We've put our expert team on the technical difficulties and while they've been unable to solve the Class Photos link, they have figured out the Weeklies link. Therefore, you will find the most current Weekly listed, but not the most current photos. Good job, team! Keep at it and hopefully we'll be able to post more photos.
Solving problems is kind of what life is all about, isn't it? For instance, just this morning I had to figure out how to get these organic bags of cinnamon poured into my old, empty spice bottle. The cinnamon wasn't cheap so every sprinkle on my counter was money down the drain. But using my old noggin, I realized I could put the bottle in a container (so the container was underneath) and catch the sprinkles without losing them on the floor. It worked beautifully and though it may not be "changing the world," it made my life a lot easier, saved me time and clean up, and in the end, saved me some money.
We try to challenge our students with bigger problems than mastering the cinnamon switcheroo into the old bottle, but sometimes...sometimes life IS about those little problems and sometimes...just sometimes, the simple solutions offer us immense rewards.
This is the focus of our new unit on ACTION. There are a lot of complicated (and depressing) problems in the world. Sometimes they can feel overwhelming and so enormous it's hard to imagine making a difference or even a dent. But there are simple actions we can take and it is those simple actions that can make a world of difference.
For instance, every morning I get up and make coffee. When I'm finished, I wash out the coffeemaker for the next day's brew. All the sudden I realized, "Wow, just cleaning the coffee pot using a lot of water. What's a better solution?" After some experimentation, I was able to cut my water use (for just the coffee maker cleaning) down to about 1/10th of what I used before. Not a huge consumption issue, but as they say, every drip counts (of water and coffee!).
Next, our family decided to attempt one different environmentally friendly action a month. Last month it was purchasing biodegradable garbage bags for under the sink garbage can and this month it's trying to eliminate half of our dependence on plastic. This has meant -- no plastic bags for sandwiches, no plastic wrap on leftovers, and no use of plastic bags for produce while grocery shopping. It's been an adjustment. In fact, my parents were over this past weekend and I asked them (they are in their 80s) what they used "before" the invention of plastic.
My mother laughed. "A lot of dish towels and glass jars!"
Then my father chimed in, "Well, I remember when we went to that potluck at Charlie's house. Remember? He was an engineer and he pulled out this box and said, 'You aren't going to believe this!' and proceeded to stretch the first Saran Wrap over your casserole dish. Remember that?"
"And they thought it would make our lives simpler," my mother replied.
Living simply isn't easy. It requires some tough choices and creative problem solving. As we come to realize that our human footprint is growing larger and more devastating by the second, we'll need to change our old habits and that is never easy.
But it's worth it and as we watch our students grapple with many of the issues we've put before them, we've marveled at how they are thinking of ways to solve problems not just on a global level, but on an individual level as well.
We encourage you to have similar discussions at home about ways your family can adjus their impact on the environment. After hearing what many of you do already from your daughters, we know that you are off to a good start and we also know that those conversations really add to the girls' ability to problem solve on a large and small scale.
