An eco-club is born

Starting a local eco club was a long time in the works.  It was easy once the decision was made but it had been a long time that I had wanted to do "something" active towards helping our planet deal with the mess that humans are making.

I've had a strong sensitivity to environmental issues for as long as I can remember.  Whether it be an affinity towards animals, an awareness of pollution and of polluters, of class differences and injustices, it's always there in back of my mind.  Top it off with a sense that 'if we keep on the way we are at some point the sh*t will hit the environmental fan and we'll all look back and finally see with clarity how ridiculous we've been acting towards our planet' and you have a desire to do something about it.

Awareness often brings along a sense of responsibility.  If you can see problems that others can't see, you feel that you must act on them somehow or at least try to create the same awareness in others, otherwise carry a feeling of guilt.  But at the same time, you have to live and can't feel like you're a bad guy every time you don't recycle a piece of paper or leave the bicycle at home.  Quite the balancing act.  I've been wanting to do something significant towards this sense of responsibility for quite a while but just haven't been able to do anything major on my own.

Now, in my mid-forties, I realize that something needs to happen and I need to band with more people in order to do it.  What better than to surround yourself with eager and energetic kids to charge yourself up with can-do energy and get something done!?  So that's how Le Club de la Terre de Ste Anne got its start one year ago.

Starting an eco-club with kids has many advantages.  Kids have boundless energy, they are eager to learn and eager to act and do things, they have an innate connection with nature and the environment, and they haven't yet been cursed with the adult mind which can reason itself out of pretty much anything it wants to.  There are some minor disadvantages, such as toning the energy back a bit when it runs out of control, but the plus far outweighs the negatives.

So far the club is a hit with everyone involved and so this blog is born!  I'll be blogging about what we have done and will be doing at our club meetings with intent that it might inspire and guide others in doing the same in their part of the world.  I hope this might be useful to someone out there!