Ep.118 Parenting in the Climate Crisis with Bridget Shirvell

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Hello, hello, hello, everyone.

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Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom.

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It’s me, Tigrilla Gardenia.

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I, uh, had so much fun with this episode, way more fun than I thought I was gonna have.

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So I, when I met Bridget, Bridget Shirve6l, when I met her, we kind of got into this little conversation.

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We went down a tiny little, one of those little rabbit holes that you’re like, “Wow, I wonder what would happen if we went down this for the podcast.”

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And that’s exactly what happened.

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The world is changing so fast and our children cannot be, um, shielded from it, nor should they be because this is their world too.

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This is their planet too.

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And so I really love the approach that Bridget Shirvell has taken for how it is to talk to children and to help children navigate the complex climate and, you know, world ecology that we’re living in in this present moment.

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And I very much appreciate everything that she shared because it’s not about proselytization or telling you to do it and that this is better, but it’s about opening up, um, our children’s minds to the curiosity of what can be done differently, the problem-solving skills, the recognition, and all these different aspects.

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So I’m very, very, very excited to share with you Episode 118, which is Parenting in the Climate Crisis with Bridget Shirvell.

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Enjoy.

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Welcome to Reconnect with Plant Wisdom.

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I’m your host, Tigrilla Gardenia, nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and the founder of the Naturally Conscious Community.

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For over a decade, I’ve been known as a world ambassador for plant advocacy, working closely with plants to share their practical wisdom to help you consciously embody the elements of life that nourish your evolution.

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In this podcast, I delve into ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways of plants.

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Together we’ll explore how ecosystem thinking helps you overcome limiting beliefs, understand the true nature of relationships, and live an authentic, impactful life.

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All right, Bridget, I am, um, I have to admit that when I contacted you, I was like, “Uh, is this gonna work?

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Is this gonna work?”

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Then when we started talking, I was like, “Oh my goodness, this is gonna be such an interesting episode, very different from many of the ones that I’ve done.”

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So in order to kind of kick us off and help people understand why I think this is gonna be so special, can you tell everybody who is Bridget?

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Sure.

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Um, so I’m a mom of a 6yearold girl, which is important because I have spent the past 4 years kind of focused on how parents and grandparents and really anybody who has young kids in their lives navigate the climate crisis, and a lot of that focus has come back to nature.

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And I think what we started talking about was just kind of like plants and trees.

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And I, from a young age, started my child to start thinking about her relationship with trees and seeing them as kind of part of her like world instead of very separate from her, which is kind of what drew me to this podcast.

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Nice.

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I love it, and, and I think that this is a really interesting topic because you wrote a book all about parenting specifically in the climate crisis.

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Right.

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And of course, it’s a heavy topic, and s- you know, parents don’t know how to introduce w- what even, not even how, but I would say that the first question is what to introduce, like what is the, the most important thing that a parent needs to think about?

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‘Cause you don’t wanna tell your kid, “Hey, by the way, uh, we’re gonna leave you a terrible planet and you’ve gotta deal with it.”

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Yeah.

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Like I don’t think that that’s very useful.

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And you also don’t wanna scare them and tell them, “Look, everybody who uses plastic is a jerk and, uh, know, stay away from them.”

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Like that doesn’t work either.

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So- Right.

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what was the impetus like?

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Where, where did you come from and what were you really, what is the message that you wanted to or what are the things that you wanted to share in this book?

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So I really, like I kind of wrote this book for me, like it was like the book that I was looking for and couldn’t find.

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Um, I’ve been a journalist for my entire professional career and I was very focused on food systems reporting.

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And after I had my kid, so I was already aware of like I guess how the climate crisis is affecting the food we eat.

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Um, but after I had my kid, I was kind of like, “Okay, but what skills is she going to need?”

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I wasn’t so much worried about how to talk to her about the climate crisis, I think just because I’m a communicator by nature, but I was very much like, “But how do I like raise her so that she’s gonna be able to live in this world that she’s gonna inherit no matter what we do currently, no matter what like the future holds?

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What are, do those skills look like?”

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And so that really became like the basis for the book.

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And it’s a lot of talking to, you know, it’s a lot of talking to experts, but all of the experts I talk to all have kids in their lives.

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Um, so if I’m talking to a climatologist, I’m not just talking to them about the science behind climate change.

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I’m talking to them about, “Oh, well, like how do you get outside with na- in nature when your kids are really little and it feels kind of like impossible to be lugging all of this stuff?

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Or what type of food do you eat?

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Like what does your diet look like at, in your own household?”

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Um, and so I really hope that, you know, anybody who reads this book kind of takes away the idea that there are things that they can do, that this is a big like scary issue, but there are things that we can all do in our like everyday lives that are kind of gonna start to drive systematic change, which is what we need, but also are just gonna allow you to help your kids thrive in whatever type of world they live in.Yeah, and I think it’s, it’s interesting

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’cause, um, I have a, one of my clients who also wrote a children’s book connected to, in this particular case, the Music of the Plants, and Plants.

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And her intention was also the same thing, you know, the how is it that you help bring a relationship with nature, a relationship with plants so that the child remembers and continues to reinforce the fact that, you know, “I am nature” and that this, this work is something, this relationship is something that should continue on instead of that separation that kind of naturally happens.

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But what I find really interesting is that, you know, to a certain extent, we, we don’t know what the, what, you know, your child is going to have in the future because we don’t really- Right.

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know what’s happening, and we also have to imagine that as, as they enter into young adulthood, the climate is gonna be different.

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So, um, everything is gonna be changing.

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So how, I guess I’m curious as to what do you think are the essential elements of a relationship with nature, in particular you chose trees to work with, uh, um, ideally and in- initially.

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What do you think is important for, you know, that relationship to have, to hold, that children should keep with them and then should continue to practice with?

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Yeah, I think it’s really, like, unstructured outside time, like every day.

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It doesn’t have to be a ton of outside time.

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It could be 5 minutes, right?

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It could be, like, 5 minutes in your backyard.

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Maybe you take, um, your, like, morning breakfast outside to eat.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, or it’s just like taking a little walk around your neighborhood if you don’t, like, have a backyard, um, and kind of thinking about the trees or the plants or bees, birds that you see.

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But I think we really, if you’re not, if your kids aren’t outside in nature on a regular basis, they don’t, they’re not gonna wanna protect it because they’re not gonna understand it.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, so I think it’s setting that from a very young age and just, like, continuing to do it as they grow, which of course gets harder once they’re in school and there’s all these different, like, attentions pulling at them.

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But I think you can really, like, figure out a way to do it just for a few minutes a day.

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Mm-hmm.

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And one of the things that sort of struck me the more I talked to the experts in my book was that for a lot of them, they felt like, um, like having their own kids when they were little, like, helped them reconnect with nature, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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Like, helped them be like, “Oh, yeah, this is what we’re fighting for because this is my kid.”

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Like, seeing, being awed at the puddle and, like, the ability to jump in it or, you know, all of these things that, some, we just kind of, like, forget about as we get older.

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Yeah, and especially because there’s this, you know, fantastic research around the fact that as adults we think of nature in its, in its big sense, like, “I’ve gotta go out to, you know, the, the, out to the woods.

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I have to get out of the city.

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I have to do all these types of things,” when children really see nature and the awe and the wonder of the mirror back and forth between myself and these other types of beings in the smallest little things, right, the, the blade of grass- Right.

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growing through the sidewalk, the, the ant walking across, you know, the lawn that’s there with all the different elements.

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And I, I wonder how much you were able to put into the book that this is not just about, like, learn these things to do for your children, but also learn these things so that you also can learn from your children.

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Right.

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Yeah, I hope that that is something that people really take away when they look, like, through the book that, like, yes, there are lessons for your kids and how, you know, you can incorporate more environmental advocacy, like, as they’re growing up.

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But it’s also just, like, a way for parents to get involved themselves, um, both with, and learn from their kids.

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There’s a whole chapter on, um, stem cells in schools, and one of the reasons why I, that was really important to me is because so much of that learning philosophy is based around the idea that, like, the, your, like, teacher isn’t just a teacher.

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They’re also learning from the kids themselves.

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Like, it’s really much this idea of, like, we’re all learning from each other and there’s no right answer but we’re gonna, these are the skills that we need to figure out this problem.

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So I’m gonna ask a very strange question, bear with me for a second.

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Okay.

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So I was just, uh, at the time that we’re recording this last week, I did a conference and it was, um, sponsored by The Plant Initiative.

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The Plant Initiative is an organization that it, technically it comes out of the academic system, you know, connected to, um, different universities, uh, and such, and yet this particular event was all about plant communicators, and so we were all these different plant communicators and as I was listening to all of us, you know, myself and then to the others, present their, their, um, their talks, I found it really empowering and curious that, you know, some of these people were,

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had worked in university settings, maybe in the schools of divinity or theology or some other aspect.

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I know that there are some plant communicators that are in more creative arts and that are doing things connected to, um, h- performance and plant communication and then there’s, like, also the whole anthropology section and such.

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And yet there are some that are straight up like, touch the tree, get a signal, you know, something you’d experience in the new age store type of perspective.

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Mm-hmm.

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And I found it beautifully fascinating because there was this wide, wide range of people that came from engineering disciplines to all the way to just, you know, spiritual people that had developed this as part of their path.

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When you were writing the book, where did the, like, aspects of deep, deep connection to nature at some point pass over what can be scientifically proven?

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Right?

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If you’re going to really connect, there is a part of just straight up, to a certain extent, faith.

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Like belief in yourself and what you’re feeling and what you’re experiencing and such.

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Science, in my opinion, will eventually catch up to us, I am convinced- Right.

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that everything that we’re feeling has a scientific basis to it, but in some cases we’re just not there yet.

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Like, we don’t know how to measure those senses, we don’t know how to understand what the plants are signaling to us and all these types of things.

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When you were, as you’re thinking about this with your own child and obviously in the book writing towards other children, how did you deal with that kind of line between, you know, wanting to stay in the factual world and at the same time-

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trying to keep that awe and wonder which is also scientifically proven but not so easy to describe?

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So I wrote most of the book when we spent a summer in the Lake District in England and so there’s a whole chapter on animals, right, and if connecting with animals from a young age can help you be more of an environmental steward.

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And so I start the chapter very, sharing my own personal experience, right, of watching my kid on this farm surrounded by alpacas and she’s feeding the alpacas.

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Um, it was, like, so blissful and such a fun thing to see but I’m not really sure if the science is there that, oh, this experience is gonna, like, turn her into somebody who respects the environment.

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I think it is because I think that those experiences all, like, help you and help you connect with the planet around you, but the science isn’t quite there yet.

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Right.

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So throughout the book it’s sort of a mix of, you know, expert interviews, scientific studies, but also just my own personal experiences and kind of the note of, like, we don’t actually know, the science isn’t there yet, but this is what people think.

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Um, there was a child psychologist that I spoke to a lot and she focused on the idea of, that kids who grow up with pets in the house, um, depending of course on how the pets are treated, right?

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Because that’s a whole wide range, but if the pets are treated very much like a part of the family, that that can help kids develop, um, the idea of, like, being nurturing in general, um, and taking care of the planet, other people.

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But, you know, until very recently there wasn’t a lot of data about that because it wasn’t even a thing that pedi- pediatricians wouldn’t ask you if you had a pet in your house.

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Now I think they mostly all do but, like, years ago we just didn’t know.

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We didn’t know how many people, like, had young kids and pets so there wasn’t really a baseline to kind of compare it.

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So sometimes it’s just that we are slowly catching up to the reality of people’s lives.

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Yeah, and I think that that’s what is interesting about all of this.

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It’s somewhat, I mean, I, it’s all experimentation which even just that is a really positive thing when we’re talking about, you know, the types of traits to instill, the idea of stay curious, the idea of open yourself to new experiences, the idea of the fact that your connection to nature takes many different forms because as a being of nature, we as humans have developed this language thing and we have certain kinds of gesturing and we have certain ways

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that our faces and our mouths and our everything moves.

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But again, looking at the family dog or the family cat, those expressions are very different and, and still very, very valid.

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And then when you go farther away from, you know, the species, the animal species into plants and maybe fungi species and trying to say, look, all of these species are also communicating in their own way and expressing themselves- Right.

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in their own way, and you, it’s up to you dear, beautiful child, to w- and, and all adults by the way, for you to develop what is the mechanism, how do you interpret-And how do you come into contact with whatever that communication is?

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Like is it a feeling?

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Is it something you feel in your skin?

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Is it something you feel in your body?

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Is it something that you, you know, interpret from the way that the colors are and the shapes are?

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Like all of it is fine.

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It doesn’t really m- actually matter because the important part is that you’re taking into consideration this other being’s needs- Right.

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and this other being’s experiences.

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And I think that that’s probably the most important especially because, I mean, if we really think about it, this connection to nature not is, not only, I’m, I’m sure that probably the, the primary thing that comes to mind is the idea of like us as human beings being really good stewards.

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But honestly, the answers to how to adapt, change, deal with, work with, potentially backtrack in some cases when possible, climate change is actually in the natural world anyway because its only kin that have survived it.

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Like we haven’t.

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We haven’t been able to get there.

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So, so anything that allows our children to get a head start, that’s like, “Hey, you see that plant over there?

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Go sit,” it’s whatever you receive, because that, whatever you might receive might be the breakthrough that we need in the future for us to, I don’t know, adapt our own skin to not feel so hot or- Right.

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some other type of thing that is gonna happen.

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Did, do you find, did, does the book

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And, and maybe I’m just giving you a part 2, the workbook.

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Like, did you include activities for parents to do with their children, or is that something you’ve contemplated?

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I did.

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Yeah.

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So not, I mean, not every chapter, but most chapters, it’s kinda like broken down by age of like, so for instance, like ways to get outside in nature depending on your kids’ age, or, um, like things you can do when you’re, like shopping at the supermarket, or like, like those kind of things to start them to think about like the food that they eat, or, you know, ideas for practicing problem-solving skills.

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Um, because I think that I really much wanted the book to be that you could pick it up and come back to it, and be like, “Okay, like I’m really into like the nature aspect of it right now.

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Like that’s the chapter I’m gonna focus on,” or like, “Hey, my kid is starting like in the school system for the first time, so I’m gonna read the chapter about education to see like what that is.”

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Like all of the chapters kind of build on each other, but it’s also very much designed that you could like pick and choose.

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Yeah.

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And I have to say this.

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This is anecdotal completely, but lately, um, so obviously, I get to meet tons and tons of different people, and it’s really interesting to hear their backstories and to understand how they’ve gotten to where they are, especially, um, because of course, many of them have pivot stories, you know, where I was in this phase, and then I reconnected with nature, and this is what happened.

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Of course there’s a lot of that going on.

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But it’s really interesting to see, for example, I was just talking to somebody who’s gonna be in, uh, a future episode, so keep an eye out for that- Mm-hmm.

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for everybody who’s listening and watching.

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But I was really touched by the way he was describing that he grew up, um, he’s Canadian, grew up in Canada, and he was telling us, h- he was telling me in the pre-interview how he, um, grew up on a farm.

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Like his grandparents and his parents had a farm and such.

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And he says it wasn’t until way later in life that he realized that for him, things that were absolutely normal and that were about that relationship with, you know, the animals and the food, and like you said, all these different perspectives, like plants as friends and then food, and animals as friends and then food, and a whole series of relationships that for him are, are, are precious.

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Like they, they’re, he’s like he, it, it didn’t dawn on him that they weren’t normal.

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Like he didn’t, they didn’t dawn on him that most people don’t understand and have that type of relationing.

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So as he grew up as an adult and had a whole series of different situations, that, that piece kept kinda anchoring him back.

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And he works now with mushrooms and, and psilocybin and other things, but he’s, he’s always anchored by that relationship.

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and he says, “When I look back even in a lot of the aspects of my life, like, there was still that root that, that always ensured that there was a”

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I don’t know how to describe it, a consideration of others regardless of whether that other was human- Right.

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or, or any other.

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And I have, uh, another client of mine who I love because she’s, um, she is somebody who is being very, very, very, uh, conscious of her 2 grandchildren of, like, making sure that she, uh, exposes them or, or not exposes them, all- like, give them the space to grow up in a very deep connection with nature so, you know, in their land, she takes outside and whenever she’s doing something but she also not just shares what she’s doing but she shares the,

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the relationship she herself has with all the different plants, like, here are the Douglas firs that don’t like me very much but really much love your grandfather because they are, um, we made a pact that says, you know, I won’t hate on you if you won’t hate on me because we just really love your husband-.

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or, you know, the moon flower that she does pull off because being a parasite, you know, kind o’ takes over but that- Right.

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the conversation that they have while they’re doing it, so now the little kids, you know, who are very small, under 5 years old, you know, are, are, actually under probably I think 3, they, um, they have these conversations so when they come back to her, there’s an educated relationship of like, “Oh, over here we’re gonna go forage over this because we’ve had conversations and it’s okay to pick from here and over here instead we’re not going to do it because these mushrooms need to grow because they’ve told us da di da.”

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Like there’s this kind of mix between their intuitiveness and their relationship and also a deep listening that’s starting to grow from them.

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And I th- I, I really do seeing now all the adults that I’ve heard from, I feel like that there is, there are all the direct nature skills but then I think, as you said, there are all the other skills that we hope for adults to have.

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Deep, deep listening, um- Mm-hmm.

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the ability to be present in what’s happening, also looking at cues that are, or experiencing receiving cues that are not just necessarily what the words that this person says but that are, you know, going beyond the surface because they’ve had this relationship with other kin that they’ve had- Right.

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to learn how to receive and interpret and such, which I don’t think, you know, it’s not about like you said teaching, it’s about exposure.

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Spend a lot of time- Right.

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give them the space, encourage them to go have, if they come back and are like, “That mushroom said to me”

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You say, “Yes, they did.

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What did they say to you?”

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You know?

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In order to do that.

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Do you find that too, that that was one of the, like, threads that came out?

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Yeah.

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And I think it’s really this idea, right, of being, like, flexible and how, especially like in nature of like, oh, okay, like, you might wanna like walk this way but, like, these plants clearly don’t want you to go, like, in that way.

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They’re kind of like going over the, like, pathway or whatever, they’re like telling you in their own way, like, “Hey, like, this is our space right now.”

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Um, and I think that, you know, translates into so many other things, like translates into h- like our interactions with humans and kind of how we build maybe more community than we currently have.

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We live in such like divisive times but I think if you have this exposure of being out in nature, kind of listening, um, that kind of deep thinking and flexible thinking, you can apply it to your interactions with other human beings as well that hopefully grounds us a little more in community.

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I think that that’s such an important piece of this that myself discovered it, you know, way forward, like way m- m- kind of down the path I was ’cause when I started working with plants really closely, of course there was the fascination, there was the whole, oh my goodness, I don’t, I didn’t know that plants were communicating in this way, I didn’t understand- Mm-hmm.

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I’m now looking at another being and saying, “Oh my goodness, you’re, you know, conscious, you’re aware, you know what’s going on around you, you’re aware of me.”

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And then all of these different pieces.

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But then over time I started to discover my own relationships with other people, other humans as well as other beings start to change.

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My relationship

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Even my relationships with dogs and cats, like I was a, I am a very big cat person, love cats and, uh, not so much a dog person.

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But-.

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I think nowadays when I, when I see dogs, for example today I, I, you know, I was in a, somebody’s home and the dog came in and I was, I was having a conversation with the dog that was just very different than what I would’ve done maybe 15 years ago where- Mm-hmm.

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you know, you kinda treat the dog a little bit

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I don’t wanna say a little stupid because

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Well, but I think dogs are stupid.

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No, I’m just kidding.

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I’m kidding.

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Like, but I’m just saying like, you know, I was

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You know, the dog had done something and I was looking at the dog going, “You did this to yourself.”

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And it was funny because I was talking in English and I live in Italy so

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But the, the dog just happens to have an English, like, the, the couple, he- she’s Italian and he’s British.

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Oh, okay.

200
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So I spoke in English, she’s like, “You know he understands everything you’re saying.”

201
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I’m like, “Oh, no, no.

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I can tell.

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I can tell.”

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“He knows what I’m saying.”

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And I was like, “You did this to him, to yourself.”

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You, ’cause he locked himself in a room and I’m like-.

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“You locked yourself in this room.

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Now you’re stuck here.”

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And he just looked up like saying

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And he, you could tell he was thinking, he was like, “How the hell am I gonna get myself outta here?”

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So it was like had to th- rethink because it wasn’t brute force- Yeah.

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wasn’t gonna get him outta the room.

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But I, I, I realize that I’m much more

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attuned, which honestly makes it also, uh, easier for me to be around children and even the elderly or people with other kinds of situations, because having learned or having, or continuously learning how to attune myself to, you know, other kin makes it easier for me to enter into relationships with people who maybe are not, you know, non-verbal in whatever case that that is.

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Right.

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And I think that these are great skills to give to children from a very early age without having to, like, teach them.

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Right.

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Right.

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Yeah, I mean, like, you know, a lot of kids are, right, afraid of bees.

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Bees have been, like, a huge thing, and I, like, when my child sees a bee, I’m always like, “It’s not gonna, like, hurt you unless you, like, bother it.

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Like, then it’s gonna, like, tell you you’re too close to it.”

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But also, like, we need the bees because they, you know, well, give us food.

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They pollinate the flowers.

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And so now when my kid goes outside, she’s like, “Oh, the bee told me it, it really likes those flowers and not those flowers.”

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I’m like, “Oh, okay, like, you’re less afraid now and you’ve developed this whole relationship with them.”

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I love that.

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I think that that’s such an important piece.

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And, and it’s what we know is gonna make a big difference because that’s what’s gonna, you know, prevent her I don’t know, going off and buying things that she knows is gonna hurt, you know, the bees or, or, you know, making- Right.

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those types of moves.

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It’s, it’s incredible to me to see that disconnection that happens.

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Do you find

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Did you find any, um

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I guess, wh- what has been parents’ reaction?

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Like, do you feel like, do you feel like parents are starting

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‘Cause you, you have to remember, parents themselves are disconnected, right?

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So here they are- Mm-hmm.

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trying to keep their child connected to a world that they themselves are disconnected to.

238
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I guess maybe that’s my question.

239
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My question is, how do you feel

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How do we get in t- how do we get in touch with the parents?

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How do we get the parents to understand the importance?

242
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Right.

243
00:28:11,059 –> 00:28:22,439
I mean, I, I can, I can imagine that that’s the reason why you called it not Reconnect Your Child to Nature, but instead, you know, Climate Crisis, Climate Crisis, Alarm, Alarm, Alarm, Parents Do Something.

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Right.

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I mean, for this book, I will say I kind of, like, took, like, the title itself, right?

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Like, I’m not debating that the climate crisis exists.

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Like, we’re not debating global warming.

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Like, if you’re- Right.

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picking up this book, the idea is, is that you already know there’s a thing and that you’re worried about it and you have questions in some way.

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Right.

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Um, so in that sense, I think, like, some of the work was, like, done for me with the title.

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Um, but yeah, I mean, one of the things that I have heard back from parents that has been really great has just been for them to say, “Oh, I, like, learned some practical tips that I can apply in our own life.”

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‘Cause that was the big thing for me, right?

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Like, we’re all so busy, um, and especially parents, especially, you know, the younger that your kids are.

255
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Um, and I really wanted people to come away from it thinking about, like, oh, it doesn’t need to be, like, a big one-and-done conversation.

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It’s really, like, a journey throughout of, like, we’re outside, this is why we, like, pick up our trash, or, like, this is why we take care of the trees or the plants, or we’re at the supermarket and this is why we don’t buy things in plastic when we have an option for something that’s better.

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But, you know, if plastic is the only option, then that’s, maybe that’s a problem and we can talk about why that’s a problem, but we’re not going to make ourselves feel bad

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Um, and so I really wanted it to be things that people could do just in their everyday life, because that’s what I’ve tried to do with my own kid.

259
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Um, she

260
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I kind of set the groundwork very early on for her to understand that, like, fossil fuels are making the planet hotter.

261
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And I really did that by following her lead.

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She wanted to know once why when she was, I don’t know, she was probably 2 or three, and she was like, “Why is our car quieter than grandpa’s car,” right?

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And, like, that didn’t even occur to me, but we’ve always had an electric car.

264
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And her grandpa’s car who she

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Like, my parents live, like, a mile from us.

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She sees them a lot.

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She’s in the car with them a lot.

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Like, they have a gas-powered car.

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That’s not even something that would’ve like occurred to me, but was something that she noticed and then we could have a conversation about like, “Oh, like our car runs on something called electricity which means it’s cleaner for the air and, you know, better for the planet overall.”

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And that was, like, a conversation we had when she was 2 years old and now she has set the groundwork for her to already understand that the earth is warming and why that’s not necessarily a good thing, but also, like, that there are things people can do about, do to make it not as bad.

271
00:31:00,999 –> 00:31:01,399
Yeah.

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It really is a lifestyle shift, right?

273
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It’s about helping

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I mean, in some ways

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I, I once was working, um, I was at, I was at a conference one time with, uh, Dana Baumaster who is the, um, she’s one of the co-founders of biomimicry, you know, the whole design, uh, inspired by nature.

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And she was talking about

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We were talking about this conversation of do you target children, adults, teenagers, you know, school age, what?

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What?

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And she herself was saying, “I, uh, I admire people who, uh, you know, work with parents because

280
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And, and work with children in particular,” because she was saying, you know, that means that you really believe the world is gonna exist when those- Yeah.

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children grow up and they can make the change.

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She’s like, “I am an impatient person.

283
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I wanna work directly, you know, with adults that can make changes today.”

284
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And I was saying, and we were having this really interesting conversation about how while that is true, ’cause I understand that ’cause I’m like that.

285
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I like working with adults.

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I feel like, you know, there’s a whole thing.

287
00:31:59,699 –> 00:32:16,579
But I do recognize that there’s something really beautiful about working with an adult, uh, w- working with a parent, because in reality, you’re actually helping them with their children, but inadvertently, all of that just is back on them.

288
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So it’s like you are working with an adult, you just happen to be, you know, kind of helping them see things through their children’s eyes.

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And I, and I do think that most parents want their child to live a better life than the life, than, you know, that we want them to always have something more than what we had or where, you know, where we are today.

290
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And so, it becomes this kind of really great goal of, hey, we wanna leave the planet really well f- r- really well for you.

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We wanna leave things in a way that is going to, you know, make your life better and easier, and therefore, if I have to teach you these things, it’s because I have to do them too.

292
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I have to be the example.

293
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Right.

294
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And I think that, like, the thing about working with parents is that parents are playing the long game already- Mm-hmm.

295
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because they know that, like, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

296
00:33:08,119 –> 00:33:12,272
Like, yes, sometimes I want action to happen a lot, like, faster than it is.

297
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parents already know that, like, you’re kinda just planting the seeds for, like, things to continue to take off, which is, like, a little bit about how I have slowly made myself think about gardening.

298
00:33:24,759 –> 00:33:37,859
Um, you know, we have a house and that has a, like, decent amount of land and I was very impatient with it at first because it was all grass and I was like, “Well, I want it to be more, like, wild.

299
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I wanna do this.

300
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I wanna do this.”

301
00:33:39,339 –> 00:33:53,199
Um, and I very slowly have come to the realization of like, okay, like, I planted apple trees, like, those apple trees are gonna take, like, 20 years to look like anything that, like, a kid could climb on, right?

302
00:33:53,199 –> 00:33:53,859
So my kid’s- Right.

303
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not necessarily gonna enjoy them, but somebody else’s kid might, or maybe my, like, grandkids will.

304
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And so it has kind of forced me to, like, think about the longer term goal than, like, this instant.

305
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What kind of changes have you seen in your own child from this, this work?

306
00:34:10,779 –> 00:34:17,719
And is- are there things that maybe you didn’t include in the book that now you think, “Oh, if I ever write a part 2 or when I write articles, I-

307
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wanna focus on this.”

308
00:34:18,579.0000000002328 –> 00:34:22,719
Because, you know what I mean, we always discover new things, but as part of the process.

309
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Right.

310
00:34:22,739 –> 00:34:25,456.00000000023283
But I’m just curious as to what changes that you have seen.

311
00:34:26,938.9999999997672 –> 00:34:28,199
think that

312
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You know, so by the time this book came out, like, this was her first year of, um, like, regular full time school.

313
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And so I think that has been an interesting change because she

314
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Just seeing the way she interacts with people at school.

315
00:34:45,779 –> 00:34:53,958.9999999997672
For instance, um, on Earth Day of all days, she came home with, like, a plastic necklace that had plastic beads on it.

316
00:34:53,958.9999999997672 –> 00:34:59,739
Like, I think the teachers were trying to, like, teach them about pattern, like, pattern making and those were the materials they had.

317
00:34:59,739 –> 00:35:11,319
Um, and she was kind of like, “Oh, I asked my teacher about the plastic but she said it was okay because it was just a little bit of plastic,” because, like, she knows that, like, we don’t use a lot of plastic.

318
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So, of course, I kind of had, like, had to balance that conversation of, like, “Okay.

319
00:35:16,179 –> 00:35:16,819
I want you”

320
00:35:16,819 –> 00:35:19,739
Like, “First of all, I’m so proud of you for even asking that question.”

321
00:35:19,739 –> 00:35:20,259
Asking.

322
00:35:20,259 –> 00:35:20,519
Right?

323
00:35:20,519 –> 00:35:22,142
For pushing- That’s amazing.

324
00:35:22,899 –> 00:35:23,999
that, um- That’s amazing.

325
00:35:23,999 –> 00:35:28,799
And she’s kind of like a shy kid who does not like to stand out, so just the fact

326
00:35:28,799 –> 00:35:46,079
I mean, the fact that anybody would, but especially knowing her personality that she asked that question, I was like, “I am so, like, proud of you,” and, like, “so glad that this is what you did,” but then also had to have kind of, like, a conversation of like, “Well, like, even a little bit of plastic isn’t, like, great.”

327
00:35:46,079 –> 00:35:52,899
Um, like, “Maybe there are some solutions that we could, like, suggest to your teacher for the kids next year.”

328
00:35:52,899 –> 00:35:55,999
Um, and so I think I didn’t really

329
00:35:55,999 –> 00:36:16,631
When I was writing the book, I think I was still in this place where I could control most of her, like, day to day life and her day to day interactions, and, like, very quickly when your kid gets into school, um, that kinda goes out the window.So that, I think- and I mean, I’ve struggled with it, like, with myself, right?

330
00:36:16,631 –> 00:36:19,411
Like, I go to, like, kids birthday parties.

331
00:36:19,411 –> 00:36:26,931
We just had 3 birthday parties that we went to over the course of 3 days and, you know, some of the parents know what I do, some of them don’t.

332
00:36:26,931 –> 00:36:33,312
Um, we were at one birthday party and a mom came up to me and she was like, “Are these styrofoam plates killing you?”

333
00:36:33,312 –> 00:36:37,471.99999999953434
And I’m like, “Well, they’re not great but, like, we’re here at this party.

334
00:36:37,471.99999999953434 –> 00:36:39,571
Like, what am I going to do about it?”

335
00:36:39,571 –> 00:36:39,731
Right?

336
00:36:39,731 –> 00:36:40,052
Right.

337
00:36:40,052 –> 00:36:43,492
Like, we’re celebrating someone’s, like, 6yearold.

338
00:36:43,492 –> 00:36:52,208
Um, so it is just kind of that, like, other people’s reaction, um, that I think I didn’t, like, think about it as much.

339
00:36:52,994 –> 00:36:53,312
Yeah.

340
00:36:53,312 –> 00:36:57,731
And, and so a few, a few y- you’re maybe thinking multiple directions.

341
00:36:57,731 –> 00:37:06,671
One thing is, this is actually the reason why where I live in Damanhur, we actually developed the school for exactly that same reason, in the sense that parents realized

342
00:37:06,671 –> 00:37:20,951
And this is something that, um, kind of in, in working with the Global, um, the Global Ecovillage Network, they say one of the first things that is born in a community that wants longevity, like a community that really wants to exist over time, is a school.

343
00:37:20,951 –> 00:37:24,991
Because what they realize is that their children

344
00:37:24,991 –> 00:37:39,871
You know, here you are trying to change the paradigm, making such big changes as an adult and you’re trying to enter into all this world, and then all of a sudden your kids, as, as you said, at a very, very young and impressionable age get sent to a school that might have completely different values than what you have.

345
00:37:39,871 –> 00:37:52,931
So, it’s not so much about, like, just teaching, you know, w- what people might think of as, like, the spiritual worldview, but more of, like, even the more, the worldview around ecology and all these different kinds of relationship building and stuff like that.

346
00:37:52,931 –> 00:38:05,431
And that is why many of the, one of the first big, big projects that a community takes on after whatever is the foundational worldview that they have is usually a school to, to help each other move that.

347
00:38:05,431 –> 00:38:05,451
Yeah.

348
00:38:05,451 –> 00:38:13,251
And as a matter of fact, the client that I was telling you about that wrote the children’s book, her book is intended for, um, homeschooling families as a

349
00:38:13,251 –> 00:38:25,872
And it has, like, a little workbook connected to it and how she’s working on lesson plans, because it’s the whole idea of we need to teach this worldview and we need to give the parents, you know, exercises and help and support in doing that.

350
00:38:26,371 –> 00:38:27,791
I love that your daughter asked.

351
00:38:27,791 –> 00:38:30,411
I think that that’s absolutely what we need.

352
00:38:30,411 –> 00:38:35,211.00000000046566
Like, just that curiosity of, like, not reprimanding, “Mommy said that that’s bad.”

353
00:38:35,211.00000000046566 –> 00:38:35,651
Right.

354
00:38:35,651 –> 00:38:35,931
Yeah.

355
00:38:35,931 –> 00:38:36,531
And, and I think

356
00:38:36,531 –> 00:38:50,551
And kudos to you for teaching her in that way where she didn’t do it as in, you know, “Mommy says this is bad,” but more of like, “Hey, mom was talking to me about plastic and these are plastic, and it’s Earth Day, so what does that mean?”

357
00:38:50,551 –> 00:39:08,254
And I, I do think, I think that the hardest part about it, I mean, besides the fact that just asking the questions, but I think the hardest part which I think you just mentioned and I wanna call it out because you navigated it really beautifully, which is, okay, let me have a hard conversation with you, which is your teacher is doing the best she can.

358
00:39:08,811 –> 00:39:19,631
But even a little bit of plastic when it’s not necessary is still bad and we wanna not support that, so how can we help your teacher make a better decision next year?

359
00:39:19,631 –> 00:39:23,211.00000000046566
Like, turning it into a, a game, a problem-solving.

360
00:39:23,211.00000000046566 –> 00:39:33,411
Like, “What would you do, honey, at that age to, like, t- to try to do whatever it was that your teacher was, was teaching you, to learn that same thing?

361
00:39:33,411 –> 00:39:35,471
Um, what, what do you think we should do?

362
00:39:35,471 –> 00:39:38,511
And then let’s, you know, let’s propose a solution to your teacher.”

363
00:39:38,511 –> 00:39:55,728
So you don’t come at it from the perspective of, “I know better than you,” but more like, “Hey, my daughter and I took this opportunity to take this thing that happened and turn it into a, a brainstorming lesson and an opportunity for her to really explore this topic, and here’s some ideas that we came up with for you.”

364
00:39:56,591 –> 00:39:57,131
Mm-hmm.

365
00:39:57,131 –> 00:39:58,491
And that’s something I

366
00:39:58,491 –> 00:40:07,811
Like, obviously she’s still young but I think so much of, like, the things you do for the climate crisis are, like, you also have to have a conversation just about economic privilege, right?

367
00:40:07,811 –> 00:40:09,671.0000000004657
And access to certain things.

368
00:40:09,671.0000000004657 –> 00:40:10,171.00000000046566
Sure.

369
00:40:10,171.00000000046566 –> 00:40:15,791
Um, and that has been something that I have tried to get her to think about a little bit, right?

370
00:40:15,791 –> 00:40:19,020
Like, in terms of, like, we have an electric car.

371
00:40:19,020 –> 00:40:29,519
We have an electric car because it’s better for the planet, but also, like, we have that car because the one I had before died, and when I bought a new one, I wasn’t going to buy a gas one.

372
00:40:29,519 –> 00:40:43,540
But somebody who has, like, an older car, like, it’s really good that they’ve, like, held onto that car for as long as they, like, have and not, like, everybody can afford to make these changes nor do they necessarily, like, need to.

373
00:40:43,540 –> 00:40:52,799
Um, but I think, like, really getting her to start, like, thinking through just the privilege around certain things is also- Mm-hmm.

374
00:40:52,799 –> 00:41:02,000
and, like, why certain people have access to certain things and other people don’t is just an important part of living in this world, but also just the climate crisis in general.

375
00:41:02,658 –> 00:41:06,679
Absolutely, and also the geography changes the solution and I think that that’s another- Right.

376
00:41:06,679 –> 00:41:16,859
important piece that is important for us to teach children, uh, of all ages because I think sometimes, like, I, I, I often use the example of diapers.

377
00:41:16,859 –> 00:41:17,619
Like if you- Right, that’s

378
00:41:17,619 –> 00:41:23,939
in an area, if you live in an area that’s water strapped where water is a big, big issue- Mm-hmm.

379
00:41:23,939 –> 00:41:30,039
then cloth diapers, as much as they seem better for the environment, might not be better for the environment overall.

380
00:41:30,039 –> 00:41:30,080
Right.

381
00:41:30,080 –> 00:41:36,699
And so you, you, being able to also, like you said, um, privilege is one piece of it.

382
00:41:36,699 –> 00:41:40,100
Like, what do we all- what, what can we permit ourselves to do?

383
00:41:40,100 –> 00:41:40,719
Right.

384
00:41:40,719 –> 00:41:46,719
Including asking ourselves sometimes hard questions because, you know, sometimes we say we can’t afford it, but that’s a- also bullshit.

385
00:41:46,719 –> 00:41:48,199
Like, sorry for saying it that way.

386
00:41:48,199 –> 00:41:48,260
Right,

387
00:41:48,260 –> 00:41:49,699
Like, it’s, it’s crap.

388
00:41:49,699 –> 00:41:53,659
But also, like, what are the right questions to ask?

389
00:41:53,659 –> 00:42:08,799
So the right questions are, just kind of as you were saying, you, you, I don’t think you said it, like, directly, but the way you said, which is, you know, recycle, reuse goes above, you know, or actually reusing or repairing- Yeah.

390
00:42:08,799 –> 00:42:11,959
and all these parts go before even recycling- Right.

391
00:42:11,959 –> 00:42:21,079
goes before, you know, replacing and all these different aspects and I think that helping that scale so that you ask yourself questions.

392
00:42:21,079 –> 00:42:29,360
Okay, first, what can I do if something I have breaks or if I’m gonna try to create something, what can I do to first reuse something that I have?

393
00:42:29,919 –> 00:42:31,839
How can I repair, you know, these things?

394
00:42:31,839 –> 00:42:37,424
And, and kind of understanding that recycle is near the bottom, not near the top.

395
00:42:38,059 –> 00:42:38,119
Mm-hmm.

396
00:42:38,119 –> 00:42:41,779
It’s like something that we have to think about in a different way, 1.

397
00:42:41,779 –> 00:42:49,099
2, also understanding that some of the questions we have to ask is, what is available to me in the geography that I’m in- Right.

398
00:42:49,099 –> 00:42:58,699
because just because it’s something that’s super regenerative or sustainable in some other continent doesn’t mean that I should ship it over to where I am, and I think that that’s another part.

399
00:42:58,699 –> 00:43:03,239
And another thing that I might encourage you to do, but that’s just my own bias-

400
00:43:03,239 –> 00:43:07,599
is, you know, sometimes the answer, the humans don’t have them yet.

401
00:43:07,599 –> 00:43:07,619
Right.

402
00:43:07,619 –> 00:43:16,819
And sometimes it’s nice to just say go outside and, or inside if you have, you know, a houseplant that’s become, like, a, a, a friend and go ask- Mm-hmm.

403
00:43:16,819 –> 00:43:37,759
Go ask and see, you know, in, in some cases I’ve seen people talk about, you know, introducing them depending on your worldview and what you believe in, like, you know, go ask the plants, go ask the fairies, go ask the mushrooms, go ask the gnomes, like, whatever your worldview might be, but instead of you don’t have to look at it all internally just to yourself, right?

404
00:43:37,759 –> 00:43:39,579
This relationship and this, the

405
00:43:39,579 –> 00:43:48,219
is about learning the wisdom that other beings, other human beings as well as other plant beings, other, you know, nature beings in general have.

406
00:43:48,219 –> 00:43:52,879
And so, I don’t know, go sit with the, with the family dog – Right.

407
00:43:52,879 –> 00:43:53,179
and ask, you know- Yeah.

408
00:43:53,179 –> 00:43:54,639
certain questions.

409
00:43:54,639 –> 00:43:55,699
The dog might say-

410
00:43:55,699 –> 00:43:56,759
“Well, I don’t know.”

411
00:43:56,759 –> 00:44:05,904
And then they’ll leave and go over to somebody else, like, “If I was going to honor Earth Day, dear cat, how would I honor Earth Day for you?”

412
00:44:06,799 –> 00:44:06,959
Right.

413
00:44:06,959 –> 00:44:16,799
“If I’m gonna go honor Earth Day, dear,” you know, uh, I don’t know, uh, whatever, oak tree, “how am I going to honor it for you?”

414
00:44:16,799 –> 00:44:21,079
Might be really interesting to see, you know, what, what, what answers come up.

415
00:44:21,079 –> 00:44:21,360
Yeah.

416
00:44:22,439 –> 00:44:23,019
Yeah.

417
00:44:23,019 –> 00:44:25,159
No, like, I completely agree.

418
00:44:25,159 –> 00:44:29,919
Um, we have, this reminds me that I don’t do very well with, like, indoor plants.

419
00:44:29,919 –> 00:44:41,259
I’m much better with outdoor things, but we do have this one, um, prickly pear cactus that I have had now for, like, 10 years, um- Woohoo.

420
00:44:41,259 –> 00:44:50,538.9999999995343
and you know, yeah, my, and my daughter has, like, a friend who sometimes she’ll come over and she will, like, actually just go over and say hi to this, like, prickly pear cactus.

421
00:44:50,538.9999999995343 –> 00:44:57,424
And that is just, like, something she has started to do, like, on her own that she did probably, like, from the first time she was ever in the

422
00:44:58,079 –> 00:45:02,199
And sometimes she’ll come to me and she’s like, “The cactus says it’s really thirsty.

423
00:45:02,199 –> 00:45:04,079
You haven’t been watering it enough.”

424
00:45:04,079 –> 00:45:05,239
like, “Okay.

425
00:45:05,239 –> 00:45:06,379
Okay, we can get some

426
00:45:06,379 –> 00:45:07,339
Yes, ma’am.

427
00:45:07,339 –> 00:45:08,639
Yes, ma’am.

428
00:45:08,639 –> 00:45:10,199
That’s exactly what we want.

429
00:45:11,479 –> 00:45:11,999
Keep it

430
00:45:11,999 –> 00:45:12,019
Oh.

431
00:45:12,019 –> 00:45:12,459
Yes.

432
00:45:12,459 –> 00:45:12,879
All right.

433
00:45:14,159 –> 00:45:36,919
But yeah, I mean, I just, like, love that, like, relationship that they have, but I mean, you’re right, just thinking, you know, in the book I have a section on both schools that have had solar panels, right, and how they’ve incorporated, like, solar panels into their lessons plans, but then also talking to a person out in Alaska where they are using wind turbines because, like, solar panels don’t make sense there.

434
00:45:36,919 –> 00:45:37,479
So that’s- Right.

435
00:45:37,479 –> 00:45:41,499
like a very, that is a very important aspect to think about, your geography.

436
00:45:41,499 –> 00:46:00,651
And that is something that just overall I’ve tried to stress with the parents I have talked to of, like, you kind of have to think about it of, like, this is where I am at this place in my life and these are the types of decisions that I am able to make because I think people sort of worry sometimes that

437
00:46:00,651 –> 00:46:03,611
they have to do everything perfectly for the environment.

438
00:46:03,611 –> 00:46:03,631
Right.

439
00:46:03,631 –> 00:46:06,851
Um, and if they can’t, they’re not gonna do anything.

440
00:46:06,851 –> 00:46:15,051
And I’m like, “No, no, you just have to do, like, what you can for this particular stage of your, like, life and your parenting journey.”

441
00:46:15,051 –> 00:46:17,832
Um, when my daughter was

442
00:46:17,832 –> 00:46:28,011
up until when my daughter was about 3, she had never gone more than a week with seeing my, like, sister, ’cause we lived close to each other, um, so that, like, they had a very close relationship.

443
00:46:28,011 –> 00:46:48,051
And then my sister got a job, um, hundreds of miles away from us and so it was kind of like, “Well, like, I know that flying is bad, but this relationship is important, so we’re still gonna get 0 like, I’m making the decision that I will put you on the plane and we will fly to see her because, like, this is where we are at this point in our li- lives.”

444
00:46:48,051 –> 00:46:56,651
Um, and you know, she, my sister only stayed there for 2 years and now she is, like, back within, like, a 3hour drive, so it has, like, completely, like, changed again.

445
00:46:56,651 –> 00:47:03,971
And so I think that that’s just, like, so important for people to remember, that you just have to do the best you can for where- Right.

446
00:47:03,971 –> 00:47:06,111
you are and everything’s gonna keep changing.

447
00:47:06,111 –> 00:47:17,312
Well, and I think that as, as you’re saying these things, I also think that it’s really important for parents to consider where to bring the children into these conversations to help them- Mm-hmm.

448
00:47:17,312 –> 00:47:20,771
understand your decision-making process too, which- Right.

449
00:47:20,771 –> 00:47:31,372
who knows, by the time they get older they might have other solutions, which are great, but like, you know, where you might say, “Okay, honey, you know, we, as you know, we believe this philosophy, right?

450
00:47:31,372 –> 00:47:36,651
So we’re, we have to decide how we’re gonna go see your aunt, and so let’s have a conversation.

451
00:47:36,651 –> 00:47:39,232
There’s, there’s, here are all the methods we can think of.

452
00:47:39,232 –> 00:47:41,011
Drive for this many days-” Mm-hmm.

453
00:47:41,011 –> 00:47:41,031
“

454
00:47:41,031 –> 00:47:46,892
you know, this is what it would take for a train, and this is what it would be for a plane, and here are all the consi-“

455
00:47:46,892 –> 00:47:49,011
And I mean, you don’t have to go into super gritty details.

456
00:47:49,011 –> 00:47:49,351
Right.

457
00:47:49,351 –> 00:48:00,811
But even just general details that say, “Here are the things, and then we’ve decided that based on the relationship that you, that we all wanna have, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, we’ve come to this conclusion.

458
00:48:00,811 –> 00:48:13,031
Now, we know it’s not optimum for the environment, but at the same time, we do it selectively and with this consciousness, and therefore we will continue to keep looking for additional solutions to pop up.”

459
00:48:13,031 –> 00:48:17,532
So also helping her see, like, this isn’t a decision that we make and we’re like, “This is it.

460
00:48:17,532 –> 00:48:18,112
It’s done.”

461
00:48:18,112 –> 00:48:18,231
Right.

462
00:48:18,231 –> 00:48:18,251
Yeah.

463
00:48:18,251 –> 00:48:30,391
But more of, “This is something we’re choosing now, right here, right now, and we’re open to the fact that it might not be the future solution because something else might come around and we might explore other things.”

464
00:48:30,391 –> 00:48:36,031
Because again, children have this creative, connected mind.

465
00:48:36,031 –> 00:48:36,492
Mm-hmm.

466
00:48:36,492 –> 00:48:39,272
And I feel like we sometimes, um

467
00:48:39,272 –> 00:48:44,432
In, in Damanhur, at first I have to admit, I don’t have children so it used to annoy the crap out of me.

468
00:48:44,432 –> 00:48:46,792
I am, I am a professional aunt.

469
00:48:46,792 –> 00:48:53,452
And now a professional great-aunt, and I take great pride in my aunt and great-aunt duties.

470
00:48:53,452 –> 00:49:03,120
Um, but for example, we, uh, it was encouraged by the spiritual founder of Damanhur, um, to have children at our house meetings, ’cause we have house meetings every week.

471
00:49:03,671.0000000004657 –> 00:49:17,311
And at first it used to annoy the hell out of me, especially because at 1 point we were living in a house with a boy who would really get into the conversations, and so sometimes he would say, you know, he wanted to say his piece, his, of whatever it was that we were, the project we were discussing or whatever.

472
00:49:17,311 –> 00:49:21,551
And at first I was like, “Oh my goodness, what can he possibly say?”

473
00:49:21,551 –> 00:49:22,590
But I gotta admit-

474
00:49:23,172 –> 00:49:28,572
every once in a while he came up with stuff where I was like, I would’ve never thought of that.

475
00:49:28,572 –> 00:49:29,551.9999999995343
Never thought of that.”

476
00:49:30,692 –> 00:49:34,152
And so it is helpful just the same to have all these different voices, right?

477
00:49:34,152 –> 00:49:37,571
Of course, age appropriate, making sure that you don’t weigh in- Right.

478
00:49:37,571 –> 00:49:38,811
on certain pieces.

479
00:49:38,811 –> 00:49:41,111
But I do think that there is like a well

480
00:49:41,111 –> 00:49:46,270.99999999953434
especially because again, they will bring in the voice of the other kin much easier than we will.

481
00:49:46,270.99999999953434 –> 00:49:46,951
Mm-hmm.

482
00:49:46,951 –> 00:49:55,131
And so like you said, you know, “E- it’s time for you to water the cactus ’cause the cactus is screaming at me that, you know, needs water.”

483
00:49:55,131 –> 00:50:10,131
You might end up with a, you know, “The cactus was thinking about this in the terms of how they do it,” and they, you know, might use a still cactus description which then you translate to being like, “Huh, in human terms that would be this.

484
00:50:10,131 –> 00:50:11,412.00000000046566
I had never thought of that.”

485
00:50:11,412.00000000046566 –> 00:50:17,611
And so children are a wonderful avenue for that type of connection to come back into our adult lives.

486
00:50:17,611 –> 00:50:17,698
Right.

487
00:50:19,211.00000000046566 –> 00:50:28,971
Yeah, and I think, I mean, like, to your point, like, by letting them have those kind of conversations, you’re helping them practice their problem-solving skills which is- Mm-hmm.

488
00:50:31,420 –> 00:50:34,439
And also just to, you know, make their own decisions.

489
00:50:34,439 –> 00:50:45,939
Um, my kid has decided that she really likes cow milk, um, that like, like we’ve tried, we’ve had conversations about like the pros and cons of it.

490
00:50:45,939 –> 00:50:59,559
Um, we, I prefer oat milk most of the time but she very much has been like, “I understand this but I don’t like the taste of oat milk, um, so I’m gonna stick with cow milk.”

491
00:50:59,559 –> 00:51:00,159
And that’s fine.

492
00:51:00,159 –> 00:51:02,319
I think like that’s, like that’s her decision.

493
00:51:02,319 –> 00:51:09,559
And then we’ve had other conversations where she also has decided on her own that she’s not going to eat meat.

494
00:51:09,559 –> 00:51:12,639
She will eat fish but she won’t eat any meat.

495
00:51:12,639 –> 00:51:19,419
And like that was also just kind of sort of a thing that I let her do on her own and again, might like change as she- Of course.

496
00:51:19,419 –> 00:51:25,599
like grows up and like wants to actually, is over at kids houses and wants to try something else which is fine.

497
00:51:25,599 –> 00:51:40,990
But I think like her making those decisions for herself has been great and also means that like sometimes she does have to like problem solve a little bit when we’re like on vacation or out at a restaurant, um, to figure out what she is going to have for dinner.

498
00:51:41,698 –> 00:51:42,459
Yeah.

499
00:51:42,459 –> 00:51:44,319
I have to say I lived in a

500
00:51:44,319 –> 00:51:45,139
So we live in

501
00:51:45,139 –> 00:51:49,879
Our shared homes are called nucleos and I lived in a nucleo once where we were moving towards the direction

502
00:51:49,879 –> 00:51:53,079
So we had very specific needs ’cause we were right in the middle of the forest.

503
00:51:53,079 –> 00:51:57,939
It was a, it was, it was a tree house village in the middle of the forest.

504
00:51:57,939 –> 00:51:58,299
Yay.

505
00:51:58,299 –> 00:52:00,560
And, um, I

506
00:52:01,219 –> 00:52:06,699
We had very specific needs because of the way that the system, the septic system and things like that were.

507
00:52:06,699 –> 00:52:16,259
And, um, one of the things I loved was what we were starting to do was, for example, explore every kind of product and I’m not saying that parents should do this.

508
00:52:16,259 –> 00:52:21,219
But I’m just saying like we were starting to go things like, for example, we reached out to

509
00:52:21,219 –> 00:52:30,779
There’s, there’s 2 kind of companies, uh, connected to Damanhur, at the time there was only one, that are, that are produce some detergents and things like that.

510
00:52:30,779 –> 00:52:30,999
Okay.

511
00:52:30,999 –> 00:52:35,159
So we had a big conversation with them about like what is the

512
00:52:35,159 –> 00:52:38,519
what does it mean to live where we live and what are the right detergents?

513
00:52:38,519 –> 00:52:50,538.9999999995343
Because, for example, you might think something natural like, I don’t know, uh, coconut oil would be good but they were like, “No, coconut oil here is bad because it can’t, because everything goes straight into the dirt and into the earth- Right.

514
00:52:50,538.9999999995343 –> 00:52:52,559
and those kinds of oils are not good.”

515
00:52:52,559 –> 00:53:01,159
So we ended up having really great conversations and they ended up building some experimental detergents for us that, um, you had to learn how to use differently.

516
00:53:01,159 –> 00:53:11,779
They, they were able to create shampoo and dish soap and, uh, like shampoo, dish soap, hand soap, and I think something else, I can’t remember what it was.

517
00:53:11,779 –> 00:53:15,119
Um, oh, and d- and like cloth washing detergent- Oh.

518
00:53:15,119 –> 00:53:19,419
because as soon as it comes in contact with water, it starts to break down.

519
00:53:19,419 –> 00:53:22,719
So it has to be used in a very, very different way.

520
00:53:22,719 –> 00:53:29,339
And so you had to learn not only about the ecology of where we were, like what kinds of systems did we have?

521
00:53:29,339 –> 00:53:31,599
What makes sense to put into those systems?

522
00:53:31,599 –> 00:53:37,739
And then, w- in their case like they were able to like build us some stuff that we were experimenting with for them.

523
00:53:37,739 –> 00:53:51,239
But, for example, you know, okay, you want to drink, you know, cow milk or you wanna, you know, not eat meat or whatever, or let’s just say she said she did wanna eat meat, okay, how can we make sure that the meat that we’re eating comes from the right sources- Right.

524
00:53:51,239 –> 00:53:51,899
and all these things?

525
00:53:51,899 –> 00:54:10,139
I think one of the beautiful things in all of this conversation is about making the decision-making process especially relating to the products we use and the, the, the way that we do things becomes part of the family dynamic.

526
00:54:10,139 –> 00:54:15,559
And I think that that’s something that we stress here in Damanhur a lot of like we should be making all these decisions together.

527
00:54:15,559 –> 00:54:22,159
We shouldn’t leave things just because we’ve always done them that way because the world is different, everything is changing.

528
00:54:22,159 –> 00:54:22,179
Exactly.

529
00:54:22,179 –> 00:54:29,799
And so therefore it would be great for us to be more conscious and to also know that we need to renew those changes because things might change.

530
00:54:29,799 –> 00:54:33,699
New products might come in the market, new situations might happen around us.

531
00:54:33,699 –> 00:54:42,679
And so maybe you do have cow’s milk because you go and you get it from the farm and you get to know those cows and you start to understand how the farmer is taking care of them.

532
00:54:42,679 –> 00:54:47,119
I once taught, um, a series with my students that came to Damanhur for a retreat.

533
00:54:47,119 –> 00:55:03,259
It was really fun because I took them to a place where they were able to have qui- ask questions to the growers of the plants and they made decisions not to buy plants from certain growers because those growers were not using mechanisms that were good for the plants.

534
00:55:03,259 –> 00:55:08,939
They were treating the plants as commodities and they were like, “Uh, I don’t wanna support that and I don’t want those plants to have to support that.

535
00:55:08,939 –> 00:55:10,759
So we’re gonna go over here,” and such.

536
00:55:10,759 –> 00:55:16,019
And I think that that’s exactly what you’re doing with, with children in this case is like I want you to make informed decisions.

537
00:55:16,019 –> 00:55:18,299
And I want you to feel comfortable asking those questions.

538
00:55:18,299 –> 00:55:18,339
Right.

539
00:55:18,339 –> 00:55:21,648
It might be intrusive but they’re so important nowadays.

540
00:55:22,159 –> 00:55:23,799
Like how are you raising this?

541
00:55:23,799 –> 00:55:25,419
Why did you choose plastic?

542
00:55:25,419 –> 00:55:26,659
Like why

543
00:55:26,659 –> 00:55:26,679
Right.

544
00:55:26,679 –> 00:55:28,528.0000000004657
Are there other options type of thing?

545
00:55:29,666 –> 00:55:30,299
Yeah.

546
00:55:30,299 –> 00:55:30,479
Yeah.

547
00:55:30,479 –> 00:55:38,576
No, I think all of that like is so important and it’s just like a way for them to start to practice, right, like how they’re gonna live in the world.

548
00:55:39,138 –> 00:55:39,999
Exactly.

549
00:55:39,999 –> 00:55:41,839
I love this conversation so much.

550
00:55:41,839 –> 00:55:43,359
Thank you so much, Bridget.

551
00:55:43,359 –> 00:55:50,479
Like really I love what you’re doing and the way that you’re thinking about this with children and I hope that there’s more parents that are gonna go out there.

552
00:55:50,479 –> 00:55:53,939
We’re definitely, uh, going to include your book in the show notes.

553
00:55:53,939 –> 00:55:56,699
Can you tell everybody the exact name of the book?

554
00:55:56,699 –> 00:55:57,239
Of course.

555
00:55:57,239 –> 00:56:11,215
So it’s called Parenting In A Climate Crisis: A Handbook For Turning Fear Into Action.I love it and we’re gonna include the link so that people can easily find it and purchase it in the US and in other places around the world.

556
00:56:11,215 –> 00:56:15,95.00000000046566
And any last words for parents that are just kind of getting into this?

557
00:56:15,95.00000000046566 –> 00:56:15,184
Yeah.

558
00:56:16,455 –> 00:56:27,555
I think, it’s very serious business, obviously, like raising kids on the planet that we’re living in, but don’t forget to have fun and that you’re gonna mess it up sometimes.

559
00:56:27,555 –> 00:56:28,784
Like, don’t take it too seriously.

560
00:56:30,018 –> 00:56:30,635
I love that.

561
00:56:30,635 –> 00:56:49,915
I love that, and also, if you wanna continue to have these types of conversations, of course, the Naturally Conscious Community is the place for you where we can really discuss this co-creation with the natural world and how is it that we as humans better integrate ourselves back into nature, reminding ourselves that we are beings of nature.

562
00:56:49,915 –> 00:56:52,795
So, that’s everything.

563
00:56:52,795 –> 00:56:54,455
There’s so much in here.

564
00:56:54,455 –> 00:56:58,355
I’m- I’m, like, I’m already reeling ’cause I’m thinking of all the little kids around me.

565
00:56:58,355 –> 00:57:05,075
And so I’m excited for everyone, and if you’re out there, please remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance.

566
00:57:05,075 –> 00:57:08,635
These are the conversations that we need to be having, and we’re happy to have them.

567
00:57:08,635 –> 00:57:24,235
So like and subscribe and share this and go out and buy Bridget’s book either for yourself or for some family member that has small children that, you know, is looking to understand if- and look for a better way to talk through these types of situations.

568
00:57:24,235 –> 00:57:25,335
That’s it for now.

569
00:57:25,335 –> 00:57:25,982
Bye.

570
00:57:28,034 –> 00:57:31,198
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Reconnect With Plant Wisdom.

571
00:57:31,775 –> 00:57:42,735
To continue these conversations, join us in the Naturally Conscious Community, your premier online ecosystem for plant reawakening and accelerated evolution and co-creation with otherkin.

572
00:57:42,735 –> 00:57:52,816
Here you’ll find expansive discussions, interactive courses, live events, and supportive group programs like the Plant Wisdom Book Club and the Sprouts Writing and Creativity Group.

573
00:57:52,816 –> 00:57:58,015
Connect with like-minded individuals collaborating with plants to integrate these insights into life.

574
00:57:58,015 –> 00:58:03,154.99999999953434
Intro and outro music by Steve Sciulli and Poinsettia from The Singing Life of Plants.

575
00:58:03,154.99999999953434 –> 00:58:06,775
That’s it for me, Tigrilla Gardenia, and my plant collaborators.

576
00:58:06,775 –> 00:58:11,515
Until next time, remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance.

577
00:58:11,515 –> 00:58:12,256
I’m out.

578
00:58:12,256 –> 00:58:12,795
Bye.