Earth Day and Scare Tactics

So yesterday was Earth Day. Not a holiday I would typically think much about, but great educational tool. And so it was that Bella went to school, learned all about it, and came home excited to share her newfound knowlegde. She started with nice facts about recycling and not littering. Things that we already teach our kids to do. As the day progressed though she pulled out more and more information that they had talked about in school.

At lunch she chastised me about throwing a piece of uneatten bread in the yard. Seriously like a bite of wheat bread leftover from Issac. She told me how the whole world is being used as a garbage can and soon there will be so much garbage we won't be able to breathe because it will be above our heads. A little strange, but hey I get the basic concept.

Then later in the day she got a little more excited with Travis about cutting trees down. How he is bad and that he is killing the Earth. That we need trees to breathe and we shoudn't cut them. He tried to explain that sometimes it's okay, like if the tree is dead. He also went into it being okay to develop land, something questionable by the major public, but since it is how our family makes its living who am I to complain, but he can fight his own battles.

Lastly the day ended with us getting in the car to go to Home Depot and Wal-Mart. Wyatt is bawling hysterically. I ask him what is wrong and he needs Dad. Travis gets in the car and asks him what is up and he through his sobs tells us, that we are all going to die. That the world is one big garbage can, that trees won't keep making us air, and soon we will all die if we don't stop. Having heard this stuff earlier I turn to Bella and say "what did you tell him?" She says, "The truth. I told him all the stuff my teacher told me. Mom it's true. My teacher is right, and I believe her."

She continued to expound upon what her teacher told her after I continued to prod. Now I was fully interested in the details they discussed. It was somewhat horrifying to me to hear all the scare tactics that had been used on five and six year old kids. It was total doom and gloom. Emphasizing how bad things are. They barely covered solutions. Just all the contributors to the problem. Bella also used this oppurtunity to tell me how I couldn't pack her lunch in brown bags.

As you can imagine I allayed Wyatt's fears. He said, "I believe Mom over your teacher Bella." Travis being ever supportive said, "That is probably wise, Wyatt." Bella was still stalwart about her teacher being right. I feel like I care about the environment. By no means am I an activist, but I recylcle, I don't litter, I am not cutting down any rain forests, I am currently using energy friendly lights to save on our natural resources. So why do we celebrate Earth Day, by scaring our kids half to death. Did you guys with school age kids have any similar experiences?

Or is Bella's teacher a flaming libreal, crazy lady. She seemed nice in our parent/teacher conference. Maybe that's her cover. Sarcasm, sarcasm. It is weird though. Warning: The world is coming to an end.