I'm so proud of my boy

The innocence and honesty of kids never ceases to amaze me. Nor their brilliant little minds. I can't believe how smart children are. They can figure out and notice things way more often than we adults give them credit for. Gavin is such an amazing little boy. He is quite sensitive and is so aware of... well, everything! He recently has been very aware of the environment and the things we do to harm it. I'm not really sure where it comes from. If it's from seeing it on TV or learning it from me (but I don't really drill him on this stuff. I just answer the questions he asks)? I have no idea but I gotta tell you I'm one proud mama!

So today Gavin was watching Yo Gabba Gabba and they were talking and singing about taking care of the earth and keeping it clean. I wasn't paying it any attention, I was in the kitchen when he comes up to me and says "Mama, you know who else keeps the world clean?" I said who, and he says in a very sweet voice "You do mama, and so do I!"

A little while later he comes to me again and looks a little confused. He says, "When the smoke goes in the air, the clouds get sick." I tell him yes it does. He tilts his head, still confused and says, "When we drive our car, it makes the clouds sick. But we have to drive our car places, but it makes the clouds sick when we do." I thought, wow, he is SO smart. He's making these connections at only 4 years old! I try to explain the best I could (which is kind of weak. I am ashamed I couldn't come up with a better answer for him) I said, "Well, you're right. When you drive a lot it makes the clouds sick but we don't drive a lot so it's ok." Which it really isn't. It made me seriously think about the things we do as a family that affects the environment.

Now, I'm not a hard core environmentalist in the least. I use paper towels, not a lot but I do. I have never thought twice about jumping in the car to go somewhere. I have even, don't tear me apart for this, used paper plates and cups. I recycle some but not everything. But he got me to thinking, if he is concerned about this being as young as he is, why aren't I? I mean, I know we can't walk anywhere. We don't live close to any store. There is no bus stop around for at least 5 miles. But I could be doing so much more. I'm just not sure what. I wrote another post about the few things I do here. What else do you think I should do?