Chapter Seven
Eco-systems
We were extremely happy with Hilary’s
makeover. Even Hilary was happy with it and she was skeptical at first.
I
wrote, “a huge transformation…” in my journal and described the wispy
highlights Ty added and the new clothes (my cast offs but they were totally
designer) we found our new friend.
That
evening, I realized we’d forgotten to prepare our first group project of the
year. It was supposed to be a group presentation titled: Why We Need to Save
the Environment Now. Our geography teacher, Ms Marks, was all on about global
warming, so that’s what we wrote about. We messaged each other ideas on
sub-topics from our different locations. By ten pm we had it underway. It had
been a long and fruitful day.
While
Tyler, Veronica and Hilary were putting together a mosaic of images of the way
planet earth has changed this millennia (like, whole parts of Antarctica have
eroded!), I imagined what Ms Marks could do to fix her dull image. Her hair was
a mess and her cardigan actually had lunch stains near the buttons. She never
smiled. I could have told her sometimes you need to fix the outside to fix the
inside.
Earlier
that day, during our class discussion, peeps started to challenge her theories
on global warming and Ms Marks suggested they do their research more
thoroughly. I thought about school being part of the eco-system and part of the
world. Every time we used plastic in the lunch room and threw it away helped to
create the potential for more damage. Tiny things created a ripple down effect.
I
put my hand up, “Ms Marks, do you really think we should discuss politics in
school?”
“Well,
Honey, as long as we have a balanced discussion…it’s important to try to
understand the world we live in.”
“I agree, it might help if we stopped using
plastic – as much as possible – at Sunrise.”
“That’s true…”
When
I kept asking questions and making suggestions, in the nicest possible way, she
was all exasperated. Honestly, I don’t know what she expected. For the first
time I was actually interested in her lesson. My teacher seemed to find my
enthusiasm irritating.
“Honey
Woodhouse, how would you like to take the class?”
I was dumbstruck - of course I didn’t want to
do that. I mean, I told Ms Marks that teaching
was not my job.
“Exactly”,
Ms Marks agreed. I’m not sure my geography teacher and I got off to the best
start. I think she was making fun of my ignorance about the topic and that’s
not her job, either.
And then she was all, “okay everyone, so sit
down in your seat, put your thinking cap on, do some research and tomorrow tell
us about global warming and why it’s an important topic. Oh, and I’d like your informed opinion, Honey.”
“Sure,
whatever,” I replied reluctantly under my breath.
I
was so glad Hilary smiled at me, then. She must have known how I felt being
made to look small and not very smart in the eyes of my peers.
That
night, I googled ‘global warming’ and read all about it. It’s way wrong and
slowly destroying planet earth. I hate the fact that when we throw plastic bags
and other things away they end up in the eco-system and sometimes marine life
(like, hundred year old turtles) eat them and the plastic blows up in their
poor stomachs leaving them in excruciating agony and our human carelessness
actually kills these amazing creatures. This was my epiphany.
I continued working on our project until it
was midnight, researching and writing up every aspect of our argument. Always
have an opinion, that’s what my daddy taught me. I wasn’t all just make-up and
hair style advice.
In geography class, the next day, our group walked
out front, stood tall and proud and with a loud voice I began:
“Global
warming is here, it’s happening and it’s one of the most important topics our
generation and future generations are going to face. How we treat our planet
and precious species today is going to shape our world tomorrow…” some peeps
(particularly Flynn Elton), clapped.
“First
of all, a little bit of history… You need to know how much plane earth is
deteriorating…” I showed them before and after photos of Antarctica.
I
wasn’t all doom and gloom of course. Hilary, Ty and Jessica finished our talk
with a host of things people could do to become environmentally conscious, if
they weren’t doing them already. Like, always take your own containers to
school and use cloth bags instead of plastic.
A
few boys groaned when I finished speaking, but most of the class sat still and
listened and by the end, our group got clapped by the entire class. I was way
proud to have turned my ignorance into knowledge.
We
sat down after our group talk. It’s always good to do your research but then
leave your audience wanting more. I could see my geography teacher’s expression
change. It’s also good to surpass people’s biased opinions of you. I was proud
my group aced the research for this topic. I would totally call myself environmentally
friendly now.
After school, I told Ethan about my class and he just groaned, “I explained
all of this stuff to you years ago, but you never listened.”
“Well, this time, I did my own research.”
Little did he know, I had a list of many more excellent facts about our
school environment to report on. I
finished off Ms Marks’ profile that night but put it on hold. Some people need
to want to be helped and I had a feeling Ms Marks knew her own mind and made
her own choices. She could wait and maybe by the time she was ready to change
she wouldn’t need my help. Then, there was a whole list of other people; so
many forms to fill out, questions to be answered.
I
fell asleep with pages of my paper spread across my pillows.
