How to make thanksgiving dinner interesting

This year, since I spent Thanksgiving in Vermont and am in general glued to my phone, I decided to remove myself from all forms of technology, except for the stovetop of course, so I actually didn't even see the blog assignment until I returned home the following saturday. Fortunately, as a result of my "disconnection" with the world, as described by my family, an environmental conversation occurred nonetheless, in which my family grappled with my "environmental" ways, and I sat back and listened to their opinions.

The conversation began when I asked my 15-year old cousin Mary why she insisted on using the bottled water in the refrigerator instead of pouring herself a glass of some of the cleanest water in the country, vermont spring water, from the faucet. My Aunt overheard me speaking with my cousin, but kept silent. Mary replied she thought it was easier, and that the water tasted better anyways. The conversation continued at dinner when my Aunt mentioned to everyone else the conversation that had occured earlier between my cousin and I about her bottle use habits, and how I had mentioned how much waste that could accumulate. My uncle retorted, complaining about the environmental activists that were persistently knocking on his door, and how bothersome they could be. Everyone else agreed. I asked, then, how did they think actual environmental change could come about, thinking of Michael Maniates trinity of despair we had just learned about, but not explicitly mentioning it. My uncle said he didn't think we were facing such a problem that we needed to take concrete action. Fortunately, the rest of my family was somewhat stunned by his statement, and my Aunt began to rattle off the facts she gathered from watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, about the photos of the rapidly melting icebergs she'd seen, and the statistics on global temperature rises.

My father mentioned some of the difficulties he saw for the environmental activists concerned about bringing about environmental change. He said that until the industries, which were the primary agents for environmental destruction, were committed to creating products that were environmentally friendly, that the government, citizenry, and subsidiary manufacturers wouldn't be able to achieve the kind of environmental change we actually need. My uncle, aunts, and the rest of the family surprisingly agreed with my father's insightful commentary.

After my father's "sermon" of sorts, my family vowed to recycle more vigorously for the rest of our stay in Vermont, and my cousin agreed to stop using the plastic water bottles while hanging out around the house. Thus, no revolutionary environmental progress resulted from our discussion, but, I think some knowledge was created and dispelled, which is a progress in itself of sorts.

One small step for the McIntosh family!