Well, I tried to start up conversations about the environment, but I really did not get anywhere. My family seems to have a problem with actually taking note of anyone or anything but themselves, so whenever I brought it up, they made jokes about my "ultra-liberal" school and left the topic at hand (and my-ever plunging family pride) in the dust. But, what do you do right? You press forward.
And I did. with both halves of my uber tiny, anti social family. I still got nothing. My mom is pretty sick so she does not get out a whole lot and never had in interest in anything global until I came around with my crazy major and whatnot. She did not know a whole lot about the environmental crisis (and neither did I, really) before this class, but now I have pounded it into both of our brains to the point of nausea. My ranting has inspired her to really start being conservative with having lights on and recycling. I keep all of the arguments about how this will accomplish nothing to myself, for fear that I will cause depression and regression back to the old habits. She knows that being less bad is no good, but like the rest of us, she is now trying to sort out what she can really do to help. You have to start somewhere.
My dad decided that at the mere mention of the environment, he would start reciting conservative rhetoric. I told him that I wanted to know what HE thought. But I never did get a straight answer, just a lesson on the "rainbow warrior" and how the french tried to blow it up. I take his responses to mean that he knows what the media tells him, and the media tells him that the environment is in trouble and the republicans have done nothing to help. Shocker, right?
In conclusion, intellect was in shorter supply than turkey this holiday season. I will do my best to keep nagging my relatives, though I really do not have that many of them (thank god). My family was just generally lethargic around all issues this week.
