For Earth Day: How Human Will You Raise Your Children

Femme Hummingbird

For Earth Day: How Human Will You Raise Your Children?

I was speaking with my son, who, like most millennials, uses ChatGPT and various other forms of generative artificial intelligence most days. He boasts of how helpful it is, specifically, when one recognizes what prompts to use, i.e., the questions to ask. In response, I begin a litany of my concerns, putting environmental disasters aside, since millennials have been raised with looming environmental crises, also as his momZ (that’s me, as his name begins with a Z, a wee endearment) is an ardent eco activist, plus he was raised in the hinterlands of northern California surrounded by dedicated environmentalists. Composting, growing organic food, being thoughtful about water use, seeing his momZ fight the industrial vineyards sinking wells 300 feet deep into the pristine aquifers and ciphering water from the Russian River, protecting hillsides of old growth oaks and redwoods being felled for pinot noir and once, working with scientists, we Town Hall Coalition activists, convinced our board of supervisors that foggy redwoods actually in their condensation process are considered rainmakers (as it turns out, this is a solid argument!). He didn’t mind when the local paper came out to interview me and published a photo of us in our garden about the dangers of pesticides, glyphosates, and the like.

Back in the day, my son heard stories about MomZ showing up at the nation’s capital, winning the battle, protecting dolphins from Starkist and Bumble Bee for canning dolphin-tainted tuna. As a single parent, when I could not afford his school tuition, I was able to cut it in half by creating an environmental program where environmentalists from the Community Clean Water Institute (of which I was a founder and board member, naturally) taught the kids and worked with the city to monitor important creeks; this combined with other environmental activities added to my already overworked life, but I was able to keep him in the school that challenged him and he loved.  Nor do I mention that some 15 years ago, I launched the No Plastic Tuesdays campaign with a high school senior interning with me as her senior project. A doable eco action, urging all to stop buying anything in plastic at the very least one day a week. Imagine the impact if everyone on this blue-green planet did not buy anything in plastic at least one day a week?   

No Plastic Tuesdays over the years has become no plastic every day. I mean, do we really still recycle?  I also do not mention to my son that in the past year, in my little upstate NY village, where I relocated, I formed a tree council in response to witnessing a majestic elder oak being felled and mulched within three hours (the rumor it was diseased was false, tree trimming, anyone?). After considering how aware my son is of my eco endeavors, I skip the part about the use of AI, and it’s equivalent to using plastic water bottles. One water bottle per question asked is, I believe, the planet’s price for using AI. Nor do I mention the constant need for AI to use of fresh water, sucking up and polluting our air and water. Where does AI’s used ‘brown’ or tainted water go? 

 “All drains lead to the oceans, kid” -Gill, Finding Nemo

Instead, I stick to what the 2025 MIT Media Lab’s* research entitled Your Brain on ChatGPT revealed. Basically, after four months of frequent use of ChatGPT, users had a 47%  drop in neural connections and a marked inability to recall content they had just generated. If I am reading the study correctly, 82% had difficulty recalling what they asked about. 

My son politely listens, allowing me to continue, and I do, discussing ‘internet brain’ and how study after study concludes that we are becoming dumb and dumber since the creation of the internet. The National Assessment of Education Progress’ independent cognitive neuroscientists gave a flat-out warning to the US Senate that Gen X kids are much less cognitively capable than their parents. The Brookings Institute*, attempting to be a gatekeeper for AI in the education and workplace, has shown in its studies that the use of generative intelligence in education is undermining students’ cognitive abilities.

Feeling that I’ve made salient mentions about generative intelligence, my son responds by saying he could find an equal number of studies or more countering mine. “Yes, but they are not MIT,” I sigh. 

“Well, most people are not using AI properly; they are asking stupid questions when you know what prompts to give it. It is amazing,” he answers. I counter, noting that, “It’s kids this is affecting, they are asking stupid questions and getting hooked using Chat to answer them, plus Chat’s answers are not always correct.”   He agrees that many are using Chat to ask senseless questions. We continue to banter for a bit; nonetheless, he maintains that generative intelligence is a fantastic tool.  

As for me, I have yet to use ChatGPT or any other form of AI. I don’t like it when I Google something and the AI overview comes up. I don’t like how the internet has become more challenging and limited in the amount of suggestions it offers, unless, of course, my son would agree that one knows what to look for. 

Our conversation slows down when I ask, “How human are you going to raise your children?”  “Good question,” momZ he responds with a smile I can hear over the phone.

Stay True World,

MGH

https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ais-future-for-students-is-in-our-hands/