Letter From Jane Lehr

January 15, 2010

Dear Mom,
I know that in many ways we live and define our lives − and what counts as success, as strategy, as community, and as happiness − in sometimes very different ways. I also know that these differences have caused tensions that are sometimes too difficult for either of us to acknowledge − let alone explore, discuss, or address. Too often, this means that we do not talk about the issues and events and ideas that most engage, trouble, or excite either of us.

But I also know this − I know that you intentionally raised me to be a fiercely independent woman. And I know that you are proud of me for choosing independence, for choosing passionate engagement with the world, and acting to create the more just and equitable future that I envision.

But Mom, part of what I have learned over the last years is the importance of building and being part of a community. I have come to embrace (at least some of the time!) the fact that we are all interdependent with each other. I have also learned (and keep learning almost every week it seems) that asking for help is not always a sign of weakness. That, in fact, sometimes asking for help is a sign of strength, and of hope.

And so, Mom, I am writing to you to ask for your help on an issue about which I care very strongly. As you know, there is growing concern about the causes and impact of global climate change. Some scientists even question whether humans will survive the next 100-200 years. And I could easily sit here and list off many facts and figures about the human-made causes of climate change and its likely impact on our planet. But I also know that you don't really like numbers. And so instead, I want to talk to you a little bit about my body.

That's right. My body.

You know my body. Even though I have lived apart from you for a long time, I know you still know it. When I come home, I see you checking it over. I know you are keeping track of my hair and how long or short it is, whether I have split ends, and what color it is. (Right now it's brown. And long. I am still growing it out for Locks of Love.) You look at my fingernails. A lot. I mean, a lot. I think you look at them to see if I have finally started to "take care of my hands like a woman with a PhD and real job should"(I haven't yet) and also to see if I am anemic. You check for bruises and changes to my complexion, and I know that you keep track of changes to my hips, breasts, and stomach. (Yes, I have seen you do this, Mom. Many times.) I think you look to see how we are the same and how we are different, and also how well you remember.

But some changes to my body you can't see as easily. I am thinking, for instance, about what researchers call our "body burden" − the measurement of toxins in our bodies from pesticides and other pollutants. Do you know that if I decide to have a biological child and if I then decide to breastfeed, I will pass on many of the toxins that have accumulated in my body over my lifetime to that child through my breast milk? That, in fact, many of these pollutants can be passed on in utero? The same industrial processes that are poisoning my body are also contributing to global climate change and increasing the "body burden" of our planet.

But it's not just my body that I want to talk to you about. I also want to talk to you about the bodies of your three grandchildren: Sadie, Dylan, and Wyatt. Not only are they already carrying and building up their own body burden of toxins, but global climate change − with its increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, rising salt water levels and related decrease in drinkable water, and impacts on agriculture − global climate change will significantly impact their health and quality of life.

I know that often when I or politicians or news commentators talk to you about climate change, we talk about global or national or maybe regional impacts. And Mom, you know, I am so very concerned about these impacts, and particularly the ways in which those people who are already marginalized by society bear disproportionate burden and risk.

But I also think it is important for all of us to remember that global climate change and its causes do not just affect other people in some other place or some other time. Global climate change and its causes affect you and those you love and those they do and will love as we all move through the rest of our lives.

And so, Mom, I am writing to ask you to also strive to be a fiercely independent woman who takes action to protect the local and global communities about which I know you also strongly care. I would like you to do two concrete things:

1. Please buy a Brita or other water filtration system and a steel water bottle and stop using plastic water bottles. I have read that in the United States, we consume 1500 water bottles a second and that 17 million barrels of oil are used in producing and transporting our bottled water each year. Not only does bottled water cost up to 1000 times more than tap water (hello retirement plan), the plastic of the water bottles also has been shown to leach toxins, and these have been linked to many different types of health problems. Your tap water is actually safer because it is regulated and monitored. Plus, then your water consumption is not contributing directly to global climate change!
2. Please call your elected representatives at the local, state, and national levels and demand that the U.S. take real and binding action to address the causes of climate change and its impacts – both here and in other national contexts, such as nations in the Global South and island nations. You can ask for things like the enactment of legislation to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per million and the ratification of a fair and binding climate change treaty with the nations of the world. Some cities and towns, upset by the slowness of our state and federal governments, are also taking action at the local level. For instance, since 2005, over 1000 different local governments have made a commitment to cut their town or city's carbon footprint and joined the Sierra Club's "Cool Cities" program. Learn more here: http://www.coolcities.us/

And then, if I may, I want to ask you to dream big − just as big as you dreamed for me − and do even more.

This letter is inspired by a campaign of "letters to Moms and actions by Moms" launched at helpusmom.com. This campaign to stop climate change is timed to coincide with the lead-up to Mother's Day 2010.

And so, before I go, I want to remind you about the original Mother's Day in the United States. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe (the author of the lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic") issued a Mother's Day Proclamation. It called for "all women who have hearts" to rise up to end war and promote "the great and general interests of peace."

Mom, please rise up. It is time.

Love,
Jane