“Because urban density, in itself, is such a powerful generator of environmental benefits, the most critical environmental issues in dense urban cores tend to be seemingly unrelated matters like law enforcement and public education, because anxieties about crime and school quality are among the strongest forces motivating flight to the suburbs.”

This was my way in.  

Innovation and impact happens when unrelated matters suddenly merge.  It’s why I love metaphor.  I’m learning that my daughter loves metaphor too.  Our rafts as we swim to shore.

Last night, she’s writing her very first five-paragraph essay (the child is still only 11 by the way).  I’m trying to explain that she needs to be more clear to the reader what each body paragraph is about.  Her head tilts.  Clarify the topic at the beginning so they know what to expect.  Heels tap.  They need to know how this paragraph proves your argument.  Brow furrows.  You’ve got to help them out a bit!  Eyes close.  And then:  “Dude,” I say, “Your reader right now is wandering around in the dark, with only a flashlight to guide them.”  Eyes open.  “Mia, turn on the damn light!”  Brow relaxes. Heels pause.  Head nods.

Eyes open.

But like I said:  this was my way in.  This sentence from Green Metropolis can get me excited about environmental issues.  Don’t get me wrong — I do my best to stay green.  I even gave up meat (most of the time).  But I’m not passionate about the environment.  Paper straws really piss me off — not only are they not functional but their existence just reminds me that change needs to happen at the corporate level if real change will happen at all and the likelihood of that happening in my lifetime is slim to none.  We regular people using paper straws ain’t gonna do a damn thing if ExxonMobil is out there doing their thing.  My cause is public education.  My cause is systemic racism.  That’s what I read about.  That’s what I think about.  That’s what I talk to my kids at dinner about.  But for the past few months, I’ve been trying to extend my reach because like I said, I think real change happens when you can find the connection between two seemingly disparate things.  Especially if those things are huge causes in and of themselves.

So I’m out looking for more.  My daughter and my sister are both invested heavily in LGBTQ rights.  But I’m just not drawn to that cause.  I believe strongly that a choice to live is a choice to love.  But I’m not about to call out the guy from down the hall who can’t keep my son’s friend’s pronouns straight.  Give him a break.  Dude’s 80.  But if he uses a racial slur or if I witness a micro-aggression?  That’s probably a different story.

Why is that, by the way?  Why can we be so passionate about one cause and so meh about another that’s so closely related?

“Because urban density, in itself, is such a powerful generator of environmental benefits, the most critical environmental issues in dense urban cores tend to be seemingly unrelated matters like law enforcement and public education, bc anxieties about crime and school quality are among the strongest forces motivating flight to the suburbs.”

Public education is an environmental issue.  I’ve been running that sentence through my mind all day.  Public education is an environmental issue.  You might even say that right now — in its current form — that sentence is my flashlight.  Public education is an environmental issue.  Someone, shove me towards the light.