This piece by Alicia Hunt was cross-posted on Green Lifestyle.
This afternoon when I picked my daughter up from school she handed me a craft she had made and said “Here, this is your Mother’s Day Gift. I don’t know when Mother’s Day is, so I’m giving it to you now.” She is 6 years old. How sweet is that? Every year someone has helped my children create some sort of Mother’s Day gift for me and as much as I rant and rave about wanting less stuff, I always keep their Mother’s Day gifts to me.
What do I want for my children? If I could give them anything in the world for Mother’s Day, I would give them a planet with clean air and without global warming.
I would give them a planet where the polar ice caps weren’t melting, where animal habitats weren’t vanishing and where 100 year and 1000 year storms weren’t coming two and three times a year.
I would give them a planet where you could swim in every river and pond, where you could drink the spring water in my grandmother’s town and where children didn’t get asthma and respiratory diseases just from breathing the air where they live.
I would give them a planet where all the food they eat is free of pesticides, artificial hormones and antibiotics.
I would give them a planet where I know they are becoming the best they can be and not wondering if they’d be a little smarter, a little brighter if only they hadn’t been exposed to BPA, phthalates, mercury and other toxins as a fetus and infant.
I would give them a planet where we didn’t have to worry about our health, our environment and our impact all the time.
I would give them a planet where kids could just be kids and adults could do what makes them happy and live in peace with one another.
What am I giving my children for Mother’s Day? I’m giving them an education on how to make the world a better place. I’m working hard to keep toxins out of their food and air. I’m sharing information and trying to influence others so that maybe, just maybe, my grandchildren can live in the world that I wish for my children.
Happy Mothers Day!
Alicia
What can you do to give our children and grandchildren this world? Start here by submitting a public comment to the EPA on the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics rule.
Then browse our “With Kids” tab for ideas on how to include your children in going green and contributing to making this a better world for everyone.
This post is part of the MCAF Blog Carnival: A Mother’s Day Gift