One of my daughters attended Space Camp week at Science City.
At pick up there is a line of cars
stretched out of the parking lot, waiting for the gates to the exclusive, campers-only
parking lot to open. The drivers idle in front of Science City, waiting for
their science-enriched progeny to emerge.
Science City, a place meant to enhance
one’s understanding of science, allows idling in its parking lot even though
the science is clear on the link between burning fossil fuels and climate
change. They even have an interactive display on climate change inside the
overly air-conditioned building.
Maybe idling doesn’t count this week
because it is not ENERGY week.
After the gates open, people exit their
cars, some left idling, and stand in line to get their kids. I wonder how many
of these kids have asthma and allergies. But it isn’t AIR POLLUTION week so
maybe the kids have a week’s reprieve from respiratory ailments.
I notice a number of overweight parents
and kids who through masterful idling are lucky enough to get the closest
parking spots. But it isn’t HEALTH week so maybe parking at the adjacent lot
and exerting oneself 20 meters, instead of idling, isn’t an option.
A take away from Space Camp?
Astronauts’ favorite candy is M & M’s because they like to toss the
melt-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hand morsels into the gravity free setting and
catch them in their astronaut mouths as they float by.
My daughter also got to take away some free advertising
for Science City in the forms of a t-shirt, a reusable bag and a plastic water
bottle.
Clearly it wasn’t WATER CYCLE week at
Science City. If it was, they would have learned the water footprint of manufacturing t-shirts (over 700
gallons of water per shirt).
Nor was it ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT week or
they would have learned that manufacturing reusable bags is sometimes actually worse for the planet than single use
disposable plastic bags.
Shall we even consider the
destined-for-the-dump crap reusable plastic water bottle that’s made from a
nonrenewable resource and leaches chemicals into water?
Ok, ok. I’ll be thankful they didn’t
offer bottled water.
But when is CONNECT THE DOTS camp?
