By Jordan Sapir
“Look, Mommy, there’s another mask, and another one! Look how many masks there are on the ground! Why don’t people throw their masks in the garbage?” My six-year-old mutters as we walk towards the river for our daily exploration time. I gave the kids an assignment to count all the masks they see littering our way to the river. A task that they have taken quite seriously. They are concerned and (unsurprisingly competitively) excited to see who can count the most masks. We have a discussion about the issue with litter, the individually wrapped masks in plastic, and the impact of this new trend on the environment. They don’t listen to all of it, bored by some parts and absolutely intrigued by other bits, but it does spark the intended interest. If there is one good thing that has come out of Covid-19, and I say this very generously, it’s been the amount of time I’ve had with my kids. We have definitely had to get creative. Don’t get me wrong, there have been a lot of “I’m bored” moments. There have also been a lot of lessons that might have otherwise been missed due to school, extracurricular activities, and playdate schedules.
Like most things in motherhood, I find myself questioning my approach. One of the most recent tests has been raising environmentally conscious children. Of course, there is the passive, lead-by-example method, the in-your-face-tree-hugging method, and let’s not forget the targeted and quite questionable screams-of-“turn the water off you’re killing everything in the sea”-abort-mission method. There are a lot of options, and I don’t always choose the correct one. Jokes aside, I do find myself questioning the approach to raising environmentalists. Should we guilt them into allegiance, like Sister Martha Mary, my Fransikiner fourth-grade teacher, who punished me if I couldn’t come up with something good to confess because she “knew” I’d done something worth penance? Or should we guide them and let them come up with their own values, opinions, and actions surrounding the Earth and how to care for it,?
Sure, I’d like to make them aware of our carbon footprint and how to treat and respect Mother Nature, and I constantly emphasize the farm-to-fork strategy, among other things. Most recently a lot of other things: homeschooling, household management, working, crafting, cooking, and all the tasks and obligations that come with being a working mother during a pandemic, like raising socially conscious, environmentally aware tiny advocates. Phew, even the sound of that is exhausting. I suppose the question I am seeking an answer to is how much do we, as mothers, bear the burden of environmental awareness? How do we emphasize the importance of protecting and caring for the environment without exhausting our children? After all, depleting our mini environmentalist caped crusaders is counterproductive to the cause.
What’s becoming increasingly obvious is how unequal that burden will be to our girls. After reading this month’s Book Club pick, Bill Gates’s How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, I found myself disconcerted with the conundrum. It is painstakingly obvious that women’s role in environmental protection is in the labor field. I see it in myself. Yet another role I have as a woman to do my part in a world that is so clearly devised for men.
The Gender Gap in Environmental Attitudes: A System Justification Perspective states “In studies of environmental action, it reveals that women are more likely than men to actively participate in pro-environmental behaviors and to express willingness to contribute financially to protecting the environment.” There are endless studies on the subject matter.
So what do I do? How do I reason? Do I teach my girls to pick up trash, spend endless hours sorting their recycling, turning the water off while washing their hair, or do I seek to interest my children in science- and technologically-based solutions?
All I can muster at this point, after a year of confinement, is, to teach my children how to care for the Earth. I have to show them all the Earth has to offer. We will still Plog, because, let's face it, I also need to exhaust them, while spontaneously getting my own sanity run in. We will ride our bikes more, drive less, enjoy Meat Free Mondays, and plant our urban garden. While we enjoy the splendor that Mother Earth has provided for us, I aim to remind them that it is not their chore alone to compensate for the harm caused to our environment. I will also teach them that not everyone has the luxury of environmental choices. They have to learn that if they want to cut the head off the snake (I know, bad reference), they’ll have to take a seat at the table and let someone else volunteer to do the washing up. I don’t want my girls to take on any more female emotional luggage. I want them to be able to innovate solutions in a barrier-free industry, the industry which focuses on liberating the Earth. Don’t panic, children. It’s organic.
“Women must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to the ecological crisis within a society whose fundamental model of relationships continues to be one of domination. They must unite the demands of the women’s movement with those of the ecological movement to envision a radical reshaping of the basic socioeconomic relations and the underlying values of this [modern industrial] society.” — Rosemary Radford Ruether
Jordan Sapir
Jordan Sapir, mother of two glitter-laden girls, 4 and 6, studied Journalism and International Political Science in NYC, a place she once called home. She can slaughter five languages fluently. She has worked in a newsroom or two, walked a catwalk or three, and is all for an impromptu adventure. Having traded in her Prada for pretzels, the founder of Über Moms lives in Munich, where she is a stay at home mom and studying to become a certified nutritionist. She is a mommy on a mission and wants to help fellow mothers raise healthy happy families, and beat a PR here and there.