ALL I WANT FOR MOTHER’S DAY IS . . .

I’m really not sure why it is so hard for our country to act in the best interest of its most vulnerable– our children.

Maybe it is because they don’t vote.  They don’t have any money.  They don’t have a lobby.

They don’t make large donations to PACs and they don’t run multi-national corporations.

But they will.  And they will be the ones taking care of us when we are old and in need.  They will be the ones dealing with the problems we as a generation could not solve. Global warming and the extreme weather that results.  The diminishing middle class.  Poverty, fractured families, and poisoned air, water and soil (the list goes on).

We will need them. And now, our nation’s children need us to stop putting corporate interests in front of precaution.  When babies are born pre-polluted with industrial chemicals from the air, water, and products we use, we are disrespecting our collective future.

So all I am asking is for two things:

1.  That we keep the EPA strong in its ability to protect families. We need to preserve the new Mercury/Air Toxics Rule which will save lives, lessen illnesses and hospital visits, and improve school attendance and student learning. Our nation’s children deserve to go to schools where the air does not poison them, and where they can thrive, learn and grow.

2. That Congress passes the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, finally acting to update the permissive Toxic Substances Control Act.  Chemicals need to be tested for safety BEFORE they are put in products to be sold.  Sounds like common sense, but in America, it is still not true.  We need to follow the precautionary principal in how we regulate chemicals, food, water, and pharmaceuticals.

I want for my daughters to not have to fight like this to protect their children.  It should be common sense, a village taking care of their children.  I hope that my girls do not have to worry that the air is poisoning their children, that the products and food they buy will harm their families.  I hope they don’t ever have to consider these issues– I hope they can focus on spending time together: reading, singing, dancing, living…. instead.

What about you?

This post is part of the Moms Clean Air Force Mother’s Day Carnival.  Please join us!  Follow this link to see how you can be involved in the carnival.