Yikes!! I missed Earth Day this week. Shame on me. . . .

In his book The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman discusses how much resources the United States uses and how much waste the US produces. He went on to explain that as people in Third World countries raise their standard of living, they, too, will be using natural resources and creating waste products. And that will have a HUGE impact on our environment and the world.

Sometimes it seems that the baby boomers are focusing more on their retirement portfolio or what they will be doing for health care insurance after they retire than on changing and improving the world. They might also have the feeling of ‘what effect can I have as just one person?’ Well, I’m here to tell you that I think that as individuals we can do lots. And, we can have a big impact on our grandchildren by our ‘green’ actions.

I have recently started riding the bus to work. My initial reason was because of the high cost of gas. But, I’m also glad that there is one less car on the highways.

Here are some suggestions of activities that you can do with your grandchildren to help the environment while teaching them that each of us has a responsibility to take care of Mother Earth.

• Use your car less. If at all possible, walk more. Ride a bike to run errands. Not only will this save on fossil fuels it is healthier for your body.
• Consolidate your errands. Instead of running to a store for a small purchase, wait until you have several errands that you can do in one trip. This will eliminate the number of times that you use your car. (Saves time, saves money.)
• Plant a tree. This could be a great activity with a grandchild. Sit down with your grandchild and research the types of trees that will grow in your area. Discuss the pros and cons of the different varieties. Select one kind and buy it from a local nursery. Then plant it in your yard — or your grandchild’s yard.
• Plant a garden (if possible) to grow your own fresh vegetables. If you don’t have garden space, you can use pots on your patio for things like tomatoes or bush beans.
• If you have garden space, compost your kitchen scraps such as banana peels, orange rinds, or potato peelings, left over food that has gone bad, or dried out crusts of bread. Do not compost food items with oils in them.
• Clean up part of your community. This could be as simple as picking up the litter along the roadside. Or you could paint park benches or clean trash off an empy city lot.
• Sew a bag out of canvas and use it when you get groceries.
• Select one evening to turn off lights for one hour. (Maybe read your grandchild a story by candle light . . . and talk about pioneers.)
• Help your grandchild get recycling bins at his school for aluminum cans or papers.
• Instead of throwing your newspapers away, collect them and turn them into a recycling center.
• Give up bottled water. Filter tap water and drink it instead. This will eliminate lots of plastic waste.

You might want to take the quiz How Green Are You. You could take this with your grandchild. Then, determine areas where both of you could improve — and then do it!

Happy belated Earth Day,
Digi-Gram

P.S. I just read an newspaper article how Thomas Friedman was making a speech on Earth Day at Brown University about environmentalism. Two people threw green whipped cream pies at him. (Friedman was able to miss most of the cream.) One of the throwers was a 22 year-old girl who is a senior (and faces possible expulsion). She refused to identify the young man with her. “I think it was successful in that those conversations are happening now in a pretty engaged way,” she said. I’ll say! But I bet those engaged conversations are more about her actions and her pending expulsion more than on having free speech on Brown’s campus which was her reason for throwing the cream pies in the first place

I recently finished the book Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. My son, who also read the book, thought that I wouldn’t care for the first half because it detailed the training that Marcus went through to become a Navy SEAL. Au contraire! I was thoroughly intrigued about the grueling things they had to learn/do/endure. Almost motivated me to do something to get in better physical shape. Almost. (We met a SEAL while we were in Costa Rica. I was really impressed with him — especially his humility about his straining and skills!)

I did come to understand one thing. Something that wasn’t explicitly mentioned but was an ‘aha’ moment for me. I have seen (mostly through movies) how drill sergeants are in your face, yelling obscenities, and dishing out not very nice treatment to those under him. I came to understand that that type of treatment is meant to toughen up the soldiers. In the event of being captured by the enemy, the soldiers will be able to withstand (especially mentally) the cruelties that their captors might inflict upon them.

I do not necessarily condone the practice. I just understand it now.

In the second half of the book, Luttrell explains how, in June 2005, he led a four-man team of Navy SEALs into the mountains of Afghanistan on a mission to kill a Taliban leader thought to be allied with Osama bin Laden. He didn’t have a good feeling about the mission but went ahead with it anyway.

Not too long into their mission, they came across 2 men and a teen-aged boy. His team had a heated discussion about whether or not to kill them. They did not like the idea of killing innocent, unarmed people. But they also knew that if they didn’t kill the three people, those people would tell the Taliban and then the SEAL’s would have the Taliban after them. The decision was left up to Marcus. He chose to let them live.

Part of his decision was based on his Christian beliefs. But part was also because he knew how critical the media would be if those three civilians were killed. His insight and explanation about how manipulative the media is was excellent! (I agree with his assessment! Hate the media that manipulates events to sway people’s opinions.)

Because of his decision to let them live, those three people did indeed go to the Taliban. The Taliban did indeed come after the SEALs.

The second half of the book details the heroism of the team — how a 4-man team fought against a 150 man Taliban force wiping out at least half of them but at the expense of 3 Navy SEAL’s lives.

It also details Afghani humanity. Luttrell, wounded and severely dehydrated, was found by an Afghani village doctor. The doctor took him in, tended to his medical needs, and committed himself and his entire village to protect Luttrell against the Taliban. Amazing!!

This is a griping tale. If you’re reading habits lean toward Pollyanna tales, don’t read this. If you want a spellbinding, inspiring, heartbreaking story of courage, patriotism, and sacrifice, then this book is for you. I highly recommend it!

Always reading,
Digi-Gram