Seeds of Tree Hugging

It was in elementary school that I was first introduced to global warming and all of mankind’s insults to the environment. My classmates and I listened intently as our teacher explained to us that “some grown ups don’t realize what they are doing to Mother Earth.” We innocently accepted the notion that loggers are evil. And we sat at our desks obediently coloring in “save the rainforest” posters for Earth Day.

I bought it hook, line, and sinker. I didn’t understand why these evil grown ups were destroying planet earth, but I was willing to do whatever I could to stop them. This included making posters, learning about different layers of the rainforest, and, well, making posters. But my environmental campaign didn’t stop there. I learned that plants produce oxygen, that without plants, humans would die, and soon in my mind felling a tree was murder. And so when my parents decided to cut down a tree close to our house to keep it from causing damage during a storm, I sat in our basement wailing in protest. My parents were the evil adults we learned about in school. They didn’t realize what they were about to do to the planet. People would starve for oxygen, vast holes would open up in the ozone layer, and animals using the tree for shelter would lose their home and possibly die. Somehow it didn’t matter how much I told my parents about these problems. Our house was still more important to them than saving the environment.

Just like the evil adults cutting down the rainforests, they had to be stopped – I needed reinforcements. I needed someone smart enough to know that it was bad to cut down trees, someone who had some authority. I knew just who could help – the president. And so I sat in my basement, listening to the noise of the chainsaw in the background, sobbing as I wrote a letter to Bill Clinton, telling him what my parents were doing and pleading for his help.

Fast forward eight years to world affairs class in the tenth grade. My teacher gave me a new revelation: when people disagree, one opinion is not necessarily the correct one. In elementary school, it was good against evil, but now I learned about politics, about liberals and conservatives, and I realized that people’s views fall on a continuum, not necessarily on one side of an issue or another. Not all people agree that protecting the environment is of utmost importance. I saw pictures of people from developing nations living in straw houses, working all day on their farms, struggling to survive. The evil people destroying the rainforests were in fact farmers who had two options: make money for their families, or starve.

Along with this revelation came an attitude shift on my part. Everyone experiences some sort of rebelliousness during their teenage years, and I was at an age that made me prone to doubting what others told me. I became especially cynical about what elementary school “taught” me about the environment. Irregardless of whether I agreed with what I had been told, I was angry that my teachers only taught me one side of the issue. I realized that all the kids who had gone to elementary school with me had been given a liberal slant from the start. I was upset that no teacher ever said, “Protecting the environment is expensive” or “there are some who would disagree that protecting the environment is a top priority.” I suppose my opinion about my education, as opposed to my view on the environment, changed. I didn’t stop recycling or turning out lights when I left rooms. I didn’t think of getting even by harming the environment. I did decide for myself that I wanted to be sure to look at both sides of an issue before taking a side.

Around the same time I saw a Michael Moore movie called “Bowling for Columbine”. The movie is about gun control, but Moore also explores the broader issue of socio-economic separation between classes in our country. The movie only reinforced my cynicism about grade school. I thought about developing countries that lacked the resources or budget to invest in environmentally friendly technology, but were portrayed as inhuman tree slayers all the same. I felt disregard for this situation could only widen the gap between the rich and poor countries of the world.

I eventually calmed down a bit and returned to my strategy of examining both sides of an issue. I was still making an effort in my life to recycle and conserve as much as possible. Independent of how I felt about the schooling system, I always felt it was important to do as little harm as possible to the planet. I’m certain this innate feeling results mainly from my family’s annual trips out west to hike in the backcountry. I am always amazed by the sense of isolation I get as we follow narrow dirt paths through otherwise untouched prairies, up valleys toward high, snow-capped peaks, miles from civilization. I am alone with nature. We get our water from cold, clear mountain streams, cook our food on a tiny camp stove, and sit around in the evening listening to the sounds of squirrels and birds rummaging for food. After a day or two of climbing, we are in the high country above tree line, admiring the towering peaks above us, unable to resist the urge to take a photograph every so often.

It is there in the mountains that I remember really thinking about how much I care about nature. I remember one particular moment, looking across a vast valley to a ridge on the other side, and my awe at the incredible expanse of space. Untouched, natural, beautiful, space.

While my attitude toward schooling and my upbringing may have changed as I grew up, my attitude toward the environment has remained constant. I believe one of the most important things people can do is to respect the world in which they live and remember that not only they, but also their children and grandchildren must one day live on the same planet they are now occupying.

I also recognize the value of practicality. I try to make as little of an impact as I can, whenever possible. But when extreme cost or inconvenience make it unreasonable, I don’t feel the need to go as far as I did when I asked Mr. Clinton to save the tree in my yard. I care as much about our planet now as I always have. I recycle, I ride my bicycle instead of driving, but I’m also not the tree hugger elementary school taught me to be. Three summers ago, I worked for my parents cutting down trees on our property to thin the forest and allow the larger trees to thrive.