Well before most scientists were warning us about climate change, my mom was already conserving water, lowering the thermostat, and worried about the amount of plastic showing up in everything from her makeup to her new dishwasher.
She was a registered nurse and an avid reader, but in another life, she could have been a science professor. She loved learning and she devoured every episode of the PBS documentary series Nova with the intensity of a bio major cramming for finals, never missing a single “lab.”
Each morning, we’d find her at the dining room table, coffee in hand, newspaper splayed out like a battlefield map. As we poured our cereal and pulled our stuff together for school, she’d read aloud the captions and articles she found the most fascinating. We thought it was just background noise; but in reality she was stealthily schooling us on preserving ecosystems and saving endangered species before we even knew what Earth Day was.
“Kids,” she always started that way, “did you know they’re leveling a beautiful prairie just west of the city to build some awful strip mall?” We’d shrug our shoulders and scoop another spoonful of Cheerios. “Where will all the creatures that live there go? All the butterflies, bumble bees and frogs, not to mention the birds, foxes and other wildlife that called that field home?”
We’d never thought about them before…but to this day, I can’t pass a construction site without thinking the same thing.
After dinner, we’d stack the dishes in the sink when she’d sneak into the kitchen to remind us not to run the water. “Kids, don’t use clean water to rinse dirty dishes,” she’d say. “Someday water will be a pricey commodity and we’ll be fighting to save it.” Then she’d grab one of the dirty pots, place it in the sink, fill it with water and swish the dirty dishes and silverware through it before loading them into the dishwasher.
Running the faucet was no longer an option, and it still isn’t in my house.
I am too young to remember the first Earth Day in 1970, but as the years went on, I remember my mom saying, “It’s great they created one day to honor our Earth, but we need to take care of it every day. They should declare an Earth Month and take more time to educate people on what’s happening to the world.”
I’m pretty sure my mom would be thrilled to know that’s exactly what the Village of Oak Park’s Sustainability Office and its local partners are doing. Over this month and in celebration of Earth Month, there have been at least nine nearby events to teach and inspire all of us to take care of our planet.
They have included an Eco-Extravaganza at the Oak Park Public Library to a Clean Energy Open House. The Trailside Museum showed people how to create pollinator pockets in their own yard by making a seed bomb.
Currently, the One Earth Film Festival is underway with films on how to reform school lunches and many other topics.
I know my mom would have been at every one of these events, urging us to go with her, because she knew by protecting our planet, she protected the ones she loved.
Come join us, bring your kids and become their stealthy science teacher, because these are the lessons that will stay with them forever.