I remember Earth Day in 1992 when I was second grade when I first heard about the rainforests. In fact, we had a whole week dedicated protecting the rainforests. My second grade teacher had an entire week of activites planned in understanding the rainforest and why cutting it down was bad.
My favorite activity was always turning the classroom into a rain forest. We would spend hours cutting out leaves from construction paper, hole-punching them and stringing them up on green yarn to create a canopy. I may have enjoyed the activity so much that my bed room strongly resembled a rainforest for years afterward.
All through elementary school we had a week dedicated to conservation and environmentalism. This was a bit surprising considering I grew in rural Pennsylvania, somewhat harshly (but not unfairly) referred to as Pennsyltucky. My school wasn’t exactly a bastion of liberal thought. But still, almost 30 years ago in a very conversative area, my parents and teachers understood the importance of conservation.
Not for the first time, I wonder if Trump couldn’t have learned something from an elementary school education.
I spent the next decade or so watching Tiny Toons and Plucky Duck as the Toxic Revenger, Fern Gully, and Captain Planet.
Throughout college, I was active in conservation efforts on campus. After college, I volunteered with Americorps doing conservation work in California. My first car was a Subaru, which I bought because of the zero emission plant in Indiana and high MPG. Every car I’ve bought since then has been a Subaru, including the short-lived Subaru hybrid.
Every week, my household recycling is twice, if not three times what we send to the dump. We compost when we can. We stay away from most easily disposable items. We don’t eat red meat for many reasons, one of the major reasons is the environmental impact.
I say all of this because this isn’t going to change. Trump making the incredibly stupid decision to leave the Paris Accord doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop doing all of these things. I will resist the Trump stupidity by … continuing to do what I’ve done before. I’ll limit my consumerism. I’ll eat sustainable foods. I’ll contain to patronize those companies that hold the conservation and protection of our planet in the same high esteem I do. I’ll avoid fossil fuels as much as possible. I’ll only purchase cars that have a high MPG.
I was doing all of these things before. I’ll continue to do them in the future, just with a little added streak of the #Resistance. Trump might have left the Paris Accord, but me and my household –we are still very much a part of it.
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