I've been writing a post (or op-ed) in my head for a while, now, about silly bandz but I just can't get my words out... I am torn between not wanting to be one of those people who always has to spoil the fun, not wanting to be so pessimistic that I just see the bad in things, but also wanting to voice the enviornmental underside of the silly-bandz phenomena. Not sure where that leaves kids -- it isn't right to simply shame them out of wanting what they want (and, as I know from my own experience, it doesn't really work, just creates guilt and shame and desire) but at the same time, some consciousness raising has to be a good thing. I've talked to my own kids -- and a few of their friends -- about my worries about something that is designed to make you want to buy more, more, more and about how it doesn't seem that great to have so much plastic around... any parental wisdom out there?
Someone shared this video with me -- students at an elementary school in Grafton, VT created a display that shows how many bags per minute are disposed in the U.S. Clearly, we do not want to be drilling 5,000 miles into the ocean just so we can conveniently schlep our fruit in the grocery store... but is this a kids problem or an adult one? What is right for them to think about and what are they going to face, because it is happening, right or wrong?
