This artice was submitted by Susan Charters
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It just so happened that about a year ago, a group of good friends got together for breakfast, the kind of friends who had raised their kids together, shared some major downs and ups, and had all along been able to rely on one another for a laugh and a story.
The kids were fine, the grandkids were hilarious, there’s too much plastic. You know how conversation flies when you’re having fun.
We admitted we were worried about the state of the planet and what was in store for young ones. Once you’ve raised your kids, you need to take care of the world. Mothering never stops.
We vowed to gather plastic from homes and kitchens for a month, before the next breakfast. To some this meant trying to cut down. To others it meant just gathering up what was used. Some just watched.
Months went by without another breakfast for one reason and another, and finally the plastic got recycled. But at the next breakfast, we spent a lot of the time from the first coffee to the last coffee talking about doing something about the plastic, sharing ways to cut down, finding places to shop without buying plastic, showing off cunning re-usable produce bags one of us had made – yes, made!
We decided we needed a name, if we were going to get serious. We laughed about that. And the name had to have a very good acronym. And so the Women’s Environmental Breakfast Society was born -- WEBS. (Did I mention this is a group of intelligent, creative women?)
And now, breakfast by occasional breakfast, we’ve managed to move forward. After a breakfast with Dr. Ellen Field of Lakehead University, who helped us with information and questions, we invited MPP Jill Dunlop to a breakfast.
Dunlop is Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues, and we wanted her to know that there are some very amiable women among her constituents who are terrified about the future and the lack of government direction to sustain and repair the natural world.
As a small gift to thank her for meeting with us, we gave her some cunning re-usable produce bags, and she told us her daughters noticed. We were pleased about that, and pleased to have established a friendly relationship with our MPP.
Our next project will be to plant some trees, say about 500 of them, in the spring. We’ll be looking to hand out 3- to 4-year-old white pine and sugar maple seedlings, with planting instructions, free to good homes.
To ask for some trees come spring, please contact Jane Ball, [email protected].
While WEBS has decided it is not expanding its particular small circle of environmental champions, there’s no reason there can’t be lots of WEBS.
We’d encourage any and all to establish their own societies – use the name if you’d like – and work away at what you think needs doing to help us all out. Enjoy your conversation, and a good environmental breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day.
