Dear African Government

Setting: The kitchen table in the Kaldeway home. EK & LK are doing dishes. Fi enters from living room with pencil and paper with Jo trailing behind.

Fi: Mama, I am writing a letter to the government. So they stop the endangering gorillas.

EK: Are you writing to the Canadian government? Because we don't have gorillas here in Canada. They live mostly in Africa.

FI: So, I would write to the African government?

EK: I guess so.

FI: Well, I don't really know how to spell African government.

EK: So what do we do when we don't know how to spell a word? (LK and EK look at each other and grin)

I cannot believe what come out of her mouth sometimes! Where did this child come from. And when did she turn into a passionate environmentalist.

Apparently this afternoon she and her father had a conversation about how trucks are bad polluters, so we should grow all our own food. LK pointed out that cows actually pollute much more with their gas, so maybe we could eat less beef. And the trucks also carry goods all over the country. We could also reduce pollution by having fewer people drive to work with only one person in their car. Or have more people take the bus or subway in places where those are options.