Jenny
Learns About Climate Change
After
Jenny's first day at a new school, she and her new friend, Deidre,
were walking through the park on their way home. Jenny waves at a
friend who drives by in an SUV.
“That car is sooo bad for the planet.” Deidre says. “Your friend
just doesn't care about the planet.”
“What?
He's my neighbor and why doesn't he care?” Jenny asked.
“Cars
put bad CO2 in the air and make the planet hotter.”
“Deidre,
there's SNOW on the ground!” Jenny exclaimed.
“Wow,
you really don't know anything, do you? CO2 makes it hotter and that
makes it colder. You should learn more.”
“Whatever.
I have to turn here to get home. See you later.” Jenny said, turning down the block toward her home.
-----------------------------
“Mom,
Deidre says Mr. Raymonds SUV is killing the planet and that Mr.
Raymonds is a bad person.”
“She
did?” Mom asked.
“Yeah—and
she said CO2 makes the planet hotter and that makes more snow. That's
silly. Hot makes cold?”
“Some
people believe that car exhaust, power plants and other things that
use oil or gas hurt the planet. It's called 'global warming'or
'climate change'.” Mom explained.
“But
hot can't make cold.” Jenny insisted.
“It's
kind of hard to explain. There's a lot of math and computers used in
the theory.”
“Why
didn't I know about this?” asked Jenny.
“Not
everyone thinks this is true. Your dad and I don't think it's true. I guess we should have talked
about it. Where we lived before people really didn't talk much about
global warming. It's not that way here, it seems.” Mom answered.
“What
do I say to Deidre when she says Mr. Raymonds is killing us all?”
“Tell
Deidre not everyone agrees on global warming, and that Mr. Raymonds
is a nice man with a car he needs for work. That's all. It's time for dinner now." Mom answered.
Jenny
learns about “deniers”
Jenny
arrived at school the next day. Deidre and her friends pounced on
Jenny as she came on to the playground.
“Look”
said Deidre, “it's Jenny. She's so stupid she doesn't know
anything about climate change.”
“Yeah,”
chimed in Mary, “who doesn't know about climate change?”
“Is
it true you have a neighbor with one of those planet-killing SUV's?”
asked Marci.
“Yes,”
sighed Jenny “my neighbor has an SUV.”
“And
she waved at him!” Deidre said.
“My
mom says Mr. Raymonds is a nice man who drives a car he likes.”
“Whoa—is
your mother a denier?” Marci asked.
“A
what”, Jenny replied.
“A
DENIER”, Marci said, her voice getting more shrill. “Someone who
doesn't believe in climate change?”
“Does
your dad work for an OIL company?” Mary asked.
“One
question at a time. I don't know what makes someone a denier and no,
my dad is an accountant for a bunch of local grocery stores 'Lee's
Markets'" answered Jenny.
“So
your mom's as stupid as you are—doesn't know about climate change?”
Mary snipped.
“It's
not stupid if no one explained something to me. My mom
knows. It wasn't important where I lived before.”
“Aaaccckkkk!
A colony of deniers,” Mary exclaimed, running away like Jenny had
some contagious disease. Marci ran after Mary.
“Thank
you so much, Deidre, for making fun of me. Who needs friends like
you?” Jenny said, walking off. The bell rang and that was the end
of that discussion.
After
school, Deidre caught up to Jenny.
“Hey,
I'm sorry I made fun of you. You need to know that everyone
believes people are hurting the
climate by burning fossil fuels and having too much stuff. If they
think you don't agree, they really pick on you and make fun of you.”
“So
you told them about my not knowing so they would pick on me instead?”
Jenny asked.
“I
don't know” Deidre answered. “I guess I wanted to make sure Mary
and Marci knew I believed so they wouldn't tease me when they found
out you didn't.”
“Do
you?”
“Do
I what?”
“Do
you believe people are hurting the planet by driving cars and stuff?”
“Everyone
does,” Deidre answered. “Everyone who knows anything about this.
That's what the teacher says. Everyone knows cars and electricity
and all that stuff is bad for the planet.”
“I
didn't” Jenny pointed out.
“Everyone
who counts, Jenny. The smart people. They know.”
“These
are the same people who say it's cold because the world is getting
hot?”
“No!”
snapped Deidre, “that's not it at all.”
“That's
what you said yesterday” replied Jenny.
“You
just don't understand at all.
I'm going home now.” Deidre snapped as she turned the corner
toward her house.
“Okay.
I'll see you tomorrow, Deidre” and Jenny continued on home.
