Jimmy Carter’s passing has me remembering my environmental awakening in the 1970s—and the disillusionment that has been holding me back…until now.
The Lightbulb Award
The country was in an oil crisis and the President asked people to save energy. Turning off lights was one thing we could easily do.
I was too young to understand the situation, but I did understand turning off lights. And I already had an inkling that we were messing with our planet. Hence my childhood environmental awakening.
From somewhere I got the idea to make a lightbulb award. The idea was to give the award to a family member when they turned off the lights when leaving a room.
So, I made an award, either drawing it or using construction paper, I don’t recall, and I put string on it so it could be hung on a doorknob or hook. I was proud of that award! I thought it was awesome!
I told my family about the award and how they could win it. Then I waited for my family to turn off lights so they could hang the award on their bedroom door.
And I waited.
And I waited.
After a few days of being the only one who turned off lights and therefore the only one who had the award displayed on her bedroom door, I gave up. In other words, I was the only one who gave a &^%.
That was disheartening for a child. I remember my disappointment as if it just happened yesterday, not 50 years ago.
Here I am all these decades later and I still have a lingering sense of isolation, of being someone who is alone in her passion for this planet.
On the other hand, I know that’s not true. So many people are speaking out and encouraging us to do the right thing, from fighting light pollution to planting native plants. I read their books. I know they care. And I do what I can do.
But it’s hard to shake those childhood experiences. I feel isolated still.
Not Any More
But that was then. And now I say no more. I have decided that this year, 2025, I will shake off that disappointment and seek out people who are like me, people who care and who want to make small steps to bring about big change. I have a list of people to reach out to. I will ask them to connect me with others who think like me. I will start attending county and city meetings to speak out.
It’s empowering to make this commitment to myself, to say no, the message I internalized in the 1970s was a false message and to act counter to it.
Looking back on it now, I think I had two kinds of awakenings as a child. The first was to learn that there were steps I could take to make a difference in the world. The second was that most people don’t give a rat’s ass, not even my own family.
And this is the year I prove to myself that my second “awakening” was wrong. Those who care are out there. I will find them. Are you one of them? Let me know. Let’s do this.
And that’s it for now.
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