I spent most of my time at home with my mom and stepdad over break. They are both liberal and progressive in their views and don't necessarily oppose what we've talked about in class. However, I wanted to challenge their ideas of action. They own a Prius and shop at farmers markets; the easy things. But they leave their computers on and plugged-in at all times and though they have a large, beautiful backyard, they don't compost or grow any of their own food. Nor do they get involved in larger-picture actions, though they're involved in other political debates, like health care. I spoke with them about their easy-way-out tactics and though they seemed to agree, they kept avoiding any real discussion because it was "too depressing", they couldn't be bothered. For instance, I suggested watching Food, Inc. together for our traditional Thanksgiving movie, but I was told that it was too depressing and I could watch it on my own time. So anything that was an extra effort or infringed on their mood was not pursued.

One of the big things I learned is that in these conversations, there's a balance. There's a space between encouraging them as they laugh at me and scoff at my depressing interests, and jumping down their throats and being combative. I tried both of these extremes, unfortunately and found that I really need to find a balance in the way I approach things. So I went to talk with my grandpa, a former oil man ,with my new approach. I started the conversation by asking if the christmas lights lining the main downtown center near his house were LED lights by any chance. He didn't know what I was talking about, so I explained. He scoffed at first, but expecting this, I let him scoff and went on seriously, but not forcefully. I explained what we've learned in class about global warming and CO2 and suprisingly, he listened. He responded by saying that it seemed that I knew a lot more about the issue than he did and he was impressed by my knowledge. I took this to be success, at least for the time being. At least he understood what I was concerned about and accepted that there was information out there about which he was ignorant. Not only did I respect myself more for the manner in which I talked with him, but I respected him more for admitting that these issues are out there and not for dismissing them as I expected an ex-oil man to do.