“Mothers will be the key to mitigating, adapting and slowing down the current and future problems facing us…”
This quote is from a note the Moms Clean Air Force received from a District Manager for the Climate Reality Project. We’ve made so many fabulous alliances, but as someone who closely follows air pollution and our climate woes, the Climate Reality Project has become near and dear to me.
Reality Bites
As moms and dads, we dole out dangerous reality flashes to our children about hazardous situations in doses kids can comprehend. Considering all the potential risks our children face daily, it’s our challenge to protect them without scaring…and scarring the living daylights out of them.
For a moment, think about some of those daily perils and what we must convey to our children to keep them safe. Even way before our kids become teenagers, and we lay the groundwork for the “biggies” – drugs, sex and alcohol, we tiptoe into the worry danger zone…
Worry Danger Zone
We tell our children to look both ways before crossing the street. We tell them not to talk to strangers. We tell them to eat their vegetables. We tell them not to watch too much TV and if they do, not to sit too close. We tell them to wear helmets. There’s a seemingly endless list of worries.
Ultimately, by giving children these safety tools, moms and dads bolster their child’s self-confidence. Why is this so important? Because someday our children will fly away from the comfort and safety of our nests (sniff, sniff), and make decisions about their future.
So we must stay vigilant to keep our children out of harms way. It’s impossible to express our concerns about how special interest groups are spending huge amounts of money to convince people that we do not have a pollution problem, while children around the globe are experiencing the effects of poisoned air.
We can’t tell our children to stop breathing.
How do we keep our children safe from polluted air? Purely and simply, we must be relentlessly consistent and stay on message that the Clean Air Act protected us when we were children, and we need it to continue to protect our children and future generations.
Mr. Reliable
Call me crazy, but when Al Gore talks about the environment, he makes me feel safer. (Please don’t send the elephants to trample me.) Gore’s message is like a reliable parent. In this role, he does not concede in the protectiveness of his message. Gore’s sheer doggedness may turn off some, but for me, his persistence is like a parent standing at the threshold of harm’s way.
As a parent and teacher, Gore’s given me the tools to talk to children about pollution and climate change. An Inconvenient Truth brought us a strong dose of reality. In fact, it’s grounded me in fighting for what I believe in – clean air, land and water for future generations.
5 Clean Air Realities We Can Learn From Al Gore
1. “The climate crisis knows no political boundaries.”
Neither does polluted air, and pollution deniers on both sides of the political spectrum are putting our children’s future at risk when they side with polluters. Check out who voted to block or delay efforts by the EPA to reduce carbon pollution. Here’s how it fleshed out in my state:
Polluter Contributions to Politicians in New York State:
$1,015,554
Total Kids with Asthma in New York State:
414,950
2. “The global environment crisis is, as we say in Tennessee, real as rain, and I cannot stand the thought of leaving my children with a degraded earth and a diminished future.”
This is exactly why the MCAF is fighting for your children’s right to breathe clean fresh air. Please join us in our mission.
3.. “…polluters and the deniers and their ideological allies are going to attack green jobs; they’re going to shift the national security argument to the exploitation of coal, tar sands, and shale….”
They already are. We keep hearing from some politicians that energy is a national security issue, or energy is a jobs issue as they chip away at our children’s future. This is a well-financed disinformation and denial campaign that allows pollution rights to power companies. Let’s not let the doom and gloom take over our reality. Here’s the truth about jobs and national security and how to deal with pollution deniers (I cringe every time I write about deniers and pro-polluters – Do these people have children?)
4. “…people all around the globe living with the impacts of climate change will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events — including floods, droughts and storms — and the man-made pollution that is changing our climate.”
Hurricane Irene brought this issue too close to home for me, and I hope others will come to the conclusion that our weather has been impacted adversely by climate change.
5. “We have something that they don’t – Reality.”
Yes we do. But, pro-polluters (cringing again) have a polluted sense of reality that resides in padding their pockets and leaving our children paying the costs with their health.
Reality Rules!
Al Gore’s latest endeavor, The Climate Reality Project is planning an incredible event – spanning the globe for two days – September 14th &15th. I’m standing with the Climate Reality Project as they actively put our environment first. But, who is the best group to put our children first? Hands down, parents are. Can the Moms Clean Air Force change the world? I believe we absolutely can when we choose reality.
Here’s more about the Climate Reality Project:
Photo Credit: Lainey Fink
#2 says it all for me! That's why I do what I do!