There is no Planet B. Out of the mouths of babes! I heartily applaud the letter that Amy Rosenthal submitted on behalf of her 10- and 8-year-old children, Bennett and Rosemary Funk. Thank you, kids! [Make the world a better place, Viewpoints, Jan. 17]
I confess I am imperfect when it comes to doing my part to combat Climate Change. I’m doing better of late, thanks in part to joining the River Forest Sustainability Commission as one of its commissioners. I’m learning all sorts of things beyond the obvious stuff — like taking reusable bags to the grocery or composting my kitchen scraps.
Not that those aren’t a good first step. Every little bit helps.
Sadly though, I think there are a lot of folks who just feel this is a losing battle. Or maybe that it’s too much trouble. Or what difference do the efforts of one person really make? And gee whiz, with all that is going on now in this country, who can deal with Climate Change?
Out of the mouths of babes, yes, and here’s another such story:
Before I joined it, I spoke about the benefits of heat pumps during the public comment portion of the Sustainability Commission’s meeting a few months ago. Candidly, I will admit that I used that bully pulpit as a job interview for the job of commissioner. Well, anybody who knows me knows I’m gung-ho on heat pumps — had them at our house in Oak Park and have one on the roof of our condo in River Forest. Can’t say enough good about them. In the three years we’ve lived in River Forest, our furnace has come on exactly once — during this latest cold streak. Otherwise, we’ve been running on the much more efficient heat pump for both our heating and cooling needs.
But I digress. Sitting in the back of the room at that meeting was a very young boy, the son of one of the commissioners. The boy was very well behaved and quietly keeping himself entertained and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the proceedings.
Turns out I was wrong because at a subsequent meeting, his mother told the commission the following story: It seems the child went to school the next day and told his class about heat pumps — all about this lady who came to his mother’s meeting and talked about how wonderful heat pumps are.
As I sat in the meeting listening, my eyes teared up, as they do now writing this. The moral of the story is: Don’t ever think that one small action can’t make a difference, because it can. If even one small little boy is listening, maybe your words and actions can make a difference.
And yes, folks, there is no Plan(et) B, so please heed the words of the little children.