Legacy

If you haven't seen The Lorax you are missing out.  It's fun, funny, vibrant and beautiful - and it made me cry (what doesn't? lol).  I hope it has the same effect on everyone who sees it - because if you're watching it in all it's many layers I think it's worthy of a tear or two.

I've been an environmentally conscious person for a long time.  But it wasn't until I became a mother that the true importance of the environment dawned on me.  The way I see it - earth is our most important legacy.  What could be more important than the world we leave behind for our children to contend with - survive in!?  We want them to thrive, explore and flourish.  We stress the importance of health and education - emotional stability and good social conscious - but all that could easily be over shadowed by a quest for simpler things - like fresh water, clean air, pure soil!  I think many of us still find the idea of that so frightening (and inconvenient) that we refuse to acknowledge it.  We still want to roll our eyes and tell ourselves "those outspoken environmentalists are just high strung hippies with a habit of exaggerating".  We like to convince ourselves of things like it's okay to use water because it's a renewable resource and it's okay to use plastic now because we recycle! We don't want to hear about the fact that not all water is usable and we consume it far more quickly than the water cycle is completed. We don't want to know about the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of plastic floating around in the oceans - or the dumps because we can put it in the blue bin but unless someone buys it and re purposes it, it goes nowhere!  This is frightening!  Who wants to hear this stuff?? I sure don't!  But the reality is we still consume too many raw resources and produce far too much waste per capita to sustain the eco system!  Each and every one of us is leaving a BIG dent, not a foot print - but a crater on the earth! 

This bothers me.  As I watched the film I kept asking myself - who's the Lorax in the real world??  Who speaks for the trees?  Are we really the guardians of the earth??  I shed a tear for shame because I realised despite my concerns for the future - I don't do enough.  I shed a tear for hope - because I think there is still a great deal we can do if we all decide to make just a little more effort.  The question is....are we willing?  Can we all speak for the trees??  I shed a tear in panic because I fear too many of us will shrug our shoulders and say - "I do my best, they"ll come up with something before it's too late"....who's "THEY"?? Are "they" our children??  I don't want that!  In the same way I don't ask my son to come in and clean up my room or make my bed!  It's my responsibility!  Either keep it clean or clean it up - isn't that the rule?  Isn't that what we teach them??
So...
Are we willing?
Can we do it?
I sure hope the answer is YES...
I know in this household things are already changing...we will continue to try harder - to do more - to be the guardians...because if I can't leave a perfect legacy I at least want my children to know I did all I could. And though they will still be stuck with a mess to deal with maybe they won't have to claw their way up out of my crater.

G'Night