Adventures in Drool:  What does the future hold?

Do you ever worry what type of world we are bringing our precious babes into? What will their future look like?

Disney's "The Lorax" is making a splash in theaters, but do movies and media really make an impact on our understanding of what the future world could look like for our children?

Movies tend to focus on the doomsday effect - no trees, no animals - but what about the actual reality. It has taken centuries to get where we are today. And, likely, it will take a century more before we really know the true depth of damages done.

When that day comes, will there be a reemergence of environmentalism - or naturalism as Sierra Club founder John Muir called it - in time to save the nature that still exists?

The search for the magic Truffala Tree could one day be the search for the last-living hemlock, the last monkey, or even the last glacier. It sends a powerful message. But are we listening?

I know I worry about what my son's future will look like. With places like national forests and parks, I am optimistic he will see trees living in nature, but will those places be the only time he gets to see it?

What are your worries for the future of our children?

Healthcare? Clean water? War? Famine?

When Muir founded the Sierra Club, his goal was to preserve wilderness. Today, estimates show there are 100,000 acres of protected areas around the globe; 13 percent of land in the world has some sort of protection.

That sounds good on paper, but when you think about it, is 100,000 acres really something to lean back on your laurels over? It seems like a small number in terms of the world.

It is amazing to see how nature can reclaim an area previously inhabited by man, however. During a recent talk by Chesapeake Bay environmentalist and author Tom Horton in Lewes, he talked about a mall that was abandoned. Just 10 years after humans left, the signs of nature returning were everywhere, said Horton.

Seedlings were pushing through concrete, trees were retaking what used to be manicured flower beds and throughout the mall animals were returning to play in a place humans no longer wanted.

I see optimism in that. It shows that even after humans have made a mark on the earth, nature resurfaces.

The way I see it (at this moment anyway) is that perhaps some creative scientists out there could come up with a form of construction, of land-moving and paving that is more nature-friendly. I know there are more pervious forms of concrete - maybe that could be the answer to allowing the earth to breathe? Maybe someday we will all have gardens on our rooftops.

I don't consider myself smart enough to have the whole answer, but I am hopeful for an answer.

What solutions do you see?

For today, I am just trying to reduce the waste coming out of our house and building a garden to supply ourselves with fresh produce. I don't know what other answers I can find in my own life to make the world a better place, but I'm open to suggestions.

Send any tidbits to rachel@capegazette.com. And, as always, keep it real in the drool kingdom.