We took our first grade grandson recently to the North Carolina Zoo, which really is a marvel and true asset to North Carolinians, both young and old.
We were somewhat amazed at his knowledge of the various animals as we passed from habitat to habitat. I was even more amazed, however, at his knowledge of the climate change issue, which was emphasized at the zoo. We were in the car on our way home when we passed a truck carrying maybe 10 huge cut logs, and we heard him say from the back seat, “That is really too bad — those old trees are no longer going to be able to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen for us to breathe!”
“What do you know about photosynthesis?” was my first grandpa response. “You are only 7 years old!”
“I saw a movie about it in school!” was his confident response. Seeing an opportunity to engage with him on something important and perhaps inspire him to keep learning with an open mind, I decided to see if I could communicate what I have learned over the years during public policy hearings, debates and seminars and on a first grade basis.
He seemed pretty confident about his knowledge of the climate issue, which impressed me no end as a grandfather. He has always been a curious, inquisitive sort, so without being confrontational about the political ramifications of what he was saying about those logs, it seemed like a good time to talk about something other than toys, candy or even those magnificent animals we had just seen at the zoo. After all, I had actually listened to lobbyists and experts from the Environmental Defense Fund and the Nicholas School on the Environment at Duke University for close to two decades in D.C. and asked them to explain the intricacies of climate change at a first grade level so I could at least understand it myself and be able to communicate it to others when the issue came up in the U.S. House or Senate offices.
Since I had no idea of what my political views would become far later in life, here’s what some of the basic questions wound up being on the drive home, which would have been the same if we were just two 7-year-olds sitting in a tree house somewhere talking about the world.
Me: “Do you know what eats up carbon dioxide faster than old trees? Newly planted young trees! As they are growing, they devour CO2 at far higher rates than old trees like the ones we just saw as logs on that truck up ahead.”
One scientist told me that if we wanted to totally rid the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, we should cut down every tree in an area the size of Texas and plant seedlings across the entire state, presumably after tearing down all the buildings as well.
My first grade sensibility would have brought up this question as a follow-up to our discussion so far: “But if we eliminate all carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, what will the trees eat in order to start the process of photosynthesis, which produces the oxygen we need to live!” Not only would the trees and plants not be able to survive, but neither would anything else that lives and breathes in oxygen.
My next first grader question to my grandson would have been, “Do you know how much of the atmosphere today is carbon dioxide to start with?” The idea of fractions and percentages might not mean all that much to him yet, but carbon dioxide accounts for 0.04% of the atmosphere, while nitrogen makes up 71% and oxygen accounts for 21%. At least the relative amounts can be explained in a manner with props such as Legos or M&M’s that most people can understand, which is important when discussing public policy with anyone.
The main thing I hoped to convey to my grandson was that it is critically important to know as many facts as possible when talking about anything and to converse in a way that is pleasant and, if possible, humorous and gentle at the same time. So far, so good.
Now we are going to have to figure out another outing with him, which will provide us with the opportunity to engage with his young, inquisitive mind and see where that takes our next discussion. Maybe it will have to be the NC State Fair next week!
It may have to be his generation and beyond who figure out how people from all sides of the political spectrum can sit down and talk about things in a civil manner and figure out how to actually solve problems instead of continuing to blame “the other side” because nothing ever gets done.
The most pleasant thing was being able to speak to him in an adult manner and not have him retaliate with a lot of anger, vitriol and insulting words because he might have thought I was disagreeing with him and his 7-year-old views.
The good news is that there is such an amazing amount of facts and information readily accessible to his generation as long as it is not funneled in grossly partisan ways so as to provide a distorted view of the truth about any issue. The advent of AI is going to complicate matters for them, which argues for more insurance and guardrails to be put into place to guarantee free speech and open delivery of facts and figures.
But based on this short interaction, there’s hope for the future in terms of rational thought, reason and human interaction.
