Tag Archives: environment

Letters to George Bush (the elder)

Memories, Politics, teaching, Things, Writing, , ,

In the spring of 1991, probably because it was close to Earth Day or maybe I’d just taught a unit on environmental studies, I had my students write letters to President George Bush requesting he be more concerned about the Earth. It’s actually odd I did this at that time because he’d just announced Proclamation 6274 (Earth Day).

We received a reply, but I may have thrown it away. It was pretty exciting though.

Here are the letters:

Dear Mr. President,

We are Michael and Callie and we are interested in saving the Earth. We would like you to try to stop people from littering. And to make a law to stop people from littering.

Sincerely,
Michael and Callie

Dear Mr. President,

I understand that you have a lot of work to do but anyway I know that you want to be known as the Environmental President and I want to help. The first way is you could try to provide a safe place for animals. The second way is you could set a new law. It could be that you could arrest people who litter. You could also try to stop pollution by banning hairspray and just use mousse. You could also try to ban cigarettes and try to stop anymore oil going into rivers, streams, oceans, and seas. I would be pleased if you wrote back. If you write back can you send some of your ways to help the Earth? Tell Mrs. Bush I said hello.

Sincerely,
Jessica

Dear Mr. President,

I think you should help clean up the environment and air. I think you should shut down the smoke factories for ever and ever. That would be nice to breathe clean air. I get sick when the air has too much smoke in it. I think it is wrong to pollute the air because it destroys animals and plants. When I see dead animals I feel sad

Sincerely,
Dallas

Dear Mr. Presidident,

Can you help stop pollution a little and litter too? Can you help clean the air? Can you help clean the water?

Sincerely,
Daniel

Dear Mr. President,

How is congress? Can you make a law about pollution because the cars make the pollution? Can you make people pick up trash?

Sincerely,
Ian and Mark

Dear President Bush,

How are you? I’m fine. How’s congress? Any new decorations for the oval office? Didn’t think so. Well, I wrote to say you’re a great president. BUT can you help us around here? The environment is getting really polluted and littered and the animals are disappearing. Please help. Pass a law or something. Build animal shelters. But please do something when and if you have the time, and if you come here in person please sit by me and we can talk. We have lunch at 12:05. If you come on Friday they have pizza. This school (unlike others) has great pizza. We sit at the last table with another class. Anyway, write back soon.

Sincerely,
Edward

Dear Mr. President Bush,

I would like you to help the nation get most of the pollution out of it. I would like you to make a home that is safe for animals and make a law to show that the world is in danger.

Yours sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Mr. President,

I wish you would stop the littering. You would not like what you see. Please do a good job. Please do me a favor and make a new law. If someone litters they have to pay a fine.

Sincerly,
Eric

In which Helen pays a visit & Indigo Bunting is referenced

Dreams, ,

So, last night the only dream I recall involved Helen and Indigo Bunting.  I was in an unfamiliar place — it was dimly-lit, but warm and comfortable. There were other people in the room, but they were all shadows. Helen sat on a sofa next to me and we were discussing our carbon footprints. I was telling Helen that I thought her carbon footprint was much smaller than mine — that Indigo Bunting said so. Something about kids being environmentally unsound.

As I sit in my living room this morning and look at the mess my teen aged daughter has made of the room — papers strewn over every horizontal surface, tubes of paint littering the coffee table, broken Christmas ornaments she promised to donate to the art room, dirty socks and hair ribbons scattered around — from studying for exams half the night, I think IB had a point.

Oh, Helen — your hair was georgous in the dream.

Blog Action Day

Blogging,

Coming in late in the game, but I noticed that today is Blog Action Day. I heard about it a week or so ago, and thought I’d add my voice to the cause when the day came, but didn’t know the exact day so I promptly forgot about it. Noticed that today was the day on a headline of an RSS I subscribe to.

I most certainly am no expert in the field. I used to be more concerned (even obsessed) about the environment:

  • I was a vegetarian for several years (with a few meat eating breaks here and there).
  • We recycled before curbside recycling came to our home in Alexandria Virginia.
  • We attended rallies for Earth Day etc.
  • I took an environmental awareness course for recertification credit in the late 1980’s.
  • When both children were infants we used cloth diapers instead of disposable.

Then something happened. I began to not care so much. I was caught up in motherhood and, while we continued recycling, the rest of the environmental issues took second place to our family comfort. I don’t keep the winter temperature below 70°. I blame it on my Raynaud’s. However we rarely use our air conditioner. It has to be sweltering before we turn it on (90° or more with humidity). So I figure we even it all out.

As for global warming, I admit that I didn’t believe in it until recently when something profound happened. Of course I don’t remember what it was – but something happened that I saw and made me believe that we were really experiencing global warming. Please note: I’ve not seen the whole of Al Gore’s film for another reason I cannot recall.

I’d like to say that I’m working from home in order to save the environment from yet another single passenger car from being on the road, but I’m actually working from home because I like to work in my jammies.

My kids accuse me of what I accused my parents – we’ve let them down and ruined the Earth for them. As a teen I thought big – globally. As a young adult I did the same. As a parent and middle-aged adult I think more locally. Perhaps as an elder I will think globally again.

This wasn’t so much of a post on the environment as a post on my response to it. So be it. My next car will be a hybrid though.