I stepped outside yesterday and caught two squirrels shagging on the back porch. At least, I think they were shagging - I've never seen squirrels do that before. Their act confused me because they swapped roles with some regularity, freezing for a moment mid-swap to catch me staring out of their side eye. Ah, spring.
As Colorado weather fluctuates between mid-80's / sunny and mid-30's/snow, I'm trying to clean up the yard and help our newbie plants along, watering on the hot days and protecting on the freezing days in between. It's odd to me that the weather fluctuations are behaving exactly like scientists predicted in my Environmental Studies textbooks. I took ENVS from 1999-2001 and lo and behold, predictions become truth on the daily.
My hairdresser and I were conversing about current hot topics and activism, and I confessed to being a climate change radical in the early 2000's, dragging my young-at-the-time children to Green Team meetings and 350.org rallies. Aden referred to this experience in her honors thesis, when she traced her environmental interest (green spaces in cities) back to those early exposures.
I started Earth Day activities at the elementary school and hosted newspaper reporters at our Green Team meetings. My efforts trickled off a bit when three kids in school with daily activities caught me in their wake - like a tiger by the tail. But some community efforts outlived my presence; Earth Day approaches now and the signs for creek clean-ups and the school drive to recycle electronics dot the neighborhood.
Life has worn down my sharp edges in the decades since I graduated, so though we use solar panels, xeriscaping and look to buy an electric car, I still fly on planes, my composting is shoddy and I don't always remember a clean re-usable cup at Starbucks. Now that my children are adults, I hope that perhaps their emerging activism will re-energize me and help me find new solutions to old problems, including what to do about randy squirrels.
No comments:
Post a Comment