A Conversation with the Speech Therapist

My daughter was born with a submucous cleft palate, which meant that she needed surgery when she was 14 months old to correct it. Then about a month after surgery a speech therapist started doing home visits to help her learn how to make more consonant sounds. All she said prior to surgery and speech therapy was 'Mama.' No other sounds or babbles.

She has made amazing strides in just two short months. The sophistication of her babble has skyrocketed. She says Ds, Fs, Bs, Ps, and her Zs sound more like actual Zs rather than just spit flying out of her mouth. She says a ton of words now, even giraffe of all things!

So last week the speech therapist and the program director came to check in about how we felt speech therapy was going.We talked about my daughter's progress and then the program director suddenly asked:

"How did weaning go?" (perhaps I had mentioned it at a previous visit? I forget).

"Very well," I said, "but it helped that she was fully weaned for 3 days when I went away in July, but we started again when I came back. We officially weaned a week ago and it was surprisingly easy."

"Where did you go again?" she asked.

"To the Climate Reality Climate Leadership Training in Chicago."

"How was it?"

"Great." Then I explained a bit about it, and how I am now a climate leader, and still need to do some public presentations in my community about climate change.

"So, give me your presentation." said the program director.

I was surprised and a bit incredulous. Someone who wants to talk climate change? Amazing.

I didn't quite know where to begin. Both the program director and the speech therapist indicated that they understood at least some of the basic science of climate change (the greenhouse gas effect, why it is enhanced by human activity), so I mentioned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report, we talked about renewable energy strategies, and about the big financial interests that are responsible for the climate policy standstill despite the fact that we know better.

"So was the conference inspiring or just depressing?" asked the program director. "Because the topic is very scary."

"Inspiring." I said, and I meant it. To be in a room full of people who acknowledge and understand climate science, and the state of our warming world enough to actively seek out some way to help even when politicians won't--that is inspiring. To hear about successful renewable energy stories, and projections for solar parity with fossil fuel sources of electricity in the near future, stories about tipping points and change being adopted sooner and faster than expected (eg: cell phones), inspires hope that we will solve this crisis in time.

The science is established, but now we need to win the grassroots conversation on the climate crisis. We need everyone to realize that climate change is something we all need to care about because it will affect everything we know and rely on. We need to demand change from our leaders, and the companies we do business with. People from all walks of life need to be actively opposed to fossil fuels, and actively asking for alternatives. To remain silent on the matter is no longer an option if we want a better future. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr:

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth103526.html#17Oe72b8sOBLr6WJ.99

Ok, enough grandstanding for now. But that impromptu conversation with the program director and the speech therapist...that was fantastic.

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