Courtesy United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
I am worried. Not about whether my son will be a good kid or not because I know that he will. I am not worried about rising debt in the U.S.A. something tells me it will work itself out. I am not worried about some sex predator taking my child, we live in a safe neighborhood (until I put my guard down). I am not worried about some maniac walking into my son’s daycare and shooting the kids. I am not worried about all of that because those are things I can not control. There is something more concerning to me.
Will our planet be able to sustain life when my son is an adult?
I have always been worried about our planet. 2 years ago the region I live in was faced with flooding and just this past year we were and still are facing a drought. One can not help but think about our planet when we hear things like this. I think about it with every diaper I change. I think about it ever time I use a plastic bag to pick up my dog’s poo.
My wife and I try to set an example. We recycle but I wonder is that enough? Will one cardboard box or one plastic milk carton help?
I do not want to leave this problem to my son’s generation. They will face their own set of problems that we pass off to them. He will have to worry about which care home to send me to and how he is going to pay for his kids college education.
While we live in a scary world, when you think about what will happen with a planet that is continually over heating planet (whether you call it global warming, climate change, or a warm cycle) it is even more worrisome.
What are you doing to teach your kids to be more environmentally sound?
About The Rookie Dad
I can’t get wrapped up in global warming… It’s not something that we can control. The earth has been warming since the ice age and climate change is something that we are going yo have to adapt to. That being said we do teach recycling and energy conservation because by not doing that is wasteful.
I’d agree somewhat with DIC’s comment: though I’d take issue with him dismissing the possibility that climate change is anything but a normal, cyclical process while also covering the bases by saying you can’t do anything about it anyway if it wasn’t.
But mainly I’d say focus ‘close to home’ because if you’re worried about sustainability of life on the planet I’d start with the food we feed our kids. I am by no means a 4th degree vegan or self sufficient organic farmer or anything but the growing – read over a decade long – scientific studies about the health impact of BPA in more than half the foods you consume should scare anyone straight. It’s basically the wonder compound that asbestos was (i.e. used in a wide spectrum of products).
It’s in most canned foods and in many plastics are not “hard”. It mimics hormones that ought to be controlled by your brain and causes havoc with your reproductive structures, hormones and thyroid. These cause secondary symptoms like aggression, hyperactivity, cancer, etc.
In scientific terms, this compound in much of the food we eat (at high doses) is “Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well-known endocrine disruptor that imperfectly mimics the effects of physiologic estrogens via membrane-bound estrogen receptors (mERα, mERβ, GPER/GPR30), thereby initiating non-genomic signaling. ” Non-genomic signaling….it’s like someone putting up their own fake traffic signal at a busy intersection. This could cause problems even at the lowest levels of interference.
The scary info:
http://www.ewg.org/bpa/
http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/hidden-chemicals-you-re-feeding-your-kids?video=16682
detailed facts: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola (scroll down to the National Toxicology Program study results and know that many people are in the 5-10 range for exposure. Then think about how many hyper kids and enlarged prostates we have these days. !)
The good news: you can avoid it, and a lot of people do a lot of the time. It’s just that the interactions you do have with it cause you to get large doses. There are a number of simple steps you can take, and it actually improves the food you feed your kids as well. Use glass containers for storage, try to use fresh fruits & vegetables (or use frozen instead of cans as there is less leaching at low temperature even if the bags have bpa), limit your handling of those glossy cash register receipts (or refuse them if you feel its not needed).
So I’d worry less about global calamity than making the actual environment your children develop in as optimal as possible. of course, I write this as I am sitting here cloaked in wifi signals and microwave radiation from various devices I use. but their process of cell mutation is both less disruptive to normal bodily process than synthetic chemicals are, and more easily identified when it goes wrong (i.e. a tumor). Plus it just means you should get away from your devices every few hours (or sooner)….which is an ideally reminder to spend some time with the family. exercise, etc.
Again, prevention from overexposure to hazards of modern life usually has collateral benefits like ‘more togetherness’. So that’s good!
We recycle. We use high-efficiency whenever possible. We talk to our kids about being environmentally responsible. I am, after all, an Environmental Scientist. However, I do work in the Oil and Gas industry. It’s sort of like being the chicken in the fox house.
We do our best to reduce our carbon footprint. My kids are pretty young to completely understand but if we model it now it will make understanding it easier when they’re a little older.