Life Lessons for Earth Day: Lage-Style

Last night, after dinner...

Mommy: "So tomorrow's Earth Day."

Daddy: "Guess I'd better burn a big stack of tires."

Twins: (no response)

Daddy: "Suppose I'd better get a bunch of glass and cans and throw 'em in the river."

Twins (in unison): "N-N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!"

Daddy: "Maybe go ahead and pour some paint down the drain."

Twins (in unison): "N-N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!"

Darren (catching the sarcasm): "I'm going to throw newspaper all over the ground."

Sarah (it doesn't take her long...): "I'm going to litter, too...and then do some air pollution..."

Darren: "Yeah!"

Sarah: "...and then some water pollution."

Daddy: "I'm going to drive all over the place and sit in my car with the motor running when I could turn it off."

Darren: "I'm going to use a lot of chemicals."

Sarah: "I'm going to leave all the lights on."

Darren: "I'm going to leave rubber bands around outside and the birds might get confused and think they're worms."

Mommy: "Darren, that's just mean."

Darren: "Okay, I won't do that."

Sarah: "I'm not going to reduce, reuse or recycle."

Perhaps our teaching methods aren't all that orthodox, but I think they get the big picture.

[Well, except for maybe that tire burning thing...]