Eco-Anxiety: A Message from Our Future Selves

I had to chuckle when I first started watching author Heather White's November 8th, 2025 TED Talk on Eco-Anxiety: A Message from Our Future Selves. She referenced Michael J. Fox & the 1980s movie Back to the Future. I think the chuckling came from both my own fascination (my kids call it "obsession") with the '80s. It also came from recently seeing the on-stage production of Back to the Future: The Musical and loving it. (Backstory: this ways my requested Christmas gift. See also: my previous point.)

Of course, she also had me at environmental sustainability.

Thinking ahead to the future we want, is certainly a good way to help build the world we want! Let's go forward with a time-traveling mentality. 

For more about Heather White, check out the following: 

Her website.

Books by Heather White:

• 60 Days to a Greener Life: Ease Eco-anxiety Through Joyful Daily Action (2024)
  
• Eco-Anxiety: Saving Our Sanity, Our Kids, and Our Future (2024)
  
• One Green Thing: Discover Your Hidden Power to Help Save the Planet (2022)
  

Previous posts about Heather White's books:

• One Green Thing: Top Take Aways from the Book (5-17-2023)
  
• Heather White's "Think Like An Awesome Ancestor" TED Talk on Eco-Anxiety (2-11-2023)
  
• One Green Thing: Find Out Your Service Superpower (1-23-2023
  

Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8bc6Ese4oQ, Images from https://www.amazon.com/Eco-Anxiety-Saving-Sanity-Kids-Future/dp/0785291326/ref=books_amazonstores_desktop_mfs_aufs_ap_sc_dsk_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=OIciv&content-id=amzn1.sym.9c9a049f-252a-49d9-a8c2-e300a1663200&pf_rd_p=9c9a049f-252a-49d9-a8c2-e300a1663200&pf_rd_r=139-4919241-6074336&pd_rd_wg=HKFxA&pd_rd_r=5e46a386-4857-47a7-a1d1-b9f69f148e14 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=563488706023864&set=a.213086551064083

"Culpability" by Bruce Holsinger

I'm a reader, and I typically have one book on my Kindle, an audio book for when I'm in the car or doing chores, and sometimes even a real book to read by the pool or when tech reading devices won't suffice.

So, it's no surprise that I happened upon Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability. A 2025 release, this book is about what happens with the family who owns an AI-powered car that is involved in a crash. It is very current conceptually, and it easily drew me in from the AI/tech standpoint alone. The book had elements of artificial intelligence in many places (more than just this car), and it definitely aroused (purposely, for sure) the questions of ethics and responsibility. "Computational morality." Culpability... you could say.

Given the fact that the settings for the story are in and around the Chesapeake Bay and DC area, where I am from, there was an added pull to the book for me. A fairly quick read, it draws you in, in many ways. Elements that would have been seen as science-fiction a decade or two ago (ex: self driving cars, drones, heavy tech-saturation in everyday life), it feels a lot more like every day 2026. Especially when you are reading the book as someone who uses Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Alexa, Siri, a Roomba, and so on.

The book gives you a lot to think about in this burgeoning world of tech innovation and AI. Especially when it comes to responsibility. Namely, who IS responsible and where exactly is that line? Not to mention, with some of these new systems, "smart devices," and "intelligent machines" out there, it somewhat begs the question of "how safe is safe enough?"

All of this makes it "not quite a beach read!" But a good read, indeed.

It left me thinking about AI policies (both for schools [given I'm a teacher] and for life, especially with our teens and preteens--but adults as well). It made me think about the iGeneration over the last 19 years with all of this tech at our disposal and what is it doing to our social side of life, our anxiety levels, our distractability, our cultural fiber. We are nearly at 2 decades of this human experiment since the iPhone's inception in 2007. I know my life is more distracted for sure! We all are enmeshed in this tech lifestyle, surrounded by these devices and systems, often putting the cart before the horse. Dependent on them yet not fully understanding the depth and breadth of how they fully impact us or how reliant we are on them. 

All of which, as with many things in life, showcases that life is not black or white... but the gray that lies between.

The last two years I've been teaching my 4th and 5th graders about machine learning and how it works. How it is reliant on the data sets that are used to train them, and how the way it works is solely dependent on the data that trains them. And there in lies the problem because we don't often have a full disclosure on what exactly the training sources are/were... and we don't know the level of bias that could be built in. 

Ethics and morality are a whole next-level conversation! My adult daughter has told me she's very glad she grew up and went to school in an era after AI. 

Culpability is a good read that definitely leaves you thinking a lot about the world in which we live. It left me thinking about the quote that often comes with AI these days: "Today's AI is the worst you will ever experience." Why? Because it is always growing, advancing, and improving--for better or for worse. AI certainly is faster and far more advanced now than the November 2022 release of ChatGPT. AI also is frequently now included and built into existing platforms (both in and out of education) and that inclusion has exploded. No one sees that stopping anytime soon. 

So....what are the governing policies going to be? What are the implications? The ramifications if anything goes wrong? Are we working with ethics, morality, and responsibility as we are building up and improving these systems (and inventing new ones). What is the culpability of all parties involved? All good questions to ask!

Images from https://www.amazon.com/Culpability-Novel-Bruce-Holsinger/dp/1954118961, https://itchronicles.com/artificial-intelligence/where-is-ai-used-today/, and https://techvidvan.com/tutorials/artificial-intelligence-applications/

Social Media's Big Tobacco Moment

I've seen "it" slated as "Social Media's 'Big Tobacco' Moment" in at least a half dozen locations.

What is the "it?" The "it" is the fact that social media court cases are starting to loudly prove that yes, social media is an addiction, and it can cause harm to kids. 

Two landmark trials have been in the news in the past six weeks. Earlier this year on March 24th Meta (parent company to Facebook) was ordered by a jury in New Mexico to pay $375 million due to violating state consumer protection laws, viewing both the Facebook and Instagram platforms to be "a breeding ground for predators." The very next day, March 25th, a lawsuit in California sided with a 20-year-old female who was suing Meta & Google (who owns YouTube), awarding her $6 million for causing years of mental health issues. The endless scrolling, algorithms, and purposeful addictive nature created by social media companies were ruled to be the blame for endangering children. And while tech companies are appealing these verdicts, multiple additional lawsuits are cropping up. The very loud message: tech companies knew the dangers in these devices, platforms, and programs... and sold them to our kids anyway.

So the table is turning when it comes to technology, apps, doomscrolling, and more. 

For those who don't get the "Big Tobacco Moment" reference, here's the backstory. Smoking, which long goes back in our historic timeline, really became glamorized throughout society from the 1920s to 1960s. Seemingly everyone smoked. Despite growing scientific studies over time that this is not a healthy habit, smoking had been pitched as "It's all on the person, and it is a personal choice." Awareness and science began leaning more heavily to "The product is the problem, and we need to pitch the product as such." Tobacco companies put a lot of money into advertising and debunking these claims. The tide slowly began turning in 1965 when a Congressional ruling stated that cigarette packages need mandatory warning labels. Then, TV and radio ads were banned in 1970. But despite all of this, smoking continued to be a large part of global culture, with people viewing it as "cool," relaxing, and socially acceptable, regardless of what science had to say. 

Things significantly began changing in 1994 when several cigarette company CEOs came before Congress to say that nicotine was not addictive nor dangerous to your health (despite scientific evidence proving otherwise). The downfalls continued to come with multiple lawsuits. In 1998 there was a Master Settlement Agreement for over $206 billion, covering 46 states and making it the largest settlement in US history. This loudly emphasized that yes, smoking causes serious health risks, diseases, and cancer. This led to a 2-3 decade decline in smoking, where now in 2025 less than 10% of American adults smoke. Clearly the pendulum has swung and a majority of Americans now outwardly see the perils of this habit.

Which now takes us back to "Social Media's Big Tobacco Moment." With the first iPhone coming out in 2007, we are now nearly 2 decades into this "social experiment" of allowing handheld mini-computers into our daily lives. Not just adults, but kids and teens too. Throw in iPads, tablets, and ready-to-use laptops at every age, where are we now? Many of us (grownups and kids alike) are completely sucked into our devices:

• autoplaying the next video,
• scrolling scrolling down the suggested path created by stronger and more stringent algorithms than even a decade ago,
• fearing the loss of our "streaks"which brings us repeatedly back every day,
• riding the comparison mentality, stuck in social media with FOMO (fear of missing out),
• neglecting those around us while being addicted to what our online friends have to say,

Then insert AI in here, which makes everything even more complicated, addicted, and fuzzy as to where the blended line separating reality and "fake news" actually exists. All of which leads to an overwhelming state of loneliness and disconnectedness despited the moniker of "social" media.

And none of these features came by accident. Designers and programmers built these devices to act exacty in this way: holding our focus, bringing money to the company through our hijacked attention, and profiting off our clicks. 

And I must admit: I fall just as victim to it as all the rest! I am no better than any of the rest of us. Despit my "tech teacher, book reading" self! It makes us feel weak for getting sucked into the vortex and having no self control. And I'm an adult. What about our kids and our teens and our young adults?

But maybe... just maybe... it's all in the addictive nature of the dopamine-hitting design versus our own willpower. Just like the addictive nature of tobacco. Souds like it's not a fair fight. How are we ever to win? Perhaps though more guardrails that tech companies clearly need to help protect us all, old and small.

What that means is that we all need to both become informed citizens, and then start behaving like them. Advocate for safer design and legislation--especially those that protect our kids. That might look like taking action, signing petitions, or voicing your concerns to your community.

Additionally, we the parents, educators, and consumers all need to step up and fight the addictive nature and parent both ourselves and our children. This can also do include:

• Turning off all non-essential notifications to help us become less connected to our devices.
• Eliminating "tech-grazing time" by building in more boundaries in our homes and schools. This could look like "no-phone-zones" or windows of time where we don't use tech. (For example: before bedtime, right when we get up, less multi-tasking on multiple devices).
• Removing the apps on our phones that suck us in the quickest: games, social media, and other ones that get our most addictive attention. We need to break our own bad habits.
• Carefully curating your feed. Make it a space of inspiration, not gloomy news or topics that lend toward depression or anxiety, pulling you deeper into doomscrolling.
• Building in time limits on your kids devices, and creating opportunities where you "tech together" then play or learn together in no-tech ways too. 

The pull is hard. But it's not just us. The game IS rigged. And now by way of social media's 'Big Tobacco Moment," courts, doctors, researchers, educators, parents, and even some platform designers are saying what maybe we have already felt for a long time: The problems isn't just us or our willpower. The product is flawed by designed to keep us stuck. 

So it's up to all citizens to keep up the noise, the lawsuits, the conversations, the advocating for better guardrails, and the protection of our kids. It's also our role as parents and educators to really speak about how these tools work our brains, hearts, and emotions. Tech is a tool... but it isn't our everything or even a fraction of what is important. People are. That is certainly worth fighting for.

Images from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/march-30-social-medias-big-tobacco-moment-newslitproject-xf2ac/ and https://highschool.latimes.com/news/a-big-tobacco-moment-for-big-tech-the-cost-of-addictive-design/ and Time Magazine cover screenshot from https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/sellingsmoke/page/big-tobacco--big-lawsuits and https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/social-media-addiction-lawsuit-tiktok-meta-mark-zuckerberg-5q2mbkmsn

Mother's Day 2026: Let Nature Mother You

Mother’s Day always comes with a fanfare: Hallmark stores, flower shops, advertisements, brunch reservations.... It's a revered holiday with a lot of hoopla, as well it should be! (Says the mother in me! Birthing is hard work, and we moms deserve a lot of credit for the houses we run and the parenting we do on the daily.)

But this year especially, I'm walking into Mother's Day differently, having said goodbye to my mom 4 months ago. We are also in the middle of closing up my childhood home--a family home that predates ME. Estate sales, papers to be signed, packing, real estate agents.... It is a huge memory flood over here. I'm moving that home to my heart where it used to be a house of which I have a key. I’m still figuring out how to carry my mom with me in a world where I cannot call or text her. 

It reminds me that that Mother's Day can come with tenderness and quiet complications for some. "Motherhood" and "mothering" take many shapes. It shows up in the care others offer us and the things we do for others. Aunts, grandmothers, step-mothers, foster families, teachers, mentors, friends, pet mamas, good neighbors, self-kindness...we all mother (and are mothered) in our own special ways. Even if it's tricky or complicated or non-traditional.

In this time of loss for me, I've noticed that nature has been mothering me a lot lately. A beach trip a few weeks ago did wonders for my equilibrium. I've found myself marveling at the birds and critters that abound. A lot of my gratitude journal points lately have been the warmth of the sun and the flowering of the trees after a really long, hard winter. Mother Earth has reminded me of how therapeutic she really is, especially when we need it. It also reminded me that while grief doesn't really take a holiday, it doesn't cancel out joy. Both can peacefully coexist, simultaneously... which is pretty heavy sometimes for an overthinking gal.

May this spring and this Mother's Day, remind you of all the special memories you cherish--whether it be with your own mother, your mother-figures, your children, or Mother Earth. The good, the messy, and the imperfect. May this "May day" help you "care-forward" (for the planet, for your people, for you) in one of these many ways by letting nature mother you:

•  Take a slow walk somewhere that feels like “home ground.” It might be a backyard, a neighborhood sidewalk, or a local park. Soak in your senses as you walk, taking note of three or more things someone taught you to notice: birds, clouds, the feel of grass, the blossoming flowers, the smell of rain. the warmth of the sun.

• Plant something. A tree in your yard, herbs in a pot, or flowers in a community garden. Plant it in honor of someone who mothered you or simply as a thank‑you to the planet that keeps mothering us all.

• Find an old photo (digital or printed) of you and your mom or someone else who's meant a lot to you. Soak in the memories of that space and place. 

• Reach out to someone who has "mothered" you by making that phone call or writing them a note, text, or email. Share with them how much they have meant to you. Send it or pay tribute in a way that is meaningful to you.

• Hug the people or pets in your life you have mothered. Feel it deeply, and lock in the moment.

• If Mother’s Day comes with emotions you can't handle, you always have permission to step away from the noise. Spend an hour outside doing one quiet act of care for you: bird watching, tending your garden, picking up litter, creating art al fresca, or simply sitting under a tree and breathing.

This Mother’s Day, I'm going to try to let nature be the lead. I'm going to try pay attention and be in the moment, soaking up what I can, and honoring the myriad of emotions that pass through (even as they change at any given moment). I'm going to try to be the best mom I can be to my own kids--the furry one too. I'm thanking the universe for the gifts I've been given and the memories I hold. I'm going to let nature mother me... and may she do the same for you.

Happy Mother's Day.

Photo created at Canva.com with my photos.

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

I recently spent a week breaking up with my childhood home.

Why? Well, it was a one week marathon whirlwind of a week, going thru my ol' homestead because my my mom passed away 2 months ago. All this happening on the cusp of her 86th bday. 

It's the home she and Dad moved into a year after they were married.

It's the home I came home from the hospital from on day "just a couple."

It's the house that's walking distance from my elementary school, down the road from my middle school (which is now a Target), and a bus ride home from my high school....and all the memories in between.

It's the place where friends came, we ran around the neighborhood, we had sibling laughter & snits galore, where my kids came to visit their grandparents, where gardens were planted, parties were had, were suitcases were packed for vacations, and holidays were celebrated with all the traditions.

It's the only childhood home I've known.

It's been the home my folks lived my whole entire life. It's where my mom lived 6 decades of her own, with 45 years of that being with my dad before he passed away in 2011. 

It's now the home that's down the road from the cemetery where they both are, the home that is 6 states away from the home in which I now live. 

During my week of discovery, it was not at all surprising that this house holds a lot of stuff. Those 60 years of stuff... and it's not a small house. Mom was really good at collecting and organizing. What I've learned over my own lifetime: if you are good at organizing, you can pack a whole lot in. It's true here.

It's hard saying goodbye to a house. Goodbye to a lifetime of memories. Goodbye to lots of "stuff." Sentimental stuff and the other stuff. Stuff that crops up one of a gazillion memories. Emotional landmines abound. Boxes of photos and scrapbooks (so many scrapbooks) need to be "just packed for now" because there's so many memories, and not enough time in only a week to go thru it all. So those boxes you carefully pack become the emotional landmines you take with you for another day--to your own overstuffed house to put in your own overstuffed corners of way too much stuff.

Ironically, I landed on this article just a few days after "my week of overhaul/week of discovery." It popped up in my Facebook Feed (don't tell me that FB isn't listening): Millennials Complain That Their Boomer Parents Won't Throw Anything Away. A Psychologist Explains Why." I'm not a Millennial, I'm a GenXer, but a lot in this article here holds true. I saw that in the many attic boxes with my name on it, packed with my old room stuff. Boxes my folks must have packed for me because I literally would not have saved some of this stuff. A small box of homemade confetti?! Seriously, why?! But, that level of scavenger hunt, opening box after dust-covered box, did indeed make me smile (and maybe roll my eyes a bit, with love for my crazy folks). 

It all can't go with you....but it also can't all go in a dumpster. And yes, this environmentalist had a dumpster. Because it's a week, and even with future estate sales ahead, there's stuff that needs to just go in a dumpster. Especially the now empty dust-covered boxes.

It does beg the question: Why on earth are we the collectors of so much stuff?

But it also begs this question in life: How can you not be? Some of the stuff is certainly some of the stuff of life. And the longer the life, the taller the stack o'stuff, right?

Luckily memories work that way too.

So my brother and I packed our Mom's house. We took pictures and videos. We lovingly wrapped and stacked what we wanted and were able to keep...leaving items to go forward in the estate sale. (And maybe leaving a little guilt along with those treasures as well.) Then we trekked them home to be sorted later. For us, that looked like 2 very full, overstuffed SUVs, resulting in loads of tall stacks in my brother's basement, to be revisited at a later date.

As for now, the estate sale was planned and happened and was rather a success. Next, the house went go on the market and after a handful of showings we got an offer and are now under contract. Our hearts are full and saddened with the loss--not only of our Mom but the house we called home even when we were no longer living there. But the memories are full. The momentos are tucked away. The photos are nearby. My heart will carry it all forward, no matter how hard it is to say the goodbye.

Author unknown quote created in Canva.com. Winnie the Pooh image from https://www.skiptomylou.org/winnie-the-pooh-quotes/.