Apply parents’ lessons to climate battle

Remember when you were young, got into trouble and had to clean up your mess and shape up?

You spilled milk, cleaned it up and modeled your brother asking for help. You were caught throwing lunch away; ate it because kids are going hungry. You whined and blamed others for causing a fight; took responsibility and learned how to get along.

You broke a vase, cleaned up the mess and saved money to buy glue. You threw a tantrum, calmed down and learned how to negotiate. You wanted another toy, listened and played with what you had. You tracked in mud, cleaned the floor and helped your sibling remove his boots.

I think the same ideas should be applied to climate change. We need to:

' clean up our mess and model what other countries are doing.

' stop wasting food and eat what we have.

' stop whining and blaming others and take responsibility for our own actions and change.

' fix broken things, reuse, and save for the future for solutions of our past actions.

' stop the tantrums and learn how to work together.

' love what we have, stop producing so much carbon and support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

' clean up our rivers and land, stop building factory farms and create ways to support the family farmer.

As my parents taught me, I will help clean up my mess and look for ways to stop creating the mess.

Charlene Lange

Iowa City