My dad is currently very distressed over the plastics in our oceans. It's a weird turn of events and I'm not entirely sure why he's suddenly a bleeding heart Earth Lover. Was it the photo of the poor sea turtles? Let me explain... Dad gets his news from Fox and Conservative talk radio. He's somehow a very staunch conservative and absorbs all the hate mongering words he hears from these "news" sources.
"Global Warming is a myth and eco friendly is bullshit." Which is why I'm wondering where this newfound turn has come from. I'm serious when I say he's very distressed. He's acting like a 5 year old boy who just saw his puppy being run over. He's SO sad and SO upset. Perhaps it's because he's really seeing it for the first time, where I've had almost 30 years to process this and work towards a different world. I was this upset when I was 10. And I think his great emotions are for the animals, as mine were when I was young. I wanted to do anything and everything that I could to save the marine animals from this horrible mess and it made me cry a lot. It would be great, except that he's run the gamut from one extreme to the other. He's fruitlessly pouring all of his energies into eradicating all of the worlds plastic in a weekend. That's not how it works, plus it'll just stress a person out, which it is completely stressing him out. He kept collecting all our plastic wanting to burn it. "Umm... dad? I don't think that's a good idea. They'll put poisonous fumes into the air." Which I was worried about him being snarky about this "mythical" air pollution, but he didn't. He just demanded that we had to get rid of the plastic! Then apparently he researched it and found that what I said was true (it's also a great possibility that he didn't hear me, as he can't really hear.); and it was double confusing that he is also now worried about the air quality. He was always the worst with the Earth. He'd throw his plastic coke bottles out the window or into lakes while we were fishing. The Sister and I would scream at him not to do that like he was about to murder a cat or something. He always shrugged it off or acted like it didn't matter. After so long though, he thankfully stopped doing that. But after he started listening to the Conservative "news" stations, he really began to sort of belittle us about being green. Water or electricity conservation was met with backlash as was our efforts in recycling. Our when we'd try to save trees from his felling or plant new one's. While I have a pretty even view of Global Warming, his was always "It's not real! End of discussion!" I say mine's pretty even, because I keep getting mixed signals and no real answers and don't know what to believe. Reading articles published by National Geographic by legitimate scientists saying that the Earth has warmed up considerably (akin to now, or rather ten years ago when I read the article and the other things) through different periods of time, including during the Dark Ages. But then that article is stricken from existence and all I get is an automaton response of "Global Warming is REAL! And it's ALL our fault!" No facts, no figures, no "Oh yeah, we did write that, but new evidence has come to light." Anything that would be logical is missing from the equation. They're just angry statements of "It IS!!!" like the person is going to cross their arms and stamp away like a kid on the play yard who didn't get their way. I can't take that seriously! So, what am I supposed to believe? Because an impassioned and overly emotional blanket statement is illogical and answers no questions and isn't going to do it for me. So, I'm forced to look at the only scientific evidence I have, which is all the sources that said this has happened before and to great extremes. But, I can also concede that we're not doing the Earth any favours by polluting the air and water. We shouldn't have factories pumping noxious things out into our air and water systems. We should recycle and reuse and save the trees and animals. I'm all for finding better ways to reduce and help the Earth out, not just for us as humans, but for Earth itself and her plants and animals. Dad never cottoned to that notion. At all. So to suddenly have him say that plastic straws are evil and we have to get rid of all the plastic and we have to step up our game and have him worry about air quality is great, but also weird. Plus, it's not helpful that he's running himself ragged trying to fight this on his own and acting like he's the only person in this house who cares. Umm... who was it who kept reminding you since she was 12 to cut the plastic rings on your soda packs so that sea turtles and other marine life couldn't be entangled by it? Yeah, that'd be me. I went on a field trip to the J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and discovered this was a huge problem and came home and made sure those were always cut. Who was it that came home at age 10 from Girl Scouts wanting to save trees and recycle? Yeah, that'd be me too. The Sister hates actually having to recycle because we don't have curbside pickup and I get that, but she also likes that we're recycling. Dad just found it a complete nuisance and waist of time. Perhaps now is different? He's all we have to use reusable this and that. "Yeah dad. The Sister and I do have reusable coffee and water containers, as well as straws. This'll mean though that you need to stop purchasing those 24 packs of single use plastic bottles of water that you're always buying." I'm happy about dad's new turn, but I also have to wonder how long will it last? Will he go back to the way he was before after another week, a month, a year? Plus he needs to slow down and stop acting like the King of Earth Saving. Because it's not doing anyone any favours. Certainly not the Earth nor himself.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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