildren to take care of our environment and leave the environment in better shape than we currently find it.
I think when the focus shifts towards social issues and economies and politics that it becomes harder for individuals to discern what the long term repercussions of one's own actions are... and as one determines the best course of action to benefit one's children it becomes even harder to articulate.
Perhaps the consensus that applies to the Earth (i.e. we all want a better, less polluted Earth) can be applied to each individual country or government (i.e. we all want a government that works and benefits all people who participate without inflicting unnecessary harm upon other countries/individuals)
I agree with Jeff, any change requires a shift in thinking, and nothing is more immediate and easy to grasp than the situations/futures of one's own children...
It's a start
Here is a link from a Time magazine 2002 article by Severn Suzuki as well... food for thought
http://www.time.com/time/2002/greencentury/engeneration.html
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