Pollution and Distant Learning...

Another week and another way to figure out how to 'survive and thrive' through the pandemic.  It's been an interesting week, to say the least...

Spring break was upon us, so there was no distant learning for my child but I was walked through what my new job will be looking like during this face-to-face shut down.  And I think we'll be ok overall.  It's a total change for a lot of our families, including my one but it's one that will work out and I think we may look at education and life differently in the future.

Finishing off the week was Easter, like many people, we did a virtual Easter with family.  Everyone had their own table and food and we went about it together.  It was good but different, we've always been gone for Easter so actually doing it like that wasn't much different than normal, for my family.


Now we go into a week that is a learning curve for everyone involved - parents, students and teachers alike.  Monday, April 13th students in my school and school districts across Michigan start their distance learning. Most teachers have already sent out information about what the week will look like and how to proceed. It's a huge change and one I'm hoping people will embrace the challenges ahead and look at alternative ways to be educated and appreciate what we have.

What we were doing wasn't working and now what we're doing, staying home, going outside again and spending time with people.  It may not be ideal.  There have been spikes in Domestic Violence but countries around the world are working to feed people and make sure they can survive this.  Plus the pollution levels are dropping -- pictures are coming out about the lowered pollution levels in each city.  The one above is from New York City, the one below is from New Delhi, India.  By people staying home for just a week or two these are the differences that are made which have a huge impact on the quality of life for the people who live in those cities.

I'm hoping we don't go back to the way things were and we appreciate what we have on this planet.  We appreciate the opportunity to be home and spend time with family, outside and going back to hobbies -- not just requirements or things that need to be done. I no longer want to be so busy I can't get a full night's sleep or struggle to find time to work you during my day.  That's not what I want for future generations.  Having the ability to enjoy fresh air, whether the live in a large city or rural, making sure they have time to spend with the people they care about and not have to choose work or another activity.  That's what I would like to see out of this.  Maybe we can finally figure out a way to balance the desire to work with the ability to build a community again.  If there was ever a time for us, as a people of the world, to try to build it, it's now.  We have the ability to focus our energies on helping the environment and building a better world for ourselves and for future generations.  Shouldn't we at least try?