OUR PART.

Many of our friends are having, or have recently had, little ones, and Hannah and I would like to join that club one day. It's an exciting and terrifying thought––children––especially when so much of their lives is out of your hands. But when they get old enough to understand, we'd like to be able to look them in the eye and tell them we did everything we could to keep them safe, but specifically, to give them a safe world in which to grow up. If you're going to have a baby, I believe it's the least you can do. Though since one person cannot save the planet themselves––as hard as a good parent might try––anyone who has any aspirations to bring a human into the world has to do his or her part, and take it seriously.What does it mean, though? What does it mean to do one's part? For us, even living off-the-grid and growing much of our own food, we're constantly refining the answer to that question. Firstly, there are simply too many people (billions, probably) not doing anything, or doing too little, to consider what we do––in all our minimal impact––enough. I know we can always do better. We compost. We grow much of what we consume and what we don't, we try and buy locally. We work hard to be gentle, but we could always do more (or, I suppose, less). What does "doing one's part" mean to those of us who live in the city?––who can't simply just disconnect from city water and electricity?––who can't easily grow all of their own food?––who can't build their own outhouse?Obviously, that's for every individual to answer for themselves. But when they answer that question, I implore them to pretend they are telling their children, or grandchildren, about all they did, and all their friends did, to ensure them a future.In a related note––but admittedly abrupt segue––we (humankind) broke carbon emission records last year. Records! Even with all the scientific studies showing we are effectively destroying our planet through our carbon output, and all the scientists who say we must stop, we are still putting more and more into the atmosphere. Record numbers! If you're at a loss of what to do, maybe start there. Let's start by not breaking any more records, unless those records are putting the least amount of carbon into the atmosphere. That wouldn't be such a bad thing––our children might think we're cool (or the comparable adjective of their parlance): my parents, record setters.What do you say?- Jesse.