green kids

Slowing down for sustainability

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment
Photo of a crescent moon between the branches of a bare tree

I always want to look up in wonder when someone says “Look, the moon!” and teach my kids to do the same.

Even if you live in an area with a lot of light pollution, we almost all share the moon. Watching it shift through its waning and waxing cycles is a beautiful way to keep in tune with and respect the cycles of nature.

Taking time to notice and truly gaze at the “everyday” things in nature – from the moon to dandelions – is both something that kids are naturally good at and provides us adults joy in rough or busy times. Slowing down doesn’t mean coming to a halt – it can just mean finding time for small pauses. It means noticing the things we wouldn’t otherwise. It can teach us to be more sustainable to both ourselves and our wider world. The more we can look beyond our individual worries, the more we can care for and accept care from those around us.

I May Be Brave to be Sustainable – But I Shouldn’t Have to Be

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment
I May Be Brave to be Sustainable - But I Shouldn't Have to Be; Photo of a number of bikes - bike share, bikes with kids' seats, cargo bikes - parked on bike racks outside a park with a playground

“You’re so brave,” said a woman on the sidewalk as I pedaled by her slowly. Her words came right on the heels of me tearing into my older son about not screwing around while biking in the road. (He was riding so slowly I was almost crashing into him and swerving.) “Uh, thanks?” I stammered, not sure what else to say.

While I didn’t have much to respond in the moment, the comment stuck with me. Brave? What did she mean by that?

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Climate Action for Tired People: A Toolkit and Quiz for Parents and Others

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

Photo of a group gathered for a climate march with signs saying they need your action now, save our future, etc.

Are you a tired person? (Probably – if you’re reading my blog, you’re probably a parent or somehow responsible for small kids.) Do you want to take action on climate change? (Even if you don’t, you should!) If both of these things – or neither – apply to you, be sure to check out the Climate Action for Tired People: A Toolkit and Quiz for Parents and Others! Developed by climate communicator and therapist Kate Schapira in collaboration with me, it helps you figure out where you fit in the climate justice movement and how to use your skills effectively.

What To Do When the World Feels Like It’s Falling Apart

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

What To Do When The World Feels Like It's Falling Apart; photo of me (a white woman looking at the camera with a 'what the hell?!' kind of expression)

Parents are supposed to keep their kids safe, right? But how can we do that when the world around us is falling apart? There’s escalating climate change, COVID getting ever more contagious, civil rights eroding constantly, gun violence heightening, and democracy in danger. Not to mention the less privileged of us who have more individual, very real worries about their children’s everyday safety.

Some people retreat to denial, pretending nothing’s wrong at all and they play no part. Others – far more dangerously – blame vulnerable groups for “corrupting” children, when they are the corrupting ones instilling hate and fear.

Then there’s those of us who know what’s happening and don’t know what to do about it. I include myself in this group because as much as I intellectually know what to do about it, emotionally I still feel befuddled much of the time.

I started writing this from the balcony of a hotel while I was isolating from my kids because I tested positive for COVID. I worked so hard for more than two years to avoid it and the moment we went on vacation, got it. What else could I have done? I have no idea. There’s no way we could have expected this would still be going this long and be even more contagious when we planned this trip a year ago. That was when it was at all-time lows!

While emotionally I’m flailing, intellectually I do know some things that can help.

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What I Learned About Making My Kids’ School More Environmentally Sustainable

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What I Learned About Making My Kids' School More Environmental; photo of kids standing in front of a desk with a teacher behind the desk and a paper-mache dragon behind her

“31 students, that’s pretty good, considering the weather!” I breathed a sigh of relief looking at the sign-in sheet for our school’s first Bike to School Day. It wasn’t torrential rain, but I was worried that even the gray drizzle would be enough to warn people off. But we had a full bike rack and a number of happy kids with Safe Routes to School goodie bags.

The event was a result of a few months of direct work, but even more organizing time before that. This was the first year I had truly been involved in organizing at my kids’ school. Even though I wrote in my book about how to make your kids’ school more environmentally friendly, it was all based on expert interviews, not personal experience.

In working with our school and school district this year, I learned quite a few things first-hand about general advocacy in schools and bike advocacy specifically.

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Why I Bike My Kids to School

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Photo of a bunch of bikes on a bike rack with a cargo bike in front of it; text: Why I Bike My Kids to School

“Hi!” my older son chirps to people walking by on the sidewalk as he pedals by on his bike. A few minutes later, he yells to me about the injustice of how short the green is on this traffic light – we’re stopped at a red light *again* – and how we have to wait for it. Honestly, of all the things he could get angry about, it’s pretty harmless. Throughout the ride, my younger son chatters away sitting behind me, telling me all the observations he held in during class.

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Why I Had My Kids Write to the City Mayor

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Screenshot of a scanned in letter that says "Dear Mayor Newton, I believe we need a healthy Earth for everyone who lives on it. We need to work together to make less pollution and stop climate change. Don't value profit more than my future. We need climate justice now! The Earth is everyone's home. Draw what you want to protect from climate change." with a children's drawing of an elephant

“I’m sure the mayor will respond to you – they love getting stuff from kids,” I promised my kids, crossing my fingers. In the back of my head, I thought “Damn right, she better.”

I was trying to convince them to write letters to our local city government officials about climate change. While heavy topics like climate change can seem scary for adults to talk to kids about, finding ways to empower kids can help them be much less anxiety-inspiring. When kids know that they are not helpless – that they can make a difference and that their parents want to do it with them – they can tackle hard topics much better than we would expect.

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