A Future for Finn. What Earth Day means to a new mom.
Last year, I became a mom.
While we are both fine now, the delivery did not go as planned. He arrived early (five weeks) and precariously (I started hemorrhaging at my office). It wasn’t pretty. We both made it thanks to a fast-driving Uber and a fast-acting OBGYN.
24 hours later, I was able to leave the trauma center and roll into the NICU to meet our son, Finn. Looking down at our little 4-pounder, connected to too many tubes to count, I got it.
I felt what so many parents had advised me: a piece of your soul now lives outside your body.
You would do anything to keep them safe.
My challenge is, how can we protect his future when it looks like our planet is getting dangerously unsafe?
I run, The Adventure Project, a nonprofit working mainly in Africa. We create jobs to help people lift themselves out of extreme poverty. It involves a lot of research, site visits and problem-solving.
My job provides me with a unique vantage point into our climate.
The last time I was in Tanzania I asked an older woman how she was certain climate change is happening. She responded frankly, “Well when I was a child, this village was in the middle of a jungle.”
“Oh,” I managed to eke out. There was nothing but dry brush for miles in every direction.
People in developing countries are being hit first and worst by the climate crisis. It’s happening now. The more I research, the more I realize the awful (dare I say, “inconvenient”) truth: We’re the reason.
Americans are less than 5% of the global population, but we produce 1/3 of the worlds carbon emissions. Compared to other countries, we rank first and worst.
As individuals, we each emit an average of 16 tons per year. This is a lot; twice as much as someone in Europe or Japan.
It got me thinking, what can we do? What are the most effective ways we can change? And based on my own work, how can we help those in developing countries unless we also help ourselves?
So together with my team, we’re proposing an idea:
Let’s uncover the solutions. My team at The Adventure Project will help share data and research as to the most effective solutions (a monthly email). As a community, we will share what we’ve learned. Together, we will report on how much it cost us (time and money), how much we were able to reduce, and yes, if it “sparked joy.” We will build the blueprint for others to follow.
Here’s the goal: We have until 2030 (11 years) to cut our emissions in half. What if we take one year to create our blueprint. We make simple swaps and change habits. Then, we have a decade to execute.
Who should join? Everyone.
Imagine what we would look like if we had mothers rising in every city? If dads, aunts, neighbors and grandparents and even kids said, “I’m going to try, too.” We will be a group of early adopters who aren’t afraid to lead this first stage. To try. To see how much we can do together. I have a hunch most of you already have tips and tricks to share. What can we all learn by joining together? Let’s build a nurturing, encouraging community focused on living better, shopping better and giving better.
No politics. No petitions. Just action.
Please join our pledge, here: www.theadventureproject.org/earth
By 2030, our son will be a pre-teen. If he asks me what I did to save his future, I want to be able to look at him and say, “Baby, I did everything, everything. Because you’re everything to me.”
“Perhaps the rewards of solving climate change are so compelling, so nurturing and so natural a piece of the human soul that we can’t help but do it.” — Auden Schendler
I would love to invite you to join us, here: https://www.theadventureproject.org/earth
Happy Earth Day!
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