Stop, think, evaluate
As a retired teacher, September offers up memories. A poster of a stoplight hung in my kindergarten class. Red for “stop.” Yellow for “think/evaluate.” Green for “make a good choice.” Brain research has shown our brain, even the adult brain, needs three to five seconds to move from a brain stem response (react) to a frontal lobe response (evaluate).
Today’s Earth is different from the Earth I was born onto six decades ago. Regardless of facts and opinions on how change has occurred, it has. Earth’s atmosphere has changed, consumption of nonrenewable resources has escalated, food and water scarcity are realities across the globe.
Technology has aspects of that “double-edged sword.” And the list continues. It does take time and effort to think. What can I conserve? How do I sort facts from polarized rhetoric? Do I deserve to live the American Dream without sacrifice and cooperation or do I change and adapt my lifestyle?
One hundred years from now I won’t be here, but someone’s grandchildren will inherit this Earth.
We need that poster now more than ever. Future generations and Earth’s durability depend upon our willingness to connect the dots between choices and wide-ranging consequences.
Mary Toland
Sagle, Idaho