The Conversation

The conversation I had with my family went surprisingly well. My family is has very mixed opinions about the whole environmental crisis, and also has mixed political feelings as well. My mom and I are of the tree-hugging sort while the rest of my family members are more moderate. Yet, when I brought up the idea of an environment in crisis, they all agreed that their was a problem. We differed on the severity of the problem, and the actions that needed to be taken to stop these problems.

I brought it up over the Thanksgiving meal, after I was warned to keep it appropriate. I have a tendency to say whatever I want, and was talking to them about the book Omnivore's Dilemma I read for my senior seminar with Judy Shapiro. The book has some interesting insights about where our food comes from, and you will never feel the same after reading it! After sharing a short passage about how chickens are slaughtered, my family was skeptical. So, I introduced the topic by simply stating my assignment. They were listening. Then, one by one we went around the table, and I asked them to tell me if they thought the crisis was real, what should be done about it and how they are helping.

Everyone believed in global warming, but they were unsure how much humans had contributed to the matter. My uncle and Dad stated that the levels or carbon in the atmosphere have fluctuated the entire time humans have lived here. I agreed, but gave them the specific ppms carbon and the threshold levels we had already surpassed this year. My uncle then promptly got up and shut off all the lights expect for the ones in the dining room, he said I made him feel guilty for it, and he was mostly trying to be funny.

So, my discussion went well, and they did recognize a problem, but they were unsure how much impact humans had on the matter. I reassured them, we had the MOST impact. I told them all about the new extinction period, where our food comes from, and the success of the Ozone Regime. They thought answers may lie in the Cap and Trade system that Obama is going to use, but I also pointed out that that system is only market based. I tried to explain how we needed a combination of market based and also regulation to make any change. Another interesting thing, they all seemed to be technological optimists. They thought something new would be invented that would change our atmosphere for the better. While I do think someday we might find something, I do not think we should hold out for it.

Overall, I talked and listened. I convinced them that we had a much greater impact that they had realized, and we are all very hopeful for the Obama presidency to produce the top down regulations we need to curb our environmental problems.