The Mom Post

Last night, in a kitchen overflowing with 10 friends, 2 sizzling pans of oil and 3 lbs of veggies (soon to be stirfry) my old roommate Erika made an announcement.
"Emerald is writing a blog, and you should read it! Because... it is good!"
If you ever need any PR work done, I'm pretty sure she is your girl.
Inevitably, someone posed the question. "So, what is the blog for?"
I shrugged, thought about it for a couple seconds, and answered (semi-sarcastically), "It's for my mom. Facebook stalking isn't quite enough... she wants to know what I am learning too".

At the time I was joking, but as I sped down 1-90 en route to Moscow (my hometown) this afternoon, I started pondering it more. My mother, for reference, happens to be an extraordinary woman. She is sweet, spunky, intelligent, kind, and has the muscled body of a twenty five year old. She is one of the strongest (physically and mentally) women I know, but she is also only human.  I like having a mother with her own set of flaws, however, because it demotes her from "superherowhocanfixeverythingplease...NOW!" to my friend, someone I can relate, laugh, cry, problem solve and fight with.

In class we have been talking about our ecological identities, or how we construe ourselves to the natural world and where these values come from. A huge amount of my environmental ethic comes from my parents. One part is from my dad and his unrelenting pursuit and love of being outside (he is, hands down, my best rafting, skiing, and hiking partner).

However, my mother has taught me a lesson equally important: how to be passionate about a career. My mother works as a physical therapist with children with disabilities. It is a stressful, exhausting, relatively low-paid job. Yet when she talks about helping a child learn to walk, or problem solving with a school to put in a handicap entrance, or rearranging an insurance form (this is when I generally start zoning out...) she has an undeniable spark in her voice and face. She is genuinely excited about what she is doing. And it only takes talking to a parent of a child she has worked with to see that she is making a small but beautiful difference in the world.

A huge part of my ecological identity and motivation is an underlying feeling that my lifework should effect some sort of positive change for the world. I am just one person, and I know I wont be able to reverse the damage already done to our planet, slow down global warming, or convince the world's leaders to set aside their greed and work towards sustainable economies. However, my mother has taught me what that spark of passion looks like, and it makes me determined as hell to give this "saving the world" thing a try.

This blog, as a whole, is dedicated to her.

Planned Parenthood

"Where are you going, Emerald?"
"Oh, I have a Planned Parenthood meeting."
"Uh, what?"

I have had this vaguely awkward conversation every couple weeks since school started. Each time, I explain (as they nervously glance at my lower stomach) that no, I didn't get a bit too happy on PBR last weekend and jump into bed with some random dreadlocked rock climber. I volunteer with the University of Montana's Planned Parenthood Leaders & Advocates.

Many immediately associate Planned Parenthood with killing, poor, sweet, innocent unborn fetuses (insert vague sarcasm here). However, the majority (over 90%) of Planned Parenthood's services are not abortion related. PP offers both men and women's health and STI screenings, affordable birth control, pregnancy screenings, sex education, and helps fight for pro-women legislation at both the state and federal level. 

But what does any of this have to do with environmentalism? World population is skyrocketing, jumping from 1.6 billion at the beginning of the 20th century to close to 6.1 billion in the year 2000. The earth is running out of the land and resources to support us, especially at the developed world's current consumption rates. To me, population growth is one of those overarching mega-problems that has many solutions yet also has consequences that could render all other environmental work ineffective. In order to create a sustainable human populations on earth, we have to curb population growth. Women's education and empowerment, creating available and safe birth control, and assuring a human's right to their own body (be it male or female) are all incredibly important.

Handing out condoms in the University of Montana commons is a small step. However, I figure it is a good first step to becoming aquainted with an issue that I could possibly turn into a career. And if you can't get college students in Montana to practice safe sex, is it really fair to expect the rest of the world to do so?

[Get more info on Montana Planned Parenthood here]

Ishmael

One of the required courses for all environmental studies majors is a class called Nature & Society. The syllabus describes the course as one that "explores how the relationship between human societies and the natural world has been influenced throughout history by various thinkers and ideas. We also consider how nature itself and our ability to manipulate it has influenced society, and in turn, environmental thought."
Our first major reading assignment and essay was the aforementioned Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. If you haven't yet read this book, go borrow it, buy it, download it illegally off the internet, whatever. It is probably faster and more clear to actually read it than to try and interpret a summary. And agree with Quinn's argument or not, Ishmael raises fascinating questions about our culture in relation to the planet. Published in 1993, it is also interesting to compare what was then "radical environmentalism" to the environmental movement of today.
Quinn, in a perhaps oversimplified manner, separates the world into Leaver Cultures ("primitive populations") and Taker Cultures ("civilized populations"). Taker culture, beginning with the widespread acceptance of agriculture, tells us "the world was made for man, and man was made to rule it". Leaver culture, on the other hand, is based on the premise "man belongs to the world". Quinn argues that those in Taker culture are trying to enact a story that puts them at war with the world. To stop destroying the planet (and ultimately destroying ourselves), we have to create a new story to take part in.
I will spare you the six page critical essay. However, one point towards the end especially struck me. The different forms of life aren't done evolving, including humans. If allowed to progress naturally, other forms of life could attain the level of intelligence we think makes us so special. The book reads,
"All sorts of creatures on this planet appear to be on the verge of attaining that self-awareness and intelligence. So it's definitely not just humans that the gods are after. We were never meat to be the only players on this stage. Apparently the gods intend this planet to be a garden filled with creatures that are self-aware and intelligent."
"So it would appear And if this is so, then man's destiny would seem to be plain."
"Yes. Amazingly enough, it is plain -- because man is the first of all these. He's the trailblazer, the pathfinder. His destiny is to be the first to learn that creatures like man have a choice."
As I first read this passage, I think my jaw may have actually, physically, dropped. How had I never thought of this before? I believe in the science that backs up Darwinian evolution. I think the earth is billions, not thousands of years old. I do not have fundamental Christian religious views. So why have I always just assumed that humans would ever be the only creatures to make moral choices and self-aware decisions? If humans evolved to develop intelligence, culture, and reason, why should we be the only species to do so? Without even realizing it, I had been assuming that creation had culminated with humankind.

It makes me wonder how many other revelations are out there, just beyond my periphery. What else is "Mother Culture" (as Quinn calls it) hiding from me?

Life Through a Green Lens

What's a blog anyways? Yet another piece of self-centered, technologic bullshit shot off into cyberspace for the world to (likely never) see? A tool for self-reflection? Just another fad?

My writing professor would tell you that one is always writing for an audience, even if that audience is imaginary. While a journal is useful, my own generally spiral downwards into rants, raves and grocery lists. Perhaps I need more pressure to fully formulate thoughts, opinions, and even semi-coherent sentences.

A blog is an audience.

So why do I still feel slightly weirded out by the whole thing? In a century of facebook, twitter, and shameless self promotion, a blog shouldn't be out of my comfort zone. My Swedish roommate Sofi (who I thank and blame for motivation to do this at all) assures me that everyone in Sweden has their own page they update regularly.

Therefore, a blog is also "acoolthingtheydoinEurope", a social justification in and of itself.

I should really be writing a five page essay on the (excellent) book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn right now.

A blog is (yet another) form of procrastination!

I had never really read a blog regularly until my Dad was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of brain cancer. My mom set up a CaringBridge website to keep everyone informed. The posts began as medical details, thank yous to friends and family for meals and support, and quick logisitical updates. In the five months since, it has morphed into a beautiful narrative that shows their day to day struggles, celebrations, and questions.

So a blog is also a connection.

"Life through a green lens" has different meanings. As an environmental studies (evst) major, I want to explore the way that we interact with the earth that sustains us. How does one eat, travel, recreate, and work sustainably? What does the 2010 evst student read/write to educate themselves? Is it possible for a student to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle on a limited budget? What are other people, organizations, governments and countries doing in the environmental arena?
In a broader sense, the writing here is life filtered through an Emerald screen. Family, friends, love, hate, cancer, travel, skiing, rafting, exploring, music, culture, life in the coolest college town in the US... inevitably it will all find it's place.

Bloggerific. Blogtastic. Blog on, dude.