The children are our future–NOT!

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When it comes to environmental issues, I don’t believe “the children are our future.”  We are our children’s future – the decisions we make today determine the environment they’re going to inherit.  Thus, if we’re looking for catch-phrases, I think the one from the Great Law of the Iriquois Confederacy makes more sense, “"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."  So how’re we doing?

The National Environmental Education Foundation(NAEEF) recently released preliminary results of a national survey on environmental attitudes.  NAEEF plans to use the results of this survey to guide their work in achieving their goal of having 300 million Americans actively using environmental knowledge to ensure the well-being of the Earth and its people by 2022.  Although NAEEF managed to put a positive spin on the preliminary results, I found some of the numbers a bit concerning:

• 77% of adults surveyed turn off a light when leaving a room….
• 54% of adults surveyed look for the energy seal on products….
• 60% of adults surveyed keep up with news about how the environment impacts health…
• 61% of adults visited a park or nature center…

Which means

• 23% of adults surveyed don’t turn off lights when leaving a room.
• 46% of adults surveyed don’t look for the energy seal on products.
• 40% of adults surveyed don’t keep up with news about how the environment impacts health.
• 39% of adults surveyed haven’t visited a park or nature center.

Additionally, the press release reports that

• 21% of the adults surveyed were aware that batteries are recyclable, but found it too difficult to recycle them properly.
• 59% of the adults surveyed considered an environmentally conscious lifestyle to be too much work.
• 61% of the adults surveyed consider an environmentally conscious lifestyle too expensive.

We’ve got some work to do, greenmomsters.  As we well know, kids don’t listen to what we say; they watch what we do.  Time to show them that we’re willing to protect their future!

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Source:
NAEEF Press Release:  New National Survey Findings are Good News for the Environment.  Accessed 2/9/2014 at http://www.neefusa.org/assets/files/Benchmark-Survey-launch.pdf